JERUSALEM: Israel said Tuesday it has connected a water desalination plant in southern Gaza to its electrical grid, in an easing of its siege of the Palestinian territory, but is not yet supplying power.
The Israeli military agency responsible for civilian operations in the Palestinian territories said it could take up to two weeks to start supplying electricity to the desalination plant in Khan Yunis, which is suffering from critical water shortages.
“A new power line from Israel has been directly connected to a water desalination plant managed by UNICEF in Khan Yunis,” said a statement from the Israeli army and the COGAT agency, referring to the United Nations children’s fund.
A source at Gaza’s Electricity Distribution Corporation said the beleaguered utility was “preparing for the possibility of them (Israel) operating the line.”
Col. Elad Goren of COGAT told a press briefing that Israel would provide electricity “once they will fix the lines from the Gazan side... in a week or two.”
He said the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority would pay for the electricity, as it did before the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7.
Israel has faced international criticism over the impact of its military assault against Hamas on Gaza’s civilian population.
Goren said infrastructure decisions were made at a political level, and that the return of the power line was based on the need to increase the desalination plant’s capacity.
UNICEF has welcomed an agreement with Israel to begin supplying the Khan Yunis plant again.
“This is an important milestone, and we are very much looking forward to seeing it implemented,” UNICEF spokesman in the Palestinian territories, Jonathan Crickx, told AFP.
Water has been scarce for Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants since the war erupted with the Hamas attacks on Israel. Sixty percent of the territory’s water distribution systems have been damaged, Crickx said.
After the Hamas attack, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced “a complete siege” on Gaza with “no electricity, no water, no gas.” Aid groups say Gaza is now gripped by a humanitarian crisis.
“Currently, the plant is only producing 5,000 cubic meters of water a day. With the new power line from Israel, the plant will ramp up production to 20,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day,” the Israeli statement said.
Israel says Gaza desalination plant connected to its electrical grid
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Israel says Gaza desalination plant connected to its electrical grid
- “A new power line from Israel has been directly connected to a water desalination plant managed by UNICEF in Khan Yunis,” said a statement from the Israeli army
- A source at Gaza’s Electricity Distribution Corporation said the beleaguered utility was “preparing for the possibility of them (Israel) operating the line“
Hezbollah launches major attack after commander killed in Israeli strike
- Southern front ‘will remain active and strong,’ head of Executive Council says
- Israeli army reports one soldier killed, others severely injured
BEIRUT: Hezbollah launched a major rocket and drone attack on Israel on Thursday and threatened to target new sites in retaliation for the killing of one its top commanders.
The party fired advanced Burkan and Falaq rocket attacks at various sites in northern Israel, including five army barracks, a shopping mall in Acre and the Golan Heights.
The Israeli army said one soldier died in the attack and several others were seriously injured. Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth reported that 25 firefighting teams had been deployed to tackle 10 fires in Golan and the Upper Galilee sparked by the incident.
The head of Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit, Mohammed Nimah Nasser, and his companion were killed during an attack by an Israeli aircraft on the Tyre road. Nasser is the most prominent field commander to have been killed since the start of the conflict.
Last month, the commander of Hezbollah’s Al-Nasr Unit, Talib Sami Abdullah, was killed in a bombing raid on a house in Juwaya.
A source close to Hezbollah said Nasser had “a great symbolism in the party.” He first engaged in resisting the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 1984 and had been involved in the current conflict since Oct. 8.
“When Israel established the border strip, he was involved in all incursions until the liberation of the south in 2000. He played his role in the July 2006 war and the wars in Syria and Iraq between 2011 and 2016,” the source said.
Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, said the southern front “will remain active and strong” and that the Israeli army was about to face a “resounding defeat amid the steadfastness of the people of Gaza and the resistance that will remain in Gaza.”
According to security sources, Hezbollah launched 25 drones from Lebanese territory toward northern Israel Upper Galilee and Golan “after it had emptied the Iron Dome of interceptor missiles.”
Israeli media said there had been reports of several drone explosions and that sirens had sounded in Kidmat Zvi in southern Golan. Other reports said a soldier had been killed and that others had been injured.
A Hezbollah statement said it “targeted a newly established position of Israeli soldiers in the Kfar Blum settlement with a salvo of Katyusha rockets.”
It said it also fired more than 200 rockets of various types at the 91st Brigade headquarters at Ayelet Barracks, the command headquarters of the 7th Armored Brigade at Katsavia Barracks, the command headquarters of the Armored Battalion of the 7th Brigade at Gamla Barracks, the command headquarters of Brigade 210 (Golan Brigade) at Nafah Base and the artillery battalion headquarters of Brigade 210 at Yarden Barracks.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Al-Baghdadi site with a Burkan rocket.
On Wednesday night, in response to Nasser’s death, Hezbollah said it shelled “the Zarit Barracks with Burkan rockets, headquarters of the land force battalion in the Kila’a barracks with dozens of Katyusha rockets and the command headquarters of brigade 769 in Kiryat Shmona barracks with Falaq rockets.”
The group also targeted the Birkat Risha and Al-Raheb sites.
A military source told Israeli Army Radio that the scale of the attack was “fully consistent with Hezbollah’s announcement.”
The Israeli army said it “observed the firing of about 160 shells and 15 suicide drones from Lebanon, and air defenses intercepted most of them.”
Israeli media said that “train traffic from Haifa to Nahariya was halted due to the security situation.”
The military escalation in southern Lebanon coincided with the arrival of a delegation from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lebanese Parliament to the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura amid the sound of sirens.
The delegation was met by UNIFIL mission commander, Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, and senior officials. The meeting included a review of the UNIFIL’s role and missions ahead of next month’s renewal of the mandate of the international forces for another year.
Hezbollah’s attack was met with a violent Israeli response, which echoed in Beirut as warplanes broke the sound barrier over the south, reaching Beirut and its southern suburbs and Metn in Mount Lebanon.
Hezbollah said party member Hady Ahmed Shreym, aged 28, was killed in an Israeli drone attack on a house in Houla.
Israeli warplanes also launched strikes on Aitaroun, Aita Al-Shaab and Ramia, while Israeli artillery targeted the towns of Khiam, Udaysah, Kafr Kila, Rab El-Thalathine, Qantara, Deir Seryan, Qabrikha and Naqoura.
Several civilians were injured in the shelling of Kfar Shouba, including Ahmad Ghanem, a member of the municipal council, and Ali Al-Hajj who was inside the same house.
Arab League chief, Libyan prime minister discuss ways to boost peace
- Ahmed Aboul Gheit met with Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba
- Meeting involved exchange of views on latest developments in Libya
CAIRO: The Arab League will continue its efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in Libya, said Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the organization’s secretary-general.
He said the league would continue its efforts to encourage all Libyan leaders to take measures toward “adopting a constitution and holding presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya, in response to the aspirations of the Libyan people and to establish stability and security in the country.”
The secretary-general received Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, prime minister of the National Unity Government of Libya. Their meeting involved an exchange of views on the latest developments in Libya.
The prime minister discussed the current situation and the government’s efforts to restore security and advance development in the country.
Gamal Roshdy, spokesman for the secretary-general, relayed Aboul Gheit’s review of a dialogue session hosted by the league for several Libyan parties in March.
The secretary-general also listened to the prime minister’s perspective on the matter.
In March, the secretary-general at the league’s headquarters in Cairo hosted Mohammed Menfi, president of Libya’s Presidential Council; Aguila Saleh, speaker of the House of Representatives; and Mohammed Takala, president of the High State Council.
The talks were intended to facilitate intra-Libyan dialogue as part of the Arab League’s efforts to foster mutual understanding among Libyan parties.
A league statement referred to efforts to streamline viewpoints and resolve differences regarding presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya.
The three Libyan officials agreed to promote the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and reject any hostile external interference in its political processes.
More than 136,000 displaced by spread of war in southeast Sudan, UN says
- They join nearly 10 million people driven from their homes since war broke out between the RSF and the regular army
- The UN’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement that since June 24, an estimated total of 136,130 people had been displaced in Sennar
CAIRO: More than 136,000 people have fled Sudan’s southeastern Sennar state since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began a series of attacks on towns, the United Nations said on Thursday, the latest wave of displacement caused by Sudan’s almost 15-month long war.
They join nearly 10 million people driven from their homes since war broke out between the RSF and the regular army. The war has sparked accusations of “ethnic cleansing” and warnings of famine, mainly in RSF-controlled areas across the country.
The RSF on June 24 began a campaign to seize the city of Sennar, a trading hub, but quickly turned to the smaller towns of Sinjah and Al-Dinder, prompting an exodus of civilians from all three, mainly to neighboring Al-Gedaref and Blue Nile states.
Images on social media showed people of all ages wading across the Blue Nile.
Activists in both states say there is little shelter or food aid for the incomers. In Gedaref, they faced an onslaught of heavy rain while stranded in the state capital’s main market with no tents or blankets after schools that had served as displacement centers were emptied by the government, the local resistance committee said.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement that since June 24, an estimated total of 136,130 people had been displaced in Sennar.
The state was already home to more than 285,000 people displaced from Khartoum and Al-Gezira states, meaning that many of those leaving over the last two weeks were likely to have been displaced for the second or third time. It also said that villages in Gedaref state, one of several possible targets for the RSF campaign, had also seen an exodus.
To the west of the country, local activists said at least 12 people were killed by artillery fire on a livestock market on Wednesday in the city of Al-Fashir which has seen a months-long fight for control between the RSF and the army and allied armed groups.
It has caused an exodus of tens of thousands west to Tawila and Jebel Mara, areas controlled by one of Sudan’s largest rebel groups led by Abdelwahid Al-Nur, who on Thursday offered to use his troops to secure Al-Fashir if both sides withdraw.
In a statement, Nur said that Al-Fashir, which along with nearby Zamzam camp is one of 14 locations flagged by monitors as approaching famine, could then resume its role as a hub for humanitarian aid delivery.
The army did not comment on the offer when asked by Reuters, while an RSF source said that the force accepted the offer in principle and hoped that the army and allied forces would accept the offer and exit the city.
Daesh militants kill eight in Syria desert: monitor
- The attack occurred on Wednesday evening as the militiamen were en route to search for a shepherd who had been kidnapped
- The Observatory reported a death toll of eight, including "six members of the National Defence Forces and two sheep herders"
BEIRUT: Daesh group militants killed eight people, including two civilians, in an ambush on pro-government militiamen in Syria's Badia desert, a war monitor reported Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack occurred on Wednesday evening as the militiamen were en route to search for a shepherd who had been kidnapped and subsequently killed by Daesh militants.
The Observatory, a Britain-based monitor with sources in Syria, reported a death toll of eight, including "six members of the National Defence Forces and two sheep herders".
Daesh overran large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a so-called caliphate and launching a reign of terror.
It was defeated territorially in Syria in 2019, but its remnants still carry out deadly attacks -- particularly in the Badia desert -- and mainly targeting government loyalists and Kurdish-led fighters.
The desert runs from the outskirts of Damascus to the Iraqi border.
Last month, the Observatory said Daesh fighters had killed nearly 4,100 people in Syria since its so-called caliphate fell in 2019 -- more than half of them in the Badia.
The United Nations in January said Daesh's combined strength in Iraq and Syria was 3,000-5,000 fighters, with the Badia serving as a hub for the group in Syria.
Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in March 2011 with Damascus's brutal repression of anti-government protests.
25 people drown in Sudan fleeing fighting: activists’ committee
- “Around 25 citizens, most of them women and children, have died in a boat sinking” while crossing the Blue Nile River, the local resistance committee said
- “Entire families perished” in the accident, they said, while fleeing the RSF’s recent advance through Sennar
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Around 25 people have drowned in Sudan’s southeast while trying to flee fighting between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces, a pro-democracy activists’ committee said Thursday.
“Around 25 citizens, most of them women and children, have died in a boat sinking” while crossing the Blue Nile River in the southeastern state of Sennar, the local resistance committee said in a statement.
The committee is one of hundreds across Sudan that used to organize pro-democracy protests and have coordinated frontline aid since the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began last year.
“Entire families perished” in the accident, they said, while fleeing the RSF’s recent advance through Sennar.
On Saturday, the RSF announced they had captured the military base in Sinja, the capital of Sennar state, where over half a million people had sought shelter from the war.
Witnesses also reported the RSF sweeping through neighboring villages, pushing residents to flee in small wooden boats across the Nile.
At least 55,000 people fled Sinja alone within a three day period, the United Nations said Monday.
Local authorities in neighboring Gedaref state estimated on Thursday that some 120,000 displaced people had arrived this week. The state’s health minister Ahmed Al-Amin Adam said 90,000 had been officially registered.
Over 10 million people are currently displaced across Sudan, in what the UN calls the world’s worst displacement crisis.
Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the RSF led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The conflict in the country of 48 million has killed tens of thousands, with some estimates putting the death toll as high as 150,000, according to the United States envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello.
