WASHINGTON: Jordan’s King Abdullah, in a phone call on Monday with US President Joe Biden, warned of what he called “hostile acts” by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and “unilateral measures” that threaten the status quo of Jerusalem’s holy sites.
King Abdullah’s Hashemite dynasty is custodian of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no change in policy regarding a Jerusalem site also sacred to Muslims, after a far-right cabinet minister said Jews could pray there.
The compound, in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, houses Islam’s third-holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa mosque, and is also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, a vestige of two ancient temples.
Under a delicate decades-old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit but refrain from prayer. The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and suggestions that Israel would alter rules about religious observance there have led to violence in the past.
“His Majesty warned of extremist settler violence against Palestinians, as well as unilateral Israeli measures that undermine the prospects of peace and target the historical and legal status quo of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, which may fuel violence in the region,” the Jordanian royal court said in a statement.
King Abdullah also discussed with Biden the need for de-escalation in the region and “establishing comprehensive calm to prevent a regional war,” the royal court added.
Jordan’s king warns in call with Biden of Israeli ‘hostile acts’ in Jerusalem
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Jordan’s king warns in call with Biden of Israeli ‘hostile acts’ in Jerusalem
- King Abdullah also discussed with Biden the need for de-escalation in the region and “establishing comprehensive calm to prevent a regional war”
El-Sisi, Borrell discuss Gaza crisis, Egypt-EU ties
- Ahmad Fahmy, spokesman for the presidency, said El-Sisi and Borrell also discussed the situation in Gaza and the Middle East
CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, to discuss relations and regional issues.
El-Sisi received Borrell and his accompanying delegation in Cairo.
Their meeting discussed strong relations between Egypt and the EU, with both sides commending the momentum of cooperation.
During the talks, the two sides confirmed their commitment to exploring new domains of cooperation, particularly in investment and trade, as well as energy, migration and environmental issues.
Ahmad Fahmy, spokesman for the presidency, said El-Sisi and Borrell also discussed the situation in Gaza and the Middle East.
They reviewed efforts by Egypt and its partners to achieve a ceasefire and an exchange of hostages and detainees, to help end the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
El-Sisi warned against the danger of escalation, which he said would result in an expansion of the conflict.
He highlighted the responsibilities of the international community and the EU to exert intense pressure on Israel toward reaching an agreement to end the war.
Any deal must address violence and the escalation in the West Bank, in a manner that defuses regional tensions and restores security and stability in the region, El-Sisi said.
Borrell expressed deep appreciation for Egypt’s stabilizing role in the region, highlighting the EU’s interest in consultations with Cairo to maintain regional stability.
El-Sisi commended Borrell for his objective and fair stances over the past period.
US, UK strike Houthi targets for second day
- Yemen’s prime minister arrives in Doha to discuss Qatar financial assistance, with focus on electricity sector
AL-MUKALLA: US and UK jets struck Houthi targets in Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah on Monday, the second wave of strikes on Houthi-held territory in less than 48 hours.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah channel reported that US and UK aircraft carried out one strike on the Al-Jabanah region of Hodeidah but provided no information on the targeted locations, casualties or damage.
The attack in Hodeidah came a day after the Houthis said that the two countries had conducted three airstrikes on unidentified targets in the Maytam region, north of Ibb province.
At the same time, US Central Command said on Sunday evening that over the past 24 hours, its forces had destroyed three Houthi drones and two missile systems in a Houthi-controlled Yemeni area, all of which were threatening US-led coalition ships and commercial vessels in international shipping lanes.
Houthi attacks on ships led the US to form a coalition of marine task forces to defend vessels, designate the Houthis as a terrorist group and launch strikes against Houthi-controlled Yemen, including Sanaa, Saada, Ibb and Hodeidah, in collaboration with the UK.
Hodeidah, Yemen’s only major coastal city under Houthi control, has received most of the US and UK strikes since January, as the militia is said to have used its coasts to launch explosive-laden and remote-controlled boats to attack ships.
The Houthis say their forces are only targeting Israeli-linked ships to pressure Tel Aviv into ending its Gaza war.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s government requested financial assistance from GCC countries on Monday to help shore up its faltering economy, stabilize the currency and pay public employees.
Rashad Al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, met UAE Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Hamad Al-Zaab in Riyadh on Monday to discuss “necessary” financial support to boost the country’s economy, improve Yemenis’ living conditions and assist government reforms, according to the official news agency, SABA.
It came as Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak arrived in Doha on Sunday to discuss Qatari financial assistance to Yemen, particularly in the electricity sector.
“The government is looking for new support from its brothers in the GCC countries,” a knowledgeable Yemeni government official who requested anonymity told Arab News.
The Yemeni government has lost almost 70 percent of its revenue since the Houthis attacked oil terminals in the provinces of Shabwa and Hadramout, causing a complete halt to oil exports.
The Yemeni riyal has continued to fall against the dollar, reaching about 1900 in government-controlled areas, compared to 215 riyals in 2015.
Public employees, including teachers and military personnel, have complained that their salaries have not been increased and that they are paid late.
Hundreds in West Bank mourn slain US-Turkish activist
- The memorial, which began at Nablus’s Rafidia hospital, drew large crowds
- Israeli army acknowledged it had opened fire in the Beita area and said it was “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired”
NABLUS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Monday in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, to pay respects to a US-Turkish activist killed while protesting against Israeli settlements in a nearby town.
The body of the slain 26-year-old, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was wrapped in a Palestinian flag, with her head covered by a keffiyeh, a traditional scarf symbolising the Palestinian struggle against Israel.
Palestinian security forces carried her body through the streets of Nablus, accompanied by the sound of Palestinian bagpipes, before a wreath was placed over her remains.
The memorial, which began at Nablus’s Rafidia hospital, drew large crowds.
The UN rights office said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a “shot in the head.” The mayor of Beita and the Palestinian news agency Wafa also reported that she was killed by Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli army acknowledged it had opened fire in the Beita area and said it was “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired.”
The United Nations said Eygi had been taking part in a “peaceful anti-settlement protest” in Beita, scene of weekly demonstrations.
Turkiye condemned her death, while the United States called it “tragic” and pressed its ally Israel to investigate.
The commemoration was postponed from Sunday, due to a dispute between the United States and Turkiye over “details such as the burial location and the route her body would take,” said Mahmud Al-Aloul, a senior Fatah official.
Aloul said that “Palestine would be honored for the martyr to be buried here.”
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel which triggered the war in Gaza, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 23 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where about 490,000 people live, are illegal under international law.
Fear of ‘lost generation’ as Gaza school year begins with all classes shut
- As fighting continued, Israel announced new orders to residents of the north Gaza Strip to leave their homes, in response to rockets fired into Israel
CAIRO: The new school year in the Palestinian territories officially began on Monday, with all schools in Gaza shut after 11 months of war and no sign of a ceasefire.
As fighting continued, Israel announced new orders to residents of the north Gaza Strip to leave their homes, in response to rockets fired into Israel.
Umm Zaki’s son Moataz, 15, was supposed to begin 10th grade. Instead he woke up in their tent in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and was sent to fetch a container of water from more than a kilometer away.
“Usually, such a day would be a day of celebration, seeing the children in the new uniform, going to school, and dreaming of becoming doctors and engineers. Today all we hope is that the war ends before we lose any of them,” the mother of five told Reuters by text message.
The Palestinian Education Ministry said all Gaza schools were shut and 90 percent of them had been destroyed or damaged in Israel’s assault on the territory, launched after Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli towns in October last year.
The UN Palestinian aid agency UNRWA, which runs around half of Gaza’s schools, has turned as many of them as it can into emergency shelters housing thousands of displaced families.
“The longer the children stay out of school the more difficult it is for them to catch up on their lost learning and the more prone they are to becoming a lost generation, falling prey to exploitation including child marriage, child labor, and recruitment into armed groups,” UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma told Reuters.
In addition to the 625,000 Gazans already registered for school who would be missing classes, another 58,000 six-year-olds should have registered to start first grade this year, the education ministry said.
Last month, UNRWA launched a back-to-learning program in 45 of its shelters, with teachers setting up games, drama, arts, music and sports activities to help with children’s mental health.
“The specified area has been warned”
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes at least once, and some have had to flee as many as 10 times.
In the latest evacuation order, Israel told residents of an area in the northern Gaza Strip they must leave their homes, following the firing of rockets into southern Israel the previous day.
“To all those in the specified area. Terrorist organizations are once again firing rockets at the State of Israel and carrying out terrorist acts from this area. The specified area has been warned many times in the past. The specified area is considered a dangerous combat zone,” an Israeli military spokesperson said in Arabic on X.
The United Nations urged Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip to attend medical facilities to get children under the age of 10 years old vaccinated against polio. Limited pauses in fighting have been held to allow the vaccination campaign, which aims to reach 640,000 children in Gaza after the territory’s first polio case in around 25 years.
UN officials said the campaign in the southern and central Gaza Strip had so far reached more than half of the children there needing the drops. A second round of vaccination will be required four weeks after the first.
Later on Monday, Touma said 450,000 of the children targeted with the campaign were vaccinated.
“Tuesday is the hardest part when we roll out the campaign in the north. Hopefully, that will work so we complete the first stage of the campaign The second and final stage is planned for the end of the month when we have to do all of this all over again,” said Touma.
Health officials said on Monday two separate Israeli airstrikes had killed seven people in central Gaza, while another strike killed one man in Khan Younis further south.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said they fought against Israeli forces in several areas across the Gaza Strip with anti-tank rockets and mortar fire.
The Israeli military said forces continued to dismantle military infrastructure and killed dozens of militants in the past days, including senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders.
The war was triggered on Oct. 7 when the Hamas group that ran Gaza attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
The two warring sides each blame the other for the failure so far to reach a ceasefire that would end the fighting and see the release of hostages.
RSF paramilitaries kill 31 in Sudanese city of Sennar, activists say
DUBAI/CAIRO: At least 31 people have been killed and 100 wounded since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces renewed an assault on the city of Sennar in southeastern Sudan on Sunday, a legal activist group said.
Several parts of the city including the main market have been targeted by RSF artillery fire, said Emergency Lawyers, which has monitored civilian deaths and other humanitarian violations.
The progress of the RSF, which already controls most of Sennar and at least half of the country, has slowed in the southeast as heavy rains have made movement difficult.
Its war with Sudan’s army has created the world’s largest hunger and internal displacement crises, killing tens of thousands of civilians and destroying most of Sudan’s infrastructure and economy.
Emergency Lawyers said the army had killed at least four people in Al-Souki, a town near Sennar, during airstrikes. The RSF killed one person and wounded 17 in artillery strikes on el-Obeid, another town it has struggled to assert full control of.
Both sides in Sudan’s 18-month-old civil war have committed abuses that may amount to war crimes, a UN-mandated mission said on Friday, calling for peacekeepers and a country-wide arms embargo.
On Saturday, Sudan’s army-aligned foreign ministry rejected both recommendations, calling the idea of international peacekeepers “the wish of Sudan’s enemies and it will not be fulfilled.”
