CAIRO/GAZA: Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late on Sunday, forcing more families to flee, saying forces intended to act against militant group Hamas and others operating in the area. In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.
The Deir Al-Balah municipality says Israeli evacuation orders have so far displaced 250,000 people.
Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Monday, medics said. Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, where around a million people were sheltering, two at a school in the Al-Nuseirat camp and three in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
The new orders forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced people had taken shelter, for fear of bombardments.
The hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice.
Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a statement on X on Sunday night that an explosion approximately 250 meters (820 feet) away from the MSF-supported Al-Aqsa Hospital triggered panic.
“As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain life-saving treatment.”
From around 650 patients, only 100 remain in the hospital, with seven in intensive care unit, it said, citing Gaza’s health ministry.
“This situation is unacceptable. Al Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of alternatives for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients’ access to medical care,” it added.
DIPLOMATIC IMPASSE
Sawasn Abu Afesh said she and her children had now been displaced 11 times.
“I left half of my children behind me near my furniture and I am now with my little ones and my daughter, only God can help us...I have no money for transportation I will go to area 17 where my family is staying on my foot. I took my kids and three are left behind. No idea where,” the woman said.
The escalation comes with little hope of an end in sight to the war as diplomacy by mediators, Qatar, Egypt, and the United States has so far failed to close the gap between Israel and Hamas, whose leaders traded blame over responsibility for the lack of accord.
Neither Hamas, nor Israel, agreed to several compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said.
A senior US official, however, described the talks as “constructive,” saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach “a final and implementable agreement.”
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group rejected new conditions made by Israel during the talks, which the group didn’t attend, and added that US comments over an imminent ceasefire deal were false and aimed to serve election purposes.
US President Joe Biden and his administration have faced growing protests in the US over aid for Israel ahead of November elections.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The crowded enclave has been laid to waste and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, by Israeli tallies, with more than 250 taken hostage.
Families flee after new Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza as ceasefire hopes dim
https://arab.news/jy9wt
Families flee after new Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza as ceasefire hopes dim
- Deir Al-Balah municipality says Israeli orders have so far displaced 250,000
- Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Monday, medics say
Netanyahu tells Macron: Palestinian state ‘huge reward for terrorism’
The French president said he told Netanyahu that “the ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end“
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be a “huge reward for terrorism.”
Macron, meanwhile, posted on X that he had told Netanyahu the suffering of civilians in Gaza “must end” and only a ceasefire in the war with Hamas would free the remaining Israeli hostages in the territory.
A statement released by Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders spoke by phone and the Israeli prime minister expressed to the French president his “strong opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, stating that it would be a huge reward for terrorism.”
“The prime minister told the French president that a Palestinian state established just minutes away from Israeli cities would become a stronghold of Iranian terrorism, and that a vast majority of the Israeli public firmly opposes this — and this has been his consistent and long-standing policy.”
For his part, the French president said he told Netanyahu that “the ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end,” and called for “the opening of all humanitarian aid crossings” into the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel has cut off all aid to the Gaza Strip since March 2 to pressure Hamas.
The call came after Macron’s comments last week that Paris could recognize a Palestinian state within months sparked a wave of criticism in Israel, including from Netanyahu and his son, as well as right-wing groups in France.
On Monday, he said he hoped French recognition would encourage others to follow and that countries which did not recognize Israel should also do so.
The day before the call, Macron told the president of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, that he would support a plan for the PA to govern post-war Gaza, if it underwent reform.
“It is essential to set a framework for the day after: disarm and sideline Hamas, define credible governance and reform the Palestinian Authority,” Macron told Abbas in a phone call, according to a post on X.
“This should allow progress toward a two-state political solution, with a view to the peace conference in June, in the service of peace and security for all,” wrote Macron.
Israel has been battling Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the latter attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Jordanian intelligence thwarts plots threatening national security
AMMAN: Officials at Jordan's General Intelligence Department said on Tuesday they had foiled a series of plots targeting the kingdom’s national security, the Jordan News Agency reported.
According to a statement carried by JNA, the GID arrested 16 individuals suspected of “planning acts of chaos and sabotage.”
Authorities said the department had been monitoring the group’s activities since 2021.
The foiled plans reportedly involved the manufacture of missiles using both locally sourced materials and imported components, as well as the possession of explosives and firearms.
Investigators also uncovered a missile that had been concealed and prepared for deployment.
In addition to the weapons cache, the suspects were allegedly engaged in efforts to develop drones, recruit and train individuals within the country, and send others abroad for further training.
All individuals arrested have been referred to the State Security Court for legal proceedings, the GID confirmed.
Nations call for immediate end to ‘horrific’ Sudan war
- UK’s foreign minister David Lammy tells Sudan conference in London of a 'lack of political will' to end the conflict
- Germany, France, EU and African Union co-host event but warring sides did not attend
LONDON: The UK led international calls Tuesday for a swift end to the devastating war in Sudan, hosting a gathering of world officials with fresh pledges of humanitarian aid as the conflict which has cost thousands of lives entered its third year.
The war erupted on April 15, 2023 in a bitter power struggle between rival generals leading Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — neither of whom were present at the conference.
More than 13 million people have been uprooted and tens of thousands killed, with both sides accused of committing atrocities.
It has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
“We simply cannot look away,” the UK’s foreign minister David Lammy said as he opened the talks among counterparts from around 15 countries, denouncing what he called “a lack of political will” to end the fighting.
“We have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in and across the country, and to put peace first,” he said, adding it would take “patient diplomacy.”
Various peace efforts have so far failed to lead to a ceasefire.
The continued fighting has fueled fears the tensions will spill over Sudan’s borders and stir further instability in the impoverished Horn of Africa region.
“There can be no military solution in Sudan, only an immediate, unconditional secession of hostilities,” said the African Union’s commissioner for political affairs, Bankole Adeoye.
“This, we believe, must be followed by an all-inclusive dialogue to end the war.”
The war has “shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, which estimated 2,776 children had been killed or maimed in 2023 and 2024.
A UN-backed assessment has concluded that famine is now blighting parts of the country.
Britain’s foreign ministry said more than 30 million people were in desperate need, and 12 million women and girls were in danger of gender-based violence.
Lammy unveiled $159 million in new aid for Sudan, with the EU pledging more than $591 million to address the crisis, and Germany putting up some $142 million.
France also announced an extra $57 million in humanitarian aid this year.
“How can we forget the world’s largest humanitarian crisis?” asked German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
During a visit to a refugee camp, she said she heard “horrific reports of women and children being raped” while people were dying of hunger.
Germany and France as well as the European Union and the 55-member African Union are co-hosting the conference with the British government in London.
Ministers from some 14 other countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States were attending, the Foreign Office said, along with high-level representatives from bodies such as the United Nations.
Sudan’s government has protested that it was not invited to participate, soliciting a rebuke from Khartoum.
But the German foreign ministry said both the Sudanese army and the RSF militia were unwilling to come to the table.
Sudan has accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the paramilitary forces with arms shipments. Those fighters and the Gulf state deny the charges.
In a statement Tuesday, the UAE issued “an urgent call for peace” and accused both sides of “committing atrocities.” It said a senior foreign ministry official would attend the London conference.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot stressed “the unity of Sudan must be preserved” and there could be no unilateral government imposed on civilians.
The conflict pits the regular army of Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the RSF led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
It was triggered when relations between Burhan and Dagalo soured following a 2021 coup that ousted the transitional government put in place after the 2019 overthrow of longtime leader Omar Al-Bashir.
The RSF are rooted in Darfur and control much of its territory, as well as parts of Sudan’s south.
The army reclaimed the capital Khartoum last month, and holds sway in the east and north, leaving Africa’s third-largest country divided in two.
Algerian expulsion of French officials ‘will have consequences’: French FM
- Jean-Noel Barrot said the move was “regrettable” and warned it “will not be without consequences“
- Algeria’s foreign ministry said it had declared the 12 persona non grata
PARIS: France’s foreign minister on Tuesday slammed Algeria’s decision to expel 12 French officials and warned of a riposte, as tensions mounted between Paris and its former North African colony.
Jean-Noel Barrot said the move was “regrettable” and warned it “will not be without consequences,” adding that if “Algeria chooses escalation, we will respond with the greatest firmness.”
Algeria’s foreign ministry said it had declared the 12 persona non grata after the arrest in France of an Algerian consular official, a “vile act” it blamed on French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
For decades, ties between France and Algeria have gone through diplomatic upheavals, and the fresh row comes at a delicate time in relations, underscoring the difficulties in repairing ties.
On Friday, French prosecutors indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of involvement in the 2024 abduction of an opponent of the Algerian government, Amir Boukhors, in a Paris suburb.
The men, who are also being prosecuted for “terrorist” conspiracy, were placed in pre-trial detention.
Lebanon says Israeli strike on south kills one
- A “drone strike carried out by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle in the town of Aitarun killed one person ,” the health ministry said
- Israel has continued to strike Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike killed one person in the country’s south on Tuesday, the latest such attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
A “drone strike carried out by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle in the town of Aitarun killed one person and wounded three others including a child,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, including two months of all-out war.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said Tuesday that at least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect.
The truce accord was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and United Nations peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Under the truce, Hezbollah was to withdraw fighters from south of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure there.
Israel was to pull out all its forces from south Lebanon, but it continues to hold five positions that it deems “strategic.”
Lebanon’s army has been deploying in the south near the border as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah sites.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in an interview Monday with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera that the army was “dismantling tunnels and warehouses and confiscating weapons bases” south of the Litani “with great professionalism and without any problem from Hezbollah.”
He also said the army was “carrying out its duties north of the Litani,” noting the army had located a warehouse in Jiyeh, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Beirut and “confiscated its contents,” without specifying what, as well as carrying out activities in locations in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
“Even what the army is doing in some places north of the Litani, there has been no objection to, which is also a positive sign,” Aoun added.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on Saturday that the group had ceded to the Lebanese army around 190 of its 265 military positions identified south of the Litani.
Also Monday, the Lebanese military said a soldier was killed and three others wounded in an explosion in the country’s south, where Aoun said they had been dismantling mines in a tunnel.
