Army says Israeli hostage rescued from Gaza

Kaid Farhan Alkadi is seen at an unspecified location.(The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters via AFP)
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Updated 27 August 2024
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Army says Israeli hostage rescued from Gaza

  • Kaid Alkadi, a 52-year-old Israeli Bedouin, was abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said its forces rescued an Israeli hostage in southern Gaza on Tuesday after a “complex operation.”
Kaid Alkadi, a 52-year-old Israeli Bedouin, was abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the military said in a statement.
“Kaid AlKadi was rescued... in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” the military said.
“He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks to a hospital.”
Alkadi is a resident of Rahat, a predominantly Arab town, and on October 7 he was working as a guard at a warehouse in southern Israel when he was seized by militants.


Israel’s ambassador to UN calls on Security Council to thwart Hezbollah attempts to rearm

Updated 10 sec ago
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Israel’s ambassador to UN calls on Security Council to thwart Hezbollah attempts to rearm

  • Israeli authorities say continuing extensive presence of Hezbollah weaponry in southern Lebanon could cause them to ‘reconsider’ 60-day timeline for withdrawal of forces
  • Israel has violated November ceasefire agreement hundreds of times, killed 33 civilians, blocked citizens from returning home, continues to demolish houses and infrastructure

NEW YORK CITY: Israel’s permanent representative to the UN on Monday expressed concern about what he described as Hezbollah’s ongoing military build-up, accusing the group of attempting to rearm with Iranian assistance.

Danny Danon called on the Lebanese government and the international community to curb “the smuggling of weapons, ammunition and financial support through the Syria-Lebanon border and via air and sea routes.”

The ceasefire deal agreed by Israel and Lebanon in November mandates a 60-day halt to hostilities, during which time Israel must withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah must withdraw its forces to positions north of the Litani River.

In an urgent letter to Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month, Danon said that Israel has detected several attempts to transfer weapons and cash to Hezbollah since the agreement was signed.

“We have witnessed hundreds of violations, including 168 prominent violations,” he wrote in his letter, a copy of which Arab News has seen.

“These violations include: attempts by Hezbollah to rebuild its military infrastructure; presence of Hezbollah activists south of the Litani; attempts to smuggle weapons into Lebanon; attempts to transfer funds intended for Hezbollah; presence of Hezbollah arms north of the Litani.”

The Lebanese Armed Forces have handled some of these complaints, Danon added, but in many instances “Israel had to take action by itself in order to thwart them.”

Hezbollah has halted its rocket attacks against Israel, and Israeli forces have stopped the continual bombing of Beirut suburbs, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and southern Lebanon.

However, both sides accused the other of breaching the ceasefire agreement. Israeli forces remain in the south, where they continue to destroy homes and infrastructure. They have also fired on Lebanese citizens, killed at least 33 Lebanese residents in the past month, and prevented people from returning to their homes.

Under the terms of the agreement, Israel is obliged to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon within 60 days of Nov. 27. They will initially be replaced by troops from UN Interim Force in Lebanon, followed by Lebanese army forces.

But Israeli authorities have warned that the continued extensive presence of Hezbollah weaponry in the south, and the group’s efforts to rebuild, could cause them to “reconsider” their planned timeline for withdrawal from the country.

Danon welcomed the “encouraging” steps taken by the Lebanese army to dismantle some of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure south of the Litani. But he lamented what he described as the slow pace of the efforts and the lack of capacity to effectively address “the full scope of

violations,” in light of the “vast military arsenal found on the ground, that has been erected during the years.”

He warned: “Israel will not tolerate any violation of the ceasefire understandings.

“The existence of terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon that continues to threaten Israeli citizens is unacceptable.”

He called on the UN’s peacekeeping force to work “in a much more robust and effective way” to implement Security Council Resolution 1701 and the recent ceasefire understandings. Resolution 1701 was adopted by the council in 2006 with the aim of resolving the conflict that year between Israel and Hezbollah. It calls for an end to hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, the withdrawal of Hezbollah and other forces from parts of the country south of the Litani River, and the disarmament of Hezbollah and other armed groups.

Danon accused UNIFIL of interpreting its mandate “leniently” and of opting not to take “all necessary action to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind.”

He continued: “As a result, UNIFIL allowed the severe restriction of its freedom of movement, which Hezbollah exploited to systematically establish terrorist infrastructure on private property.

“We are concerned that lessons have not been learned, and that today we are witnessing yet another refusal by the force to adapt to Hezbollah’s changing modus operandi.”

Dannon urged the Security Council to monitor and expedite the Lebanese army’s actions on the ground throughout Lebanon, and to insist that “all the terrorist infrastructure present in Lebanon is removed and to make sure that any attempt to smuggle arms to Hezbollah is thwarted.”


Palestinians dedicate a new West Bank olive grove to former US President Jimmy Carter

Updated 57 min 34 sec ago
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Palestinians dedicate a new West Bank olive grove to former US President Jimmy Carter

  • The "Freedom Farm" would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers
  • Jimmy Carter was highly critical of Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians

TULKAREM: Palestinian activists and residents planted a grove of 250 olive trees in a northern West Bank town on Monday in memory of the late US President Jimmy Carter, describing him as a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.
The former president’s legacy is “rooted” among Palestinians and across the globe, said Abbas Melhem, executive manager of the Palestinian Farmers Union. Carter was one of the few world leaders who “stood firmly supporting the struggle of the Palestinians for independence and for freedom,” he said.
Under clear winter skies, Palestinian kids helped a handful of adults place the trees into newly dug holes. Melhem said the 10-dunam (2.5-acre) grove in the city of Tulkarem, titled “Freedom Farm,” would be fenced in to protect it from wildlife or extremist Jewish settlers, who have attacked Palestinian olive trees in the past.
The advocacy group for farmers in the West Bank launched the project in collaboration with US-based nonprofit Treedom for Palestine, which plants trees to empower Palestinian farmers.
Carter, who died last month at the age of 100, brokered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978.
In his later years, Carter was highly critical of Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians, saying conditions in the occupied West Bank amounted to apartheid. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
“I think planting olive trees that live at least 100 years old like him is a very suitable way to honor his life and his legacy,” said George Zeidan, the Carter Center’s Director in Israel and Palestine.


Israel airstrikes kill family of 5 in Gaza Strip

Updated 13 January 2025
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Israel airstrikes kill family of 5 in Gaza Strip

  • Hamas said on Monday that talks over some core issues for a ceasefire deal in Gaza have made progress, an official in the Palestinian group said

CAIRO: At least 14 Palestinians, including a family of five people, were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on Monday in northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said.
One strike hit a group of people in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, killing at least seven people including two children, the Health Ministry’s emergency service said. Two more people were killed in Jabaliya Al-Balad area in northern Gaza, it said.
Another five people were wounded in the strike, it said.
A third strike hit Salaheddin school, which shelters displaced families in the western part of Gaza City.
The strike killed two parents and their three children, according to the Al-Ahly Hospital which received the casualties.
The Israeli military did not have an immediate comment on the strikes.
Hamas said on Monday that talks over some core issues for a ceasefire deal in Gaza have made progress, an official in the Palestinian group said.
“The negotiation over some core issues made progress and we are working to conclude what remains soon,” added the official.
The administration of President Joe Biden sees a possible truce as soon as this week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Bloomberg News on Monday, adding that there were no guarantees that the parties would agree to such a deal.
Sullivan, speaking to Bloomberg in an interview, added that Biden’s administration has been in contact with incoming President Donald Trump’s team and sought a united front on the issue ahead of Washington’s Jan. 20 transition of power.
“The pressure building here toward the end of President Biden’s term has been considerable,” Sullivan said. “It’s there for the taking.”
Biden leaves office next week after Democrats lost the White House in November’s election, handing back the US government to Trump and his fellow Republicans, who will control both chambers of Congress.
Envoys of both Biden and Trump attended weekend talks on the potential deal.
“The question is now: Can we all collectively seize the moment and make this happen,” Sullivan told Bloomberg, adding that Biden had directed him to work closely with the incoming team.

 


Israel army says intercepted projectile launched from Yemen

Updated 13 January 2025
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Israel army says intercepted projectile launched from Yemen

  • Israeli military also intercepted a drone launched from Yemen on Monday

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it intercepted a projectile fired from Yemen on Monday before it crossed into Israeli territory, in the latest in a series of ongoing attacks.
“One projectile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF (Israeli air force) prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday the military said it had also intercepted a drone in southern Israel that was launched from Yemen.
Since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out in October 2023, the Iran-backed Houthi militants who control swathes of Yemen have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians.
In retaliation, Israel has struck Houthi targets several times inside Yemen, including in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa.


Iraqi PM outlines vision for UK relations ahead of official visit

Updated 13 January 2025
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Iraqi PM outlines vision for UK relations ahead of official visit

  • Mohammed Al-Sudani will meet with King Charles, PM Keir Starmer
  • Visit ‘reflects my government’s commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership’

LONDON: Iraq’s prime minister has called for bolstering economic, trade and security ties with the UK ahead of an official visit to the country.

Mohammed Al-Sudani will arrive in London on Jan. 13 and will meet with King Charles, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and senior British officials.

Writing in the Telegraph on Sunday, Al-Sudani said the visit “reflects my government’s commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership between Iraq and the UK.”

He warned that it comes amid “unprecedented and escalating events in the Middle East” that threaten the region and the wider world.

Al-Sudani wrote that regional and international solidarity will ensure that the “free will and aspirations of the Syrian people are respected.”

He praised the UK’s support for Iraq’s fight against Daesh, and said the bilateral relationship had significantly transformed in recent decades.

“Today, as our country achieves greater levels of security and stability, the time has come to transition to a new phase of sustainable economic partnership,” he added.

Al-Sudani will aim to attract British investment in Iraqi energy infrastructure during his visit. It is part of a larger plan to establish Iraq as an international trade hub.

“We will continue to encourage more British investments in oil and gas, as well as in renewable energy projects, recognizing the importance of diversifying energy sources and addressing environmental challenges in the long term,” he wrote.

Al-Sudani highlighted banking reform as another area of potential cooperation with the UK, whose financial institutions and expertise can “improve government services and enhance administrative efficiency.”

He added: “We are determined to channel investments into developing education and training to equip young Iraqis with the skills required to meet the demands of the next phase of development.”

Counterterrorism efforts involving the UK could protect both domestic and regional stability, Al-Sudani said, adding that Iraq could benefit from British military industries.

“My upcoming meetings in London carry a clear message: Iraq is committed to building partnerships based on shared interests and forward-looking vision,” he said.

“We seek a global partner with political and economic weight, and the UK is well-positioned to play this vital role as we embark on a new chapter of growth and reconstruction.”

The Iraqi delegation to the UK includes ministers, MPs, Basra’s governor and representatives from the private sector.