JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday signaled that he was moving ahead with US President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza, calling it “the only viable plan to enable a different future” for the region.
Netanyahu discussed the plan with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who kicked off a Middle East visit by endorsing Israel’s war aims in Gaza, saying Hamas “must be eradicated.” That created further doubt around the shaky ceasefire as talks on its second phase are yet to begin.
Rubio, in his upcoming stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is likely to face more pushback from Arab leaders over Trump’s proposal, which includes redeveloping Gaza under US ownership. Netanyahu has said all emigration from Gaza should be “voluntary,” but rights groups and other critics say that the plan amounts to coercion given the territory’s vast destruction.
Netanyahu said he and Trump have a “common strategy” for Gaza. Echoing Trump, he said “the gates of hell would be open” if Hamas doesn’t release dozens of remaining hostages abducted in the militant group’s attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the 16-month war.
The ceasefire’s first phase ends in two weeks. Negotiations were meant to begin two weeks ago on the second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces
Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News that “phase two is absolutely going to begin” and he had ”very productive” calls Sunday with Netanyahu and officials from Egypt and Qatar, which serve as mediators, about continuing talks this week. He also said hostages to be released include 19 Israeli soldiers and “we believe all of them are alive.”
Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s security Cabinet would meet Monday to discuss the second phase.
Trump later told journalists it is “up to Israel what the next step is, in consultation with me.”
In another sign of closing ranks, Israel’s Defense Ministry said it received a shipment of 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) MK-84 munitions from the United States. The Biden administration paused a shipment of such bombs last year over concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza.
Resuming the war could doom hostages
This week marks 500 days of the war. Netanyahu has signaled readiness to resume the fighting after the ceasefire’s current phase, though it could be a death sentence for remaining hostages.
Rubio said peace becomes impossible as long as Hamas “stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can administer or as a force that can threaten by use of violence,” adding, “It must be eradicated.”
Hamas reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire began last month, despite suffering heavy losses.
Netanyahu has offered Hamas a chance to surrender and send top leaders into exile. Hamas has rejected that scenario and insists on Palestinian rule. Spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou told The Associated Press the group accepts a Palestinian unity government or a technocratic committee to run Gaza.
Netanyahu instructed negotiators to leave for Cairo on Monday to discuss further implementation of the ceasefire’s first phase, as issues over delivery of shelter materials continue.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it carried out an airstrike on people who approached forces in southern Gaza. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said it killed three of its police officers while they secured the entry of aid trucks near Rafah on the Egyptian border.
‘If someone has a better plan ... that’s great’
In an interview last week, Rubio indicated that Trump’s Gaza proposal was in part aimed at pressuring Arab states to make their own postwar plan that would be acceptable to Israel.
Rubio also appeared to suggest that Arab countries send troops to combat Hamas.
“If the Arab countries have a better plan, then that’s great,” Rubio said Thursday on the “Clay and Buck Show.”
But “Hamas has guns,” he added. “Someone has to confront those guys. It’s not going to be American soldiers. And if the countries in the region can’t figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it.”
Rubio wasn’t scheduled to meet with Palestinians on his trip.
Arabs have limited options
For Arab leaders, facilitating the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza or battling Palestinian militants on behalf of Israel are nightmare scenarios that would bring fierce domestic criticism and potentially destabilize an already volatile region.
Egypt hosts an Arab summit on Feb. 27 and is working with other countries on a counterproposal that would allow for Gaza’s rebuilding without removing its population. Human rights groups say the expulsion of Palestinians would likely violate international law.
Egypt has warned that any mass influx of Palestinians from Gaza would undermine its nearly half-century peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of US influence in the region.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia also have rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians.
The UAE was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords in which four Arab states — Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco and Sudan — normalized relations with Israel during Trump’s previous term. Trump hopes to expand the accords to include Saudi Arabia, potentially offering closer US defense ties, but the kingdom has said it won’t normalize relations with Israel without a pathway to a Palestinian state.
Rubio won’t be visiting Egypt or Jordan, close US allies at peace with Israel that have refused to accept any influx of Palestinian refugees. Trump has suggested he might slash US aid if they don’t comply, which could be devastating for their economies.
Rubio is also skipping Qatar.
Arab and Muslim countries have conditioned any support for postwar Gaza on a return to Palestinian governance with a pathway to statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories that Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel has ruled out a Palestinian state and any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out when Hamas seized power there in 2007.
Netanyahu signals he’s moving ahead with Trump’s idea to transfer Palestinians from Gaza
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Netanyahu signals he’s moving ahead with Trump’s idea to transfer Palestinians from Gaza
Palestinian patients in Gaza dying due to lack of medical supplies, equipment: American surgeon
- Dr. Mark Perlmutter spent three weeks treating patients in Al-Aqsa and Nasser hospitals
- He was inside Nasser Hospital when Israeli airstrike targeted Hamas finance chief Ismail Barhoum
LONDON: An American surgeon working in Gaza has described the dire conditions in hospitals, saying Palestinian patients have died due to a lack of medical supplies and equipment.
Dr. Mark Perlmutter, who spent three weeks treating patients in Al-Aqsa and Nasser hospitals, told the BBC that doctors are operating without soap, antibiotics or X-ray facilities.
“The small community hospital, Al-Aqsa, is a tenth the size of any of the facilities in my home state — maybe smaller — and it did well to manage those horrible injuries,” he told the broadcaster following his second trip to the Palestinian enclave.
“Nevertheless, because of lack of equipment, many, many of those patients died, who would certainly not have died at a better-equipped hospital.”
He described treating severely wounded children, including a 15-year-old girl hit by Israeli machinegun fire while riding her bicycle and a boy, the same age, who was in a car with his grandmother after receiving warnings to evacuate from the north.
“They were both macerated and shredded by Apache gunships,” Perlmutter said. “The girl will be lucky if she keeps three of her limbs.”
Perlmutter was inside Nasser Hospital when an Israeli airstrike targeted Hamas finance chief Ismail Barhoum.
He said Barhoum was receiving medical treatment and had a right to protection under the Geneva Convention. The Israeli military said he was in the hospital “in order to commit acts of terrorism.”
With most hospitals in Gaza barely functioning, Perlmutter praised the commitment and dedication of the Palestinian medical staff, which he said go above and beyond the efforts of foreign doctors like himself.
“They all abandon their families, they volunteer and often work without pay. We get to go home in a month, which they don’t,” he said.
The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, has called the situation in Gaza “dire,” noting that humanitarian aid remains blocked at border crossings.
Israel’s onslaught has killed more than 15,000 Palestinian children in Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry has said, adding that since Israel broke a ceasefire and resumed its strikes on March 18, 921 Palestinians have been killed.
Perlmutter warned that if the Israeli attacks continue, hospitals operating without urgent medical supplies will see more wounded Palestinians die from treatable injuries.
Lebanon makes arrests over rockets fired at Israel
- Lebanon’s General Security agency said it had “arrested a number of suspects, and the relevant authorities have begun investigations with them”
BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities said Sunday several suspects had been arrested after rockets were fired at neighboring Israel earlier this month, testing a fragile November ceasefire.
Lebanon’s General Security agency said it had “arrested a number of suspects, and the relevant authorities have begun investigations with them to determine responsibility and take the appropriate legal measures.”
Militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel last year, has denied involvement in the rocket fire that took place on March 22 and 28.
It however prompted an Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold for the first time since the truce went into effect in November.
Gaza rescuers say recovered 15 bodies after Israel fire on ambulances
- Bodies of eight medics from the Red Crescent, six members of Gaza’s civil defense agency and one employee of a UN agency were retrieved
- One medic from the Red Crescent remains missing
GAZA CITY: The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Sunday it had recovered the bodies of 15 rescuers killed a week ago when Israeli forces targeted ambulances in the Gaza Strip.
Bodies of eight medics from the Red Crescent, six members of Gaza’s civil defense agency and one employee of a UN agency were retrieved, the Red Crescent said in a statement.
It said one medic from the Red Crescent remained missing.
The group said the those killed “were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces while performing their humanitarian duties as they were heading to the Hashashin area of Rafah to provide first aid to a number of people injured by Israeli shelling in the area.”
“The occupation’s targeting of Red Crescent medics ... can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law, which the occupation continues to violate before the eyes of the entire world.”
In an earlier statement the Red Crescent said the bodies “were recovered with difficulty as they were buried in the sand, with some showing signs of decomposition.”
Gaza’s civil defense agency also confirmed that 15 bodies had been recovered, adding that the deceased UN employee was from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA.
The incident occurred on March 23 in Rafah city’s Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood, close to the Egyptian border, just days after the military resumed its bombardments of Gaza following an almost two-month-long truce.
On Saturday, the Red Crescent had accused Israeli authorities of refusing to allow search operations to locate its crew.
The Israeli military acknowledged its troops had opened fire on ambulances.
It told AFP in a statement this week that its forces had “opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists.”
“A few minutes afterwards, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops” who “responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles,” it said, adding that several “terrorists” were killed.
“Some of the suspicious vehicles... were ambulances and fire trucks,” the military statement said, citing “an initial inquiry” into the incident.
It condemned “the repeated use” by “terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip of ambulances for terrorist purposes.”
Tom Fletcher, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that since resumption of hostilities on March 18, Israeli air strikes have hit “densely populated areas,” with “patients killed in their hospital beds. Ambulances shot at. First responders killed.”
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 921 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed its large-scale strikes.
Jordanian authorities arrest 10 drug traffickers in major anti-narcotics operations
- Among most significant arrests was that of notorious suspected synthetic cannabis dealer in Irbid Governorate
AMMAN: Jordan’s Anti-Narcotics Department arrested 10 alleged drug traffickers and smugglers in five high-profile cases as part of an ongoing crackdown on drug-related crimes across the country, a spokesperson for the Public Security Directorate announced on Sunday.
Among the most significant arrests was that of a notorious suspected synthetic cannabis dealer in Irbid Governorate.
Authorities also detained three individuals said to be involved in the production and distribution of the potent “Joker” drug, which is a synthetic cannabinoid, also known as a neocannabinoid, which are designer drugs that mimic the effects of cannabis.
A raid on the main suspect’s apartment led to the seizure of 6 kg of the substance, along with hazardous chemicals used in its manufacture. Three additional suspects were arrested in Ramtha District on suspicion of assisting in the operation.
In Aqaba Governorate, an alleged drug dealer was apprehended in possession of 60 hashish pills, while another suspected trafficker in Madaba Governorate was caught with 10 palm-sized sheets of hashish, a quantity of crystal meth, and a weapon after resisting arrest.
Meanwhile, authorities in Mafraq Governorate arrested an individual found with half a kilogram of crystal meth.
Additionally, security forces intercepted a suspicious package arriving in Amman from an unamed neighboring country. Upon inspection, they discovered 10,000 narcotic pills. Further investigations led to the arrest of three individuals connected to the case.
The Public Security Directorate reaffirmed its commitment to combating drug trafficking and bringing perpetrators to justice, emphasizing that efforts to dismantle criminal networks will continue nationwide, Jordan News Agency reported.
Morocco’s $728m ‘water highway’ faces sustainability concerns
- The project succeeds in heading off immediate threat to the water supply of the country’s most populous region
KENITRA: Morocco is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on tapping northern rivers to supply water to parched cities farther south but experts question the sustainability of the project in the face of climate change.
The North African kingdom has spent $728 million so far on what it dubs a “water highway” to redirect the surplus flow of the Sebou River to meet the drinking water needs of capital Rabat and economic hub Casablanca, according to official figures.
In the future, it plans to tap other northern rivers to extend the project to the southern city of Marrakech.
FASTFACT
Morocco has long suffered from extreme disparities in rainfall between the Atlas mountain ranges and the semi-arid and desert regions farther south.
Officials say the project has been a success in heading off the immediate threat to the water supply of the country’s most populous region.
“Transferring surplus water from the Sebou basin in the north allowed us to prevent about 12 million people from running out of water,” said senior agriculture ministry official Mahjoub Lahrache.
In late 2023, the capital Rabat and its surrounding region came perilously close to running out of water when the main reservoir supplying the city ran dry.
Morocco has long suffered from extreme disparities in rainfall between the Atlas mountain ranges and the semi-arid and desert regions farther south.
“Fifty-three percent of rainfall occurs in just seven percent of the national territory,” Water Minister Nizar Baraka told AFP.
In the past, rainfall in the Atlas ranges has created sufficient surplus flow on most northern rivers for them to reach the ocean even in the driest months of the year.
It is those surpluses that the “water highway” project seeks to tap.
A diversion dam has been built in the city of Kenitra, just inland from the Atlantic coast, to hold back the flow of the Sebou River before it enters the ocean.
The water is then treated and transported along a 67-kilometer (42-mile) underground canal to supply residents of Rabat and Casablanca.
Inaugurated last August, the “water highway” had supplied more than 700 million cubic meters (24.7 billion cubic feet) of drinking water to the two urban areas by early March, according to official figures.
But experts question how long the Sebou and other northern rivers will continue to generate water surpluses that can be tapped.
The kingdom already suffers from significant water stress after six straight years of drought.
Annual water supply has dropped from an average of 18 billion cubic meters in the 1980s to just five billion today, according to official figures.
Despite heavy rains in the northwest in early March, Morocco remains in the grip of drought with rainfall 75 percent below historical averages.
The dry spell has been “the longest in the country’s history,” the water minister said, noting that previous dry cycles typically lasted three years at most.
Rising temperatures — up 1.8 degrees Celsius last year alone — have intensified evaporation.
Experts say that climate change is likely to see further reductions in rainfall, concentrated in the very areas from which the “water highway” is designed to tap surplus flows.
“Future scenarios indicate that northern water basins will be significantly more affected by climate change than those in the south over the next 60 years,” said water and climate researcher Nabil El Mocayd.
“What is considered surplus today may no longer exist in the future due to this growing deficit,” he added, referencing a 2020 study in which he recommended scaling back the “water highway.”
Demand for water for irrigation also remains high in Morocco, where the farm sector employs nearly a third of the workforce.
Researcher Abderrahim Handouf said more needed to be done to help farmers adopt water-efficient irrigation techniques.
Handouf said the “water highway” was “an effective solution in the absence of alternatives” but warned that climate challenges will inevitably “create problems even in the north.”
“We must remain cautious,” he said, calling for greater investment in desalination plants to provide drinking water to the big cities.
