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Bathily Urges Authorities in East, West Libya to Work Together Following Floods

Bathily met on Saturday with members of the Political Affairs Commission of the High Council of State. Photo: UNSMIL
Bathily met on Saturday with members of the Political Affairs Commission of the High Council of State. Photo: UNSMIL
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Bathily Urges Authorities in East, West Libya to Work Together Following Floods

Bathily met on Saturday with members of the Political Affairs Commission of the High Council of State. Photo: UNSMIL
Bathily met on Saturday with members of the Political Affairs Commission of the High Council of State. Photo: UNSMIL

Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Abdoulaye Bathily has stressed the need for the authorities in East and West Libya to conduct a joint assessment of the humanitarian response following deadly floods in the country’s northeast.

Bathily met on Saturday with members of the Political Affairs Commission of the High Council of State.

He said on X (formerly Twitter) that he “listened to their assessment of the social, humanitarian, economic and political dimensions of the Derna disaster.”

“I stressed the need for authorities in the East and West to conduct a joint assessment of the humanitarian response and reconstruction needs,” he said.

“It is imperative that political leaders live up the moment and work together to overcome the tragedy,” he added.

The disaster in the Libyan city of Derna was caused by the collapse of two dams during a storm on the night of Sept. 10 that unleashed a deadly torrent.

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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.