Houthis Expel UN Official from Sanaa

The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)
The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)
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Houthis Expel UN Official from Sanaa

The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)
The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)

The Yemeni government on Sunday accused the international community of inaction in the face of Houthi terrorism, after the militia group expelled a UN official from Sanaa.

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said in a statement that the “Iran-linked Houthi terrorist militia has expelled the Deputy Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Sana, Safir Al-Din Sayed, from its controlled areas.

He said the move is part of Houthi militia’s restrictions on UN agencies in Yemen.

AL-Eryani said this comes three years after the group has banned the OHCHR’s Representative Renaud Detalle, who was appointed in 2020, from entering the agency’s office in Sanaa, just as it did with the former representative Al-Obaid Ahmad.

The Yemeni minister said the Houthi move also came weeks after the group has killed Hisham Al-Hakimi, the security and safety director at the international charity Save the Children. Hakimi was in Houthi detention for two months.

He recalled that three month ago, the militia group kidnapped three UN employees, including two since November 2021 and one since August 2023, not to mention three former and current US embassy staffers.

Al-Eryani condemned Houthis’ actions as having been the result of the failure of the international community, mainly the UN and its agencies, to shoulder their duties to address them.



Egypt Hosts Hamas in New Gaza Ceasefire Push, Looting Halts Aid

Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
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Egypt Hosts Hamas in New Gaza Ceasefire Push, Looting Halts Aid

Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials on Sunday in a fresh push for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, two Hamas sources said, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene his security cabinet on the matter, two Israeli officials said.

The Hamas visit to Cairo was the first since the United States announced on Wednesday it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza, that would include a hostage deal.

White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said he thought the chances of a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza were now more likely.

"(Hamas) are isolated. Hezbollah is no longer fighting with them, and their backers in Iran and elsewhere are preoccupied with other conflicts," he told CNN on Sunday, Reuters reported.

"So I think we may have a chance to make progress, but I'm not going to predict exactly when it will happen ... we've come so close so many times and not gotten across the finish line."

Palestinians say Israel's operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military strongly denies this and says it is fighting against Hamas.

The military says it has killed hundreds of Hamas militants in that part of Gaza as it fights to stop the faction regrouping. It has also lost around 30 soldiers there in combat with Hamas fighters over the past two months, a relatively high death toll.