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Malki: Palestinian Authority Will Rule Gaza After War

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki speaking at the Third Antalya Diplomatic Forum (AP)
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki speaking at the Third Antalya Diplomatic Forum (AP)
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Malki: Palestinian Authority Will Rule Gaza After War

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki speaking at the Third Antalya Diplomatic Forum (AP)
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki speaking at the Third Antalya Diplomatic Forum (AP)

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki expressed hope on Saturday for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip before the Holy month of Ramadan and he criticized Western countries for not regarding Palestinians as human beings.
Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the Third Antalya Diplomatic Forum held in south Türkiye, Malki said it was important to announce a ceasefire before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“It is important not only because Ramadan is a holy month, but also because the number of innocent Palestinians killed and injured is increasing by the day,” he said, adding that if “we are serious about saving lives, we have to act quickly."
Regarding who will govern Gaza after the war, Malki affirmed, “Us, the Palestinian Authority. That's for sure. No doubt about it.”
Commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements about the future of governance in Gaza, he said, “Who cares about Netanyahu? Netanyahu is an occupier (and) has no political or legal weight to say so.”
“He is saying it solely to undermine the discussion, but he has no political or legal weight,” Malki added.
“His statement has no significance, and I ignored them... so please ignore them the way that I ignored them,” he said.
Regarding Western countries' stance on events in Gaza, the FM said these countries do not regard Palestinians as human beings, possibly because they do not value Palestinian lives.
Palestinians’ lives may be less important than those of others, he noted.
Malki added that Israel has tried to “dehumanize Palestinians since day one” to have a simple way to kill them, affirming that it appears that the West is still living in the era of colonialism, as evidenced by their behavior and actions.
Unfortunately, he said, “they are unable to rid themselves of their ugly past. As a result, “they judge us precisely from that perspective.”
The FM then expressed sadness over considering Palestinians' killings, as well as the destruction of hospitals, shelters, schools, churches, and mosques as normal.
Malki also praised the achievements made at the Moscow meetings, held last Thursday in the presence of representatives of Palestinian factions, most notably Fatah, Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad.
He said the meeting was capable of solving the basic problem faced by the Palestinians in previous talks. “All participants agreed that the PLO is the body that represents all the Palestinian people,” he added, pointing out that the coming period will witness more internal Palestinian dialogues on elections.
“The conditions are now fit for reaching an internal agreement, and we feel responsibility from everyone,” the FM noted.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Contact Group panel formed during the Riyadh Arab-Islamic Summit held a meeting on the sidelines of the Antalya Forum, with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Egyptian FM Sameh Shourky, and Al-Maliki.
In his opening remarks at the panel, Fidan asserted that Israel's actions constitute war crimes, destabilizing the international order.
“Now we are taking this problem into our own hands. We are really taking this job with a regional responsibility. In fact, as a result of this kind of thinking, the Gaza Contact Group was commissioned at the joint OIC-Arab League Summit and is working to take responsibility for the ongoing war in Palestine”, Fidan said.
He added that the Contact Group is continuously pressuring countries supporting Israel and its attacks, aiming to increase humanitarian aid and cease-fire support from a few Western countries.
He also pointed out that the "yes" vote in the UN sessions on the humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza increased from 121 votes in October to 153 after that.
Fidan opposed the hegemony narrative, stating that the current war does not provide security for Israel, emphasizing Palestinians' need for security and self-defense.
He noted that there is another obstacle, saying international calls for a cease-fire and calls for a two-state solution have no impact on Israel.
“It is important to go to the 1967 borders. Only then will the people of Israel truly achieve sustainable security,” the FM said, underlining that Israel will not be safe unless it declares that it does not want to acquire the Palestinian territories.
The Turkish diplomat also noted that Egypt has always been at the heart of the Gaza issue and its role in international humanitarian assistance has been admirable.
For his part, Shoukry emphasized the need for a permanent solution to Israel's Gaza attacks, stating that they have caused “severe instability and insecurity in the region.”
He noted that there were difficulties in the passage of aid from Rafah due to Israeli attacks; they tried to keep the crossing open from the first stage.
Shoukry also noted that Cairo was working to convince the Israeli government to provide support to the Gazans.
“Our efforts have always been blocked. There have been manipulative and restrictive studies, especially related to the amount of aid that can be distributed. There is a very heavy pressure on our brothers in Gaza,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Oncu Keceli, the Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesperson said that Israeli officials will be brought to justice "sooner or later" for their crimes in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
“We are closely following the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice,” Keceli said in a statement on his X account.
Responding to accusations published by Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz concerning a meeting between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the head of the Hamas Movement, Ismail Haniyeh, Keceli said, “We are convinced that sooner or later all members of the Israeli government will be brought to justice for the crimes they are committing in Gaza.”

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Arab World

Lebanon Charges Ex-Central Bank Governor Salameh Over Alleged $44.8 Mln Embezzlement

The Lebanese Central Bank in Beirut (NNA) 
The Lebanese Central Bank in Beirut (NNA) 
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Lebanon Charges Ex-Central Bank Governor Salameh Over Alleged $44.8 Mln Embezzlement

The Lebanese Central Bank in Beirut (NNA) 
The Lebanese Central Bank in Beirut (NNA) 

Lebanese prosecutors have indicted former central bank governor Riad Salameh and two lawyers on charges including embezzlement of public funds, forgery and illicit enrichment, judicial authorities said on Tuesday. 

Salameh, who headed the Lebanese Central Bank for three decades, was detained for about 13 months over alleged financial crimes committed during his tenure and was released in September after paying record bail of more than $14 million. The banker, who remains in Lebanon and is subject to a travel ban, has denied any ‌wrongdoing. 

According to ‌a copy of the indictment issued by Beirut's indictment ‌chamber ⁠seen by ‌Reuters, the panel accused Salameh alongside lawyers Marwan Issa el-Khoury and Michel John Tueni of embezzling $44.8 million from what it described as a central bank "consultancy account". 

It said the chamber also approved a request by the financial public prosecutor to widen investigations into how funds were moved into and out of banks without senior bank managers notifying the central bank's Special Investigation Commission. 

KHOURY SAYS HE HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF 'CONSULTANCY ⁠ACCOUNT' 

In a statement to Reuters, Khoury said he had no knowledge of the "consultancy account" referenced in ‌the charge, had not been involved in the central ‍bank's financial transactions and had never received ‍funds from the institution. 

He said the indictment itself called for a ‍continuation of the inquiry and that there should not have been an accusation against him before the investigation was complete. 

Khoury said the inquiry had already proved that he had not received any funds from the central bank or any fees in relation to its financial transactions. 

Tueni could not be reached for comment. 

The indictment follows earlier moves by the central bank to file a criminal ⁠complaint against a former senior bank official at the central bank, a former banker and a lawyer over alleged illicit enrichment through misuse of public funds, the bank's acting governor Wassim Mansouri has said. 

Salameh, whose 30-year term ended amid a cascade of domestic and international investigations, has been under scrutiny over allegations that more than $300 million was siphoned off between 2002 and 2015. 

The central bank has said it will act as a principal plaintiff in a state investigation into Forry Associates, a company suspected of receiving commissions from commercial banks and transferring them abroad. The company is controlled by Salameh's brother Raja, who also denies wrongdoing. 

The Salameh ‌brothers are under investigation in France, Germany, Switzerland and other countries over alleged embezzlement. 

Arab World

Howling Winds Collapse Walls on Gaza Tent Camps, Killing 4, Child Dies of Hypothermia

Palestinians walk past tents used by displaced people, during a windy winter day, in Gaza City, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk past tents used by displaced people, during a windy winter day, in Gaza City, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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Howling Winds Collapse Walls on Gaza Tent Camps, Killing 4, Child Dies of Hypothermia

Palestinians walk past tents used by displaced people, during a windy winter day, in Gaza City, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk past tents used by displaced people, during a windy winter day, in Gaza City, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)

At least four people died overnight in Gaza from walls collapsing onto their tents as strong winds lashed the Palestinian coastal territory, hospital authorities said Tuesday. 

Dangerous living conditions persist in Gaza after more than two years of devastating Israeli bombardment and aid shortfalls. A ceasefire has been in effect since Oct. 10. But aid groups say that Palestinians broadly lack the shelter necessary to withstand frequent winter storms. 

The dead include two women, a girl and a man, according to Shifa hospital, Gaza City’s largest hospital, which received the bodies. 

Meanwhile, the child death toll in Gaza ticked up. The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday a 1-year-old boy died of hypothermia overnight, while the spokesman for the UN’s children agency said over 100 children and teenagers have been killed in the territory by “military means" since the ceasefire began. 

Family mourns 

Three members of the same family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 8-meter-high (26-foot-high) wall collapsed onto their tent in a coastal area along the Mediterranean shore of Gaza City, Shifa hospital said. At least five others were injured in that collapse. 

Their relatives on Tuesday began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors. 

“The world has allowed us to witness death in all its forms,” Bassel Hamouda said after the funeral. “It’s true the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip.” 

A second woman was killed when a wall fell on her tent in the western part of the city, Shifa hospital said. 

The majority of Palestinians live in makeshift tents since their homes were reduced to rubble during the war. When storms now strike the territory, Palestinian rescue workers warn people against seeking shelter inside damaged buildings, saying they could fall down on top of them. Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza during the truce. 

In the central town of Zawaida, Associated Press footage showed inundated tents Tuesday morning, with people trying to rebuild their shelters. 

Yasmin Shalha, a displaced woman from the northern town of Beit Lahiya, stood against winds that lifted the tarps of tents around her as she stitched hers back together with needle and thread. She said it had fallen on top of her family the night before, as they slept. 

“The winds were very, very strong. The tent collapsed over us,” the mother of five told the AP. “As you can see, our situation is dire.” 

Mohamed al-Sawalha, a 72-year-old man from the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya, criticized the conditions that most Palestinians in Gaza endure. 

“It doesn’t work neither in summer nor in winter,” he said of the tent. “We left behind houses and buildings (with) doors that could be opened and closed. Now we live in a tent. Even sheep don’t live like we do.” 

Israel’s bombing campaign has reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble and half-standing structures. Residents aren’t able to return to their homes in Israeli-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip. 

Child death toll in Gaza rises  

The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday a 1-year-old boy died of hypothermia in the central town of Deir al-Balah, the seventh fatality due to the cold conditions since winter started, including a baby just seven days old and a 4-year-old girl whose deaths were announced the day before. 

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 440 people were killed by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect just over three months ago. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. 

Meanwhile, UNICEF spokesman James Elder said Tuesday at least 100 children under the age of 18 — 60 boys and 40 girls — have been killed in Gaza since the truce began due to military operations, including drone strikes, airstrikes, tank shelling and use of live ammunition.  

Those figures, he said, reflect incidents where enough details have been compiled to warrant recording, but the total toll is expected to be higher. He also said hundreds of children have been wounded. 

While “bombings and shootings have slowed” during the ceasefire, they have not stopped, Elder told reporters at a UN briefing in Geneva by video from Gaza City. 

“So what the world now calls calm would be considered a crisis anywhere else,” he told 

The Palestinian territory's population of more than 2 million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms at bay, amid shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed during the winter months.  

It's the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, 2023, when gunmen stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others into Gaza. 

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's retaliatory offensive began in the territory. 

Arab World

Syrian Army Tells Kurdish Forces to Withdraw from Area East of Aleppo City

Buses carrying displaced residents drive past a building in ruins as they return to the Achrafieh neighborhood after days of fighting between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)
Buses carrying displaced residents drive past a building in ruins as they return to the Achrafieh neighborhood after days of fighting between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)
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Syrian Army Tells Kurdish Forces to Withdraw from Area East of Aleppo City

Buses carrying displaced residents drive past a building in ruins as they return to the Achrafieh neighborhood after days of fighting between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)
Buses carrying displaced residents drive past a building in ruins as they return to the Achrafieh neighborhood after days of fighting between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)

Syria's army told Kurdish forces on Tuesday to withdraw from an area east of Aleppo after deadly clashes in the city last week, as a senior Kurdish official accused Damascus of preparing a new attack. 

Syria's government is seeking to extend its authority across the country, and progress has stalled on integrating the Kurds' de facto autonomous administration and forces into the central government under a deal reached last March. 

In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country's northeast, thousands of people demonstrated against the Aleppo violence. 

Syrian state television published an army statement with a map declaring a large area east of Aleppo city a "closed military zone" and said "all armed groups in this area must withdraw to east of the Euphrates" River. 

The area, controlled by Kurdish forces, extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometers further east, as well as towards the south. 

On Monday, Syria accused the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it sent its own personnel there in response. 

The SDF is the de facto army of the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration and controls swathes of the country's oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during Syria's civil war and the fight against the ISIS group. 

An AFP correspondent saw government forces transporting reinforcements including air defense batteries and artillery towards Deir Hafer on Tuesday. 

Kurdish forces denied any build-up of their personnel around Deir Hafer and accused the government of attacking the town, while state television said SDF sniper fire there killed one person. 

- 'Bloodshed' - 

Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration, said government forces were "preparing themselves for another attack". 

"The real intention is a full-scale attack" against Kurdish-held areas, she told an online press conference, accusing the government of having made a "declaration of war" and breaking the March agreement on integrating Kurdish forces. 

"These assaults should stop," she said, adding that if guarantees were provided "for the security of the civilian population, we are ready to continue the negotiation and dialogue", suggesting the United Nations or other international organizations also take part. 

But, she added, "We will defend ourselves." 

Syria's government took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing its Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Achrafieh neighborhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeast. 

Both sides traded blame over who started the violence last Tuesday that ultimately killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands. 

In Qamishli, shops were shut in a general strike and thousands protested to voice their anger at the Aleppo fighting, some carrying Kurdish flags and banners in support of the SDF and its chief Mazloum Abdi. 

- PKK, Türkiye - 

Other protesters burned portraits of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country has lauded the Syrian government's Aleppo operation "against terrorist organizations". 

Türkiye has long been hostile to the SDF, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a major threat along its southern border. 

Last year, the PKK announced an end to its long-running armed struggle against the Turkish state and began destroying its weapons, but Ankara has insisted that the move include armed Kurdish groups in Syria. 

On Tuesday, the PKK called the "attack on the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo" an attempt to sabotage peace efforts between it and Ankara. 

A day earlier, Ankara's ruling party levelled the same accusation against Kurdish fighters. 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 45 civilians and 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides killed in the Aleppo violence. 

Aleppo civil defense official Faysal Mohammad told AFP on Tuesday that emergency workers had pulled 50 bodies from the two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods since the end of fighting, without saying whether they were combatants or civilians.