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Arab World

Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes ‘Cruelty’ after Israeli Minister’s Criticism

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes ‘Cruelty’ after Israeli Minister’s Criticism

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican's various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza.

"Yesterday, children were bombed," said the pope. "This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart."

The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against the Palestinian group Hamas.

In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that "what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide".

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli sharply criticized those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli said the pope's remarks amounted to a "trivialization" of the term genocide.

Francis also said on Saturday that the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, known as a patriarch, had tried to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday to visit Catholics there, but was denied entry.

The patriarch's office told Reuters it was not able to comment on the pope's remarks about the patriarch being denied entry.

The Israeli military said on Saturday the patriarch's entry had been approved and he would enter Gaza on Sunday, barring any major security issues. Aid from the patriarch's office entered last week, the military said.

Israel allows clerics to enter Gaza and "works in cooperation with the Christian community to make it easier for the Christian population that remains in the Gaza Strip – including coordinating its removal from the Gaza Strip to a third country," a statement from the military said.

The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian fighters attacked southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel's retaliatory campaign, which it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas, has killed more than 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The campaign has displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.

Israel says that at least a third of the dead have been fighters and says it tries to avoid harm to civilians but is battling combatants who it accuses of embedding among the population in dense urban areas. Hamas rejects this. 

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Arab World

Chad Govt Shuts Sudan Border Until Further Notice 

Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)
Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)
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Chad Govt Shuts Sudan Border Until Further Notice 

Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)
Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)

Chad's government said on Monday it was closing the border with Sudan until further notice, following several clashes between Chadian soldiers and armed groups involved in the civil war across the frontier.

"This decision follows repeated incursions and violations committed by the forces involved in the conflict in Sudan on Chadian territory," Communications Minister Mahamat Gassim Cherif said in a statement, adding that he wanted to halt "any risk of the conflict spreading" to his country.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been fighting government troops for almost three years in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and forced 11 million to flee their homes, triggering what the UN says is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The paramilitaries have conducted several operations near the Chad border and at least nine Chadian soldiers have been killed in separate incidents since December.

Monday's statement said Chad "reserves the right to retaliate against any aggression or violation of the inviolability of its territory and its borders".

"Cross-border movements of goods and people are suspended," the text said, adding that "exceptional exemptions" for humanitarian reasons would still be possible.

Arab World

Report: US Forces to Complete Withdrawal from Syria within a Month 

Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 
Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 
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Report: US Forces to Complete Withdrawal from Syria within a Month 

Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 
Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 

US forces that led the anti-ISIS coalition in Syria started leaving a major base in the northeast on Monday and should complete their withdrawal from the country within a month, sources told AFP. 

The move comes after Kurdish forces, long backed by Washington in the fight against the ISIS group, ceded territory to Damascus and agreed to integrate into the state. 

American forces have already withdrawn from two other bases in the past two weeks, Al-Tanf in the southeast and Shaddadi in the northeast. 

"Within a month, they will have withdrawn from Syria and there will no longer be any military presence in the bases," a Syrian government official said, with a Kurdish source confirming the timeline. 

A third source, a diplomat, said the withdrawal should be completed within 20 days. 

The United States has about 1,000 troops still deployed in Syria. It began withdrawing on Monday from the Qasrak base in the northeast, which is still under the control of Kurdish forces, a Kurdish official who requested anonymity told AFP. 

An AFP team saw a convoy of dozens of trucks, loaded with armored vehicles and prefabricated structures, on a road linking the Qasrak base in Hasakeh province to the border with Iraq. 

Syria's government recently extended its control to the northeast of the country. 

Washington has drawn close to Syria's new authorities since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. 

Arab World

Israeli Team in Peace Council Reveals Vision for Gaza Reconstruction

A female member of the al-Ghafir family, sits of the debris of the al-Hasayna Mosque as she recites from a copy of the Quran, during the holy month of Ramadan in western Gaza City on February 21, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A female member of the al-Ghafir family, sits of the debris of the al-Hasayna Mosque as she recites from a copy of the Quran, during the holy month of Ramadan in western Gaza City on February 21, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Israeli Team in Peace Council Reveals Vision for Gaza Reconstruction

A female member of the al-Ghafir family, sits of the debris of the al-Hasayna Mosque as she recites from a copy of the Quran, during the holy month of Ramadan in western Gaza City on February 21, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A female member of the al-Ghafir family, sits of the debris of the al-Hasayna Mosque as she recites from a copy of the Quran, during the holy month of Ramadan in western Gaza City on February 21, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

While many observers remain skeptical about the chances of success for President Donald Trump’s comprehensive Middle East peace plan, figures close to the US administration are projecting confidence. Among them are three Israelis selected for key roles in the project, though they do not formally represent the Israeli government.

According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the officials insist the initiative is already underway, with Egypt, Türkiye and Qatar playing influential roles in persuading Hamas to cooperate. Despite skepticism within parts of Israel’s political and military leadership regarding the feasibility of the plan — and the ability of Trump advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to implement it — the Peace Council members argue that progress so far is “encouraging.”

The Israeli members of the council are Israeli-Cypriot businessman Yakir Gabay, high-tech entrepreneur Liran Tancman, and Michael Eisenberg, who serves as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s representative at the US coordination headquarters in Kiryat Gat.

They contend that Hamas’ agreement to disarm, coupled with reforms to Palestinian school curricula to promote “a culture of peace and tolerance,” would transform Trump’s initiative into “a historic opportunity to turn Gaza into a true Riviera.”

Gabay outlined the first phase: removing 70 million tons of rubble and unexploded ordnance, recycling usable materials, demolishing and sealing hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, and establishing rapid temporary housing in reinforced tents. Parallel efforts would focus on building infrastructure and permanent residential towers.

Plans also include modern hospitals, schools, factories, agricultural zones, road and rail networks, energy and water facilities, data centers, a seaport and an airport. Contractors experienced in constructing millions of housing units across the Middle East would be recruited, with funding reportedly secured. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are expected to be created. In addition to housing and workplaces, 200 hotels are planned.

Tancman, who advises Israel’s national cyber directorate, pledged to introduce advanced technological solutions in cooperation with American, Arab and Palestinian partners. This includes upgrading Gaza’s internet network from 2G to 5G and making access free of charge. Mechanisms for exporting Gaza-made goods are also under development.

A “New Era”?

Officials told Yedioth Ahronoth that reconstruction has effectively begun in Rafah and is expected to take three years. Israel is currently clearing debris, with 100,000 homes slated for construction in the first phase to house 500,000 residents. Infrastructure alone is projected to cost $5 billion. Ultimately, 400,000 homes are planned, with total infrastructure costs estimated at $30 billion, alongside a similar sum for construction.

A senior Peace Council member suggested that if Hamas responds positively, Israel could consider measures such as amnesty for its leaders or even purchasing weapons for cash. “Gaza and its people could enter a new era—connected and open to the world,” he said.

Separately, The Times of Israel cited a US official confirming that funds would not flow before Hamas agrees to disarm, adding that Israel must also act constructively.

An Arab diplomat cautioned that sustained pressure on both sides would be essential to ensure the plan’s success and the establishment of a technocratic administration in Gaza.