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Israeli Minister Smotrich Calls for US-led Center for Gaza to Be Shuttered

US and Israeli soldiers convene at the Civil Military Coordination Center, the US-led center overseeing the implementation of President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel November 17, 2025. REUTERS/Alexander Cornwell
US and Israeli soldiers convene at the Civil Military Coordination Center, the US-led center overseeing the implementation of President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel November 17, 2025. REUTERS/Alexander Cornwell
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Israeli Minister Smotrich Calls for US-led Center for Gaza to Be Shuttered

US and Israeli soldiers convene at the Civil Military Coordination Center, the US-led center overseeing the implementation of President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel November 17, 2025. REUTERS/Alexander Cornwell
US and Israeli soldiers convene at the Civil Military Coordination Center, the US-led center overseeing the implementation of President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel November 17, 2025. REUTERS/Alexander Cornwell

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to shut a US-led multinational coordinating center that supports President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war.

Washington established the Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC) last October as a center for civilian and military personnel from other countries to work alongside US and Israeli officials on post-war Gaza planning.

"The time has come to dismantle the headquarters in Kiryat Gat," said Smotrich, the far-right cabinet minister, in remarks shared by his office to media, referring to the Israeli city northeast of Gaza where the center is based.

The Israeli prime minister's office, the US State Department ‌and the US ‌military's Central Command did not immediately respond to requests ‌for ⁠comment on the ‌remarks.

Smotrich also said that Britain, Egypt and other countries that are "hostile to Israel and undermine its security" should be removed from the CMCC. The British and Egyptian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Central Command in December said that 60 countries and organizations were represented at the center. The CMCC has also been tasked with facilitating humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

The US-led CMCC was established after Trump announced his 20-point plan to end the war. Germany, ⁠France, and Canada are also among countries that have sent personnel there.

Smotrich, speaking at an event marking the ‌establishment of a new Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West ‍Bank, said that Hamas should be given ‍a "very short" ultimatum to disarm and go into exile, and once that ultimatum expires, ‍the military should storm Gaza with "full force" to destroy the militant group.

"Mr. Prime Minister, it's either us or them. Either full Israeli control, the destruction of Hamas, and the continued long-term suppression of terrorism, encouragement of the enemy's emigration outward and permanent Israeli settlement," he said.

The plan, announced by Trump in September, states that members of Hamas who commit to peaceful coexistence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Those who want to leave ⁠Gaza will be given safe passage to other countries.

The White House last week announced that the president's plan to end the war was moving to the second phase, which would include the demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza.

Under the initial phase of the plan, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza that went into effect in October.

Hamas also released the remaining living hostages abducted from Israel during the October 2023 attack, who had been held in Gaza since then. The remains of all but one deceased hostage have been handed over as well.

Since the ceasefire started, Israel has repeatedly carried out air strikes in Gaza which it has said were responding to or fending off attacks carried out by Palestinian militants.

Over ‌460 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect. 

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Arab World

Strike Kills 2 Academics at Lebanese University as Israel Bombs Central Beirut

People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Strike Kills 2 Academics at Lebanese University as Israel Bombs Central Beirut

People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

An Israeli strike that hit in the vicinity of Lebanon’s only public university killed the director of the faculty of sciences Hussein Bazzi and professor Mortada Srour.

The campus is in Hadath, on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Israel had warned last week should be evacuated.

It was not clear whether the campus was directly targeted, but smoke could be seen rising near the building’s courtyard in the aftermath.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the bombing, which he said targeted the campus, as a crime and a “violation of international laws and norms that prohibit attacks on educational institutions and civilians.”

Israel’s military said Thursday night it had begun another wave of strikes on Lebanon’s capital, saying it was targeting Hezbollah sites.

Israeli strikes hit two buildings in busy residential and commercial districts near central Beirut.

Arab World

How Israel Crippled Gaza's Fishing

A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
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How Israel Crippled Gaza's Fishing

A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

Fishermen in Gaza say they are facing their toughest conditions since the start of the Israeli war, with Israeli forces preventing them from accessing the sea to earn a living and exposing them to gunfire or arrest, both during periods of truce and even after the ceasefire reached last October.

Israeli forces target Gaza fishermen with live ammunition or detain some for allegedly violating bans on fishing or even diving. Restrictions imposed on Gaza residents also leave them largely unable to swim.

Nafez Jarbou, 53, a fisherman from the Beach refugee camp west of Gaza City, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israeli naval boats destroyed his fishing vessel during the war. He supports a family of 16, including four relatives who worked with him in fishing, all of whom lost their livelihoods.

“When the first truce began in January 2025, we tried to return to fishing using another boat belonging to neighbors whose sons, also fishermen, were killed by Israeli forces,” Jarbou said. “But we were surprised to find we were still barred from fishing.”

Hope briefly returned after the ceasefire was announced. But Jarbou said that, like thousands of other fishermen, he encountered “severe restrictions.” He later tried to resume fishing with his sons within less than one nautical mile from Gaza City’s shoreline.

Israeli naval boats continued to pursue them, opening fire or attempting to arrest them and confiscate their boats, he said.

Diving replaces fishing

With traditional fishing routes effectively closed despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s fishing activity has sharply declined. Even fishing within a one-nautical-mile range has become increasingly restricted.

Faced with these limits, fishermen have turned to diving with simple, rudimentary equipment to avoid being pursued or targeted.

But Jarbou said diving prevents them from catching most types of fish.

“All we can catch now is small sardines, which are not in high demand,” he said.

According to the Gaza Fishermen’s Union, more than 5,000 fishermen worked in the sector before the war.

At least 235 have been killed during Israeli military operations, most in airstrikes that hit their homes or the homes of relatives.

Another 40 fishermen were killed, and dozens were wounded while working at sea at extremely short distances from shore, sometimes less than 500 meters, and in some cases just 200 meters. Israeli forces have also arrested around 43 fishermen.

Mohammed al-Habil, 31, from the Beach refugee camp, was recently released after being detained off Gaza City’s coast.

“We went through a long ordeal in prison after I was arrested with two of my relatives while working at sea to make a living,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Al-Habil said interrogators did not focus on his fishing work but instead sought “information about Hamas members in my area.”

He added that Israeli forces have long targeted fishermen, even before the latest war, attempting to arrest them and recruit them as informants.

“Words cannot describe our living conditions,” he said. “We have joined the large army of unemployed in Gaza.”

He questioned the role of mediators overseeing the ceasefire in ensuring safety for fishermen and allowing them to work at least within two or three nautical miles, an area he said “would not pose any security threat to Israel.”

“Starvation policy”

Zakaria Bakr, head of the Union of Workers in Gaza’s fishing sector, said Israel is “deliberately depriving fishermen of work at sea to starve them,” describing the move as part of a collective punishment policy against the enclave.

Preventing fishing, even within limited distances, despite the ceasefire shows the main goal is to destroy what remains of the fishing sector, which has already suffered heavy damage since the war began, he said.

“What is happening is the destruction of fishermen by depriving them of their livelihoods,” Bakr told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Each fisherman supports at least four family members who depend on the fish they sell, fish that are now largely unavailable under current restrictions imposed by Israel, he said.

The Gaza Center for Human Rights said Israel has imposed strict restrictions aimed at the comprehensive destruction of the fishing sector’s infrastructure and deepening a policy of starvation affecting thousands of fishermen’s families.

The group said Israeli forces destroyed trawlers and large fishing vessels, the backbone of Gaza’s fish production, inside the main Gaza port and the harbors of Khan Younis and Rafah, putting them permanently out of service.

More than 95% of small boats and more than 100 larger vessels have been destroyed, along with fishing equipment and boat-building workshops, it said.

Arab World

UN: Over 200 Civilians Reported Killed in Sudan Drone Strikes Since March 4

Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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UN: Over 200 Civilians Reported Killed in Sudan Drone Strikes Since March 4

Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

UN rights chief Volker Turk said Thursday he was "appalled" at reports that more than 200 civilians had been killed by drone attacks in Sudan since March 4.

"It is deeply troubling that despite multiple reminders, warnings and appeals, parties to the conflict in Sudan continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons with wide-area impacts in populated areas," Turk said in a statement.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in drone strikes across southern Sudan over the past two days, medical sources told AFP on Wednesday, as some of the heaviest fighting of the nearly three-year war grips the region.

Sudan has been riven by conflict since April 2023, when a power struggle between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plunged the country into a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

Since the war broke out, both sides have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.