Protests in Tripoli to Demand End of Transitional Phase

Protesters in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square on Friday. Asharq Al-Awsat
Protesters in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square on Friday. Asharq Al-Awsat
TT

Protests in Tripoli to Demand End of Transitional Phase

Protesters in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square on Friday. Asharq Al-Awsat
Protesters in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square on Friday. Asharq Al-Awsat

Libyan demonstrators protested in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square on Friday, demanding the unity of state institutions and the termination of the transitional phase by holding a referendum before elections.

The protest was organized by a group of young Libyans under the title “March 30 Movement.” Hundreds began appearing in the square on Thursday evening to take part in Friday's protests.

As protest calls for the sake of changing the “political map” circulated on social networks, the official page of Al-Jazeera urged Libyans to demonstrate in the square.

On its Facebook page, the movement announced that it received security approval from the Security Directorate in Tripoli to protest peacefully in the square based on agreed demands and objectives.

“It is time to resort to the streets and unite through peaceful protest, to demand our rights and put an end to our suffering,” said the movement.

The protest, which coincided with the second anniversary of Chairman of the Presidential Council Fayez Sarraj’s entrance to Tripoli in line with the Skhirat Agreement, was preceded by several arrangements including preparing unified posters in the square and distributing white caps to the protesters.

Local media reports said that some figures close to the Islamic movement in Libya are promoting for the movement for the sake of changing the country’s “political map.”

Libyan journalist Hussein Masouri stated to Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement’s demands represent the majority of Libyans except for the referendum on the constitution.

UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame is seeking to organize elections in Libya by September.

In his latest remarks to the Security Council, he said efforts are underway to hold just and free elections by the end of the year.



With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
TT

With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the latest conflict.

Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area on July 13, the territory's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas' elusive military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.

According to the United Nations, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.

Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes.

After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.

"We didn't take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us," she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.

She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers.

When Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 they killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say.

Hana Al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.

If Egyptian, US and Qatari mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. "Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous," she said.