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Morocco's BCIJ Dismantles ISIS-Linked Cell

Members of the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) show their skills during an event, open to the public, on September 28, 2018, in Marrakesh. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Members of the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) show their skills during an event, open to the public, on September 28, 2018, in Marrakesh. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
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Morocco's BCIJ Dismantles ISIS-Linked Cell

Members of the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) show their skills during an event, open to the public, on September 28, 2018, in Marrakesh. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Members of the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) show their skills during an event, open to the public, on September 28, 2018, in Marrakesh. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) busted on Friday a five-member terrorist cell in Safi, a city located in Western Morocco. The cell included a former detainee jailed for his involvement in terror-related charges with ISIS.

The suspects are aged between 21-36 Morocco’s Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

Investigations by the Security services found that the suspects had pledged allegiance to ISIS and were planning to join fighters in Syrian and Iraqi combat zones in coordination with members on the ground.

The suspects were also planning terror plots to undermine the security and stability of Morocco.

The BCIJ seized several electronic devices and knives, in addition to radicalized scripts, added the statement.

According to the ministry, one of the suspects “attempted to exploit his presence in a sub-Saharan country to obtain sponsors to join a group affiliated to ISIS, which is active in the Sahel region.

Police have put the suspects in custody for further investigations.

Since December 2018, BCIJ has arrested 918 people for terror-related crimes, including 14 women and 29 minors.

The number of terror cells and suspects for terror-related crimes has increased in Morocco. BCIJ has been especially active in the first two months of 2019, arresting a number of Isis-linked terrorism suspects between January and February.

In January, the bureau dismantled a 13-member terror cell for their alleged ISIS ties.

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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."