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Israel Rearrests Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar

Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar. Reuters file photo
Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar. Reuters file photo
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Israel Rearrests Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar

Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar. Reuters file photo
Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar. Reuters file photo

Israeli forces on Thursday rearrested Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar, who was freed in February after being held without trial for 20 months over links to an outlawed group, her daughter said.

"My mother … was arrested from our house in Ramallah" at about 3:00 am, Jarrar's daughter Yafa posted on Facebook.

Jarrar, 56, was previously arrested on July 2, 2017, for being a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners Club told AFP that Palestinian writer Ali Jaradat, a known PFLP member, was also arrested overnight, as well as 10 other people whose identities the club did not disclose.

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi condemned the arrests.

"We strongly condemn the overnight raids of Ramallah, Bethlehem and other Palestinian cities by Israeli occupation forces and their targeted detention of several activists, including elected representative and political leader Khalida Jarrar," she said.

"This is the third time Israeli occupation forces detain representative Khalida Jarrar, who is also a prominent human rights defender."

Shortly after last year's arrest, she was given a six-month administrative detention order, which was then extended several times.

Israeli administrative detention orders allow suspects to be held without charge for renewable six-month periods.

Israel says administrative detention is intended to allow authorities to hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, with the aim of preventing crimes in the meantime.

But the system has been criticized by Palestinians, human rights groups and members of the international community, who say Israel abuses it.

The Israeli army said that after one such extension of Jarrar's custody, "security personnel found she still poses a substantial threat".

She had also been jailed in the past.

In December 2015, an Israeli military court convicted Jarrar on charges including encouraging attacks against Israel and violating a travel ban.

It sentenced her to 15 months in prison, but she was freed a month early due to overcrowding in Israeli jails.

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Red Cross Concerned by Drone Attacks on Critical Infrastructure in Sudan

People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Red Cross Concerned by Drone Attacks on Critical Infrastructure in Sudan

People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
People collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organization to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

The Red Cross raised alarm on Thursday at the growing use of drone attacks by warring parties on hospitals, electricity and water infrastructure in Sudan, which it said was contributing to widespread human rights violations.

Some 70-80% of hospitals in Sudan were not running and there were concerns cholera could surge due to damage caused by the war to water infrastructure, the International Committee of the Red Cross told reporters in Geneva.

"A recent drone attack stopped all the electricity provision in an area close to Khartoum, which means critical infrastructure is being damaged," said Patrick Youssef, the Red Cross's Regional Director for Africa, in a new report.

"There is a clear increased use of these technologies, drones - to be in the hands of everyone - which increases the impact on the local population and the intensity of attacks," Youssef said.

After two years of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, some people are returning to Khartoum after they were forced to flee when war broke out on April 15, 2023 amidst a ongoing power struggle between the army and the RSF ahead of a transition to civilian rule.

Some 12 million people have been displaced by the conflict since 2023.

"We have seen violations of the law left, right and center,” Youssef said, urging the warring parties to allow the Red Cross access so it can offer humanitarian support and document atrocities.

In March, aid groups told Reuters that the RSF had placed new constraints on aid deliveries to territories where it was seeking to cement its control. Aid groups have also accused the army of denying or hindering access to RSF-controlled areas.

Both sides in the conflict deny impeding aid.