Morocco’s King Appoints Members of Development Model Committee

King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Reuters file photo
King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Reuters file photo
TT

Morocco’s King Appoints Members of Development Model Committee

King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Reuters file photo
King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Reuters file photo

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has appointed members of the new special committee in charge of the Kingdom’s development model.

The committee consists of 35 competent and impartial representatives and experts from a range of fields and industries, including prominent Moroccans from the public and private sectors.

Ambassador and former Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa was appointed by the King on November 19 as the committee’s president.

The highly competent members are required to submit an initial report that examines Morocco’s current political, social, and economic situation while considering the Kingdom’s achievements and reforms, along with citizens’ expectations.

It shall also consider Morocco’s international role as well as the country’s prospective developments, according to a statement by the Royal Court.

The report is expected to be submitted to the King on the summer of 2020 and include major required amendments and concrete initiatives to improve and renew the national development model.

Among the members are Adnane Addioui, co-founder of the “Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship” and “Wuluj” platform for participation in the financing of creative and innovative projects, Rajae Aghzadi, surgical practitioner, president of Moroccan Association “Heart of women,” Mohamed Amrani Boukhobza, dean of the Faculty of Law of Tetouan and Professor of Higher Education at the Faculty of Law of Tangier and Farida Benlyazid, film critic, director and screenwriter.

It also includes the international expert in energy strategy and sustainability, Laila Benali, who also serves as chief Economist, director of Strategy, economics and sustainability at APICORP and president of the Arab Energy Club.

Other members include Economist Mohamed Benmoussa, former administrator of the Deontological Council for Securities and vice-president of the Damir association, Rachid Benzine, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and at the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Paris, Hamid Bouchikhi, expert in entrepreneurship and managerial innovation, dean of SolBridge International School of Business based in Daejeon, South Korea and member of the Moroccan Institute of Strategic Intelligence.

Ahmed Bounfour, Raja Chafil, Reda Chami Ahmed, Noureddine El Aoufi, Rita El Kadiri, Khadija EL Kamouny, Mohamed Fikrat, Rachid Guerraoui, Narjis Hilale, Hakima Himmich, Larbi Jaidi, Driss Jetto, Ahmed Joumani, Driss Ksikes, Ghita Lahlou El Yacoubi, Fouad Laroui, Khalid Machchate, Abdellatif Miraoui, Noureddine Omary, Ouhajou Lakbir, Hassan Rachik, Youssef Saadani, Saadia Slaoui Bennani, Karim Tazi, Mostafa Terrab, Mohamed Tozy and Michael Zaoui are the rest of the committee’s members.

Back in July, the Monarch called on Throne Day to address the needs of Morocco’s growing and modernizing population by forming this committee.

“I should like to emphasize, in this regard, that the said committee will not serve as a second government or be a parallel official institution. This is an advisory body with a specific time-bound mission,’’ said King Mohammed VI.

The special committee will consider serious reforms in education, health, agriculture, investment, and taxation. It is also expected to make suggestions on how to improve reforms the government has already put into place and increase their effectiveness.



Israeli Reservist Rams Vehicle into Palestinian Man Praying in West Bank

Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
TT

Israeli Reservist Rams Vehicle into Palestinian Man Praying in West Bank

Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)

An Israeli reservist soldier rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man as he prayed on a roadside in ​the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after earlier firing shots in the area, the Israeli military said.

"Footage was received of an armed individual running over a Palestinian individual," it said in a statement, adding the individual was a reservist ‌and his ‌military service had ‌been terminated.

The ⁠reservist ​acted "in severe ‌violation of his authority" and his weapon had been confiscated, the military said.

Israeli media reported that he was being held under house arrest.

The Israeli police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The ⁠Palestinian man went to hospital for checks after ‌the attack, but was unhurt ‍and is now ‍at home.

Video which aired on Palestinian ‍TV shows a man in civilian clothing with a gun slung over his shoulder driving an off-road vehicle into a man praying on ​the side of the road.

This year ​was one of the most violent on ⁠record for Israeli civilian attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to United Nations data that shows more than 750 injuries.

More than a thousand Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between October 7, 2023 and October 17, 2025, mostly in operations by security forces and some by settler violence, according to the UN In ‌the same period, 57 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks.


Deadly Blast Hits Mosque in Syria’s Homs

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
TT

Deadly Blast Hits Mosque in Syria’s Homs

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)

A deadly explosion hit a mosque in Syria's Homs on Friday, said authorities who reported at least six people killed.

"A terrorist explosion targeted the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers in Al-Khadri Street in the Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs," the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that six people were killed and 21 others wounded.

Syria's state news agency SANA, which also reported the blast, said its cause and nature were being investigated.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights monitor, it was not immediately clear whether the blast "was caused by a suicide attack or an explosive device".

A local security source in Homs told AFP on condition of anonymity the explosion may have been caused by "an explosive device placed inside the mosque".

A resident of the area, requesting anonymity out of fear for his safety, told AFP people "heard a loud explosion, followed by chaos and panic in the neighborhood".

SANA published photos from inside the mosque, one of which showed a hole in a wall.

Black smoke covered part of the mosque, with carpets and books scattered nearby.


Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
TT

Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)

A major Gaza hospital has suspended several services because of a critical fuel shortage in the devastated Palestinian territory, which continues to face a severe humanitarian crisis, it said.

Devastated by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.

"Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators," said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital.

"Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and pediatrics."

To keep these services running, the hospital has been forced to rent a small generator, he added.

Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 liters of diesel per day. At present, however, it has only 800 liters available.

"We stress that this shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel," Mehanna said, warning that a prolonged fuel shortage "would pose a direct threat to the hospital's ability to deliver basic services".

He urged local and international organizations to intervene swiftly to ensure a steady supply of fuel.

Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis.

While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day into Gaza, only 100 to 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.

The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza's 2.2 million people.

- Health hard hit -

On a daily basis, the vast majority of Gaza's residents rely on aid from UN agencies and international NGOs for survival.

Gaza's health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war.

During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals and medical centers across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centers there, an allegation the group denied.

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza's 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilization centers for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs.

The war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, 2023, following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people - also mostly civilians - have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.