Algeria Suspends Senior Official in Intelligence Agency ‘Purge’

A general view shows an empty street after a curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Algiers, Algeria March 25, 2020. (Reuters)
A general view shows an empty street after a curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Algiers, Algeria March 25, 2020. (Reuters)
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Algeria Suspends Senior Official in Intelligence Agency ‘Purge’

A general view shows an empty street after a curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Algiers, Algeria March 25, 2020. (Reuters)
A general view shows an empty street after a curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Algiers, Algeria March 25, 2020. (Reuters)

Mohamed Bouzit was appointed on Thursday as chief of the external security directorate, succeeding Kamel-Eddine Remili.

New army chief, Major-General Said Chengriha, oversaw the appointment ceremony.

Bouzit’s appointment came at the order of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in his role as defense minister and commander of the armed forces, said Chengriha.

Remili had stepped down from his post three days after the dismissal and imprisonment of internal security and head of intelligence chief Wasini Bouazza.

No explanation was given for Remili’s resignation.

Tebboune and Chengriha fired Bouazza a week ago when the presidency appointed General Abdelghani Rachedi as a deputy, granting him “wide powers”.

Bouazza, is on military trial for committing “serious violations" during his eight-month tenure. Dozens of Algerian activists, politicians, and journalists were imprisoned during his term in office.

His dismissal is a sign that the authorities are determined to terminate the legacy of late army chief of staff Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaid Saleh, who was the de facto leader of the country after president Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation in April 2019, political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday.

Saleh passed away suddenly late last year.

Saleh was considered the "godfather" of Bouazza and appointed him as head of Internal Security after restructuring the intelligence service.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.