Sarraj Calls for Selecting Successor by End of October

Fighters loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) patrol an area south of the Libyan capital Tripoli on January 12, 2020. (File photo: AFP)
Fighters loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) patrol an area south of the Libyan capital Tripoli on January 12, 2020. (File photo: AFP)
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Sarraj Calls for Selecting Successor by End of October

Fighters loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) patrol an area south of the Libyan capital Tripoli on January 12, 2020. (File photo: AFP)
Fighters loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) patrol an area south of the Libyan capital Tripoli on January 12, 2020. (File photo: AFP)

Four years after assuming office, the head of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj announced on Wednesday that he intends to step down by the end of October and make way for a new leader elected by the dialogue committee.

Sarraj also welcomed the results of UN-sponsored negotiations to unite the North African state divided by war and foreign military interventions.

"I declare my sincere desire to hand over my duties to the next executive authority no later than the end of October," Sarraj said while delivering a speech on state television.

"Hopefully, the dialogue committee will complete its work and choose a new presidential council and prime minister," he added.

“Today, we are witnessing meetings and deliberations between Libyans sponsored by the UN, and we welcome the principal recommendations made,” Sarraj said, adding that he is hopeful that those recommendations bring about further agreement among warring parties.

Sarraj said the UN-brokered talks between the country's rival factions have led to a "new preparatory phase" to unify Libyan institutions and prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections.

Although Sarraj supports direct elections as means to a comprehensive solution, he said he would support other understandings established at negotiations.

Despite declaring his wish to resign, Sarraj still defended his government’s performance, saying that it was working under “unnatural” circumstances and that it faced internal and foreign conspiracies on a daily basis.

This, according to Sarraj, inhibited the government from performing its duties in an exemplary fashion.

In other news, the press office of the GNA’s High State Council on Wednesday said its head Khalid al-Mishri had met with Turkey’s Ambassador in Tripoli Serhat Aksen to discuss the latest developments in Libya.

Last November, Turkey and Libya’s GNA signed a maritime, as well as a security and military cooperation agreement.

Oil-rich Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.



Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
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Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday met for a second time in two days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Gaza as Trump's Middle East envoy said Israel and Hamas were closing their differences on a ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu arrived at the White House shortly before 5 p.m. EDT for a meeting that was not expected to be open to the press. The two men met for several hours during a dinner at the White House on Monday during the Israeli leader's third US visit since the president began his second term on January 20.

Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol on Tuesday. He told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.

"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu's return to the White House to see Trump on Tuesday pushed back his meeting with US Senate leaders to Wednesday.

Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week.

"We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we'll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump's Cabinet.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

Trump had strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.

In his remarks to reporters at the US Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump, saying there has never been closer coordination between the US and Israel in his country's history.