Libya’s GNA Says Ready to Counter ‘Any Attack’

Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
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Libya’s GNA Says Ready to Counter ‘Any Attack’

Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

The forces of Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) said they were “ready” to counter any attack on Sirte and Jufra.

Meanwhile, Turkish troops appeared in photos published by local Libyan media while searching for mines or ordnance left behind from the war in the vicinity of the GNA-run al-Watiya airbase in southwestern Libya.

Websites specialized in monitoring air traffic and military flights have noticed an increasing activity for Turkish cargo planes landing at the base.

Italy’s Itamilradar website tracked a Turkish warplane landing at the base.

At least 36 such flights have been monitored in the past two weeks.

Separately, the Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, received on Wednesday a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The meeting was held at Haftar’s headquarters in al-Rajma, in the eastern city of Benghazi, his office announced, noting that the two parties discussed means to bolster bilateral cooperation.

It said this comes as part of a series of meetings held in line with international scientific support and cooperation with the LNA forces.

In other news, Spokesman for the GNA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mohammed al-Qiblawi announced on Tuesday that Libya had refused to take over the chairmanship of the Arab League’s current session.

Libya will be looking forward to exercising its right under better circumstances and reserves its right to the presidency under the procedural rules of the Arab League, he said.



UN: Nearly 70% of Verified Gaza War Dead Are Women and Children

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
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UN: Nearly 70% of Verified Gaza War Dead Are Women and Children

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday nearly 70% of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
The UN tally since the start of the war, in which Israel's military is fighting Hamas militants, includes only fatalities it has managed to verify with three sources, and counting continues.

The 8,119 victims verified is a much lower number than the toll of over 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month-old war. But the UN breakdown of the victims' age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war.

This finding indicates "a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality," the UN rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.

"It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment on the report's findings.

"Our monitoring indicates that this unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law," Turk said in a statement.

"Tragically, these documented patterns of violations continue unabated, over one year after the start of the war."

His office found that about 80 percent of all the verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing, and that close to 90 percent had died in incidents that killed five or more people.