UN Optimistic on Libya Election Date

UN acting envoy for Libya Stephanie Williams (Reuters)
UN acting envoy for Libya Stephanie Williams (Reuters)
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UN Optimistic on Libya Election Date

UN acting envoy for Libya Stephanie Williams (Reuters)
UN acting envoy for Libya Stephanie Williams (Reuters)

The United Nations acting Libya envoy expects coming political talks to designate a date for national elections after the country’s two warring sides agreed a ceasefire last week.

“What resonates is a clear and direct desire for there to be elections in as rapid a timeframe as possible,” Stephanie Williams told Reuters on Tuesday.

“Whatever executive authority they agree on really needs to have a clear focus - preparing for the elections,” she added. “I do fully expect there to be a date designated for elections.”

The UN official said she was hopeful for the talks, citing a recent lack of fighting, progress in ending an eight-month oil blockade and reopening internal transport routes, and involvement of figures from across Libya’s political spectrum.

“We have learned from previous political processes not to exclude any political constituency and so in this dialogue you do also have representation from the previous regime,” Williams stated.

“That’s why I’m much more optimistic because I think there’s more buy in.”

She acknowledged some in Libya’s political class may seek to block progress but said “they are increasingly in a minority”, citing protests in Tripoli and Benghazi this summer over corruption and poor services.

“I hope we hear more voices in the international community pushing, pressuring both the internal and external actors to take advantage of this very positive dynamic,” she said.

William’s optimism, however, has been faced with rejection of many Libyan parties to the UN mission’s plan on launching an inclusive political dialogue in the country.

The Supreme Council of the Libyan Tribes and Cities stressed its rejection to the scheduled talks in Tunis next month. It said the UN mission has failed to announce a mechanism for selecting candidates, noting that many selected figures are “advocates of terrorism,” in an implicit reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In its statement on Wednesday, the Council highlighted the domination of Islamic organizations and their allies on the list of those invited to the round table event and the exclusion of national actors and influential social components.

Libya has been split since 2014 between factions based in the capital Tripoli, in the west, and in the city of Benghazi, in the east.

Last week, a truce was agreed in Geneva by Fayez Al-Sarraj’s Tripoli-based UN-backed Government of National Accord and Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army.

Meanwhile, members of the Security Council welcomed the permanent ceasefire agreement signed by the 5+5 Joint Military Commission on Oct. 23 in Geneva following talks facilitated by the UN.

The members of the Security Council called on the Libyan parties to abide by their commitments and implement the agreement in full, urging Libyan parties to show the same determination in reaching a political solution through the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF).

They also welcomed the launch of the LPDF on Oct. 26 with a virtual meeting and looked forward to the in-person meeting of the LPDF in Tunisia on Nov. 9.

The members recalled their resolution 2510 (2020) and the commitment of the participants of the Berlin Conference to comply with the arms embargo and to refrain from intervening in the armed conflict or in the internal affairs of Libya.

They called on Member States to respect and support the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Libya.



Netanyahu, Trump Appear to Abandon Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations with Hamas

 Relatives mourn over the body of 11-year-old Palestinian boy Qais Adwan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza that has been used as a shelter, during his burial at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)
Relatives mourn over the body of 11-year-old Palestinian boy Qais Adwan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza that has been used as a shelter, during his burial at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)
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Netanyahu, Trump Appear to Abandon Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations with Hamas

 Relatives mourn over the body of 11-year-old Palestinian boy Qais Adwan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza that has been used as a shelter, during his burial at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)
Relatives mourn over the body of 11-year-old Palestinian boy Qais Adwan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza that has been used as a shelter, during his burial at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared on Friday to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinian group did not want a deal.

Netanyahu said Israel was now mulling "alternative" options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending Hamas rule in the enclave, where starvation is spreading and most of the population is homeless amid widespread ruin.

Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down", telling reporters at the White House: "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job."

The remarks appeared to leave little to no room, at least in the short term, to resume negotiations to pause the fighting, at a time when international concern is mounting over worsening hunger in war-shattered Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron, responding to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, announced overnight that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state. Britain and Germany said they were not yet ready to do so.

Trump dismissed Macron's move. "What he says doesn't matter," he told reporters at the White House. "He's a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight."

Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations on Thursday from the ceasefire talks in Qatar, hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal.

Sources initially said on Thursday that the Israeli withdrawal was only for consultations and did not necessarily mean the talks had reached a crisis. But Netanyahu's remarks suggested Israel's position had hardened overnight.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said overnight Hamas was to blame for the impasse, and Netanyahu said Witkoff had got it right.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Facebook that the talks had been constructive, and criticized Witkoff's remarks as aimed at exerting pressure on Israel's behalf.

"What we have presented - with full awareness and understanding of the complexity of the situation - we believe could lead to a deal if the enemy had the will to reach one," he said.

The proposed ceasefire would suspend fighting for 60 days, allow more aid into Gaza, and free some of the 50 remaining hostages held by fighters in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

It has been held up by disagreement over how far Israel should withdraw its troops and the future beyond the 60 days if no permanent agreement is reached.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Netanyahu's coalition, welcomed Netanyahu's step, calling for a total halt of aid to Gaza and complete conquest of the enclave, adding in a post on X: "Total annihilation of Hamas, encourage emigration, (Jewish) settlement."

MASS HUNGER

International aid organizations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza's 2.2 million people, with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions.

The Israeli military said on Friday it had agreed to let countries airdrop aid into Gaza. Hamas dismissed this as a stunt.

"The Gaza Strip does not need flying aerobatics, it needs an open humanitarian corridor and a steady daily flow of aid trucks to save what remains of the lives of besieged, starving civilians," Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, told Reuters.

Gaza medical authorities said nine more Palestinians had died over the past 24 hours from malnutrition or starvation. Dozens have died in the past few weeks as hunger worsens.

Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to distribute it, in what the Israeli foreign ministry called on Friday "a deliberate ploy to defame Israel". The United Nations says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.

United Nations agencies said on Friday that supplies were running out in Gaza of specialized therapeutic food to save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

The ceasefire talks have been accompanied by continuing Israeli offensives on the ground. Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes and gunfire had killed at least 21 people across the enclave on Friday, including five killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City.

In the city, residents carried the body of journalist Adam Abu Harbid through the streets wrapped in a white shroud, his blue flak jacket marked PRESS draped across his body. He was killed overnight in a strike on tents housing displaced people.

Mahmoud Awadia, another journalist attending the funeral, said the Israelis were deliberately trying to kill reporters. Israel denies intentionally targeting journalists.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.

Israel and the United States both criticized Macron's decision to recognize Palestinian independence. Netanyahu called it a "reward for terrorism".

Western countries have been committed for decades to an eventual independent Palestinian state but have long said it should arise out of a negotiated peace process.

Europe's two other big powers, Britain and Germany, made clear there were no plans to act on Palestinian statehood right away.

Germany has a long history of supporting Israel arising from its guilt in the Nazi Holocaust. Britain said on Friday its first priority was alleviating Gaza's humanitarian disaster and securing a ceasefire.

"Israel's security is of paramount importance to the German government," a German government spokesperson said. "The German government therefore has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term."