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US Ambassador Says Washington, Rabat Share Solid Cooperation against Terror

David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, and his wife Jennifer stand before a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing Western Sahara as a part of the North African Kingdom, in Morocco's capital Rabat on December 12, 2020. [AFP via Getty Images]
David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, and his wife Jennifer stand before a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing Western Sahara as a part of the North African Kingdom, in Morocco's capital Rabat on December 12, 2020. [AFP via Getty Images]
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US Ambassador Says Washington, Rabat Share Solid Cooperation against Terror

David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, and his wife Jennifer stand before a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing Western Sahara as a part of the North African Kingdom, in Morocco's capital Rabat on December 12, 2020. [AFP via Getty Images]
David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, and his wife Jennifer stand before a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing Western Sahara as a part of the North African Kingdom, in Morocco's capital Rabat on December 12, 2020. [AFP via Getty Images]

US Ambassador David Fischer has said that Morocco and the United States share a solid and long-term cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

The two countries are joining efforts to protect their national security interests, Fischer said, adding that Morocco is a “key” partner in security-related issues.

The ambassador recalled the 10-year defense cooperation roadmap which was signed last October between Morocco and the US. He also said Rabat participates each year in more than 100 military commitments with the US.

The opening by the US of a consulate in the city of Dakhla will help support and encourage investment in the region, he stated.

The American consulate in Dakhla "will make it possible to support and encourage investment and development projects which will bring concrete benefits" for the populations, particularly those in the Sahara provinces, Fischer pointed out in an interview with Morocco’s state news agency, MAP.

The US diplomat underlined that the opening will allow the US to take greater advantage of Morocco's strategic location as a hub for trade in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

He highlighted the "daring" leadership of King Mohammed VI who was able to position, with expertise, Morocco as "the economic gateway" to Africa, thanks to free trade agreements signed with countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Fischer also stressed that Morocco is the only country in Africa linked to the US by a free trade agreement.

The historic US decision to recognize the full sovereignty of Morocco over the Sahara was announced Thursday during a telephone call between King Mohammed VI and US President Donald Trump.

As the first result of this sovereign initiative of great importance, the US decided to open a consulate in Dakhla to encourage American investments and to contribute to economic and social development, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the southern provinces.

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UN: Israel's War Plans Threaten 'Continued Existence' of Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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UN: Israel's War Plans Threaten 'Continued Existence' of Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school used as a shelter by displaced residents that was hit twice by Israeli army strikes on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The UN rights chief voiced deepened concerns Wednesday that Israel's plans to expand its offensive in Gaza aim to create conditions threatening Palestinians' "continued existence" in the territory.

Israel's military has called up tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip, which an official said would entail the "conquest" of the Palestinian territory.

"Israel's reported plans to forcibly transfer Gaza's population to a small area in the south of the Strip and threats by Israeli officials to deport Palestinians outside of Gaza further aggravate concerns that Israel's actions are aimed at inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza as a group," Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.

"There is no reason to believe that doubling down on military strategies, which, for a year and eight months, have not led to a durable resolution, including the release of all hostages, will now succeed," he said.

"Instead, expanding the offensive on Gaza will almost certainly cause further mass displacement, more deaths and injuries of innocent civilians, and the destruction of Gaza's little remaining infrastructure."

Nearly all of the Palestinian territory's 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the war, sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

A more than two-month Israeli blockade on all aid into Gaza has worsened the humanitarian crisis.

According to AFP, Turk warned that stepping up the Israeli offensive "would only compound the misery and suffering inflicted by the complete blockade on the entry of basic goods for almost nine weeks now".

"Gaza's residents have already been deprived of all lifesaving necessities, particularly food, with relentless Israeli attacks on community kitchens and those trying to maintain a minimum of law and order," he said.

"Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war constitutes a war crime," Turk said, adding that "the only lasting solution to this crisis lies through full compliance with international law".

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 2,507 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in mid-March, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,615.