Sarraj Departs Libya for ‘Private Trip’, Tasks Deputy with his Duties

Mohammed al-Menfi meets Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Libyan parliament)
Mohammed al-Menfi meets Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Libyan parliament)
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Sarraj Departs Libya for ‘Private Trip’, Tasks Deputy with his Duties

Mohammed al-Menfi meets Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Libyan parliament)
Mohammed al-Menfi meets Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Libyan parliament)

Head of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj, departed Libya on Sunday, tasking his deputy Ahmed Maiteeq with his duties.

Sarraj did not disclose the purpose or destination of his trip. Sources close to him said he was traveling to London with his wife on a private visit.

Sarraj has yet to set a date for the hand over of power to his successor. It also remains unclear whether he will take part in the handover ceremony.

Meanwhile, newly-appointed head of the Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi met with speaker of the east-based parliament, Aguila Saleh, in the city of al-Bayda.

Menfi had in recent days met with members of the parliament, local officials and activists.

Bayda is the third city that he has visited since his appointment on February 5.

A brief statement from Saleh’s office said talks focused on “latest developments and several important issues.”

Menfi had discussed with lawmakers in Tobruk preparations to hold a parliamentary session soon, as well as arrangements to grant the new government a vote of confidence as soon as its lineup is announced.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister-designate Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh held talks on Sunday with central bank governor Sadiq al-Kabir.

The PM announced that he has kicked off efforts to assess the candidates for his government.

“Our choices will be based on competency. We will not let down the hopes that are pinned on us. The Libyan people always deserve the best,” he stressed.

Dbeibeh has a deadline of 21 days to form a new government that started when he was appointed on February 5.

Later on Monday, lawmakers are set to meet in Sabratha city for consultative talks. Speaker Saleh will be notably absent from the meeting amid a drive by some MPs to remove him from his post.

Some 120 MPs are expected at the meeting or the more than the needed quorum for the session to go ahead.

The parliament, which is based in the eastern city of Tobruk, has not commented on the meeting.

Sources close to Saleh, however, said that an implicit agreement had been reached a while ago with the United Nations mission in the country that refuses to recognize decisions of any parliament meeting that is not held at its official headquarters or without its speaker.

This agreement has not deterred MPs from the eastern region, which is aligned with Saleh, from joining their colleagues in Sabratha and others in the West who are seeking to remove the speaker and appoint a new one.



Hamas Says It Is Investigating Possible Error over Hostage Body

 20 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Palestinian Hamas members carry one of the four coffins during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages, killed in the Israeli war on Gaza, to the Red Cross in Khan Younis. (dpa)
20 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Palestinian Hamas members carry one of the four coffins during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages, killed in the Israeli war on Gaza, to the Red Cross in Khan Younis. (dpa)
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Hamas Says It Is Investigating Possible Error over Hostage Body

 20 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Palestinian Hamas members carry one of the four coffins during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages, killed in the Israeli war on Gaza, to the Red Cross in Khan Younis. (dpa)
20 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Palestinian Hamas members carry one of the four coffins during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages, killed in the Israeli war on Gaza, to the Red Cross in Khan Younis. (dpa)

Hamas said on Friday it was investigating a possible error in identifying human remains handed to Israel under a ceasefire deal as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened retaliation for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas.

Hamas was due to hand over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons Kfir and Ariel on Thursday, along with the remains of a fourth hostage under the ceasefire deal that has halted fighting in Gaza since last month.

Four bodies were delivered and the identities of the Bibas boys and the other hostage, Oded Lifshitz, were confirmed.

But Israeli specialists said the fourth body was that of an unidentified woman and not Bibas, who was kidnapped along with her sons and her husband, Yarden, during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said "unfortunate mistakes" could occur, especially as Israeli bombing had mixed the bodies of Israeli hostages and Palestinians, thousands of whom were still buried in the rubble.

"We confirm that it is not in our values or our interest to keep any bodies or not to abide by the covenants and agreements that we sign," he said in a statement.

Hamas said separately that it would investigate the Israeli assertions and announce the results.

The failure to hand over the body and the staged public handover of the four coffins on Thursday, caused outrage in Israel and drew a threat of retaliation from Netanyahu.

"We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages - both living and dead - and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement," he said in a video statement, accusing Hamas of acting "in an unspeakably cynical manner" by placing the body of a Gaza woman in the coffin instead of Bibas.

Hamas said in November 2023 that the children and their mother had been killed in an Israeli air strike and Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said Netanyahu "bears full responsibility for killing her and her children."

But the Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the bodies of the Bibas children indicated that they were deliberately killed by their captors. Chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the boys were killed by the militants "with their bare hands", but gave no details.

Netanyahu gave no details of a possible Israeli response, but the incident underscored the fragility of the ceasefire agreement reached with US backing and with the help of Qatari and Egyptian mediators last month.

SATURDAY EXCHANGE

Six living hostages are due for release on Saturday in exchange for 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, according to Hamas, and the start of negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire is expected in the coming days.

"Hamas must return the hostages as agreed in the ceasefire- the living and the deceased," Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said in a statement on social media platform X. "They have to bring Shiri back, and they have to release the 6 living hostages expected tomorrow."

Netanyahu's office confirmed it had been officially informed of the names of the six hostages to be released, which Hamas sources said was expected at around 8.30 a.m. (0630 GMT).

As the tension over the Gaza ceasefire rose, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to intensify operations in another Palestinian territory, the occupied West Bank, after a number of explosions blew up buses standing empty in their depots near Tel Aviv.

No casualties were reported but the explosions were a reminder of the campaign of suicide attacks on public transport that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.

'THEY MAKE A JOKE OF US'

Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of ceasefire violations, with Hamas threatening to delay the release of hostages over what it said was Israel's refusal to allow housing materials and other aid into Gaza, a charge Israel denied.

"It's like they make a joke of us," said 75-year-old Ilana Caspi. "We are so in grief and this is even more, it's like you make a punch again, another one and another one, it's really terrible."

The Red Cross told Reuters it was "concerned and unsatisfied" by the fact that the handover of the bodies had not been conducted privately and in a dignified manner.

Despite the outrage over Shiri Bibas, there was no indication that Israel would not take part in talks over a second phase of the ceasefire deal.

The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that Israeli negotiators were considering seeking an extension of the 42-day ceasefire, to delay moving to a second phase, which would involve talks over hard-to-resolve issues including an end to the war and the future of Hamas in Gaza.