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Flights Begin Operating between Cairo, Tripoli Airports

Planes are seen at Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, Dec. 12, 2019. (Reuters)
Planes are seen at Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, Dec. 12, 2019. (Reuters)
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Flights Begin Operating between Cairo, Tripoli Airports

Planes are seen at Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, Dec. 12, 2019. (Reuters)
Planes are seen at Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, Dec. 12, 2019. (Reuters)

The foreign ministry in the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) announced on Tuesday that Egyptian authorities have agreed to the resumption of flights from Tripoli’s Mitiga International Airport to Cairo International Airport.

Flights were halted ten years ago.

During that time, flights from Libya to Egypt could only land at Borg El Arab International Airport in Alexandria.

Foreign minister spokesman Mohammed al-Qiblawi hoped that the new flight would encourage Egypt to take permanent measures to open its airspace to Libyan airlines and resume direct flights with Cairo airport.

He said his ministry was keen on continuing the “constructive and positive” cooperation with Egypt to restore normal diplomatic relations.

The Libyan embassy in Cairo said that Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siala sponsored on Tuesday the opening of the flight route between the Cairo and Mitiga.

Siala was on board the flight that landed in the Egyptian capital where he will take part in a regular meeting for the Arab League. This will be the only flight for time being until preparations in both countries are complete to resume operations.

The Libyan charge d’affaires in Cairo said that the schedule for weekly flights will be announced as soon as the arrangements are done.

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Israeli Security Minister Enters Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound ‘In Prayer’ for Gaza Hostages

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)
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Israeli Security Minister Enters Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound ‘In Prayer’ for Gaza Hostages

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)

Israel's ultranationalist security minister ascended to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Thursday for what he said was a "prayer" for hostages in Gaza, freshly challenging rules over one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East.

Israel's official position accepts decades-old rules restricting non-Muslim prayer at the compound, Islam's third holiest site and known as Temple Mount to Jews, who revere it as the site of two ancient temples.

Under a delicate decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and, under rules dating back decades, Jews can visit but may not pray there.

In a post on X, hardline Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: "I ascended today to our holy place, in prayer for the welfare of our soldiers, to swiftly return all the hostages and total victory with God's help."

The post included a picture of Ben-Gvir walking in the compound, situated on an elevated plaza in Jerusalem's walled Old City, but no images or video of him praying.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office immediately released a statement restating the official Israeli position.

Palestinian group Hamas took about 250 hostages in its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies. In the ensuing war in Gaza, Israeli forces have killed over 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave.

Suggestions from Israeli ultranationalists that Israel would alter rules about religious observance at the Al-Aqsa compound have sparked violence with Palestinians in the past.

In August, Ben-Gvir repeated a call for Jews to be allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, drawing sharp criticism, and he has visited the mosque compound in the past.

Ben-Gvir, head of one of two religious-nationalist parties in Netanyahu's coalition, has a long record of making inflammatory statements appreciated by his own supporters, but conflicting with the government's official line.

Israeli police in the past have prevented ministers from ascending to the compound on the grounds that it endangers national security. Ben-Gvir's ministerial file gives him oversight over Israel's national police force.