Algerian Army Accuses Hirak Activists of ‘Implementing Zionist Scheme’

Students demonstrate in Algiers to call for change on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AFP)
Students demonstrate in Algiers to call for change on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AFP)
TT

Algerian Army Accuses Hirak Activists of ‘Implementing Zionist Scheme’

Students demonstrate in Algiers to call for change on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AFP)
Students demonstrate in Algiers to call for change on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AFP)

Tension in Algeria between protesters and the army has peaked, especially after the military leadership accused activists of “implementing a Zionist scheme against Algeria.”

Observers expect tight security measures on Friday, three weeks after the resumption of demonstrations after a halt caused by a coronavirus lockdown imposed by the government in March 2020.

In its March edition, the military magazine published an article in which it expressed strong indignation and opposition to slogans raised in the latest protest movement, known as Hirak.

It highlighted the slogans demanding a civil state and rejecting a military state, stressing that the country’s rivals, whether individuals, organizations, or countries, take every chance to assault the country, in an attempt to undermine the bond between Algerians and the army.

The Djeich magazine recalled pro-army chants during mass protests that forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in 2019 after two decades in power.

However, this relation soon turned into rage after the former army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, insisted to hold presidential elections, which faced popular rejection.

According to the magazine, the state’s enemies have been preparing to invest maliciously in the Hirak through an electronic war.

There are more than 500 web pages run from abroad, and at least 20 Zionist-run pages, that promote publications against the authority and the army and spread false news and rumors.

In this fiery speech, the military bulletin meant other slogans against the army and intelligence generals, who are facing charges of torturing demonstrators.

Salah said Chengriha supervises this military bulletin, which tackles political events and responds to “enemies” without providing any proof that a party is involved in “conspiracies against Algeria.”

The magazine further accuses Hirak activists of adopting slogans formerly raised by the local Islamic Front and its terrorist arms, in an attempt to harm the People's National Armed Forces and affect the historical bond with Algerians.

Meanwhile, Algerian President Abelmadjid Tebboune has set June 12 for early legislative elections, the presidency said on Thursday.

The upcoming election of the lower house of the national assembly would be held on the basis of a new electoral law, which Tebboune also ratified on Thursday, the statement added.



Thousands Trapped in Rafah as Israel Says Won’t Stop Until Hamas No Longer Controls Gaza 

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)
TT

Thousands Trapped in Rafah as Israel Says Won’t Stop Until Hamas No Longer Controls Gaza 

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)

Thousands of people are trapped in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip after Israeli forces encircled part of it on Sunday, Palestinian officials said.

Israel ordered the evacuation of the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, telling people to leave by a single route on foot to Muwasi, a sprawling cluster of tent camps along the coast.

Thousands fled, but residents said many were trapped by Israeli forces.

The Rafah municipality said Monday that thousands were still trapped, including first responders from the Civil Defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government, and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Israel blames Hamas

Israel’s defense minister said it is trying to avoid harming civilians as it strikes Hamas in Gaza.

Israel Katz’s statement came nearly a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health officials.

Katz said Monday that “Israel is not fighting the civilians in Gaza and is doing everything that international law requires to mitigate harm to civilians.”

He went on to blame Hamas for any civilian deaths, saying the group “fights in civilian dress, from civilian homes, and from behind civilians,” putting them in danger.

He said Israel would not halt its offensive until Hamas releases all its hostages and is no longer in control of Gaza or a threat to Israel.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 25 Palestinians, including several women and children, according to three hospitals. The strikes come nearly a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas with a surprise bombardment that killed hundreds.

Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City received 11 bodies from strikes overnight into Monday, including three women and four children. One of the strikes killed two children, their parents, their grandmother and their uncle.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received seven bodies from strikes overnight and four from strikes the previous day. The European Hospital received three bodies from a strike near Khan Younis.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that the Palestinian death toll from the 17-month war has passed 50,000. It has said that women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence. Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.

‘Traumatized a second time’

Meanwhile, an American trauma surgeon working in Gaza says most of the patients injured in an Israeli attack on the largest hospital in southern Gaza had been previously wounded when Israel resumed airstrikes last week.

Californian surgeon Feroze Sidhwa, who is working with the medical charity MedGlobal, said Monday he had been in the intensive care unit at Nasser Hospital when an airstrike hit surgical wards on Sunday.

Most of the injured had been recovering from wounds suffered in airstrikes last week when Israel resumed the war, he said.

“They were already trauma patients and now they’ve been traumatized for a second time,” Sidhwa, who was raised in Flint, Mich., told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Sidhwa said he had operated on a man and boy days before who died in the attack.