Abbas Suspends Funding to Yasser Arafat Foundation

Nasser al-Qudwa during a Zoom meeting with his National Democratic Forum members.
Nasser al-Qudwa during a Zoom meeting with his National Democratic Forum members.
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Abbas Suspends Funding to Yasser Arafat Foundation

Nasser al-Qudwa during a Zoom meeting with his National Democratic Forum members.
Nasser al-Qudwa during a Zoom meeting with his National Democratic Forum members.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to cut off funding to the Yasser Arafat Foundation, Nasser al-Kidwa, who heads the organization revealed on Monday.

This came one week after Abbas dismissed Kidwa from Fatah.

In a Zoom meeting on Monday, Kidwa briefed his party about Abbas’s decision and revealed a document signed by Head of the Palestine National Fund (PNF) Ramzi Khoury instructing PA Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara to halt all direct and indirect payments to the Foundation on orders from Abbas as of March 11.

The Yasser Arafat Foundation is an independent non-profit organization, established in 2008 to preserve Arafat’s heritage and legacy. It also addresses the development of charitable, humanitarian, social and academic activities that serve the Palestinian people.

Kidwa, the 67-year-old nephew of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, had earlier announced he would run on his own electoral list, which would consist of independents, business people and youth.

He also announced the establishment of the Palestinian National Democratic Forum that would run in the elections, stressing that he was trying to put Fatah back on the right path.

Sacked prominent Fatah member Mohammed Dahlan had also announced he would field a separate list.

The parliamentary and presidential polls are set for May 22 and July 31, respectively, and will be the first Palestinian elections in 15 years.



Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 30 Palestinians since Monday night, Palestinian media and medics said on Tuesday, as the Israeli army tightened its siege on northern areas of the enclave.

An airstrike damaged two houses in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, where the army has carried out new operations since Oct. 5, and killed at least 20 people late on Monday, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said.

The Gaza health ministry did not immediately confirm the toll. Four other people were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda around midnight on Monday, medics said.

Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and Deir Al-Balah in the central area of the narrow enclave.

The Israeli military said, without giving details, that its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabalia area. Israeli troops had also located weapons and explosives over the past day in the southern Rafah area, where "terrorist infrastructure sites" had been eliminated, it said.

Palestinians said the new attacks and Israeli orders for people to evacuate were aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, the authorities in Gaza say, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war began after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.