Dbeibeh Vows to Rebuild Everything Destroyed by War in Libya

Dbeibeh visits Bani Waled on Thursday. (GNU press office)
Dbeibeh visits Bani Waled on Thursday. (GNU press office)
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Dbeibeh Vows to Rebuild Everything Destroyed by War in Libya

Dbeibeh visits Bani Waled on Thursday. (GNU press office)
Dbeibeh visits Bani Waled on Thursday. (GNU press office)

The Libyan parliament called on its members to meet for an official session on Monday to discuss the state budget law and appointments to sovereign positions.

The parliament is set to convene at its headquarters in the east-based city of Tobruk.

First Deputy Speaker, Fawzi al-Noueri, questioned the call, saying it was made unilaterally and denying that he was informed of any planned meeting next week.

His announcement reflected the current divisions within the legislature.

“There can be no work in violation of reached agreements, especially after the unification of institutions,” he added.

Head of the High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri had proposed on Thursday that the state budget be approved in cooperation with the Presidential Council and central bank given the parliament’s delay in meeting and approving the draft bill.

Mishri made his proposal to head of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdulhamid Dbeibeh in a letter that was leaked to the media.

Dbeibeh, meanwhile, was in the city of Bani Waled, which he vowed to make the launch point for national reconciliation.

He pledged to local officials to reactivate halted projects and rebuild what was destroyed during the war in the past ten years.

The GNU ministers will be present at all Libyan cities without exception to meet the people’s needs and hear their problems, he vowed.

On Wednesday night, Dbeibeh had received in the capital Tripoli the heads of local councils from Benghazi who invited him to visit the eastern city.

The head of the GNU has yet to visit the city since his appointment. A planned visit earlier this year was scrapped due to a dispute related to his entourage.



Israeli Ex-General Says War Did Not End Well for His Country

People walk along Gaza's coastal al-Rashid Street to cross the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip into the north on January 27, 2025. (AFP)
People walk along Gaza's coastal al-Rashid Street to cross the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip into the north on January 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Ex-General Says War Did Not End Well for His Country

People walk along Gaza's coastal al-Rashid Street to cross the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip into the north on January 27, 2025. (AFP)
People walk along Gaza's coastal al-Rashid Street to cross the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip into the north on January 27, 2025. (AFP)

A former Israeli general who had proposed a surrender-or-starve strategy for northern Gaza says “the war has ended very badly” for Israel.

Giora Eiland spoke to Israeli Army Radio on Monday as tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to the heavily destroyed north in accordance with a ceasefire reached with Hamas.

Eiland said that by opening the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli military zone bisecting the territory, Israel had lost leverage over Hamas and would not be able to restore it, even if it resumes the war. “We are at the mercy of Hamas,” he said.

Eiland was the main author of the so-called Generals’ Plan, which called for giving civilians in the northern third of Gaza a week to evacuate. The whole area would then be declared a closed military zone, sealed off from humanitarian aid, and anyone remaining would be considered a combatant.

Last fall, the plan was presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has not said whether it adopted parts of it. The Israeli military has denied carrying out the plan.

Around the time it was publicized, in October, Israel launched a major operation in northern Gaza and sealed it off, allowing in hardly any aid. Tens of thousands of people were forced out, and the operation caused heavy destruction.

Eiland said Israel had failed to achieve its stated goals, including destroying Hamas, removing it from power, restoring a sense of safety to Israeli border communities or safely returning dozens of hostages abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.

He said that Hamas, by contrast, “has largely achieved everything it wanted.”