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COVID-19 Deaths Rise in Tunisia

Tunisians working in the tourism industry receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine on June 4, 2021 in Tunis. AFP
Tunisians working in the tourism industry receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine on June 4, 2021 in Tunis. AFP
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COVID-19 Deaths Rise in Tunisia

Tunisians working in the tourism industry receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine on June 4, 2021 in Tunis. AFP
Tunisians working in the tourism industry receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine on June 4, 2021 in Tunis. AFP

The increasing number of COVID-19-related deaths in Tunisia triggered Thursday widespread concerns as officials warned the epidemiological situation could further deteriorate in the country.

The Health Ministry said Tunisia recorded 103 fatalities on June 8, taking the death toll to 13,229.

The Ministry said further 2,102 infections were reported from 8,109 tests (a positivity rate of 25.92%), pushing the infection caseload to 360,285.

It added that 1,274 more recoveries were recorded, taking the overall count to 316,004.

Ministry of Health spokeswoman Nissaf Ben Alaya confirmed on Thursday reports that the epidemiological alert reached very high levels in 21 out of 24 districts.

Ben Alaya stressed the need to abide by precautionary and preventive measures to contain the spread of the pandemic.

Authorities in Tunisia decided to extend COVID-19 restrictions by keeping in place a nightly curfew from 10 pm till 5 am through June 27.

It also kept health protocols for passengers entering or transiting through Tunisia. They must have a negative COVID-19 PCR test result issued at most 72 hours before departure from the first embarkation point.

Also, health protocols in cafes and restaurants will be maintained with capacity restrictions of 30% indoors and 50% outdoors.

Tunisia announced that 1,252,125 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since the start of the inoculation campaign on March 13.

The Health Ministry said 28,562 vaccines were administered on June 9, while 2,339,290 people have so far registered on the national vaccination platform Evax.tn.

The government plans to vaccinate half of the country's population – 5.5 million people – by the end of the year.

This week, the Tunisian government announced an agreement with the WHO for Tunis to receive 100,000 new vaccine doses by the end of July and another 500,000 in the coming months.

Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said the country has received only 1.6 million jabs of the 2.5 million hoped for by March via the WHO-led COVAX initiative.

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Arab World

Australia Tells Families of Diplomats to Leave Israel, Lebanon

A billboard on the road to Beirut International Airport promoting tourism in Lebanon (AP).
A billboard on the road to Beirut International Airport promoting tourism in Lebanon (AP).
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Australia Tells Families of Diplomats to Leave Israel, Lebanon

A billboard on the road to Beirut International Airport promoting tourism in Lebanon (AP).
A billboard on the road to Beirut International Airport promoting tourism in Lebanon (AP).

The Australian government has told dependants of Australian diplomats in Israel and Lebanon to leave the two Middle East countries, citing a deteriorating security situation in the region, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The government has also offered voluntary departures to Australian diplomats' dependants in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar, it said on an official ministry X account, Reuters reported.

US President Donald Trump laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying he would not allow the world's biggest sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon.

Iran and the United States resumed negotiations earlier this month as Washington builds up military capability in the Middle East. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked, but Tehran's top diplomat said on Tuesday that a deal with the US was "within reach" if diplomacy is prioritised.

The Australian government continues to advise citizens in Israel and Lebanon to consider leaving while commercial options are still available, the foreign ministry said.

The announcements were made in a series of posts on the foreign ministry's Smartraveller X account.

Arab World

Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher

Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher
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Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher

Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher

The UN Security Council has announced sanctions on four commanders from the Rapid Support Forces for atrocities committed in the October takeover of the Darfur city of El-Fasher.

The four are high-ranking members of the RSF, which a UN probe last week determined had committed acts of genocide in their 18-month siege and eventual capture of El-Fasher.

They are RSF deputy commanders Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo and Gedo Hamdan Ahmed, Brigadier General Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris and field commander Tijani Ibrahim.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by what the UN has called a "war of atrocities" between the RSF and Sudan's regular army, killing tens of thousands and creating the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

For a year and a half, the RSF besieged North Darfur state capital El-Fasher -- the region's last major city to evade their control -- before storming the city on October 26.

The campaign, which the UN fact-finding mission described as "three days of horror", was marked by summary executions, systematic sexual violence and mass detention -- primarily targeting the city's ethnic Zaghawa population.

Abdelrahim, brother of RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, appears in footage "giving direct orders to his fighters to not take captives but to kill everyone", according to the sanctions announcement.

He is already sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Idris, commonly referred to as Abu Lulu, became known as "the Butcher of El-Fasher" for graphic videos he himself posted of the takeover.

"Abu Lulu has filmed himself smiling and killing people while they begged for mercy, as well as videos where he makes ethnically targeted executions," AFP quoted the Security Council as saying.

He, Ahmed and Ibrahim were slapped with US sanctions last week over their roles in the "ethnic killings, torture, starvation and sexual violence" committed in El-Fasher.

Arab World

Aid Groups Petition Israel’s Top Court to Halt Ban on Gaza, West Bank Operations 

Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)
Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)
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Aid Groups Petition Israel’s Top Court to Halt Ban on Gaza, West Bank Operations 

Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)
Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)

Around 17 international humanitarian organizations have petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to block an imminent order that would force 37 NGOs to cease operations in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, warning of catastrophic consequences for civilians.

Organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE, were notified on December 30 that their Israeli registrations had expired and that they had 60 days to renew them by providing lists of their Palestinian staff.

If they fail to do so, they will have to cease operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, from March 1.

The petitioners said enforcement has already begun in practice, with supplies blocked and visas denied to foreign staff.

“We haven't been able to get international staff inside Gaza since the beginning of January. Israeli authorities denied any entry to Gaza, but also to the West Bank,” MSF head of mission in the Palestinian territories Filipe Ribeiro told AFP last week.

The petition, described as unprecedented in its scale, seeks an urgent interim injunction from Israel's top court to suspend the closures pending full judicial review.

The 17 petitioners, which include some of the NGOs hit by the ban, argued the Israeli measures are incompatible with an occupying power's obligations under international humanitarian law.

The NGOs said compliance would expose local employees to potential retaliation, undermine the principle of humanitarian neutrality and violate European data protection law.

“Turning humanitarian organizations into an information-gathering arm for a party to the conflict stands in total contradiction to the principle of neutrality,” the petition stated.

The petitioners said they have proposed practical alternatives to handing over staff lists to Israel, including “independent sanctions screening” and “donor-audited vetting systems.”

The organizations noted that they collectively support or implement more than half of all food assistance in Gaza, 60% of field hospital operations and all inpatient treatment for children suffering severe acute malnutrition.