Libya Arrests Man Accused of Murdering 16 Egyptians

A picture published by the Libyan 444th Combat Brigade of the Libyan accused of killing 16 Egyptians
A picture published by the Libyan 444th Combat Brigade of the Libyan accused of killing 16 Egyptians
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Libya Arrests Man Accused of Murdering 16 Egyptians

A picture published by the Libyan 444th Combat Brigade of the Libyan accused of killing 16 Egyptians
A picture published by the Libyan 444th Combat Brigade of the Libyan accused of killing 16 Egyptians

A Libyan security unit affiliated with the Tripoli Military District arrested the man accused of shooting 16 Egyptians in Bani Walid in 2016.

The 444th Combat Brigade announced that its undercover unit succeeded in arresting the man, H.A., on Wednesday evening.

He is wanted by the Libyan Public Prosecutor for killing 16 Egyptians by firing squad, and all legal measures have been taken against him ahead of his transfer to the Public Prosecutor.

Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement in April 2016 that the Egyptian “illegal immigrants” had been killed by members of a trafficking ring whose identities are still unknown.

Libya’s Armed Forces said that murders caused widespread anger at local and international levels and have been discussed extensively by Egyptian and Arab media.

They also stressed that the crackdown against crime would not stop anytime soon, adding: “We remind everyone that we will strike with an iron fist against anyone who dares to harm the security of citizens and residents, and that … criminals will be punished no matter where they escape.”

Meanwhile, the Magarha tribe, the family tribe of Abdullah al-Senussi, granted the Libyan authorities 72 hours to release him. Otherwise, it will have to reduce the water flow of the artificial river and oil supply.

Senussi, former chief intelligence and the son-in-law of the late President Muammar Gaddafi is imprisoned in Tripoli.

His tribe demands his immediate release because he suffers from a terminal illness and does not receive the necessary medical treatment.

Sheiks and notables in southern Libya quoted al-Anoud, Senussi’s daughter, saying that she has been banned from seeing her father since last January.

Anoud reported that her father has prostate cancer, and his health is deteriorating after being transferred to a prison supervised by Abdul Rauf Kara, who leads the “Special Deterrence Force.”

The tribe vowed that it “will not remain silent” over the detention of Senussi and threatened to reduce the waters of the artificial river flowing from the south and limit oil from the fields.

They appealed to the relevant human rights organizations, the United Nations and the Red Crescent, to release him.

Senussi, 71, is accused of suppressing the youth protests during the 2011 revolution. He is still being pursued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).



Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."