Egypt Speaks on Behalf of 108 Countries at UN to Ensure Peacebuilding Financing

Egypt’s Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdelkhalek delivers a joint cross-regional statement on peacebuilding financing at the UN General Assembly Meeting on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (Egypt Foreign Ministry)
Egypt’s Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdelkhalek delivers a joint cross-regional statement on peacebuilding financing at the UN General Assembly Meeting on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (Egypt Foreign Ministry)
TT

Egypt Speaks on Behalf of 108 Countries at UN to Ensure Peacebuilding Financing

Egypt’s Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdelkhalek delivers a joint cross-regional statement on peacebuilding financing at the UN General Assembly Meeting on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (Egypt Foreign Ministry)
Egypt’s Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdelkhalek delivers a joint cross-regional statement on peacebuilding financing at the UN General Assembly Meeting on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (Egypt Foreign Ministry)

Egypt has delivered a joint cross-regional statement on behalf of 108 countries at the high-level UN General Assembly meeting to consider options for ensuring sustainable Peacebuilding Financing on Wednesday.

Egypt represented all countries of the African group and the European Union member states, as well as a number of Asian, North American, South American, and Caribbean countries.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement quoting its Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdelkhalek as underlining the importance of providing “adequate, sustainable and predictable funding to support peacebuilding activities in conflict-affected countries.”

He called for finding a comprehensive solution to the challenge of funding peacebuilding by exploring all available funding options, including the contributions of member states to the UN budget.

Abdelkhalek also called on Abdulla Shahid, president of the Assembly’s 76th session, to launch negotiations to adopt a resolution that addresses all options for peacebuilding funding.

He said that it was a first for a group of cross-regional countries to speak with one voice to support investment in peacebuilding financing and preventing conflicts by securing adequate funding in this regard.

Egypt, as the coordinator of the African Group in the UN concerning peacebuilding issues, delivered another statement on behalf of the group to express the aspirations of the African continent in the field of peacebuilding, especially that it hosts most of the peacebuilding efforts.

It also urged deepening partnership between the UN and the AU to build the required human and institutional capabilities in Africa and enable the continent to lead regional peacebuilding efforts.



Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
TT

Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Israeli drones fitted with loudspeakers ordered people to leave their homes in Jenin on Thursday, residents said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city.
The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.
"We need to be prepared to continue in the Jenin camp that will bring it to a different place," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the head of the Israeli military, said in a statement.
Armored bulldozers have dug up roads and hundreds of people left their homes in the camp, after residents said they were ordered to evacuate, Reuters reported.
"Yesterday, we did not want to leave, we were at home," said 16-year-old Hussam Saadi. "Today, they sent down a drone to our neighborhood, telling us to leave the camp and that they will blow it up."
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli troops killed two armed men barricaded inside a building in Burqin, outside Jenin, after a gunfight. The two were suspected of carrying out an attack near the Palestinian village of al-Funduq earlier this month, in which three Israelis were killed.
Both were claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, which has a strong presence in the refugee camp, a crowded township for descendants of Palestinians who fled, or were forced, from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.
Overall since the start of the operation, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded, Palestinian health officials said.
The raid, the third major operation by the Israeli military in Jenin in under two years, drew warnings from France and Jordan against an escalation in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza.