UN Mission Welcomes Libya’s ‘Morocco Agreement’, Dbeibah Rejects it

Libyans shop at a market in Tripoli on October 5, 2022. (AFP)
Libyans shop at a market in Tripoli on October 5, 2022. (AFP)
TT
20

UN Mission Welcomes Libya’s ‘Morocco Agreement’, Dbeibah Rejects it

Libyans shop at a market in Tripoli on October 5, 2022. (AFP)
Libyans shop at a market in Tripoli on October 5, 2022. (AFP)

The declaration of an agreement in Morocco between head of Libya’s High Council of State Khaled al-Mishri and east-based parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh over the sovereign posts and the formation of a unified government sparked a heated dispute between head of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah and Mishri.

Mishri and Saleh agreed on the implementation of the article on sovereign posts, addressed in the Bouznika agreement, before the end of the year. They also agreed to the resumption of dialogue with the aim of holding presidential and parliamentary elections with the agreement of the parliament and High Council of State.

In a Twitter post on Friday, Dbeibah rejected “talk about parallel paths, such as the division of sovereign posts.”

He added that the Libyans “are demanding that all parties respect their commitments towards the elections.”

He reiterated his call on Mishri and Saleh to adopt a “fair constitutional base” that resolves the legal disputes that are impeding the elections.

For his part, Mishri demanded that Dbeibah cease “selling delusions to the people.”

In a tweet, he called on Dbeibah to “carry out his job and cease meddling in affairs that are beyond his specialization and jurisdiction.”

Head of the stability government Fathi Bashagha has yet to comment on the Morocco agreement.

Head of the Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi meanwhile, urged Mishri and Saleh to “immediately complete the constitutional base to hold the elections before the end of the year,” local media reported.

He also called on them to commit fully to the roadmap that would ensure the implementation of the political agreement and independence of the judiciary.

Meanwhile, Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Abdoulaye Bathily said he noted the outcome of the meeting between Mishri and Saleh.

In a tweet, he said he “welcomes the resumption of dialogue between the two leaders and expresses his readiness to discuss the details, modalities and timelines of implementation of their commitments.”

He urged “all Libyans leaders to engage in an inclusive dialogue as the only way to overcome the current deadlock and meet the aspirations of the Libyan people.”



Gaza Rescuers Say Nine Children among Dead in Israel Strike on UN Building

A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
TT
20

Gaza Rescuers Say Nine Children among Dead in Israel Strike on UN Building

A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP

The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza's civil defense agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children.

The army said in a statement that it struck the militants "inside a command and control centre that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity", and separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which "targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic".

The army said that "the compound was used by Hamas's Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks", and accused Hamas of "exploiting the civilian population as a human shield".

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the "massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia", calling for "serious international pressure" to halt Israel's widening offensive.

The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a "blatant war crime".

Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.

A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter -- a charge the Palestinian militant group denies.

Israel resumed major airstrikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down.

It also conducted airstrikes on southern and central Gaza on Wednesday that the civil defense agency said killed at least 15 people, including children, in the city of Khan Yunis and Nuseirat refugee camp.

Since then, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by Gaza's health ministry on Tuesday.

In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack, according to the ministry's figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.