Algeria Summit: Several Leaders Attend for 1st Time, Guterres is Guest of Honor

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Tunisian President Kais Saied at the airport (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Tunisian President Kais Saied at the airport (AFP)
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Algeria Summit: Several Leaders Attend for 1st Time, Guterres is Guest of Honor

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Tunisian President Kais Saied at the airport (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Tunisian President Kais Saied at the airport (AFP)

The Algerian authorities did not announce the names of the leaders who would be attending this year's Arab Summit. However, it was reported that the event would bring together 15 Arab leaders, led by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Tunisian President Kais Saied, and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The 31st Arab Summit is the first for some leaders, including Saied, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and Iraqi President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid.

Algeria announced the arrival of Saied, Sisi, and the President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh, to Houari Boumediene International Airport, and Tebboune received them.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Algiers as the guest of honor and was received by Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud was also in Algiers, while Ilham Aliyev, the Azeri President, who also chairs the Non-Aligned Movement, arrived to participate as a guest of honor at the Summit.

The Algerian President received the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, at the international airport.

On Monday, the Iraqi President arrived in Algiers and was received by Tebboune.

The Algerian President also received the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the President of the Yemen Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, and Senegalese President, Macky Sall, the current President of the African Union, in his capacity as the guest of honor of the Summit.

Furthermore, the Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs and Personal Representative of Oman, Asaad bin Tarik Al Said, and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived on Monday at Algiers' international airport and were received by Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Abdel Rahman.

Also among the attendees were Bahrain's Deputy Prime Minister and Special Representative of the King, Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, and Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammad al-Menfi.

The President of Comoros, Othman Ghazali, was received by Tebboune at the airport.

On behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah chaired the Saudi delegation participating in the summit.

Meanwhile, Morocco announced that King Mohammed VI would not participate in the Summit.

The Representative of Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Crown Prince Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, arrived in Algiers to participate in the inaugural session.

Jordan's King Abdullah II will also be absent from the Summit, and Jordan News Agency announced on Sunday that Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah would head the country's delegation to Algeria.

UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid will represent his country.



Israeli Military Orders Evacuation of Most of Gaza’s Southern City of Rafah

Palestinians set out to Khan Younis with their belongings, from Rafah's Tel al-Sultan area after it was encircled by Israeli forces on March 23, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinians set out to Khan Younis with their belongings, from Rafah's Tel al-Sultan area after it was encircled by Israeli forces on March 23, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Military Orders Evacuation of Most of Gaza’s Southern City of Rafah

Palestinians set out to Khan Younis with their belongings, from Rafah's Tel al-Sultan area after it was encircled by Israeli forces on March 23, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinians set out to Khan Younis with their belongings, from Rafah's Tel al-Sultan area after it was encircled by Israeli forces on March 23, 2025. (AFP)

The Israeli military on Monday issued sweeping evacuation orders covering most of Rafah, indicating it could soon launch another major ground operation in the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip.

Israel ended its ceasefire with the Hamas group and renewed its air and ground war earlier this month. At the beginning of March, it cut off all supplies of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to the territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians to pressure Hamas to accept changes to the truce agreement.

The evacuation orders appeared to cover nearly all of the city and nearby areas. The military ordered Palestinians to head to Muwasi, a sprawl of squalid tent camps along the coast. The orders came during Eid al-Fitr, a normally festive Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Israel launched a major operation in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, last May, leaving large parts of it in ruins. The military seized a strategic corridor along the border as well as the Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza's only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel.

Israel was supposed to withdraw from the corridor under the ceasefire it signed with Hamas in January under US pressure, but it later refused to, citing the need to prevent weapons smuggling.

Israel has vowed to intensify its military operations until Hamas releases the remaining 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed to be alive. Israel has also demanded that Hamas disarm and leave the territory, conditions that were not included in the ceasefire agreement and which Hamas has rejected.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would take charge of security in Gaza after the war and implement US President Donald Trump's proposal to resettle Gaza's population in other countries, describing it as “voluntary emigration.”

That plan has been universally rejected by Palestinians, who view it as forcible expulsion from their homeland, and human rights experts say it would likely violate international law.

Hamas, meanwhile, has insisted on implementing the signed agreement, which called for the remainder of the hostages to be released in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout. Negotiations over those parts of the agreement were supposed to have begun in February but only preliminary talks have been held.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, rampaging through army bases and farming communities and killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The gunmen took another 251 people hostage, most of whom have since been released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. At its height, the war had displaced some 90% of Gaza's population, with many fleeing multiple times.

Large areas of Gaza have been completely destroyed, and it's unclear how or when anything will be rebuilt.