European Union Discusses Ways to Monitor Libyan Borders

Head of the EUBAM Natalina Cea meets with Libyan military officials. (Twitter)
Head of the EUBAM Natalina Cea meets with Libyan military officials. (Twitter)
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European Union Discusses Ways to Monitor Libyan Borders

Head of the EUBAM Natalina Cea meets with Libyan military officials. (Twitter)
Head of the EUBAM Natalina Cea meets with Libyan military officials. (Twitter)

The European Union Border Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya) discussed with military officials in the country ways to secure the borders.

Head of the EUBAM Natalina Cea said she discussed joint cooperation in monitoring and securing the border.

Illegal migration and organized crime are challenges across Libya’s vast borders.

Cea and Commander of the Border Guard Training Center Brigadier General Fawzi Al-Fiqi visited the center, which is being renovated by EUBAM.

Meanwhile, the Specialized Training Institute of the General Directorate of Security Operations of the Government of National Unity (GNU) concluded the first training course in the field of “Collection, Analysis and Exchange of Information”.

Libya’s Interior Ministry said the course is part of efforts to raise the efficiency of border guards and officers from other units under the General Directorate of Security Operations.

Meanwhile, head of the GNU Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah met on Saturday with Minister of Transportation Mohammed Al-Shahoubi and various officials and airlines' representatives.

The meeting focused on obstacles in the aviation sector, said a statement from Dbeibah’s office. The minister welcomed Dbeibah’s interest in improving the sector.

Shahoubi explained that 15 Libyan Airlines and eight Afriqiyah Airways planes were completely destroyed during past wars, while more than 14 planes need maintenance.

He also said a number of administrative and technical problems are hindering their return to the fleet.



Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Fire Kills 8 Near Aid Centers, 4 Others

19 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Palestinians gather along the Coastal Road in the Al-Sudaniyya area of northern Gaza as they wait for humanitarian aid expected to arrive through the Zikim crossing on 19 June 2025. (dpa)
19 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Palestinians gather along the Coastal Road in the Al-Sudaniyya area of northern Gaza as they wait for humanitarian aid expected to arrive through the Zikim crossing on 19 June 2025. (dpa)
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Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Fire Kills 8 Near Aid Centers, 4 Others

19 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Palestinians gather along the Coastal Road in the Al-Sudaniyya area of northern Gaza as they wait for humanitarian aid expected to arrive through the Zikim crossing on 19 June 2025. (dpa)
19 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Palestinians gather along the Coastal Road in the Al-Sudaniyya area of northern Gaza as they wait for humanitarian aid expected to arrive through the Zikim crossing on 19 June 2025. (dpa)

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli fire killed at least 12 people on Saturday, including eight who had gathered near aid distribution sites in the Palestinian territory suffering severe food shortages.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that three people were killed by gunfire from Israeli forces while waiting to collect aid in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a separate incident, Bassal said five people were killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations.

The Israeli army told AFP it was "looking into" both incidents, which according to the civil defense agency occurred near distribution centers run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Its operations began at the end of May when Israel eased a total aid blockade that lasted more than two months but have been marred by chaotic scenes and neutrality concerns.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said on Saturday that 450 people had been killed and 3,466 others injured while seeking aid in near-daily incidents since late May.

The Israeli blockade imposed in early March amid an impasse in truce negotiations had produced famine-like conditions across Gaza, according to rights groups.

Israel's military has pressed its operations across Gaza more than 20 months since an unprecedented Hamas attack triggered the devastating war, and even as attention has shifted to the war with Iran since June 13.

Bassal told AFP that three people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City in the north, and one more in another strike on the southern city of Khan Younis.

Israeli forces also demolished more than 10 houses in Gaza City "by detonating them with explosives", he added.

Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities.

Earlier this week, the UN's World Health Organization warned that Gaza's health system was at a "breaking point", pleading for fuel to be allowed into the territory to keep its remaining hospitals running.

The Hamas attack in October 2023 that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 55,908 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.