Tebboune to Visit Beijing, Signaling Qualitative Leap in Algerian-Chinese Relations

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)
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Tebboune to Visit Beijing, Signaling Qualitative Leap in Algerian-Chinese Relations

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is expected to make an official visit to China before the end of the year.

Algerian Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General Amar Belani discussed the visit on Wednesday with Chinese Ambassador in Algiers Li Jian.

Bilani and Jian stressed the need to prepare Tebboune’s “important visit”.

The Ministry said the visit is “expected to achieve a “qualitative shift” in Algerian-Chinese relations.

It added that the two officials stressed the need to accelerate the implementation of major structural projects, included in the 2nd Five-Year Plan of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation (2022-2026), the Executive Plan for the joint implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Three-Year Plan (2022-2024) of cooperation in strategic areas.

Projects include the establishment of the port of Cherchell Center, the development of the Gara Djebilet iron mine in Tindouf, the exploitation and processing of phosphate in Tebessa and Oued Kebrit in Soug Ahras, and the development of the zinc and lead mine in Bejaia.

While meeting with Bilani, the Chinese ambassador welcomed the progress made by Algeria in improving the business climate and investment in the country.

He expressed the major interest of Chinese economic operators in concluding partnerships with their Algerian counterparts, especially in view of the promising opportunities offered by the new law on investment that ensures legislative stability and a better vision for foreign investors.

Tebboune will pay a state visit to Russia in May at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

He will discuss cooperation with Russia in the military field, despite pressures from US Congressmen on the Algerian government to force Algiers to abandon a large-value arms deal expected to be signed during the visit.

Tebboune and Putin had held telephone talks in February to discuss “ways to boost bilateral partnership, including in the energy sector.”

They also discussed the upcoming Algerian-Russian Joint Commission meeting that will be held later this year.

Last year, reports said Tebboune was expected to visit Moscow in December to sign a strategic partnership agreement on economic and military affairs.

The agreement called for buying Russian weapons worth millions of dollars. However, no official party had confirmed the reports and since the visit did not take place as scheduled, analysts said it was “canceled due to US pressure.”



Israeli Strikes across Gaza Kill at Least 92 as Israel Prepares to Ramp up Its Offensive

 A man mourns over the body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a restaurant, which killed at least 29 people, at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP)
A man mourns over the body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a restaurant, which killed at least 29 people, at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP)
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Israeli Strikes across Gaza Kill at Least 92 as Israel Prepares to Ramp up Its Offensive

 A man mourns over the body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a restaurant, which killed at least 29 people, at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP)
A man mourns over the body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a restaurant, which killed at least 29 people, at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(AP)

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 92 people, including women, children and a local journalist, officials said Wednesday, as Israel prepares to ramp up its campaign in the strip, with the devastating war now entering its 20th month.

Two Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in central Gaza killed at least 33 people and wounded 86, including several children, though the actual death toll is likely higher, according to health officials.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

The new bloodshed comes days after Israel approved a plan to intensify its operations in the Palestinian enclave, which would include seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies.

Israel is also calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to carry out the plan. Israel says the plan will be gradual and will not be implemented until after US President Donald Trump wraps up his visit to the region later this month.

Any escalation of fighting would likely drive up the death toll. And with Israel already controlling some 50% of Gaza, increasing its hold on the territory, for an indefinite amount of time, could open up the potential for a military occupation, which would raise questions about how Israel plans to have the territory governed, especially at a time when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over Gaza.

The Israeli offensive has so far killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel blames Hamas for the death toll, saying it operates from civilian infrastructure, including schools.

Strikes target crowds in Gaza City

Wednesday's strikes included two attacks on a crowded market area in Gaza City, health officials said.

Footage posted online reportedly showed the aftermath with men found dead, including one still seated in a chair inside a Thai restaurant, used by locals as a gathering spot, and several children lying motionless on the ground, covered in blood.

Journalist Yahya Sobeih, who freelanced for several local outlets, was among those killed, according to Gaza’s media office. He had shared a photo on Instagram of his newborn baby girl.

Victims of the blasts, some with severe injuries, were taken to nearby Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza health ministry spokesperson Zaher al-Wahidi told The Associated Press.

An attack Tuesday night on a school sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians killed 27 people, officials from the Al-Aqsa Hospital said, including nine women and three children. The school has been struck repeatedly since the war began. Earlier, a strike on another school turned shelter in Gaza City killed 16 people, according to officials at Al-Ahli Hospital, while strikes in other areas killed at least 16 others.

In Bureij, an urban refugee camp, paramedics and rescuers rushed to pull people out of a blaze after a large column of smoke and fires pierced the dark skies above the school shelter.

Trump jars Israelis with remark on hostage figures

The war began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

Trump on Tuesday stunned many in Israel when he declared that only 21 of the 59 hostages remaining in Gaza are still alive. Israel insists the figure stands at 24, although an Israeli official said there was “serious concern” for the lives of three captives.

The official said there has been no sign of life from those three, whom the official did not identify. He said that until there is evidence proving otherwise, the three are considered to be alive.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details related to the war, said the families of the captives were updated on those developments.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the families of the captives, demanded from Israel's government that if there is “new information being kept from us, give it to us immediately.”

It also called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the war in Gaza until all hostages are returned. “This is the most urgent and important national mission,” it said on a post on X.

Since Israel ended a ceasefire with the Hamas group in mid-March, it has unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds and captured swaths of territory. Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in 19 months of war.

Key interlocutors Qatar and Egypt said Wednesday that mediation efforts were “ongoing and consistent.” But Israel and Hamas remain far apart on how they see the war ending. Israel says it won't end the war until Hamas' governing and military capabilities are dismantled, something it has failed to do in 19 months of war.

Hamas says it is prepared to release all of the hostages for an end to the war and a long-term truce with Israel.