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Yemeni Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: Prisoner Swap Will Be Held on April 11

From left, Abdul-Qader al-Murtaza, the head of the Houthi delegation in Geneva, Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, and Yahya Mohammed Kazman, representing Yemen government, shake hands during a photo opportunity after the prisoner swap agreement was reached, at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, March 20, 2023. (AP)
From left, Abdul-Qader al-Murtaza, the head of the Houthi delegation in Geneva, Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, and Yahya Mohammed Kazman, representing Yemen government, shake hands during a photo opportunity after the prisoner swap agreement was reached, at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, March 20, 2023. (AP)
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Yemeni Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: Prisoner Swap Will Be Held on April 11

From left, Abdul-Qader al-Murtaza, the head of the Houthi delegation in Geneva, Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, and Yahya Mohammed Kazman, representing Yemen government, shake hands during a photo opportunity after the prisoner swap agreement was reached, at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, March 20, 2023. (AP)
From left, Abdul-Qader al-Murtaza, the head of the Houthi delegation in Geneva, Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, and Yahya Mohammed Kazman, representing Yemen government, shake hands during a photo opportunity after the prisoner swap agreement was reached, at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, March 20, 2023. (AP)

Yemeni deputy minister for human rights Majed Fadail revealed that a planned prisoner swap between the legitimate government and Iran-backed terrorist Houthi militias will take place in April.

The official, who is also a member of the government negotiations delegation that took part in the talks with the Houthis over the deal, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the exchange will kick off on April 11 and that 887 prisoners will be released.

The plan, which is sponsored by the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross, will take place over three days and involve six airports.

The first phase will see the transport of former Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Subaihi; Nasser Mansour Hadi, brother of former president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi; and military personnel from Sanaa airport to Aden International Airport. In return, several Houthi detainees will be transported from Aden to Sanaa through the same airports.

On April 12, 19 military personnel from the Arab coalition will be transported from Sanaa airport to an airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. In exchange, Houthi detainees will be flown from Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait airport to Sanaa.

Fadail said the son and brother of Presidential Leadership Council member Tariq Saleh will be among the detainees who will be released. He will be transported from Sanaa airport to Mokha on Yemen’s western coast. Several Houthi detainees will be released from Mokha to Sanaa in exchange.

The final day of the swap, said Fadail, will witness the transport of four journalists, who have been sentenced to death by the Houthis, and several Yemeni soldiers from Sanaa airport to Tadawin airport in the Marib province. In exchange, Houthi prisoners will be transported from Tadawin airport to Sanaa.

The exchange will not include military commander Faisal Rajab and prominent politician Mohammed Qahtan. The government negotiations had pledged that they will be included in the next round of talks over a swap.

Fadail stressed that the government is prioritizing the release of prisoners and people who have been abducted by the Houthis, hoping that all detainees will be freed through an “all for all” deal.

The latest swap deal was reached on March 11 after ten days of negotiations near the Swiss capital Bern. The talks were the latest in a series of meetings that led to releases of prisoners in 2022 and 2020 under a UN-mediated deal known as the Stockholm Agreement.

United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg and the ICRC are expected to arrange and carry out the latest swap.

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Arab World

One Dead as Israeli Forces Open Fire on West Bank Stone-Throwers

Israeli troops during a military operation in the Palestinian village of Qabatiya, near the West Bank city of Jenin, 27 December 2025. (EPA)
Israeli troops during a military operation in the Palestinian village of Qabatiya, near the West Bank city of Jenin, 27 December 2025. (EPA)
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One Dead as Israeli Forces Open Fire on West Bank Stone-Throwers

Israeli troops during a military operation in the Palestinian village of Qabatiya, near the West Bank city of Jenin, 27 December 2025. (EPA)
Israeli troops during a military operation in the Palestinian village of Qabatiya, near the West Bank city of Jenin, 27 December 2025. (EPA)

The Israeli military said its forces killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank in the early hours on Thursday as they opened fire on people who were throwing stones at soldiers.

Two other people were hit on a main ‌road near the ‌village of Luban ‌al-Sharqiya ⁠in Nablus, ‌the military statement added. It described the people as militants and said the stone-throwing was part of an ambush.

Palestinian authorities in the West Bank said ⁠a 26-year-old man they named as ‌Khattab Al Sarhan was ‍killed and ‍another person wounded.

Israeli forces had ‍closed the main entrance to the village of Luban al-Sharqiya, in Nablus, and blocked several secondary roads on Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency WAFA reported.

More ⁠than a thousand Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between October 2023 and October 2025, mostly in operations by security forces and some by settler violence, the UN has said.

Over the same period, 57 Israelis were killed ‌in Palestinian attacks.

Arab World

UN Chief Condemns Israeli Law Blocking Electricity, Water for UNRWA Facilities

A girl stands in the courtyard of a building of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Askar camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on December 31, 2025. (AFP)
A girl stands in the courtyard of a building of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Askar camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on December 31, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Chief Condemns Israeli Law Blocking Electricity, Water for UNRWA Facilities

A girl stands in the courtyard of a building of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Askar camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on December 31, 2025. (AFP)
A girl stands in the courtyard of a building of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Askar camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on December 31, 2025. (AFP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned on Wednesday a move by Israel to ban electricity or water to facilities owned by the UN Palestinian refugee agency, a UN spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the move would "further impede" the agency's ability to operate and carry out activities.

"The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations remains applicable to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), its property and assets, and to its officials and other personnel. Property used ‌by UNRWA ‌is inviolable," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the ‌secretary-general, ⁠said while ‌adding that UNRWA is an "integral" part of the world body.

UNRWA Commissioner General Phillipe Lazzarini also condemned the move, saying that it was part of an ongoing " systematic campaign to discredit UNRWA and thereby obstruct" the role it plays in providing assistance to Palestinian refugees.

In 2024, the Israeli parliament passed a law banning the agency from operating in ⁠the country and prohibiting officials from having contact with the agency.

As a ‌result, UNRWA operates in East Jerusalem, ‍which the UN considers territory occupied ‍by Israel. Israel considers all Jerusalem to be part ‍of the country.

The agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It has long had tense relations with Israel, but ties have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for UNRWA to ⁠be disbanded, with its responsibilities transferred to other UN agencies.

The prohibition of basic utilities to the UN agency came as Israel also suspended of dozens of international non-governmental organizations working in Gaza due to a failure to meet new rules to vet those groups.

In a joint statement, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom said on Tuesday such a move would have a severe impact on the access of essential services, including healthcare. They said one in ‌three healthcare facilities in Gaza would close if international NGO operations stopped.

Arab World

Israel Says It ‘Will Enforce’ Ban on 37 NGOs in Gaza

The sun sets behind the ruins of destroyed buildings in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 31, 2025. (AFP)
The sun sets behind the ruins of destroyed buildings in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 31, 2025. (AFP)
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Israel Says It ‘Will Enforce’ Ban on 37 NGOs in Gaza

The sun sets behind the ruins of destroyed buildings in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 31, 2025. (AFP)
The sun sets behind the ruins of destroyed buildings in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 31, 2025. (AFP)

Israel said on Thursday that 37 international NGOs operating in Gaza had not complied with a deadline to meet "security and transparency standards," in particular disclosing information on their Palestinian staff, and that it "will enforce" a ban on their activities. 

The groups will now be required to cease their operations by March 1, which the United Nations has warned will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. 

"Organizations that have failed to meet required security and transparency standards will have their licenses suspended," the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said in a statement on Thursday. 

Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence, while Israel has faced international criticism in the run-up to the deadline. 

Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories. 

"The primary failure identified was the refusal to provide complete and verifiable information regarding their employees, a critical requirement designed to prevent the infiltration of terrorist operatives into humanitarian structures," the ministry said. 

In March, Israel gave a ten-month deadline to NGOs to comply with the new rules, which demand the "full disclosure of personnel, funding sources, and operational structures." 

The deadline expired on Wednesday. 

The 37 NGOs "were formally notified that their licenses would be revoked as of January 1, 2026, and that they must complete the cessation of their activities by March 1, 2026," the ministry said Thursday. 

- 'Weaponization of bureaucracy' - 

Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli said: "The message is clear: humanitarian assistance is welcome - the exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorism is not." 

Numerous prominent humanitarian organizations have been hit by the ban, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), World Vision International and Oxfam, according to the list provided by the ministry. 

In the case of MSF, Israel accused it of having two employees who were members of Palestinian groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas. 

MSF said earlier this week that the request to share a list of its staff "may be in violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law" and said it "would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity". 

On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying "the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality." 

"This weaponization of bureaucracy institutionalizes barriers to aid and forces vital organizations to suspend operations," they said. 

On Wednesday, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk described Israel's decision as "outrageous", calling on states to urgently insist Israel shift course. 

"Such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza," he said. 

UN Palestinian refugee agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said the move sets a "dangerous precedent". 

"Failing to push back against attempts to control the work of aid organizations will further undermine the basic humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence, impartiality and humanity underpinning aid work across the world," he said on X. 

- 'Catastrophic' - 

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of 10 countries, including France and the United Kingdom, urged Israel to "guarantee access" to aid in the Gaza Strip, where they said the humanitarian situation remains "catastrophic". 

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. 

Conditions for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip remain dire, with nearly 80 percent of buildings destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data. 

About 1.5 million of Gaza's more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.