Egypt’s President Affirms Significance of ‘National Projects’

Sisi during his meeting with the head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority. (Egyptian Presidency)
Sisi during his meeting with the head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority. (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt’s President Affirms Significance of ‘National Projects’

Sisi during his meeting with the head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority. (Egyptian Presidency)
Sisi during his meeting with the head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority. (Egyptian Presidency)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Saturday affirmed that the hard work in “national projects” being implemented in the country aims to establish a new Egyptian reality, characterized by a high quality of life, and an increase in employment and development opportunities for all Egyptians.

Egypt, like other countries in the world, is facing an economic crisis due to the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The crisis has been compounded by a drop in the currency against the dollar.

Sisi convened with the head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Major General, Ahmed Al-Azazy.

The spokesman for the Presidency, Ahmed Fahmy, stated that the meeting reviewed the status of a number of Engineering Authority projects in various sectors nationwide, particularly establishing and developing the road network, and achieving optimal utilization of lands and main roads to establish integrated industrial and agricultural development areas, in order to ease traffic jams.

This is in addition to increasing and facilitating the movement of trade and investments and promoting various economic activities, in a way that contributes to achieving the goals of comprehensive and sustainable development.

Engineering Authority projects, within the framework of the national strategy for the reconstruction and development of Sinai, were also presented as well as the status of the construction of projects in new cities across the country.

Sisi gave directives to continue work, while committing to the designated timetables, and to apply the highest standards in the stages of planning, implementation, follow-up, and evaluation. This is while taking into consideration environmental requirements.

The major development projects carried out by the state were not for show, but necessary to establish the investment environment and infrastructure to achieve comprehensive economic development that raises the standard of living of all people, said Sisi earlier at a ceremony marking the 71st Police Day at the Police Academy Conference Complex.

"It is impossible to embark on the path of modern industrialization and massive export without having the necessary elements to achieve this, including cities, roads, a transportation network, technology, electricity, water, and sanitation."



US Ambassador Visits Lebanon Army-Held ‘Pilot Zone’ Near Israel

 Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Zawtar al-Gharbieh, southern Lebanon, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Zawtar al-Gharbieh, southern Lebanon, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Ambassador Visits Lebanon Army-Held ‘Pilot Zone’ Near Israel

 Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Zawtar al-Gharbieh, southern Lebanon, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Zawtar al-Gharbieh, southern Lebanon, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)

The US ambassador to Lebanon on Tuesday visited a southern village that recently came under the control of the Lebanese army as part of a framework agreement with Israel.

The US-backed June agreement states that the Israeli military will withdraw from areas of south Lebanon it occupied in parallel with the deployment of the Lebanese army, starting with "pilot zones", under the condition that Hezbollah disarms.

An AFP correspondent saw a convoy carrying the US envoy, Michel Issa, entering the village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh, where he visited a church, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA).

The news agency said an Israeli drone surveyed the area during the visit, reporting Israeli military vehicle movements in the neighboring town.

Israeli troops remain deployed in what it calls a "security zone", a stretch of Lebanese territory about 10 kilometers (six miles) deep along the border.

It recently blew up a strategic Hezbollah location at the Ali al-Taher ridge in the Nabatieh region, creating a blast so powerful that a 4.1 tremor was registered.

Fresh talks between Israel and Lebanon over the implementation of the framework agreement were due to be held this month, but were postponed to October.

A source from the Lebanese presidency told AFP that during the last round of talks in August, Israel refused to discuss new "pilot zones" without ensuring that the Lebanese army had full control of the first ones.

The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington are due to meet this week to discuss the implementation of the agreement.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also visited Zawtar al-Gharbieh on Saturday, where his office said he inspected army units and observed nearby Israeli military positions.

Violence declined following the June framework agreement and a wider US-Iran deal, but Israel has pressed its attacks on Lebanon.

Hezbollah, which pulled Lebanon into the war in March with strikes on Israel, rejects the negotiations with Israel and refuses to disarm, but has not claimed any recent attacks.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 4,300 people since the hostilities began in March, according to Lebanese authorities.


Israeli Army Kills Palestinian Man in West Bank Raid

Flowers are placed on the body of a 54-year-old Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces during a raid, as people mourn over him at a hospital in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Flowers are placed on the body of a 54-year-old Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces during a raid, as people mourn over him at a hospital in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Army Kills Palestinian Man in West Bank Raid

Flowers are placed on the body of a 54-year-old Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces during a raid, as people mourn over him at a hospital in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Flowers are placed on the body of a 54-year-old Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces during a raid, as people mourn over him at a hospital in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 15, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel's military shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said, while the army said it fired at someone who tried to seize a soldier's weapon.

The Palestinian health ministry announced the death of 54-year-old Ziad Mohammad Jaber by "Israeli army gunfire in Umm al-Sharayet, in the city of Al-Bireh", near Ramallah in the central West Bank.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said its crews were treating someone who sustained "a critical live-fire gunshot wound to the abdomen and thigh" during a military raid in Umm al-Sharayet.

It said the casualty was being transferred to hospital.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said troops were carrying out "counterterrorism activity" in the area overnight when "a terrorist attempted to seize a weapon from one of the soldiers".

"The soldier responded by firing towards the terrorist. A hit was identified," it added.

Jaber's brother, Ramadan Mohammad Jaber, told AFP that the military raided his home at around 4 am (0100 GMT) after blowing up the front door.

He said soldiers handcuffed him and held him with his daughter in a room before arresting his son.

He added that soldiers had also blown up the door of the adjacent apartment where his brother lived.

"I heard him screaming but I did not hear the sound of gunfire," he said, adding that his brother "was left bleeding in the apartment for about an hour and a half before the army allowed ambulance crews to take him to the hospital".

A spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry confirmed that Jaber was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has seen a surge in violence since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

At least 1,109 Palestinians, including a number of gunmen, have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian official figures.

Settler attacks against Palestinians have soared, often with little or no legal consequence.

At least 48 Israelis, both civilians and security forces, have been killed in the West Bank in attacks carried out by Palestinians or during clashes with Israeli forces, according to Israeli official figures.


UN Urges Access for International Investigators to Gaza After Bodies Found

Men walk through rubble at the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
Men walk through rubble at the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Urges Access for International Investigators to Gaza After Bodies Found

Men walk through rubble at the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
Men walk through rubble at the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2026. (AFP)

The United Nations called Tuesday for international investigators to be granted to access to all of Gaza "to assist with evidence-gathering" as hundreds of bodies are pulled from the rubble.

The ongoing recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, mostly of women and children, nearly three years after Israel heavily bombed their homes, highlights the possibility that war crimes have been committed, the UN warned.

"The remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverized by Israeli attacks," UN rights chief Volker Turk pointed out in a statement.

"I worry the remains recovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg," he said, pointing to how "much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives".

"Today, many areas in Gaza where the Israeli military is deployed continue to be levelled by bulldozers with no respect for the dead under the rubble," he lamented.

The rights office said it was critical that evidence of violations, including at destroyed sites, calling for "international investigators to be allowed into all parts of Gaza to assist with evidence-gathering".

It pointed out that the Palestinian Civil Defense had reported that more than 630 bodies and other human remains had been recovered from beneath destroyed buildings across Gaza since last November.

"It estimates the total number of missing under the rubble at over 8,000," it said.

Turk insisted that "every feasible effort must be taken to document and identify these victims, preserve forensic information and biological samples, record their burial locations and inform their families".

"The discovery of extensive remains under the rubble in Gaza City resurfaces (the) concerns of war crimes and other atrocity crimes," he warned.

Israel's full-scale war on Gaza, which began after a Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023, reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble.

The relentless Israeli bombardment and ground offensive has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including more than 1,350 since a ceasefire agreed last October, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is under Hamas authority.

Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.