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Houthis Release Faisal Rajab 8 Years after his Arrest

Supporters accompany military commander Major General Faisal Rajab (C), on April 30, 2023, following his release by the Houthis in Sanaa. (AFP)
Supporters accompany military commander Major General Faisal Rajab (C), on April 30, 2023, following his release by the Houthis in Sanaa. (AFP)
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Houthis Release Faisal Rajab 8 Years after his Arrest

Supporters accompany military commander Major General Faisal Rajab (C), on April 30, 2023, following his release by the Houthis in Sanaa. (AFP)
Supporters accompany military commander Major General Faisal Rajab (C), on April 30, 2023, following his release by the Houthis in Sanaa. (AFP)

The Iran-backed Houthi group unilaterally released on Sunday Yemeni military commander Major General Faisal Rajab eight years after his arrest.

Rajab’s release is stipulated in United Nations Security Council 2216.

He was detained by the Houthis in 2015 when they were attempting to occupy Aden city, now the interim capital.

UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg welcomed the release, tweeting: “I appeal to all parties to build on the progress achieved and intensify the efforts to release all detainees, based on the ‘all for all’ principle as stipulated in the Stockholm Agreement.”

The government warily received the development, saying the Houthis were simply trying to improve their image and drive a wedge between their rivals.

The Houthis claimed that Rajab was released at the initiative of their leader, Abdulmalek al-Houthi.

In the build-up to his release, Houthi media had claimed that the government had abandoned him during the latest prisoner swap negotiations. The government denied the allegations.

Government loyalists described the release as “theatrics”, but still welcomed the initiative and called on the Houthis to free more than thousands of other prisoners according to the “all for all” principle.

A four-member delegation of tribes from Rajab’s Abeen province had traveled to Houthi-held Sanaa to mediate his release with the group. The government said the move was planned so as to polish the Houthis’ image.

A Houthi official said Rajab was being released in honor of the tribal delegation.

Abdul Baset Al-Qaedi, undersecretary at Yemen's Information Ministry, revealed that the governor of Abeen was appointed by the Houthis and every member of the tribal delegation that was in Sanaa “is insignificant and has no influence.”

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis had refused to release Rajab in the last prisoner swap.

Rather they opted to free him “in the dramatic fashion that we saw play out in boring detail in the media,” he added.

He accused the Houthis of lying when they claimed that the government had disregarded Rajab and did not negotiate his release during the last swap.

Resolution 2216 calls for the release of Rajab; former Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Subaihi; Nasser Mansour Hadi, the brother of former President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi; and leading al-Islah Party member Mohammed Qahtan.

Subaihi and Nasser were released during the latest prisoner exchange between the government and Houthis.

The Houthis continue to oppose the release of Qahtan or even allow him to communicate with his family. Rajab reportedly was allowed to communicate with his loved ones only twice during his eight years in prison, said informed government sources.

Fayyad al-Numan, another undersecretary at the Information Ministry, welcomed Rajab’s release.

Such humanitarian files should not be used by the Houthis for political and media extortion, he urged.

The Houthis, he added, continue to “prioritize their discriminatory agenda above all Yemeni interests.”

Rajab’s release is a “failed attempt by the Houthis to improve their ugly image that is stained by the blood of the Yemeni people,” he stated.

“The Houthis are continuing to exploit the prisoner and abductee file to make false media and political gains,” he added.

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Arab World

Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
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Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)

Yasmin Eid coughs and covers her face, cooking a small pot of lentils over a fire fed with twigs and scrap paper in the tent she shares with her husband and four young daughters in the Gaza Strip.
It was their only meal Wednesday — it was all they could afford.
“My girls suck on their thumbs because of how hungry they are, and I pat their backs until they sleep,” she said.
After being displaced five times, the Eids reside in central Gaza, where aid groups have relatively more access than in the north, which has been largely isolated and heavily destroyed since Israel began waging a renewed offensive against the militant group Hamas in early October. But nearly everyone in Gaza is going hungry these days. In the north experts say a full-blown famine may be underway, The Associated Press said.
On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, accusing them of using “starvation as a method of warfare” — charges Israel adamantly denies.
In Deir al-Balah, the Eids are among hundreds of thousands sheltering in squalid tent camps. The local bakeries shut down for five days this week. The price of a bag of bread climbed above $13 by Wednesday, as bread and flour vanished from shelves before more supplies arrived.
The United Nations humanitarian office warned of a “stark increase” in the number of households experiencing severe hunger in central and southern Gaza. It appeared to be linked to the robbery at gunpoint of nearly 100 aid trucks last weekend in southern Gaza, close to Israeli military positions. Israel blamed Hamas but appears to have taken no action to stop the looting, while Hamas said it was the work of local bandits.
Aid groups say the looting is one of many obstacles to getting food and other vital aid to the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians. They also have to contend with Israeli movement restrictions, ongoing fighting, and heavy damage wreaked by the Israeli bombardment of roads and critical infrastructure.
For the Eids, hunger is the daily routine For months, Yasmin and her family have gone to bed hungry.
“Everything has increased in price, and we cannot buy anything," she said. “We always go to sleep without having dinner.”
She misses coffee, but a single packet of Nescafe goes for around $1.30. A kilogram (2 pounds) of onions goes for $10, a medium bottle of cooking oil for $15 — if available. Meat and chicken all but vanished from the markets months ago, but there are still some local vegetables. Such sums are astronomical in an impoverished territory where few people earn regular incomes.
Crowds of hundreds wait hours to get food from charities, which are also struggling.
Hani Almadhoun, co-founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen, said his teams can offer only small bowls of rice or pasta once a day. He said they “can go to the market on one day and buy something for $5, and then go back in the afternoon to find it doubled or tripled in price.”
Its kitchen in the central town of Zuweida operated on a daily budget of around $500 for much of the war. When the amount of aid entering Gaza plummeted in October, its costs climbed to around $1,300 a day. It can feed about half of the 1,000 families who line up each day.
The sharp decline in aid, and a US ultimatum Israel says it places no limits on the amount of aid entering Gaza and has announced a number of measures it says are aimed at increasing the flow in recent weeks, including the opening of a new crossing. It blames UN agencies for not retrieving it, pointing to hundreds of truckloads languishing on the Gaza side of the border.
But the military's own figures show that the amount of aid entering Gaza plunged to around 1,800 trucks in October, down from over 4,200 the previous month. At the current rate of entry, around 2,400 trucks would come into Gaza in November. Around 500 trucks entered each day before the war.
The UN says less than half the truckloads are actually distributed because of ongoing fighting, Israeli denial of movement requests, and the breakdown of law and order. Hamas-run police have vanished from many areas after being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
The war started Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are dead, and Hamas militants have repeatedly regrouped after Israeli operations, carrying out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed-out buildings.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many of the dead were fighters.
The United States warned Israel in October that it might be forced to curtail some of its crucial military support if Israel did not rapidly ramp up the amount of aid entering Gaza. But after the 30-day ultimatum expired, the Biden administration declined to take any action, saying there had been some progress.
Israel meanwhile passed legislation severing ties with UNRWA. Israel accuses the agency of allowing itself to be infiltrated by Hamas — allegations denied by the UN.
Israeli news outlets have reported that officials are considering plans for the military to take over aid distribution or contract it out to private security companies. Asked about such plans Wednesday, government spokesman David Mercer said “Israel is looking at many creative solutions to ensure a better future for Gaza.”
Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister who was seen as a voice of moderation in the far-right government before being fired this month, warned on X that handing over aid distribution to a private firm was a “euphemism for the beginning of military rule.”
As that debate plays out in Jerusalem, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away from central Gaza, most Palestinians in the territory are focused on staying alive in a war with no end in sight.
“I find it difficult to talk about the suffering we are experiencing. I am ashamed to talk about it,” said Yasmin’s husband, Hani. “What can I tell you? I’m a person who has 21 family members and is unable to provide them with a bag of flour.”