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Amr Moussa Appointed Representative at African Union Panel of the Wise

Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa. (Reuters)
Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa. (Reuters)
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Amr Moussa Appointed Representative at African Union Panel of the Wise

Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa. (Reuters)
Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa. (Reuters)

The African Union Commission (AUC) appointed on Saturday former Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa as the first Egyptian to become a member of the African Union Panel of the Wise.

He has been appointed as a successor to Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, said Moussa in a statement.

The Panel of the Wise includes Nobel Peace Prize winner Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Gabon former Minister for Social Affairs Honorine Nzet Biteghe, in addition to the former President of Namibia Hifikepunye Pohamba and former Vice President of Uganda Specioza Naigaga Wandira Kazibwe.

Moussa underlined the vital role the Panel played following the June 30, 2013 revolution in Egypt through the visits its members paid to to Cairo, Addis Ababa, and various African capitals. He stressed the importance of Egypt's presence among African circles and its defense of the continent's interests.

The Panel of the Wise deals with conflict prevention, management and resolution among African countries. It provides consultations to the Peace and Security Council on relevant issues. The Panel of the Wise serves a three-year term and is composed of five members representing the North, East, West, South and Center of Africa.

It was established in December 2007, and since then it had been concerned with issues of justice, national reconciliation, preserving the rights of women and children in armed conflicts, democracy and governance.

The first Panel of the Wise was comprised of late Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella, Tanzanian diplomat Salim Ahmed Salim, former President of Sao Tome Miguel Trovoada and others.

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Arab World

UN Gives Update on 19 Staff Accused by Israel of Oct. 7 Involvement

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli strikes, wash clothes as they shelter in a UNRWA-affiliated school, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip April 23, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli strikes, wash clothes as they shelter in a UNRWA-affiliated school, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip April 23, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Gives Update on 19 Staff Accused by Israel of Oct. 7 Involvement

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli strikes, wash clothes as they shelter in a UNRWA-affiliated school, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip April 23, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli strikes, wash clothes as they shelter in a UNRWA-affiliated school, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip April 23, 2024. (Reuters)

UN investigators examining Israeli accusations that 12 staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks have closed one case due to a lack of evidence from Israel and suspended three more, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

He said the inquiry by the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) continues into the remaining eight cases.

In the closed case, Dujarric said "no evidence was provided by Israel to support the allegations against the staff member" and that the UN is "exploring corrective administrative action to be taken in that person's case."

He said three cases were suspended "as the information provided by Israel is not sufficient for OIOS to proceed with an investigation." He said UNRWA is considering what administrative action to take.

After an initial 12 cases were raised by the Israeli government in late January, a further seven cases were brought to the attention of the United Nations in March and April, Dujarric said. One of those cases was suspended pending receipt of additional supporting evidence, he said, and the remaining six investigations continue.

UNRWA provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the agency as "the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza" and pledged to act immediately on any new information from Israel related to "infiltration of Hamas" among its workers.

The accusations became public in January when UNRWA, which employs some 13,000 people in Gaza, announced that it had fired some staff and been briefed by Israel. Of the initial 12 accused by Israel, UNRWA fired 10 people and said the remaining two are dead. It was not immediately clear how they died.

OIOS immediately began its investigation into the accusations against the dozen staff, and the United Nations separately appointed former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna in February to lead a review of UNRWA's ability to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of breaches.

Colonna's findings were released on Monday and noted that UNRWA has "a more developed approach" to neutrality than other similar UN or aid groups. "Despite this robust framework, neutrality-related issues persist," her report found.

Israel's allegations against the dozen UNRWA staff led 16 states to pause or suspend funding of $450 million to UNRWA, a blow to an agency grappling with the humanitarian crisis that has swept Gaza since Israel launched its offensive there.

UNRWA said 10 of those countries had resumed funding, but the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania had not. A UN spokesperson said UNRWA currently had enough funding to pay for operations until June.

After the US, UNRWA's biggest donor at $300-400 million a year, paused funding, the US Congress then suspended contributions until at least March 2025.

Israel says about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attacks. Gaza health authorities say Israel has killed 34,000 people in its offensive in the enclave since then.

Arab World

Gaza Baby Rescued from Dead Mother’s Womb Dies

Uncle of Sabreen al-Rouh, a Palestinian baby girl, who died a few days after she was saved from the womb of her dying mother Sabreen al-Sheikh (al-Sakani), killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shukri and her daughter Malak, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, crouches next to her grave in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)
Uncle of Sabreen al-Rouh, a Palestinian baby girl, who died a few days after she was saved from the womb of her dying mother Sabreen al-Sheikh (al-Sakani), killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shukri and her daughter Malak, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, crouches next to her grave in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)
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Gaza Baby Rescued from Dead Mother’s Womb Dies

Uncle of Sabreen al-Rouh, a Palestinian baby girl, who died a few days after she was saved from the womb of her dying mother Sabreen al-Sheikh (al-Sakani), killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shukri and her daughter Malak, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, crouches next to her grave in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)
Uncle of Sabreen al-Rouh, a Palestinian baby girl, who died a few days after she was saved from the womb of her dying mother Sabreen al-Sheikh (al-Sakani), killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shukri and her daughter Malak, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, crouches next to her grave in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)

A baby girl who was delivered from her dying mother's womb in a Gaza hospital following an Israeli airstrike has herself died after just a few days of life, the doctor who was caring for her said on Friday.

The baby had been named Sabreen al-Rouh. The second name means "soul" in Arabic.

Her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani (al-Sheikh), was seriously injured when the Israeli strike hit the family home in Rafah, the southernmost city in the besieged Gaza Strip, on Saturday night.

Her husband Shukri and their three-year-old daughter Malak were killed.

Sabreen al-Sakani (al-Sheikh), who was 30-weeks pregnant, was rushed to the Emirati hospital in Rafah. She died of her wounds, but doctors were able to save the baby, delivering her by Caesarean section.

However, the baby suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, said Doctor Mohammad Salama, head of the emergency neo-natal unit at Emirati Hospital, who had been caring for Sabreen al-Rouh.

She died on Thursday and her tiny body was buried in a sandy graveyard in Rafah.

"I and other doctors tried to save her, but she died. For me personally, it was a very difficult and painful day," he told Reuters by phone.

"She was born while her respiratory system wasn't mature, and her immune system was very weak and that is what led to her death. She joined her family as a martyr," Salama said.

More than 34,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed in the six-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians in its campaign to eradicate Hamas.

Much of Gaza has been laid to waste by Israeli bombardments and most of the enclave's hospitals have been badly damaged, while those still operating are short of electricity, medicine sterilization equipment and other supplies.

"(Sabreen al-Rouh's) grandmother urged me and the doctors to take care of her because she would be someone that would keep the memory of her mother, father and sister alive, but it was God's will that she died," Salama said.

Her uncle, Rami al-Sheikh Jouda, sat by her grave on Friday lamenting the loss of the infant and the others in the family.

He said he had visited the hospital every day to check on Sabreen al-Rouh's health. Doctors told him she had a respiratory problem, but he did not think it was bad until he got a call from the hospital telling him the baby had died.

"Rouh is gone, my brother, his wife and daughter are gone, his brother-in-law and the house that used to bring us together are gone," he told Reuters.

"We are left with no memories of my brother, his daughter, or his wife. Everything was gone, even their pictures, their mobile phones, we couldn't find them," the uncle said.

Arab World

Egyptian Delegation in Israel for Talks on Gaza Hostages

A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Egyptian Delegation in Israel for Talks on Gaza Hostages

A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

An Egyptian delegation met Israeli counterparts on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the war in Gaza and return the remaining Israeli hostages, an official briefed on the meetings said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 hostages would be released by the movement Hamas, instead of the 40 previously under discussion.

"There are no current hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, nor is there a new Israeli offer in that regard," the official said. "What there is, is an attempt by Egypt to restart the talks with an Egyptian proposal that would entail the release of 33 hostages - women, elderly and infirm."

According to Israeli media reports, Israeli intelligence officials believe there are 33 female, elderly and sick hostages left alive in Gaza, out of a total of 133 still being held by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.

There was no decision on how long any truce would last but if such an exchange were agreed, the pause in fighting would be "definitely less than six weeks", the official said.

The visit by the Egyptian delegation came a day after the United States and 17 other countries appealed to Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza. Hamas vowed not to relent to international pressure.

Hamas said it was "open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of our people". However, it stuck to central demands Israel has rejected, and said it criticized the statement for not calling for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The visit by the Egyptian delegation followed Israeli media reports of a visit to Cairo on Thursday by the Israeli army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, and Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence service.

Egypt, concerned about a potential influx of Palestinian refugees from neighboring Gaza if the war continues with the long-promised Israeli offensive into the southern city of Rafah, has taken an increasingly active role in the negotiations.

Arab World

Hezbollah Ambushes Israeli Military Convoy, Killing Civilian 

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)
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Hezbollah Ambushes Israeli Military Convoy, Killing Civilian 

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed area along the border, killing an Israeli civilian, the group and Israel’s military said Friday.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said that its fighters ambushed the convoy shortly before midnight Thursday, destroying two vehicles. The Israeli military said the ambush wounded an Israeli civilian doing infrastructure work, and that he later died of his wounds.

Low-intensity fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border has repeatedly threatened to boil over as Israel has targeted senior Hezbollah fighters in recent months.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border. On the Israeli side, the cross-border fighting has killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers, while in Lebanon, more than 350 people have been killed, including 50 civilians and 271 Hezbollah members.

On Thursday, Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip killed at least five people.

More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in the area in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of Rafah.

In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the gunmen are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.

Arab World

Pedersen: Syria Treated by Many as a Space for Settling Scores

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)
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Pedersen: Syria Treated by Many as a Space for Settling Scores

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said on Thursday that Syria has become a "sort of free-for-all space for settling scores," warning that each month, trends are moving further in the wrong direction.
In a briefing to the Security Council, the UN envoy noted that this last month, the grim specter of regional conflict loomed over Syria once again after the April 1 strikes on Iranian diplomatic premises in Damascus, Iran’s 13 April strikes on Israel, attacks in Iran, Iraq and Syria, and others on US bases in northeast Syria.
“I remain extremely alarmed at this dangerous and escalatory spiral. I have long warned that Syria is treated by many as a sort of free-for-all space for settling scores,” Pedersen told the Security Council.
Also, the UN envoy said he is not only worried about these regional spillover effects and the grave dangers of miscalculation and escalation. “I am also deeply worried about the conflict in Syria itself, which continues to blight the lives of the long-suffering Syrian people,” he said. “Any temptation to ignore or merely contain the Syrian conflict itself would be a mistake.”
Pedersen then spoke about the situation in the northwest of Syria, where Security Council-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched multiple crossline attacks.
In the northeast, he said there were reports of Turkish drone-strikes, exchanges of fire between armed opposition groups and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), alongside a growing insurgency by some tribal elements against the SDF.
Pedersen then said that in the southwest, security incidents remain at elevated levels with reports of open clashes between former armed opposition groups and Syrian government forces, as well as incidents related to criminal activities on the border.
“We need regional de-escalation, starting with an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza,” he said, adding that all players must work towards a nationwide ceasefire in Syria too.
Tackling the humanitarian situation, Pedersen said, “it is as bleak as ever.”
As for the economic situation, the UN envoy said it remains perilous. “The WFP says that the cost of a food basket doubled within a year, while the cost of living increased by 104%. The Syrian pound has reached around 15,000 per US dollar on the parallel market,” he noted.
Pedersen stressed the need to move forward on the safe, calm and neutral environment that is necessary for a political process to unfold, and also for safe, dignified and voluntary returns.
He then noted that “a mix of de-escalation, containment and humanitarian assistance – brokered through partial arrangements and piecemeal formats – is what we are seeing in practice.”
Without this the situation would be even worse, Pedersen stressed.

 

 

Arab World

UNICEF: Extreme Weather Put Yemeni Children at Risk

An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)
An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)
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UNICEF: Extreme Weather Put Yemeni Children at Risk

An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)
An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)

A recent UN report has revealed that climate change provokes displacement in Yemen and contributes to poverty, conflict, violence, and exploitation, putting children at risk.
“Children are most at risk due to exposure to climate and environmental shocks and their vulnerability to those shocks because of limited access to essential water and sanitation, education and health services,” UNICEF revealed in a report on landscape analysis for children in Yemen.
It said that the national climate policies and strategies that guide the climate, environment and energy agenda in Yemen are not child-sensitive, sometimes lacking any reference to children and youth.
Similarly, the report found that child-relevant sectoral strategies make weak connections with climate challenges and how they affect their sectors.
It said rising temperatures will intensify and extend heatwaves and droughts, exacerbating land degradation and water scarcity, and damage coastal ecosystems. Also, annual rainfall is decreasing while becoming more variable and unpredictable.
“Water scarcity coupled with flood events endanger livelihoods, trigger conflicts over land and water resources, and provoke greater displacement and urban migration,” UNICEF said in the report.
It added that Yemen’s agriculture is under duress leading to reduced food security.
Also, the report found that water is a key factor, either due to erratic rains or to flood damage. “The agricultural sector consumes 91% of water in Yemen, contributing to depleted groundwater resources,” it said, adding that urban encroachment, coastal groundwater salinity, overgrazing, soil erosion, droughts and desert locusts all impact the struggling sector.
As for the energy sector, the report said it depends on petroleum products, with the largest consumers being transportation, households and electricity production.
“Domestic oil production has plummeted since 2015, and fuel prices have soared. Even prior to the conflict, Yemen had the lowest installed electricity generation capacity as well as the lowest electricity access rate in the region,” it said.
Heavy Burden
The report said Yemen contributes a tiny portion of global CO2 emissions, noting that solar photovoltaic energy continues to gain ground as Yemenis seek reliable off-grid alternatives, and farmers have adopted solar for irrigation, placing additional pressure on fragile aquifers.
While wind and geothermal energy potential are largely untapped, the report said they remain promising.
Of the global burden of disease attributable to climate change, the report said 88% is borne by children. “Children are most at risk of the impacts of extreme weather events and heatwaves, aggravated by malnutrition and scarcity of clean water,” it noted.
The report then anticipated increases in water and vector-borne diseases in Yemen, as well as heightened child deprivation due to repeated climate shocks that overwhelm traditional coping mechanisms.
It said that when urgent care for children is required, access to health services is a challenge for many Yemeni families.
Meanwhile, UNICEF said land degradation and food and water insecurity provoke displacement and contribute to poverty, conflict, violence, and exploitation, putting children at risk.
It said climate-driven humanitarian disasters drive large-scale displacement and require responsive child protection services – psychosocial support, prevention of gender-based violence, and family reunification – to meet the challenge.
Damage to Health, Education
UNICEF’s report then predicted that population growth coupled with more frequent droughts will lead to greater competition for water for domestic uses, irrigation and industry.
“Water supply coverage in Yemen is dangerously low, and 39% of the population have limited access or unsafe drinking water,” it said.
Also, climate and environmental threats exacerbate poor access, poor retention and poor learning outcomes for Yemen’s school children. Floods damage poorly designed or situated schools, and heatwaves call for investment in school ventilation and more greenspaces.
In urban environments, the report noted that air pollution threatens children’s health, raising their risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life.
Yemen is a sub-tropical, largely arid country. It is hot and humid along the west coast, temperate in the western mountains, and hot, harsh desert in the east.
Temperatures range widely depending on elevation or, in the coastal areas, distance from the sea. Mean temperatures in the highlands range from below 15°C in winter to 25°C in summer, and in the coastal lowlands from 22.5°C in winter to 35°C in the summer.
The annual mean temperature has increased at a rate of approximately 0.39˚C per decade since 1960, more rapidly than the global average.
The increase has been faster in summer (Jun-Aug) at an average rate of 0.56˚C per decade and slower in winter (Dec-Feb) at 0.21˚C per decade.
The 120-year record of average annual mean temperature shows this increasing trend and greater variability.

 

Arab World

Syrian Kurdish Officials Hand over 50 Women and Children Linked to ISIS to Tajikistan

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
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Syrian Kurdish Officials Hand over 50 Women and Children Linked to ISIS to Tajikistan

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria on Thursday handed over 50 women and children — family members of ISIS militants — to a delegation from Tajikistan for repatriation back home.
The 17 women and 33 children, all citizens of Tajikistan, were handed over to a delegation headed by the Tajik ambassador to Kuwait, Zubaydullo Zubaydzoda, Syrian Kurdish officials said.
After the ISIS group declared its caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014, thousands of foreigners, including hundreds from Tajikistan, came to Syria to join the group and live with their families.
After ISIS was defeated, most of the militants' family members were held in the sprawling al-Hol camp and the smaller Roj camp in northeastern Syria.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent said the women and children were taken to the airport of Qamishli where they boarded a plane “to be reunited with their families” in Tajikistan on Thursday.
The repatriation came almost a month after an attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people. The massacre was carried out by four suspected attackers who were arrested and identified as Tajik nationals. ISIS claimed responsibility and said four of its fighters had targeted the hall in Russia.
Over the past few years thousands of people, mostly Iraqis have been repatriated from al-Hol, which houses tens of thousands, mostly ISIS militants' wives and children but also supporters of the militant group.
The heavily-guarded al-Hol, overseen by Syrian Kurdish-led forces allied with the United States, was once home to 73,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis. Over the past few years, the population dropped to about 43,000, according to Sheikhmous Ahmad, a Kurdish official overseeing camps for displaced people in northeastern Syria.
Tajikistan has said that at the height of ISIS, more than 1,000 fighters from the country joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, including ISIS. One of the most prominent was Gulmurod Khalimov, an officer with Tajikistan’s special forces who defected and joined ISIS in Syria in 2015.
Khalimov rose through ISIS ranks to become one of its top military commanders. In September 2017, the Russian military said he was killed in a Russian airstrike in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq.
Thursday’s repatriation of Tajik citizens is not the first. Last May, 104 Tajik citizens were returned home, including 31 women and 73 children. And the year before, 146 women and children were repatriated.

Arab World

18 Countries Urge Hamas to Release Hostages, End Gaza Crisis

Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
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18 Countries Urge Hamas to Release Hostages, End Gaza Crisis

Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

The United States and 17 other countries on Thursday issued an appeal for Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza, but the group vowed not to relent to international pressure.
"We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now for over 200 days," a statement by the countries said, in what a senior US official called an extraordinary display of unanimity.

The 18 countries all have citizens held by Hamas six months after the Palestinian militant group launched its Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

The signatories were the leaders of the United States, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and Britain.

"We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities," the statement said.

"Gazans would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions," it said.

Senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Hamas would not be influenced by the statement and said the United States needs to force Israel to end its aggression.

"The ball now is in the American court," said Abu Zuhri.

A senior US official, briefing reporters about the statement, said there were some indications that there might be an avenue for an agreement on the hostage crisis but that he was not totally confident.

He did not elaborate but said the resolution was dependent on "one guy," the Hamas Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar.

The hostage proposal put forward earlier this year calls for the release of sick, elderly and wounded hostages in Gaza in exchange for a six-week ceasefire that could be extended to allow for more humanitarian aid to be delivered into the enclave.
It permits the unrestricted return of Gaza citizens to northern Gaza, the official said.

Arab World

Israel Intensifies Airstrikes on Gaza's Rafah Before Ground Operation

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
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Israel Intensifies Airstrikes on Gaza's Rafah Before Ground Operation

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafah overnight after saying it would evacuate civilians from the southern Gazan city and launch an all-out assault despite allies' warnings this could cause mass casualties.
Medics in the besieged Palestinian enclave reported five Israeli airstrikes on Rafah early on Thursday that hit at least three houses, killing at least six people including a local journalist.
In the seventh month of a devastating air and ground war against Hamas, Israeli forces also resumed bombarding northern and central areas of the enclave, as well as east of Khan Younis in the south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet was holding meetings "to discuss how to destroy the last vestiges, the last quarter of Hamas' battalions, in Rafah and elsewhere," government spokesperson David Mencer said.
He declined to say when or whether the classified forum might give a green light for a ground operation in Rafah.
Israeli warplanes had hammered the north for a second day on Wednesday, shattering weeks of comparative calm there.
The war, now in its seventh month, has killed at least 34,305 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities said on Thursday. The offensive has laid to waste much of the densely populated and widely urbanized enclave, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and leaving many with little food, water or medical care.
Escalating Israeli warnings about invading Rafah, the last refuge for around a million civilians who fled Israeli forces further north earlier in the war, have nudged some families to leave for the nearby al-Mawasi coastal area or try to make their way to points further north, residents and witnesses said.
But the number of displaced people departing Rafah, abutting Gaza's southern border with Egypt, remained small. Many were confused over where they should go, saying their experience over the past 200 days of war had taught them that no place was genuinely safe.

Western countries, including the United States, have pleaded with Israel to hold back from attacking the city, saying this could cause a humanitarian disaster given the presence of many displaced people with only rudimentary shelter and little food or access to medical care.

Arab World

Belgian Agency Aid Worker Dies in Gaza

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
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Belgian Agency Aid Worker Dies in Gaza

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

An aid worker who was part of Belgium's development aid efforts in the Gaza Strip died in an Israeli strike on Rafah, the country's development minister, Caroline Gennez, said on Thursday.

"It is with deep sadness and horror that we learn of the death of our colleague Abdallah Nabhan (33) and his seven-year-old son Jamal, last night, following a bombardment by the Israeli army in the eastern part of the city of Rafah", the minister said in a statement.

Nabhan, whose nationality was not disclosed, worked for the Enabel agency, assisting small businesses, Reuters reported.
The statement said at least seven people were killed by the strike on a building that housed about 25 people, including displaced people from other parts of the Gaza Strip occupied by Israeli forces following an attack on Israel by Hamas last October.
"The indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians goes against every international and humanitarian law and the rules of war," Gennez said.