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‘Fatah’ Says US Hospital in Gaza a 'Military Base'

People are seen outside the Palestinian Liberation Organization Delegation office in Washington DC on September 10, 2018. (AFP/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)
People are seen outside the Palestinian Liberation Organization Delegation office in Washington DC on September 10, 2018. (AFP/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)
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‘Fatah’ Says US Hospital in Gaza a 'Military Base'

People are seen outside the Palestinian Liberation Organization Delegation office in Washington DC on September 10, 2018. (AFP/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)
People are seen outside the Palestinian Liberation Organization Delegation office in Washington DC on September 10, 2018. (AFP/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)

Fatah officials slammed the Hamas-US coordination as a US firm starts constructing a field hospital, in the north of Gaza Strip. They described this hospital as a US advanced security base, while ‘Hamas’ defended the hospital saying it is part of the recent truce.

Fatah's central committee member Zakaria al-Agha said that there are several questions on the ‘advanced security base being established on the Palestinian territories in the north of Gaza Strip dubbed as advanced field hospital’.

Agha wondered, who requested and approved this hospital? Who gave the granted land? Why was there blinding on the issue? Where do the media means stand in this regard?

He went on questioning the silence towards what's happening, and whether the US that has been quite helpful to Israel has decided to become affectionate now and establish this hospital.

A US firm commenced establishment works of the hospital, near Beit Hanoun, and the setting up of the field hospital started on Nov. 21.

PA security forces spokesman Adnan Damiri stated that after the US shutdown Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) office in New York, halted aid to hospitals, transferred its embassy to Jerusalem, permitted the settlement, and hindered aid to UNRWA, is Washington's conscious suddenly awake to build a field hospital in coordination with Hamas?

Munir al-Jaghoub, head of the Fatah Information Department in the Office of Mobilization and Organization, accused Hamas of fully coordinating with the US to establish the hospital.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesperson for Hamas, said that this decision stemmed from the fact that part of the siege impacted the health conditions in Gaza Strip due to the Israeli policy, and the West Bank’s government neglect of medical situations.

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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)

Egypt said Friday that Ethiopia has consistently lacked the political will to reach a binding agreement on its now-complete dam, an issue that involves Nile River water rights and the interests of Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s prime minister said Thursday that the country’s power-generating dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Nile is now complete and that the government is “preparing for its official inauguration” in September.

Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam, because it would reduce the country's share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.

The more than the $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border began producing power in 2022. It’s expected to eventually produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity — double Ethiopia’s current output.

Ethiopia and Egypt have spent years trying to reach an agreement over the dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011.

Both countries reached no deal despite negotiations over 13 years, and it remains unclear how much water Ethiopia will release downstream in case of a drought.

Egyptian officials, in a statement, called the completion of the dam “unlawful” and said that it violates international law, reflecting “an Ethiopian approach driven by an ideology that seeks to impose water hegemony” instead of equal partnership.

“Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse,” Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement Friday.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers Thursday, said that his country “remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters.”

“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. “Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

However, the Egyptian water ministry said Friday that Ethiopian statements calling for continued negotiations “are merely superficial attempts to improve its image on the international stage.”

“Ethiopia’s positions, marked by evasion and retreat while pursuing unilateralism, are in clear contradiction with its declared willingness to negotiate,” the statement read.

However, Egypt is addressing its water needs by expanding agricultural wastewater treatment and improving irrigation systems, according to the ministry, while also bolstering cooperation with Nile Basin countries through backing development and water-related projects.