Tunisia Opposition Urges President to Step in over Ghannouchi’s Stances on Libya

Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi. (Reuters)
Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi. (Reuters)
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Tunisia Opposition Urges President to Step in over Ghannouchi’s Stances on Libya

Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi. (Reuters)
Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi. (Reuters)

Seven Tunisian opposition parties called on President Kais Saied to respond to recent remarks by parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouci, in wake of accusations against Tunis that it was providing “logistic support to Turkey in its aggression against Libya.”

In a joint statement, they denounced a phone call between Ghannouchi and head of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj during which they discussed the developments in Libya. They said that the fact that parliament did not disclose the details of the talks only raises more questions and criticism.

The political parties: the Workers’ Party, the Tunisia Forward Movement, the Socialist Party, the National Democratic Socialist Party, Al Qotb and the Baath movement described Ghannouchi’s move as an attempt to “bypass state institutions and drag the country into the Libyan conflict, in support of the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies.”

The statement regretted the role Ghannouchi has played on behalf of the country’s parliament, accusing him of “behaving like a member of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, through prioritizing the interests of Islamists at the expense of those of Tunisia and its people.”

Ghannouchi is head of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party.

They called on Saied to intervene in his capacity as president to tackle foreign policy and pursue relations that serve Tunisia’s national security.



Food Security Experts Warn Gaza Is at Critical Risk of Famine if Israel Doesn’t End Its Campaign 

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)
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Food Security Experts Warn Gaza Is at Critical Risk of Famine if Israel Doesn’t End Its Campaign 

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)

The Gaza Strip is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign, food security experts said Monday.

Outright famine is the most likely scenario unless conditions change, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.

Nearly a half million Palestinians are in “catastrophic” levels of hunger, meaning they face possible starvation, the report said, while another million are at “emergency” levels of hunger.

Israel has banned any food, shelter, medicine or other goods from entering the Palestinian territory for the past 10 weeks, even as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations.

Gaza’s population of around 2.3 million people relies almost entirely on outside aid to survive, because Israel’s 19-month-old military campaign has wiped away most capacity to produce food inside the territory.

The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not respond to a request for comment on the IPC report.

The army has said that enough assistance entered Gaza during a two-month ceasefire that Israel shattered in mid-March when it relaunched its military campaign.

Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds.