US Says Haftar Committed to Ending Oil Blockade

Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
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US Says Haftar Committed to Ending Oil Blockade

Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images

Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar said he was committed to ending a months-long blockade of oil facilities, the US Embassy in the country revealed in a statement Saturday.

It said the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) had conveyed "the personal commitment of General Haftar to allow the full reopening of the energy sector no later than Sept. 12."

In a letter to Haftar, US Ambassador to Tripoli Richard Norland noted that the embassy said that “in recent discussions with a broad range of Libyan leaders” it had backed “a financial model that would constitute a credible guarantee that oil and gas revenues would be managed transparently”.

“The Embassy welcomes what appears to be a Libyan consensus that it is time to reopen the energy sector,” it added.

Meanwhile, Libyans are suffering a severe crisis in the electricity sector due to the blockade in addition to the pandemic and the threat posed by foreign mercenaries and armed groups on the energy infrastructure.

Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah stressed during his meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas - days earlier - the urgent need to put an end promptly to the blockade of oil facilities in Libya.

Maas, for his part, called for ending the blockade and added that his country is following up on all exerted efforts in this regard.

Haftar’s LNA and its backers imposed the blockade during January, reducing Libya’s oil output from more than one million barrels per day (bpd) to less than 100,000 bpd, and further deepening Libya’s economic collapse.



Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organizations warned Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.

"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."

"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."

Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.