Morocco Takes Small Steps Toward 'Normalization' with Israel

The national flags of Israel and Morocco are projected on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, December 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
The national flags of Israel and Morocco are projected on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, December 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
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Morocco Takes Small Steps Toward 'Normalization' with Israel

The national flags of Israel and Morocco are projected on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, December 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
The national flags of Israel and Morocco are projected on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, December 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Morocco is taking slow steps toward normalizing ties with Israel until US President-elect Joe Biden determines his stances over a number of issues, according to diplomatic sources in Tel Aviv, especially regarding the sovereignty of Morocco over the Western Sahara.

Rabat has no intention of declaring full diplomatic ties and will limit new moves to opening liaison offices.

A delegation from Morocco will visit Israel next month to agree on reopening the offices, establishing embassies and launching direct flights between the two countries.

Last week, a Moroccan delegation visited its liaison office in Tel Aviv, which was closed in 2000.

Sources from Tel Aviv said that Biden’s team isn’t in a rush to declare a stance over the Moroccan demands, which is bothering Rabat.

In December, the US, Israel, and Morocco signed a tripartite declaration regarding normalizing ties between Rabat and Tel Aviv.

Notably, Morocco has become the fourth state to establish diplomatic ties with Israel following, UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan.



WHO: Medicine Critically Low Due to Gaza Aid Blockade

Palestinians gather at a damaged building, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Shejaia, in Gaza City, April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
Palestinians gather at a damaged building, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Shejaia, in Gaza City, April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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WHO: Medicine Critically Low Due to Gaza Aid Blockade

Palestinians gather at a damaged building, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Shejaia, in Gaza City, April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
Palestinians gather at a damaged building, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Shejaia, in Gaza City, April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

Medicine stocks are critically low due to the aid blockade in Gaza, making it hard to keep hospitals even partially operational, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

"We are critically low in our three warehouses, on antibiotics, IV fluids and blood bags," WHO official Rik Peeperkorn told reporters in Geneva via video link from Jerusalem.

The Israeli military on Friday issued an urgent warning to residents in several neighborhoods in northern Gaza, calling on them to evacuate immediately. Strikes earlier this week killed at least 23 people, health officials said, including eight women and eight children.

Since Israel ended an eight-week ceasefire last month, it said it will push further into Gaza until Hamas releases the hostages. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed, according to the United Nations.

Israel imposed a blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle. It has pledged to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor through it.