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Palestine Officially Demands Urgent Arab League Summit over Israeli Aggression

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Palestine Officially Demands Urgent Arab League Summit over Israeli Aggression

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Palestine’s Permanent Representative at the Arab League Mohammed al-Aklouk requested an extraordinary Arab summit on the Israeli aggression against Palestinians, at the invitation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Aklouk said, in a statement published by Wafa, that Palestine’s request comes after coordination with Saudi Arabia in its capacity as the chair of the current 32nd session of the Arab Summit.

The Ambassador indicated that Palestine requested the summit to discuss the “brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people” in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Palestine called for the summit to address ways to help the state and people of Palestine confront the political, humanitarian, economic, and social challenges.

The summit also aims to discuss Arab action at the international level to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, under international law, the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy, and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

The Assistant Sec-Gen of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Palestine, Saudi Arabia who is residing at the summit, and other countries are holding ongoing consultations in preparation for the emergency meeting to discuss ways to stop the war in Gaza.

The Palestinian President called on the Arab leaders to convene an emergency summit to stop the brutal aggression against the Palestinian people and their cause.

Zaki indicated that the emergency summit is as good as done, adding that under the current circumstances, it is almost sure that two-thirds of the members will agree to hold an emergency summit either in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.

Last May, the Kingdom hosted the 32nd regular session of the Arab League at the summit level.

The Arab League held an emergency meeting at the level of foreign ministers on Oct. 11 in Cairo to discuss the situation in Gaza, which concluded with a call for urgent international action to stop the war in Gaza.

The meeting condemned the targeting of civilians and warned against attempts to displace the Palestinian people.

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Arab World

Russian Mariner Held After Houthi Red Sea Attack Leaves Yemen for Home

A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)
A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)
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Russian Mariner Held After Houthi Red Sea Attack Leaves Yemen for Home

A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)
A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)

A Russian ‌mariner detained for around eight months after being on board a ship attacked by Yemen's Houthi militants has left the country for Russia following medical treatment in Sanaa, the Houthi-run foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The mariner, identified by Russian media as Aleksei Galaktionov, was a crew member of a ‌Greek-operated cargo ‌ship that was sunk by ‌the ⁠Houthis in July ⁠2025. He was wounded in the attack.

"The Russian citizen was transported on a United Nations aircraft, in coordination with the UN envoy," the foreign ministry said, according to the ⁠Houthi-run news agency, adding that his ‌departure was ‌arranged after he had completed treatment.

It said the ‌move followed contacts with Russian ‌officials and with counterparts in Iran.

The crew of the ship was released in December, an official with the ship's operator and ‌a maritime security source told Reuters.

The Iran-aligned Houthis sank the ⁠Liberia-flagged ⁠Eternity C, which had 22 crew and three armed guards on board, after attacking it with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades over two consecutive days.

The Houthis have attacked more than 100 ships in what they said was a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war. They halted attacks after a ceasefire was announced in October last year.

Arab World

Pro-Palestinian Flotilla’s New Gaza Mission to Start in Spain on April 12

The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)
The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)
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Pro-Palestinian Flotilla’s New Gaza Mission to Start in Spain on April 12

The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)
The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)

A flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists who attempted to reach Gaza last year said on Thursday they would launch a new mission to the devastated territory from Barcelona on April 12.

The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Palestinian group Hamas, drew worldwide attention.

Israel's interception of their boats and arrests of the activists as they approached Gaza, which suffered severe shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, sparked international condemnation.

The group, which described its first attempt as a humanitarian mission, said the latest trip starting in Spain's second city would gather more than 80 boats and 1,000 international participants.

"The cost of inaction is too high to bear," it said in a statement, adding that a land-based movement would join the maritime action to create pressure in multiple countries.

"As Gaza endures intensifying blockade, violence, and deprivation, the mission is a principled, nonviolent intervention: a defense of human dignity, a call for humanitarian access, and a demand for international accountability," the group said.

Gaza is under a fragile ceasefire agreed last October, which followed two years of devastating conflict sparked by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures tallied by AFP. Palestinian fighters also abducted 251 hostages.

The retaliatory Israeli military campaign killed more than 70,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.

Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

Gaza's health ministry says Israeli strikes have killed more than 700 Palestinians since the truce. Israel says five of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.

Arab World

Israel Says It Has Struck Over 3,500 Targets in Lebanon in Past Month

This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says It Has Struck Over 3,500 Targets in Lebanon in Past Month

This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli military said Friday it had struck more than 3,500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with the Hezbollah group began.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 after Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel has responded with massive strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive.

The Israeli military said Friday it had killed approximately 1,000 militants in Lebanon over the past month, with strikes targeting what it described as "terrorist infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, launch positions, and command and control headquarters" belonging to Hezbollah.

Lebanon's health ministry said on Thursday that 1,345 people had been killed and 4,040 wounded since the start of the war, including 1,129 men, 91 women and 125 children.

The ministry said the toll also included 53 healthcare workers.

Hezbollah has so far not announced its losses.

On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem would pay an "extraordinarily heavy price" for escalating attacks during the ongoing Jewish holidays.

"The Hezbollah terrorist organization you now lead, and its supporters in Lebanon, will bear the full and severe consequences," Katz said.

His warning followed claims by Hezbollah that it had carried out a series of rocket attacks on northern Israel late Wednesday and early Thursday, as Israeli Jews began marking Passover.

Katz also reiterated that Israeli forces "will clear Hezbollah and its supporters from southern Lebanon, maintain Israeli security control throughout the Litani area, and dismantle Hezbollah's military capabilities across Lebanon".

Eighteen European countries on Thursday urged Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting as their latest conflict reached one month and with fears over Israeli plans to occupy part of southern Lebanon post-war.

"Israeli military operations in Lebanon and Hezbollah's attacks must cease," the foreign ministers of the countries including Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland and Ireland said in a joint statement.

"We urge Israel to fully respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and call on all parties, both Hezbollah and Israel, to halt military action," the statement said.

The countries include Spain, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Slovenia and Sweden.