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Palestinian Rights Groups Snub ICC Prosecutor

Palestinians carry their belongings following Israeli strikes on residential buildings at the Qatari-funded Hamad City, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip December 2, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians carry their belongings following Israeli strikes on residential buildings at the Qatari-funded Hamad City, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip December 2, 2023. (Reuters)
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Palestinian Rights Groups Snub ICC Prosecutor

Palestinians carry their belongings following Israeli strikes on residential buildings at the Qatari-funded Hamad City, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip December 2, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians carry their belongings following Israeli strikes on residential buildings at the Qatari-funded Hamad City, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip December 2, 2023. (Reuters)

Palestinian human rights groups refused to meet the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan on Saturday, accusing him of favoring Israeli accusations of rights abuses over longstanding Palestinian charges.

Khan has been visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank following a request by a group representing families of victims of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen, but he was also due to meet Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

However Palestinian activists said they would refuse to see him because of their objections to what they saw as unequal treatment of Israeli and Palestinian cases.

"As Palestinian human rights organizations, we decided not to meet him," said Ammar Al-Dwaik, director general of the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR).

"I think the way this visit has been handled shows that Mr. Khan is not handling his work in an independent and professional manner," he said.

Accusations of war crimes and human rights abuses have been made on both sides since Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen overran several Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and seizing around 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

In response, Israel has launched weeks of air strikes against Gaza as well as an invasion by tanks and ground troops, killing more than 15,000 Gazans, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Khan was in Israel following an invitation from families of the Israeli hostages. He was scheduled to meet lawyers for the families' group as well as members of the families themselves.

On Saturday, he also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas had urged Karim to investigate Israeli operations in Gaza as well as the occupied West Bank.

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Arab World

Iraq Seeking New Oil Export Routes after Hormuz Disruption

FILE PHOTO: Tankers are seen off the coast of Fujairah, as Iran vows to fire on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tankers are seen off the coast of Fujairah, as Iran vows to fire on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Photo
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Iraq Seeking New Oil Export Routes after Hormuz Disruption

FILE PHOTO: Tankers are seen off the coast of Fujairah, as Iran vows to fire on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tankers are seen off the coast of Fujairah, as Iran vows to fire on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Photo

Iraqi authorities are exploring alternative routes to export oil after transit through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted by the Middle East war, an oil ministry spokesperson told AFP Tuesday.

Saheb Bazoun said that "much like other countries in the region, oil production and marketing have been severely impacted, leaving the government no choice but to seek alternative" export routes.

Iraq has several oil shipments stuck at sea, he said.

Iraq is a founding member of the OPEC cartel, and crude oil sales make up 90 percent of the country's budget revenues.

Before the war, it was exporting more than 3.5 million barrels per day.

The Strait of Hormuz remains closed to almost all oil tankers, and Iran has vowed that not one litre of oil would be exported from the Gulf while its war with the United States and Israel continues.

Iraq's oil production and exports have sharply decreased, Bazoun said.

Iraqi authorities are considering several options for exports, including a pipeline which runs thought Iraq's northern Kurdistan region to the port of Ceyhan in Türkiye.

They are also considering transporting oil by land, but many plans will require time to be implemented, according to Bazoun.

A senior official in Iraq's Kurdistan region told AFP talks are underway to facilitate oil exports from federal Iraq.

He said that Baghdad had requested to "export 200,000 bpd" via the Ceyhan pipeline, which has a capacity of 700,000 bpd.

But regional authorities asked for several measures in return, including that Baghdad facilitates the region's access to US dollars through banks.

"We have made it clear to Baghdad that the relief on dollars should happen first," the Kurdish official said, claiming that there is a "100 percent dollar embargo on Kurdistan."

Since the start of the year, Iraq has been dealing with a US dollar liquidity shortage that has affected many sectors across the country.

Oil production has also been disrupted in the Kurdistan region since foreign oil companies have halted production as a precautionary measure since the start of the war.

Arab World

Syria Appoints Kurdish YPG Commander Sipan Hamo Deputy Defense Minister

Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
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Syria Appoints Kurdish YPG Commander Sipan Hamo Deputy Defense Minister

Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)

Syria's defense ministry said on Tuesday that Sipan Hamo, commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), had been appointed deputy defense minister for the country's eastern territories.

The move is seen as part of implementing a US-brokered integration agreement signed on January 29 between Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

"Sipan Hamo has been appointed Assistant Minister of Defence for the eastern region," a defense ministry official said in a statement.

Arab World

UN: Almost 700,000 Displaced, 84 Children Killed after Israeli Strikes on Lebanon

An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
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UN: Almost 700,000 Displaced, 84 Children Killed after Israeli Strikes on Lebanon

An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)

The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon has deepened amid the wider Middle East war, with 84 children killed and more than 667,000 people displaced, two UN agencies said on Tuesday, as lives are upended on a massive scale across the country.

A total of 486 people have been killed in the war so far and 1,313 injured, of which 259 are children, according to the World Health Organization.

"This is only seven-days conflict, and we are already seeing that almost 100 children that have lost their lives," said Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon.

"One reason why we have a high number of children is that most of the attacks that we see actually is, it's urban centers, like in Beirut," he said, adding that Israel's airstrikes, which it says target Hezbollah infrastructure, are putting civilian lives at risk.

The current rate of displacement in Lebanon is outpacing levels seen during the 2023-24 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the UN Refugee Agency said on Tuesday. During that conflict, 886,000 people were internally displaced in Lebanon, while tens of thousands of Israelis were evacuated from northern towns near the Lebanese border.

ISRAEL ORDERS EVACUATION

Lebanon's sharp rise in displacement this week stems from large-scale evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for southern Lebanon and Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs, which the UN human rights chief said on Friday raised serious concerns under international law.

The WHO warned that Lebanon's hospitals and frontline responders were under "extraordinary strain" trying to manage the rising number of patients.

Five hospitals are now out of service, four partially damaged, and 43 primary healthcare centers are closed - mostly in the south, which has been largely evacuated, Abubakar said.

"Many of the people fleeing were also fleeing back in 2024. We met many who then had their homes completely destroyed, family members killed and so on. So this means that people are not waiting to see what will happen next. They leave immediately," said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR representative in Lebanon.

Some 120,000 people are staying in government-designated shelters, while others are still looking for somewhere to stay, the UNHCR said, citing government figures.

"Many others are staying with relatives or friends or still searching for accommodation, and we see cars lined along the street with people sleeping in them and also on the sidewalks," Billing said.