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Israeli Lobby Seeks to Restore Jewish Settlement in Gaza

Displaced Palestinians are seen at a temporary tent camp in the Al-Mawasi area in Gaza. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians are seen at a temporary tent camp in the Al-Mawasi area in Gaza. (AP)
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Israeli Lobby Seeks to Restore Jewish Settlement in Gaza

Displaced Palestinians are seen at a temporary tent camp in the Al-Mawasi area in Gaza. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians are seen at a temporary tent camp in the Al-Mawasi area in Gaza. (AP)

A so-called “Parliamentary Lobby for the Israeli Victory Project,” which operates in Israel and the United States, decided to submit a demand to the US administration and the Israeli government to “seriously consider a project of voluntary transfer of Palestinians,” claiming that it was the best humanitarian solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

The lobby warned of the American plan to allow the Palestinian Authority to rule Gaza and to establish the two-state solution, claiming that this is “a recipe for repeating the Hamas attack on October 7, several times.”

These positions were announced on the eve of the meeting of the Israeli Mini Ministerial Council for Security and Political Affairs, on Thursday, to discuss the post-Gaza war stage. The lobby announced its adoption of the plan drawn up by Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, the author of the official project to deport the people of Gaza.

According to Gamliel, Hamas’ rule of the Gaza Strip should end, along with the complete destruction of its sites and tunnels and the dissolution of municipalities and village councils. She added that the entire agricultural land must become a security belt for Israel, while the Israeli army must remain in control of all border crossings and be able to continue its operations.

Transferring UNRWA materials

Gamliel stressed that transferring governing powers to the Palestinian Authority would be very dangerous for Israel.

She noted that the PA leaders share views as Hamas, saying: “They even expressed their support for the October 7 massacre. We did not fight for all this period and pay the price in blood for the establishment of an authority that is hostile to us.”

The minister emphasized that her project required interim civilian rule in the Gaza Strip, led by the United States, Egypt and Jordan, with the Israeli army maintaining its security control.

She added that among urgent tasks will be a process of complete disarmament and the termination of the Palestinian refugee file, while transferring the resources that go to UNRWA to finance the voluntary migration project so that the refugees can build a new life abroad.

The Israeli Victory Project was founded in 2017 and includes a group of deputies from both the coalition and the opposition.

‘Unrealistic illusions’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a briefing to Israeli media, described calls for the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza launched by Israeli ministers, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, as “unrealistic illusions.”

Netanyahu claimed that Israel “does not work to displace the people of Gaza and resettle them in other places in the world.”

“Even if we wanted to, Israel does not have the ability to push the residents of Gaza to leave to another country,” he said, citing legal restrictions.

American figures

Since the creation of the lobby, there have been two American figures in its leadership: Daniel Pipes, president of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, and Gregg Roman, Director General of the same institute, who is a former leader of Jewish institutions and worked as an employee in the Israeli Ministry of Defense and an advisor to the Israeli Foreign Minister.

The lobby believes that the Israeli government and the American administration failed to settle the conflict during 30 years of negotiations, because they “did not deal appropriately with the Palestinian policy” of rejecting proposals, while claiming that the Israelis had to constantly make concessions to the Palestinians.

Similar American lobby

The Israeli Victory Project works in partnership with a similar US lobby that has been established in Congress since 1988. It is led by figures in the American leadership, and funded by American support.

The intense campaign by the Israeli right to promote the voluntary deportation of Palestinians is “unsettling” the American administration and many forces in Israel, who believe it will politically and legally implicate Israel at international arenas.

A political source in the opposition said the call for deportation is no longer limited to a number of far-right ministers and representatives, but is now backed by political, popular and academic forces in Israel and the United States.

These forces are trying to give momentum to this project and refuse in any way to end the war with a political settlement, according to the source.

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Arab World

Gaza's Rafah Crossing Reopens, Allowing Limited Travel as Palestinians Claim Delays, Mistreatment

Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza's Rafah Crossing Reopens, Allowing Limited Travel as Palestinians Claim Delays, Mistreatment

Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ayada Al-Sheikh is welcomed by his sister, Nisreen, upon his arrival in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after returning to Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A limited number of Palestinians were able to travel between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, after Gaza's Rafah crossing reopened after a two-day closure, Egyptian state media reported.

The vital border point opened last week for the first time since 2024, one of the main requirements for the US-backed ceasefire. The crossing was closed Friday and Saturday because of confusion about reopening operations.

Egypt's Al Qahera television station said that Palestinians began crossing in both directions around noon on Sunday. Israel didn't immediately confirm the information, according to The AP news.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington this week, though the major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.

Over the first four days of the crossing's opening, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to UN data, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening.

Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza are seeking to leave for medical care that isn't available in the territory. Those who have succeeded in crossing described delays and allegations of mistreatment by Israeli forces and other groups involved in the crossing, including an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab.

A group of Palestinian patients and wounded gathered Sunday morning in the courtyard of a Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, before making their way to the Rafah crossing with Egypt for treatment abroad, family members told The Associated Press.

Amjad Abu Jedian, who was injured in the war, was scheduled to leave Gaza for medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only five patients were allowed to travel that day, his mother, Raja Abu Jedian, said. Abu Jedian was shot by an Israeli sniper while he doing building work in the central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.

On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health Organization notifying them that he is included in the group that will travel on Sunday, she said.

“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),” she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”

The Israeli defense branch that oversees the operation of the crossing didn't immediately confirm the opening.

Heading back to Gaza A group of Palestinians also arrived Sunday morning at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to return to the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television reported.

Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the crossing's operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and Abu Shabab. A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.

The crossing was reopened on Feb. 2 as part of a fragile ceasefire deal to halt the Israel-Hamas war.

The Rafah crossing, an essential lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, was the only one in the Palestinian territory not controlled by Israel before the war. Israel seized the Palestinian side of Rafah in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily restricted even before that.

Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials meant that only 50 people would be allowed to return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients — along with two companions for each — would be allowed to leave, but far fewer people have so far crossed in both directions.

A senior Hamas official, Khaled Mashaal, said the militant group is open to discuss the future of its arms as part of a “balanced approach” that includes the reconstruction of Gaza and protecting the Palestinian enclave from Israel.

Mashaal said the group has offered multiple options, including a long-term truce, as part of its ongoing negotiations with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators.

Hamas plans to agree to a number of “guarantees,” including a 10-year period of disarmament and an international peacekeeping force on the borders, “to maintain peace and prevent any clashes,” between the militants and Israel, Mashaal said at a forum in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

Israel has repeatedly demanded a complete disarmament and destruction of Hamas and its infrastructure, both military and civil.

Mashaal accused Israel of financing and arming militias, like the Abu Shabab group which operates in Israeli military-controlled areas in Gaza, “to create chaos” in the enclave.

In the forum, Mashaal was asked about Hamas’ position from US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. He didn’t offer a specific answer, but said that the group won’t accept “foreign intervention” in Palestinian affairs.

“Gaza is for the people of Gaza. Palestinians are for the people of Palestine,” he said. “We will not accept foreign rule.”

Arab World

Three Deadly Attacks on Health Centers in Sudan's South Kordofan in Past Week, Says WHO

Sudanese families prepare to ride on trucks while on their way to Egypt through the Qustul border, after the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum, in the Sudanese city of Wadi Halfa, Sudan May 1, 2023. (Reuters)
Sudanese families prepare to ride on trucks while on their way to Egypt through the Qustul border, after the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum, in the Sudanese city of Wadi Halfa, Sudan May 1, 2023. (Reuters)
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Three Deadly Attacks on Health Centers in Sudan's South Kordofan in Past Week, Says WHO

Sudanese families prepare to ride on trucks while on their way to Egypt through the Qustul border, after the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum, in the Sudanese city of Wadi Halfa, Sudan May 1, 2023. (Reuters)
Sudanese families prepare to ride on trucks while on their way to Egypt through the Qustul border, after the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum, in the Sudanese city of Wadi Halfa, Sudan May 1, 2023. (Reuters)

Sudan's South Kordofan region has seen attacks on three health facilities in the past week alone, leaving more than 30 dead, the World Health Organization said Sunday, AFP reported.

"Sudan's health system is under attack again," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, pointing out that, since February 3, "three health facilities were attacked in South Kordofan, in a region already suffering acute malnutrition".

Arab World

Killing of Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi Raises Succession Questions in September Current

Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi (file photo, Reuters)
Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi (file photo, Reuters)
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Killing of Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi Raises Succession Questions in September Current

Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi (file photo, Reuters)
Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi (file photo, Reuters)

Since the killing of Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi, son of Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi, in the western Libyan city of Zintan last Tuesday, urgent questions have surfaced over who might succeed him in leading the political current he represented.

The questions reflect Seif al-Islam’s symbolic status among supporters of the former regime, known as the September Current, a reference to backers of the September 1 Revolution led by Moammar Gadhafi in 1969.

Search for new leadership

Othman Barka, a leading figure in the National Current that backed Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi, said supporters of the former regime had yet to agree on a new leader but retained the organizational and political capacity to overcome the current phase and later move toward an alternative leadership framework.

Barka told Asharq Al-Awsat that ties to Gadhafi and his sons had been both emotional and political, but said that what he described as national work would continue. He said organized efforts would be made to reach a new leadership after the repercussions of the killing were overcome.

It remains unclear how Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, the political official in the Libyan National Struggle Front and one of the most prominent figures of the former regime, views the future leadership of the September Current following Seif al-Islam’s killing.

Sources close to him told Asharq Al-Awsat it was too early to speak of a new leadership while mourning ceremonies continued in Bani Walid.

Gaddaf al-Dam limited his public response to reposting a statement by those describing themselves as supporters of the Jamahiriya system on his Facebook page. He stressed unity, saying the killing would not lead to the fragmentation of the current and that September supporters remained a single, solid bloc.

In Bani Walid in western Libya, where Seif al-Islam was buried on Friday, shock was evident in the tone of Libyan activist Hamid Gadhafi, a member of the late leader’s tribe. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that clarity over the future leadership would emerge after about 10 days.

Possible successors

Libyan social media pages circulated the names of potential successors, including Seif al-Islam’s sister, Aisha, and his brother, Saadi. Libyan political analyst Ibrahim Belqasem rejected that view, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that the only remaining driver for supporters of the former regime would be the emergence of an unexpected, nonpolitical figure, describing it as an attempt to rescue the current.

After the fall of Gadhafi’s rule in 2011, following 42 years in power since the 1969 revolution, his supporters reemerged under the banner of the September Current. They are popularly known as the Greens, a reference to the Green Book.

Fragmented components and the absence of unified leadership mark the September Current. Seif al-Islam was widely seen as a central symbol among supporters, as well as among political figures and groups calling for the reintegration of former regime supporters into political life and for the recognition of their rights.

Nasser Saeed, spokesman for the Libyan Popular National Movement, one of the political arms of former regime supporters, said he expected a national political leadership to take shape in the coming phase to continue what he described as national work until the country stabilizes. Libyans can determine their future.

He said the emergence of a new leader or symbol was a matter for a later stage, stressing that the project was ideological rather than tied to individuals.

Saeed told Asharq Al-Awsat that Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi’s legacy lay in a unifying national project that rejected foreign intervention and sought to restore sovereignty and stability. He said Seif al-Islam had represented hope for overcoming the crisis and that his project extended the path of the September Revolution as a liberation choice that still retained supporters.

Structural challenges

Organizationally, the former regime cannot be confined to a single political framework. Its structures and leadership are diverse, including independent organizations and figures.

Among the most prominent are the Libyan Popular National Movement, founded in 2012, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya, formed in 2016 by politicians and tribal leaders in support of Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi.

Their representatives increased their presence after 2020, whether in the Geneva forum that led to the formation of the Government of National Unity or in UN-sponsored structured dialogue tracks, before suspending participation following Seif al-Islam’s killing.

Voices within the September Current believe the killing marked a decisive turning point that cast heavy shadows over the ability of former regime supporters to forge unified leadership, citing structural difficulties rooted in historical disagreements between what is known as the old guard and supporters of change led by Seif al-Islam.

Khaled al-Hijazi, a prominent political activist in the September Current, agreed with that assessment, saying Seif al-Islam’s symbolic role had helped balance internal disputes due to his reformist project before the February 17 uprising.

Al-Hijazi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the loss of that symbolism could revive old divisions and complicate efforts to recreate an inclusive leadership, amid internal and external factors that make unification highly complex in the foreseeable future.

Barka said differences were natural, stressing that the current was not a closed party and believed in democracy and pluralism. He said generational competition did not amount to conflict and noted there had been no violent clashes between supporters of different paths within the September Current.

He concluded by saying that the diversity of approaches served a single goal: the freedom and prosperity of Libyan citizens and the building of a sovereign state capable of overcoming the crisis that has persisted since 2011.