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Arab World

Israeli Government Weighing ‘Soft Deportation’ Plan of Gaza Residents

Palestinians pray during the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, March 7, 2025 (AP) 
Palestinians pray during the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, March 7, 2025 (AP) 
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Israeli Government Weighing ‘Soft Deportation’ Plan of Gaza Residents

Palestinians pray during the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, March 7, 2025 (AP) 
Palestinians pray during the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Shafi'i Mosque, damaged by Israeli army strikes, in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, March 7, 2025 (AP) 

An Israeli government session scheduled for next Sunday will discuss a “soft displacement plan” to encourage the migration of Gaza residents to a third country, according to Israeli ministerial sources.

The proposal comes after Israel’s defense ministry established last month a directorate for the voluntary departure of Gaza residents tasked with implementing the plan of US President Donald Trump, which could allow a large part of Gaza’s population to relocate to various places around the world.

Ministerial sources in Israel said the government’s “soft” deportation plan aims to avoid charges against the Hebrew State of deliberate forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a move that will draw international condemnation against Israel of committing “war crimes.”

The sources said polls conducted months ago in Gaza found that 50% of Gazans were considering emigrating from the enclave.

According to Israeli estimates, the number is much lower, particularly after many Gazans abandoned the idea of leaving the Strip as soon as Trump proposed a US “takeover” of Gaza and the resettlement of Palestinians in other countries.

Therefore, the estimates in Tel Aviv say about 200,000 residents now wish to voluntary leave the Strip.

Israel believes that the deportation of 200,000 people is a great achievement that should be implemented with caution.

Therefore, the Israeli directorate for the voluntary departure of Gaza residents will oversee the entire process – from the stage of leaving Gaza until reaching the third country. Gaza residents will leave the Gaza Strip by land through the Kerem Shalom crossing, by air via the Ramon Airport near Eilat, or by sea, through the port of Ashdod.

The plan also includes financial assistance from western countries to enable any Gaza resident who wishes to emigrate voluntarily to a third country.

On Thursday, a group of independent human rights experts warned that Israel has resumed weaponizing starvation in Gaza by its decision to break from the ceasefire agreement and block humanitarian aid.

“We are alarmed by Israel’s decision to suspend once again all goods and supplies, including life-saving humanitarian aid entering the Gaza strip,” the experts said.

They added that, “The announcement followed a decision by the Israeli War Cabinet to break from the Gaza ceasefire agreement and calls by ministers to re-open the ‘gates of hell’ in the besieged enclave.”

The experts noted that these moves are patently unlawful under international law.

“As the occupying Power, Israel is always obliged to ensure sufficient food, medical supplies and other relief services. By deliberately cutting vital supplies, including those relating to sexual and reproductive health, and assistive devices for persons with disabilities, Israel is once again weaponizing aid,” they said.

“These are serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws, and war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute,” the experts added.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued on Thursday an order, threatening to deport members of protest flotillas to the Gaza Strip and use their boats to allow Palestinians to leave the territory.

“The Minister instructed the Israeli army to allow the protest flotillas to reach the Gaza coast, disembark the protesters in Gaza, and seize the ships and transfer them to the port of Ashdod so that they can be used to evacuate Gaza residents who are interested in leaving Gaza,” according to a statement issued by Katz’ office.

On Friday, Hamas released a video of an Israeli hostage seen alive and addressing his family after identifying himself.
In the footage, he is heard urging Israeli authorities to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

 

 

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Arab World

UN Agency Begins Clearing Huge Gaza City Waste Dump as Health Risks Mount

Palestinians walk near a landfill, in Gaza City, February 11, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk near a landfill, in Gaza City, February 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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UN Agency Begins Clearing Huge Gaza City Waste Dump as Health Risks Mount

Palestinians walk near a landfill, in Gaza City, February 11, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk near a landfill, in Gaza City, February 11, 2026. (Reuters)

The United Nations Development Program began clearing a huge wartime garbage dump on Wednesday that has swallowed one of Gaza City’s oldest commercial districts and is an environmental and health risk.

Alessandro Mrakic, head of the UNDP Gaza Office, said work had started to remove the solid-waste mound that has overtaken the once busy Fras Market in the Palestinian enclave's main city.

He put the volume of the dump at more than 300,000 cubic meters (390,000 cubic yards) and 13 meters (14 yards) high.

It formed after municipal crews were blocked from reaching Gaza’s main landfill in the Juhr al-Dik area - adjacent to the border with Israel - when the Gaza war began in October 2023.

The area in Juhr ‌al-Dik is now ‌under full Israeli control.

Over the next six months, UNDP plans ‌to ⁠transfer the waste to ⁠a new temporary site prepared in the Abu Jarad area south of Gaza City and built to meet environmental standards.

The site covers 75,000 square meters and will also accommodate daily collection, Mrakic said in a statement sent to Reuters. The project is funded by the Humanitarian Fund and the European Union's Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Some Palestinians sifted through the garbage, looking for things to take away, but there was relief that the market space would eventually be cleared.

"It needs to be moved to a ⁠site with a complex of old waste, far away from people. There's ‌no other solution. What will this cause? It will cause ‌us gases, it will cause us diseases, it will cause us germs," elderly Gazan Abu Issa said ‌near the site.

The Gaza Municipality confirmed the start of the relocation effort in collaboration with the ‌UNDP, calling it an urgent step to contain a worsening solid-waste crisis after about 350,000 cubic meters of rubbish accumulated in the heart of the city.

'A SYMBOL OF THE WAR'

Fras Market, an historic quarter that before the war served nearly 600,000 residents with items ranging from food to clothes and household tools, has been ‌buried under garbage for more than a year.

Amjad al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network and a liaison with UN and international agencies, ⁠said the dump had fueled “serious ⁠health and environmental problems and the spread of insects and illnesses.”

“It is a symbol of the war that continued for two years,” he told Reuters. “Its removal may give people a sense of hope that the ceasefire (agreed last October) is moving forward.”

Shawa said the waste would be transported to a transitional site near the former Netzarim settlement in central Gaza until Israeli forces withdraw from eastern areas and municipal access to the permanent landfills can be restored.

UNDP said it had collected more than 570,000 tons of solid waste across Gaza since the war began as part of its emergency response to avert a further deterioration in public health conditions.

The number of temporary dumpsites has decreased from 141 to 56 as part of efforts in 2024-25 to remove smaller dumping sites, a UNDP report last December said.

"However, only 10 to 12 of these temporary dumping sites are accessible and operational, and Gaza’s two main sanitary landfills remain inaccessible. The environmental and public health risks remain critical," it added.

Arab World

Israel Says Killed Hamas Operative Responsible for 2004 Bus Bombings

Destroyed buildings are pictured in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings are pictured in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says Killed Hamas Operative Responsible for 2004 Bus Bombings

Destroyed buildings are pictured in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings are pictured in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it killed a senior Hamas operative who had been convicted of orchestrating two bus bombings in 2004 that left 16 civilians dead and dozens more wounded.

The bombings were among the deadliest attacks during the second intifada, the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.

In a joint statement, the military and the Shin Bet domestic security agency said their forces killed Bassem Hashem Al-Haymouni in a strike in the Gaza Strip last week.

They described him as "a senior operative" for Hamas who "had been active since 2004" as part of a cell responsible for carrying out deadly attacks in Israel.

They identified him as the mastermind of an August 2004 attack in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva, in which suicide bombers blew up two buses.

He "dispatched several suicide bombers to carry out a coordinated attack on two buses in Beer Sheva, in which 16 Israeli civilians were murdered and approximately 100 others were injured", the statement said.

Haymouni was apprehended and sentenced, but was released in 2011 as part of the so-called "Shalit deal", in which Israel freed more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of soldier Gilad Shalit.

Palestinian fighters had seized Shalit in 2006 during a cross-border raid near the Kerem Shalom crossing and held him hostage for five years.

His case became a major national issue in Israel.

The military and Shin Bet statement said that after Haymouni was released, he "resumed recruiting attackers and directing terrorist activity".

It added that the strike on Haymouni was also in response to violations of the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza.

"During the war he was involved in the production and placement of explosive devices intended to harm Israeli troops," it said, referring to the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The US-brokered Gaza ceasefire entered its second phase last month, and foresees a demilitarization of the territory -- including the disarmament of Hamas -- along with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas has said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.

A Palestinian technocratic committee has been set up with a goal of taking over day-to-day governance in the Strip, but it remains unclear whether, or how, it will address the issue of demilitarization.

Arab World

Somali President to Asharq Al-Awsat: Working with Saudi-led Partners to Void Israel’s Somaliland Recognition

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister meets with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Makkah. (SPA file)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister meets with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Makkah. (SPA file)
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Somali President to Asharq Al-Awsat: Working with Saudi-led Partners to Void Israel’s Somaliland Recognition

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister meets with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Makkah. (SPA file)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister meets with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Makkah. (SPA file)

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud unveiled a three-pronged political and legal strategy to nullify what he described as Israeli recognition of the breakaway region of Somaliland, warning that such a move threatens Somalia’s sovereignty and regional stability.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Mohamud said his government is acting in close coordination with partners led by Saudi Arabia to safeguard stability and shield the Horn of Africa from what he called “reckless escalation.”

Without naming specific countries, the Somali leader said some regional states may see the Israeli recognition as an opportunity to pursue “narrow, short-term interests at the expense of Somalia’s unity and regional stability.”

“I do not wish to name any particular country or countries,” he said. “But it is clear that some may view this recognition as a chance to achieve limited gains.”

He stressed that Somalia’s unity is a “red line,” adding that Mogadishu has taken firm positions to protect national sovereignty. “We warn against being misled by reckless Israeli adventurism,” he said.

Three parallel steps

Mohamud was referring to recognition announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent state.

“I affirm with the utmost clarity and firmness that any recognition of Somaliland as an independent state constitutes a blatant violation of the sovereignty and unity of the Federal Republic of Somalia,” he said.

He described the move as a grave breach of international law, the UN Charter, and African Union resolutions that uphold respect for inherited African borders.

On that basis, Somalia has adopted and will continue to pursue three parallel measures, he revealed.

The first involves immediate diplomatic action through the UN, African Union, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation to reject and legally and politically invalidate the recognition.

Mohamud said Somalia called for and secured a formal session at the UN Security Council to address what he termed a “flagrant Israeli violation” of Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The session, he said, marked a significant diplomatic victory for Mogadishu, particularly given Somalia’s current membership on the council.

He expressed “deep appreciation” for statements of solidarity and condemnation issued by the African Union, Arab League, OIC, Gulf Cooperation Council, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the EU, among others.

The second step centers on coordinating a unified Arab, Islamic, and African position. Mohamud praised Saudi Arabia for being among the first to issue a clear statement rejecting any infringement on Somalia’s unity.

He said the Saudi position reflects the Kingdom’s longstanding commitment to state sovereignty and territorial integrity, reinforced by the Saudi cabinet’s “firm and principled” support for Somalia during what he described as a delicate moment.

The third step focuses on strengthening internal national dialogue to address political issues within the framework of a single Somali state, free from external interference or dictates.

Regional security

Mohamud warned that if left unchecked, the recognition could set a “dangerous precedent and undermine regional and international peace and security.”

He said it could embolden separatist movements not only in the Horn of Africa but across Africa and the Arab world, citing developments in countries such as Sudan and Yemen as evidence of the high cost of state fragmentation.

“This concerns a vital global shipping artery and core Arab national security,” he said, referring to the Red Sea.

“Any political or security tension along Somalia’s coast will directly affect international trade and energy security.”

He added that instability would impact Red Sea littoral states, particularly Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, and Jordan. “Preserving Somalia’s unity is a cornerstone of collective Red Sea security,” he said.

Strategic foothold

Mohamud argued that Israel’s objective goes beyond political recognition.

“We believe the goal extends beyond a political gesture,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It includes seeking a strategic foothold in the Horn of Africa near the Red Sea, enabling influence over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and threatening the national security of Red Sea states.”

He described the move as a test of Somali, Arab, and African resolve on issues of sovereignty and territorial unity, emphasizing that Somalia’s opposition to secession is a principled and enduring national stance supported widely in the Arab and African worlds, “foremost by Saudi Arabia.”

He rejected any attempt to turn Somalia into a battleground for regional or international rivalries. “We will not allow Somalia to become an arena for settling conflicts that do not serve our people’s interests or our region’s security,” he declared.

Saudi ties

Regarding Saudi-Somali relations, Mohamud described the partnership as “deep-rooted and strategic, rooted in shared history, religion, and a common destiny.” Saudi Arabia, he said, “remains a central partner in supporting Somalia’s stability, reconstruction, development, and Red Sea security.”

He voiced admiration for Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the economic and development gains achieved under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

Asked about the recent Saudi Cabinet decision rejecting any attempt to divide Somalia, Mohamud said the federal government received it with “great appreciation and relief.”

He said the position extends the Kingdom’s historic support for Somalia’s territorial unity and sovereignty, reinforces regional stability, and sends an important message to the international community on the need to respect state sovereignty and refrain from interference in internal affairs.