Three US Cyclone-class patrol boats handed over to the Egyptian Navy

Special Three US Cyclone-class patrol boats handed over to the Egyptian Navy
Commander of the Egyptian Navy Ashraf Atwa and Commander of the US 5th Fleet Brad Cooper at the handover of the Cyclone-class patrol boats in Alexandria. (Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman)
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Updated 23 March 2023
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Three US Cyclone-class patrol boats handed over to the Egyptian Navy

Three US Cyclone-class patrol boats handed over to the Egyptian Navy
  • American crews have been training their Egyptian counterparts to use the vessels since they arrived in Alexandria on Feb. 12
  • Adm. Brad Cooper: The Egypt-US maritime partnership has been a fundamental pillar of our bilateral defense cooperation for decades

CAIRO: The Egyptian Navy officially accepted delivery of three US Cyclone-class patrol boats during a special ceremony in Alexandria this week.

Adm. Ashraf Atwa, commander of the Egyptian Naval Force, and Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of the US Fifth Fleet, US Naval Forces Central Command, and the Combined Maritime Forces, signed the official handover document, according to Egyptian armed forces spokesperson Gharib Abdel-Hafez.

The transfer ceremony, during which the Egyptian flag was raised on the boats to mark their entry into service, followed a program of training and professional exchanges designed to improve cooperation and joint initiatives between the two countries’ naval forces.

Abdel-Hafez said that the Egyptian Navy has recently implemented great technological improvements to its armament systems and combat efficiency, in line with international standards.

Atwa highlighted the efforts of Egyptian armed forces to enhance the capabilities of its naval fleet to enhance security and stability. He added that the delivery of the vessels reflected the strong strategic partnership between Egypt and the US.

“The Cyclone-class patrol boats are among the most advanced units in the US Navy and represent a new addition to Egypt’s naval forces,” he said.

In a message posted on its website, the US Navy said: “The transfer ceremony represents the culmination of weeks of preparation, training and professional exchanges between Egyptian and US Navy sailors.”

US crews have been training their Egyptian counterparts to use the vessels since they arrived in Alexandria on Feb. 12, the US Navy said, with courses devoted to a range of disciplines including engineering, search-and-rescue operations, damage control, and weapons handling.

The vessels sailed to Egypt from Bahrain, with US and Egyptian sailors navigating around the Arabian Peninsula during a 4,000-mile, month-long journey. It included stops at Jebel Ali in the UAE, Duqm in Oman, Djibouti, and Berenice in Egypt.

“The Egypt-US maritime partnership has been a fundamental pillar of our bilateral defense cooperation for decades,” Cooper said.

“This transfer is yet another major milestone in our strong relationship that will enhance regional maritime security for years to come.”

Capt. Anthony Webber, commander of the US Navy 5th Fleet Task Force 55, said: “This transfer process was an incredible opportunity for our crews. It enabled us to strengthen our bilateral ties while enhancing our interoperability with a highly capable regional maritime partner.”

In November, the Egyptian Navy accepted delivery of its first German Meko A-200 frigate, which is equipped to secure cargo ships and provide humanitarian support. Named Al-Aziz, it is the first of four to be delivered and was built by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems at the SBN shipyard,.

In August last year, the Egyptian Navy carried out a joint training exercise with US and Spanish naval forces in the Mediterranean. The Egyptian frigate El-Fateh joined the US destroyer USS Forrest Sherman and Spanish frigate ESPS Almirante Juan De Borbon for the drills, which included responses to threats to international navigation and the flow of global trade.


Israeli hostage families angry after meeting with Netanyahu

Israeli hostage families angry after meeting with Netanyahu
Updated 9 sec ago
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Israeli hostage families angry after meeting with Netanyahu

Israeli hostage families angry after meeting with Netanyahu
  • “They say ‘we’ve done this, we’ve done that.’ (Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya) Sinwar is the one who returned our people, not them
  • Several of the relatives who attended the meeting left bitterly critical of the government

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met families of returned hostages on Tuesday in an encounter that some of those present described as loud and angry.
The meeting came as fighting has resumed in the Gaza Strip following a seven-day pause that saw the return of more than 100 hostages from the enclave. The fate of 138 captives who remained behind is still open.
“I heard stories that broke my heart, I heard about the thirst and hunger, about physical and mental abuse,” Netanyahu said at a news conference. “I heard and you also heard, about sexual assault and cases of brutal rape unlike anything.”
Several of the relatives who attended the meeting left bitterly critical of the government.
Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on Oct. 7 by Hamas gunmen along with around 240 other Israelis and foreigners, said he felt his intelligence had been insulted by the meeting and had walked out in the middle of it.
“I won’t go into the details of what was discussed at the meeting but this entire performance was ugly, insulting, messy,” he told Israel’s Channel 13, saying the government had made a “farce” out of the issue.
“They say ‘we’ve done this, we’ve done that.’ (Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya) Sinwar is the one who returned our people, not them. It angers me that they say that they dictated things. They hadn’t dictated a single move.”
The meeting had been intended as a forum for released hostages to tell ministers of their experience in captivity. A group representing hostage families issued a series of unnamed quotes it said were taken from remarks made by some of the former hostages at the meeting.
The quotes told of mistreatment meted out to the captives by Hamas but the encounter was overshadowed by the emotions of families worried by the fate of relatives still being held.
“It was a very turbulent meeting, many people yelling,” said Jennifer Master, whose partner Andrey is a hostage.
Israel says a number of women and children remain in Hamas hands, while families with adult male relatives in captivity have been calling for them not to be forgotten.
“We are all trying to make sure our loved ones get home. There are those who want the women who are left or the children who are left, and those who say we want the men,” Master told Israel’s Channel 12.

 


Israel forces move into Gaza’s second-largest city

Palestinians salvage their belongings from the destruction by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Deir Al-Balah. (AP)
Palestinians salvage their belongings from the destruction by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Deir Al-Balah. (AP)
Updated 06 December 2023
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Israel forces move into Gaza’s second-largest city

Palestinians salvage their belongings from the destruction by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Deir Al-Balah. (AP)
  • Bombardment has grown fiercer across the territory, including areas where Palestinians are told to seek safety

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israel said Tuesday that its troops had entered Gaza’s second-largest city as intensified bombardment sent streams of ambulances and cars racing to hospitals with wounded and dead Palestinians, including children, in a bloody new phase of the war.
The military said its forces were “in the heart” of Khan Younis, which has emerged as the first target in the expanded ground offensive into southern Gaza that Israel says aims to destroy Hamas. Military officials said they were engaged in the “most intense day” of battles since the ground offensive began more than five weeks ago, with heavy firefights also taking place in northern Gaza.
The assault into the south is pushing a new wave of displaced Palestinians almost two months into the war, raising alarm from relief groups that they can’t keep up because insufficient aid supplies are entering Gaza. The UN said 1.87 million people — more than 80 percent of Gaza’s population — have been driven from their homes. New evacuation orders by the Israeli military are squeezing people into ever-smaller areas of the tiny coastal strip’s southern portion.

BACKGROUND

The assault into the south is pushing a new wave of displaced Palestinians almost two months into the war, raising alarm from relief groups that they can’t keep up because insufficient aid supplies are entering Gaza.

Bombardment has grown fiercer across the territory, including areas where Palestinians are told to seek safety. In the central Gaza town of Deir Al-Balah, just north of Khan Younis, a strike Tuesday destroyed a house where dozens of displaced people were sheltering. At least 34 people were killed, including at least six children, according to an Associated Press reporter at the hospital who counted the bodies.
Footage from the scene of the strike showed women screaming from an upper floor of a house shattered to a concrete shell. In a field of wreckage below, men pulled the limp body of a child from under a concrete slab next to a burning car. At the nearby hospital, medics tried to resuscitate a young boy and girl, placed together bloodied and unmoving on a single stretcher.
Under US pressure to prevent further mass casualties in the conflict with Hamas, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza. Weeks of bombardment and a ground offensive obliterated much of northern Gaza.
Israel’s assault since Oct. 7 has killed more than 15,890 people in Gaza — 70 percent of them women and children — with more than 42,000 wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. It says hundreds have been killed or wounded since a weeklong ceasefire ended Friday, and many still are trapped under rubble.

 


West Bank family sees no hope of justice in settler killings

West Bank family sees no hope of justice in settler killings
Updated 06 December 2023
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West Bank family sees no hope of justice in settler killings

West Bank family sees no hope of justice in settler killings
  • Many families fleeing south to Rafah which is already overcrowded with dire conditions

AS-SAWIYAH, Palestinian Territories: Moussa is eight years old and really likes marbles. But for the past month, this Palestinian boy, living in the occupied West Bank, has a new game: “Pretend daddy isn’t dead.”
He calls his dad, imagines what he did with his day, and acts like he’s suddenly going to run into him.
But his father, Bilal Saleh, was killed on October 28.
The 40-year-old was shot in the chest while picking olives with his family near his home in the village of As-Sawiyah.
Saleh is one of more than 250 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank, according to a Palestinian government tally, since Hamas’s attack on October 7 sparked a new war with Israel.

A Palestinian checks a car burned in Israeli settlers raid near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 3, 2023. (REUTERS)

“He was a simple man, attached to his land,” says his widow, Ikhlas, showing images on her phone of Saleh in the fields, reciting the Qur’an with Moussa and at a wedding.
She struggles to even look at them, let alone tell the story of what happened.

BACKGROUND

The 40-year-old was shot in the chest while picking olives with his family near his home in the village of As-Sawiyah.

The children pressed around her fill in the details.
Videos from the scene show four men wearing the knitted yarmulkes that are popular among Israeli settlers, shouting toward the family as they are harvesting.
One is armed with an automatic rifle.
The family flees, but Saleh has forgotten his phone and runs back to fetch it.
A few minutes later, a gunshot rings out.
The family rushes back to find Saleh bleeding from the chest.
He was taken to a hospital about 10 kilometers (six miles) away but declared dead soon after.
The family says Ikhlas’ brother and father saw on social media that a man had been arrested for the shooting but released a few hours later.
The police and COGAT, an Israeli Defense Ministry body overseeing civilian activities in the Palestinian territories, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from AFP.
A few days later, without knowing why, Ikhlas was called to a police station in Ariel, a neighboring Israeli settlement, where police asked her to explain what she saw.
“At the entrance, while a guard was checking my identity papers, a settler drove by. He saw that I was veiled and he rolled down his window to spit on me,” she told AFP.
“After that, I don’t see what kind of justice they could give us,” she added.
Israeli human rights group Yesh Din convinced her to file a complaint anyway, though it says a study of settler violence cases between 2005 and 2021 showed 92 percent were dismissed by the Israeli authorities.
Nearly three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Nearly half a million Israelis also live there in settlements considered illegal by the United Nations.
“For the past 10 years, it has been getting more and more serious,” said Hazem Saleh, Bilal’s brother-in-law. “We are being attacked, our land is being taken from us, settlements are being built. They have the power, they can do what they want.”
But it has been “even worse,” he said, since Hamas militants from Gaza launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched a large-scale military offensive in Gaza, which has killed nearly 15,900 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas authorities.
Israel has also relaxed laws on access to weapons, promising to arm Israeli civilians in at least 1,000 localities, including settlements.
On Saturday, settlers opened fire on a 38-year-old Palestinian in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
The As-Sawiyah residents’ WhatsApp group is a litany of fear and violence.
Mouna Saleh, 56, Bilal’s mother-in-law, fears for the children, especially Moussa and Mayce “who are so small — what can we explain to them?“
“How can you kill a man in a few seconds, in front of children? What is this world?” she said.
“We’re not calling for violence or revenge. We call for peace, justice, mercy as our Prophet Muhammad did,” said Hazem.
“All we can do is tell our story, even if it pains us.”

 

 


US sales of Palestinian keffiyehs soar, even as wearers targeted

US sales of Palestinian keffiyehs soar, even as wearers targeted
Updated 06 December 2023
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US sales of Palestinian keffiyehs soar, even as wearers targeted

US sales of Palestinian keffiyehs soar, even as wearers targeted
  • Hirbawi, which has patented its brand, sells scarves internationally via its US and German websites and on Amazon

WASHINGTON: A growing number of Americans are donning the keffiyeh, the distinctive patterned scarf that’s closely linked with Palestinians, to demand a ceasefire to Israel’s attacks on Gaza or to signal their support for Palestinians.
Sales of the scarves have jumped since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, US distributors say, even as keffiyehs have been forcibly removed by security forces at some protests and wearers report being targeted for verbal and physical abuse.
“It was like a light switch. All of a sudden, we had hundreds of people on the website simultaneously and buying whatever they could,” said Azar Aghayev, the US distributor for Hirbawi, which opened in 1961 and is the only manufacturer of keffiyehs left in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“In two days, the stock that we had was just gone, and not just gone, it was oversold.”
Hirbawi, which has patented its brand, sells scarves internationally via its US and German websites and on Amazon. All 40 variations on the US website, which include many in bright colors as well as the traditional black and white, are sold out, Aghayev said.
Unit sales of keffiyeh scarves have risen 75 percent in the 56 days between Oct. 7 and Dec. 2 on Amazon.com compared with the previous 56 days. Searches for “Palestinian scarf for women” rose by 159 percent in the three months to Dec. 4 compared with the previous three months.

 


UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza

UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza
Updated 06 December 2023
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UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza

UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza
  • Downing Street spokesperson: ‘The PM expressed disappointment about the breakdown of the pause in fighting in Gaza, which had allowed hostages to be released’
  • Spokesperson: ‘The leaders discussed urgent efforts to ensure all remaining hostages are safely freed and to allow any remaining British nationals in Gaza to leave’

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his disappointment about the breakdown of the pause in fighting in Gaza in a call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, his office said in a readout.
“The Prime Minister spoke to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon. He expressed disappointment about the breakdown of the pause in fighting in Gaza, which had allowed hostages to be released,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The leaders discussed urgent efforts to ensure all remaining hostages are safely freed and to allow any remaining British nationals in Gaza to leave.”
Sunak’s spokeperson said the British prime minister stressed the need for Israel to take greater care to protect civilians in Gaza and for humanitarian aid to be allowed to enter the Palestinian enclave.
Defense minister Grant Shapps said Britain was considering sending a military support vessel to provide medical and humanitarian aid in the Middle East.