Egyptian president El-Sisi confirms candidacy in December presidential election

Egyptian president El-Sisi confirms candidacy in December presidential election
Supporters of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attend a rally to back his candidacy in the presidential elections in December, in Giza, Egypt, October 2, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 02 October 2023
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Egyptian president El-Sisi confirms candidacy in December presidential election

Egyptian president El-Sisi confirms candidacy in December presidential election
  • El-Sisi confirms he will stand for a third term in office
  • Supporters have been urging the former army chief to stand

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi confirmed on Monday that he will stand for a third term in office in a presidential election scheduled for December.
El-Sisi, a former army chief who has been president since 2014, had been widely expected to run again and secure a third term after constitutional amendments four years ago that would allow him to stay in office until 2030.
In recent weeks supporters have mounted a campaign using billboards and public messages urging El-Sisi to stand.
El-Sisi came to power after leading the ousting of Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. He was announced winner of presidential elections in 2014 and 2018 with 97 percent of the vote.
The election comes as Egypt is struggling with record inflation and a chronic shortage of foreign currency.


UN says ‘not possible’ to create ‘safe zones’ in Gaza

UN says ‘not possible’ to create ‘safe zones’ in Gaza
Updated 05 December 2023
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UN says ‘not possible’ to create ‘safe zones’ in Gaza

UN says ‘not possible’ to create ‘safe zones’ in Gaza
  • ‘The so-called safe zones... are not scientific, they are not rational, they are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this’

GENEVA: The United Nations warned Tuesday that it was impossible to create so-called safe zones for civilians to flee to inside the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s bombing campaign.
Israel had initially focused its offensive on the north of the territory, but the army has now also dropped leaflets on parts of the south, telling Palestinian civilians there to flee to other areas.
“The so-called safe zones... are not scientific, they are not rational, they are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this,” James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, told reporters in Geneva via video-link from Cairo.
His comments came as Israeli troops battled Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip after expanding their offensive deeper into the besieged area.
Israel said it was at war with Hamas after the militant group’s October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and which saw around 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities.
In retaliation for the worst attack in its history, Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas and secure the release of all the hostages held in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the war has killed nearly 15,900 people in the territory, around 70 percent of them women and children.
As Israel’s offensive pushes deeper into Gaza, international aid organizations have warned that civilians in the densely-populated territory are running out of places to flee to.
Elder insisted that the safe zones declared by Israel “cannot be safe nor humanitarian when unilaterally declared.”
The pretense that there is somewhere safe for people to flee to is “callous,” he said.
He stressed that in a proper safe zone, “you can guarantee the conditions of food, water, medicine and shelter.”
Elder, who spent the past week or so in Gaza, stressed that none of that is assured in the areas designated as safe zones.
“These are entirely, entirely absent. You cannot overstate this. These are tiny patches of barren land, or they are street corners, they are sidewalks,” he said.
“There is no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and the rain (and) there’s no sanitation.”
Elder pointed out that in the overcrowded shelters that most of the displaced in Gaza have flocked to there had been around one toilet for every 400 people.
“Now remove those people and put them in... the so called safe places. It’s tens of thousands of people without a single toilet — not one — no clean water, nothing to drink,” he said.
“Without water, without sanitation, without shelter the so called safe zones risks becoming zones of disease.”


WHO: Situation in Gaza ‘getting worse by the hour’

WHO: Situation in Gaza ‘getting worse by the hour’
Updated 05 December 2023
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WHO: Situation in Gaza ‘getting worse by the hour’

WHO: Situation in Gaza ‘getting worse by the hour’
  • WHO representative in Gaza: Humanitarian aid reaching Gaza ‘way too little’
  • WHO deeply concerned about the vulnerability of the health system in the enclave

GENEVA: A World Health Organization official in Gaza said on Tuesday the situation was deteriorating by the hour as Israeli bombing has intensified in the south of the Palestinian enclave around the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
“The situation is getting worse by the hour,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, told reporters via video link. “There’s intensified bombing going on all around, including here in the southern areas, Khan Younis and even in Rafah.”
Peeperkorn said the humanitarian aid reaching Gaza was “way too little” and said the WHO was deeply concerned about the vulnerability of the health system in the densely populated enclave as more people move further south to escape the bombing.
“I want to make this point very clear that we are looking at an increasing humanitarian disaster,” he said.
Peeperkorn said WHO had complied with an Israeli order to remove supplies from warehouses in Khan Younis. He said WHO had been told the area would “most likely become an area of active combat in the coming days.”
“We want to make sure that we can actually deliver essential medical supplies,” he said.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday appealed to Israel to withdraw the order. Israel denied asking for the evacuation of warehouses.


France imposes sanctions on Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar

France imposes sanctions on Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar
Updated 05 December 2023
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France imposes sanctions on Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar

France imposes sanctions on Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar
  • France is working with partners to impose sanctions on Hamas individuals

PARIS: France on Tuesday imposed asset freezes on Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, the latest leader from the Islamist group to be added to its national sanctions list, according to a decree published in the country’s official journal.
France on Nov. 13 imposed sanctions at a national level on Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif and his deputy, Marwan Issa.
It is working with partners to impose sanctions on Hamas individuals and its financing network at European Union level, diplomats have said.


Jordan army say three killed in drug bust at Syria border

Jordan army say three killed in drug bust at Syria border
Updated 05 December 2023
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Jordan army say three killed in drug bust at Syria border

Jordan army say three killed in drug bust at Syria border
  • About 233,000 Captagon pills – a mix of amphetamines – and quantities of hashish were found during the operation

AMMAN: The Jordanian army said on Tuesday it killed three drug dealers during an operation that foiled the smuggling of large quantities of drugs across the border from Syria.
About 233,000 Captagon pills — a mix of amphetamines — and quantities of hashish were found during the bust, it said.
The army said it had monitored a group of smugglers who had sought to cross the border and applied strict rules of engagement to shoot at first sight.
“We continue to deal with resolve and force any threat to our borders and any attempt to undermine and destabilize the country’s security,” the army said in a statement.
War-torn Syria has become the region’s main site for a multi-billion-dollar drug trade, with Jordan being a main transit route to the oil-rich Gulf states for a Syrian-made amphetamine known as Captagon, Western anti-narcotics officials and Washington say.
Jordan has blamed pro-Iranian militias, who it says are protected by units within the Syrian army, for smuggling drugs across its borders toward Gulf markets.
Damascus says it is doing its best to curb smuggling and continues to bust smuggler rings in the south. It denies complicity with Iranian-backed militias linked to its army and security forces.


Iran says it is not involved in any actions against US military forces -Tasnim

Iran says it is not involved in any actions against US military forces -Tasnim
Updated 05 December 2023
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Iran says it is not involved in any actions against US military forces -Tasnim

Iran says it is not involved in any actions against US military forces -Tasnim

DUBAI: Iran’s UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, said his country has not been involved in any actions or attacks against US military forces, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.
The United States has blamed Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi group for a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7.
In a briefing with reporters on Monday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan
said
Washington has “every reason to believe that these attacks, while they were launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran.”
In the latest incidents, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters in the southern Red Sea on Sunday. The Houthis acknowledged launching drone and missile attacks against what they said were two Israeli vessels in the area.
The Carney, a US Navy destroyer, shot down three drones on Sunday as it answered distress calls from the commercial vessels. The US military says the three vessels were connected to 14 separate nations.