Israel has addressed many of Biden’s concerns over widescale Rafah operation, US official says

Israel has addressed many of Biden’s concerns over widescale Rafah operation, US official says
About 900,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in recent weeks after the population swelled to about 1.5 million. (File/AFP)
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Updated 22 May 2024
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Israel has addressed many of Biden’s concerns over widescale Rafah operation, US official says

Israel has addressed many of Biden’s concerns over widescale Rafah operation, US official says
  • Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry

CAIRO: Israel has addressed many of President Joe Biden’s concerns over its long-simmering plan to carry out a widescale military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas, a senior Biden administration official said Tuesday.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity, said that in talks over the weekend with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Israeli officials incorporated many changes into their planning that seem to meet concerns about deepening an operation in an area that has been flooded with Palestinian refugees during the seven-month war.
Biden had previously said he opposed a widescale operation in Rafah that did not prioritize the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians.
The official said the administration stopped short of greenlighting the Israeli plan but said Israeli officials’ altered planning suggested they were taking the American administration’s concerns seriously.
About 900,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in recent weeks after the population swelled to about 1.5 million.

The United Nations suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday due to a lack of supplies and an untenable security situation caused by Israel’s expanding military operation. It warned that humanitarian operations across the territory were nearing collapse.
Along with closed and chaotic land crossings, problems also plagued the US military’s floating pier meant to provide an alternative route for aid into Gaza by sea. Over the weekend, hungry Palestinians took aid from a UN vehicle convoy coming from the pier, and the UN said since then it had been unable to receive trucks there.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters in Washington that for the past few days, forward movement of aid from the pier was paused but it resumed Tuesday. There was no confirmation from the UN
The UN has not specified how many people stayed in Rafah since the Israeli military began its intensified ground and air campaign there two weeks ago, but apparently several hundred thousand Palestinians remain. The UN’s World Food Program said it was also running out of food for central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people sought shelter in a chaotic exodus after fleeing Rafah, setting up new tent camps or crowding into areas already devastated by previous Israeli offensives.
“Humanitarian operations in Gaza are near collapse,” said Abeer Etefa, a WFP spokesperson. If food and other supplies don’t resume entering Gaza “in massive quantities, famine-like conditions will spread,” she said.
The warning came as Israel seeks to contain the international fallout from a request at the world’s top war crimes court for arrest warrants targeting both Israeli and Hamas leaders. The move garnered support from three European countries, including Israel’s key ally France.
The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged “use of starvation as a method of warfare,” a charge they and other Israeli officials angrily deny. The prosecutor accused three Hamas leaders of war crimes over killings of civilians in the group’s Oct. 7 attack.
The UN says some 1.1 million people in Gaza — nearly half the population — face catastrophic levels of hunger and that the territory is on the brink of famine. The humanitarian crisis deepened after Israeli forces pushed into Rafah on May 6, vowing to root out Hamas fighters. Tanks and troops seized the Rafah crossing into Egypt, closing it ever since. After May 10, only about three dozen trucks made it into Gaza via the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel because fighting makes it dangerous for aid workers to reach it, the UN says.
Israel insists it puts no restriction on the number of trucks entering Gaza. COGAT, the Israeli military office in charge of coordinating aid, said 450 trucks entered Tuesday from its side to Kerem Shalom and a small crossing in northern Gaza. It said more than 650 trucks are waiting on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom to be retrieved, blaming “lack of logistical capabilities and manpower gaps” among aid groups.
For months, the UN has warned that an Israeli assault on Rafah could wreck the effort to get food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians across Gaza. Throughout the war, Rafah has been filled with scenes of hungry children holding out pots and plastic containers at makeshift soup kitchens, with many families reduced to eating only one meal a day. The city’s population had swelled at one point to some 1.3 million people, most of whom fled fighting elsewhere.
Around 810,000 people have streamed out of Rafah, although Israel says its operations in Rafah are not the full-scale invasion of the city it had planned. The US says Israel never presented “credible” plan for evacuating the population or keeping it safe.
The main agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, announced the suspension of distribution in Rafah in a post on X, without elaborating beyond citing the lack of supplies. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UNRWA distribution center and the WFP’s warehouses in Rafah were “inaccessible due to ongoing military operations.”
Asked about the ramifications of suspending aid, Dujarric said simply: “People don’t eat.”
Etefa said the WFP had also stopped distribution in Rafah after exhausting its stocks. It is still passing out hot meals and “limited distributions” of reduced food packages in central Gaza, but “food parcel stocks will run out within days,” she said.
The US depicted the floating aid pier as a potential route for accelerated deliveries. The first 10 trucks rolled off a ship onto the pier on Friday and were taken to a WFP warehouse. But a second shipment of 11 trucks on Saturday was met by Palestinian crowds who took supplies, and only five trucks made it to the warehouse, Etefa said.
No further deliveries came from the pier on Sunday or Monday, she said.
“The responsibility of ensuring aid reaches those in need does not end at the crossings and other points of entry into Gaza — it extends throughout Gaza itself,” she said.
At the same time, battles have escalated in northern Gaza as Israeli troops conduct operations against Hamas fighters, who the military says regrouped in areas already targeted in offensives months ago.
One of the main hospitals still operating in the north, Kamal Adwan, was forced to evacuate after it was “targeted” by Israeli troops, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Around 150 staff and dozens of patients fled the facility, including intensive care patients and infants in incubators “under fire from shelling,” it said. The Israeli military did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The nearby Awda hospital has been surrounded by troops the past three days, and an artillery shell hit its fifth floor, the hospital administration said Tuesday. A day earlier, the international medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said Awda had run out of drinking water.
The war between began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants crossed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostage. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan accused Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder and sexual violence.
Israel responded to the Oct. 7 with an offensive that has laid waste to Gaza and killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between noncombatants and fighters in its count.
Monday’s call by Khan for arrest warrants deepens Israel’s global isolation at a time when it is facing growing criticism from even its closest allies over the war. France, Belgium, and Slovenia each said they backed Khan’ decision.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz headed to France on Tuesday in response, urging it to “declare loud and clear” that the request for warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant “is unacceptable to you and to the French government.”
His meetings there could set the tone for how countries navigate the warrants — if they are eventually issued — and whether they could pose a threat to Israeli leaders. A panel of three ICC judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions.
Israel still has the support of its top ally, the United States, as well as other Western countries that spoke out against the decision. But if the warrants are issued, they could complicate international travel for Netanyahu and his defense minister, even if they do not face any immediate risk of prosecution because Israel itself is not a member of the court.
 

 


Syria and DP World ink $800 million deal for port development

Syria and DP World ink $800 million deal for port development
Updated 16 May 2025
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Syria and DP World ink $800 million deal for port development

Syria and DP World ink $800 million deal for port development
  • Syria is seeking to attract foreign investments to boost its struggling economy

CAIRO: The Syrian government and DP World signed a memorandum of understanding  worth $800 million to develop Syria’s port of Tartous, Syrian state news agency SANA said on Friday, after the lifting of USsanctions cleared the way for the deal.
The deal to develop, manage and operate a multi-purpose terminal at Tartous includes cooperation in establishing industrial and free trade zones. DP World is a subsidiary of United Arab Emirates investment company Dubai World.
Syria is seeking to attract foreign investments to boost its struggling economy, and the deal was signed in the same week that US President Donald Trump announced plans to lift of sanctions on Syria during a visit to Riyadh.
Trump said he made the decision to lift sanctions after discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose governments have both strongly urged the lifting of sanctions.
Trump had also met with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa ahead of the GCC summit in Riyadh on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Trump intends to issue waivers under the “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act,” through which Washington imposed stiff sanctions on former President Bashar Assad’s government and secondary sanctions on outside companies or governments that worked with it.
Removing US sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will also clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds.


Lebanon’s parliament doubles penalty for celebratory gunfire

Lebanon’s parliament doubles penalty for celebratory gunfire
Updated 16 May 2025
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Lebanon’s parliament doubles penalty for celebratory gunfire

Lebanon’s parliament doubles penalty for celebratory gunfire
  • Law change follows injuries during municipal election events

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday approved an amendment to the law that aims to curb celebratory gunfire by doubling the penalties for those who fire shots into the air.

The new law imposes stricter penalties for individuals involved in actions that have led to numerous injuries and fatalities in recent years.

The action comes after Lebanese Army Command announced the arrest of eight people as part of efforts to identify those who fired gunshots during last Sunday’s municipal elections in the North Lebanon and Akkar governorates.

Army units, with support from a Directorate of Intelligence patrol, raided the homes of several suspects and seized weapons and ammunition they possessed.

The skies over the North and Akkar governorates were illuminated last Sunday night by gunfire, celebrating candidates’ victories in the municipal elections, where local families traditionally compete for seats on the city councils that govern their affairs.

The celebratory gunfire caused injury to a young man, Mohammed Jihad Khaled, from the town of Ain Al-Dahab in Akkar.

He is still fighting for his life after a bullet struck his head.

He remains in a coma after being moved to the intensive care unit of a hospital.

Journalist Nada Andraos was also injured by celebratory gunfire, as a bullet struck her leg after piercing the car she was in while covering the elections with her team from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International.

Andraos, who seemed stunned by the incident — especially since the bullet could have struck her head instead of her leg — commented on social media: “In Lebanon, a stray bullet represents the value of life.”

Victims’ families often file lawsuits in court and with security agencies against unidentified people.

Many offenders escape punishment, leading to repeated tragedies where celebratory gunfire accompanies even minor school achievements.

The law prohibiting the firing of firearms into the air specifies that if such actions lead to a person’s illness or incapacity that causes them to miss work for fewer than 10 days, the offender will face a prison sentence of nine months to three years, in addition to a fine ranging from 10 to 15 times the official minimum wage.

MP Wadah Al-Sadiq said that the amendment had increased the penalty duration.

Previously, the penalty ranged from six months to three years; now it begins at one year in prison and can go up to six years.

The final decision will be made by the judge who issues the ruling.

Information Minister Paul Morcos, an international human rights defender, welcomed the amendment.

It serves as an additional deterrent, moving toward prohibiting such practices and ensuring accountability for perpetrators, he said.

Lawyer Imad Al-Masri, who specializes in criminal cases, said: “Any individual who discharges firearms or fireworks in populated areas or in the presence of a crowd, regardless of whether their firearm is licensed, will face a prison sentence of six months to three years.

“Additionally, they will incur a fine ranging from eight to 15 times the official minimum wage.

“The weapon shall be confiscated in all cases, and the perpetrator shall be referred to the military court for trial.”

Al-Masri said that the military court imposes penalties on individuals who fire bullets into the air, ranging from fines to prison sentences of six months to two years.

A judicial source said that the military court has numerous cases related to firing into the air. These offenses are punishable by law and escalate from a misdemeanor to a felony if the shooting results in casualties.

Al-Masri said: “Increasing the penalty is a deterrent if it is accompanied by strict prior measures and the enforcement of immediate prosecution and, most importantly, changing social behavior regarding this dangerous practice.”

Riots continued for a second day in Roumieh Prison, Lebanon’s largest prison, coinciding with the parliamentary session.

Inmates are demanding the approval of a general amnesty law and a reduction in their imprisonment period.

Tensions ran high among both convicts and detainees, some of whom hung symbolic gallows inside their cells as a form of protest.

Lawyer Rabih Qais, the program manager at the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace and a longtime observer of prison affairs, said: “The law proposal submitted by several MPs addresses the issue of delayed trials for detainees.

“Many of these people have spent years in prison, even though the sentences they might receive if tried could be significantly shorter than the time they have already served.”

Qais said Lebanon “evaluates every decision through the lens of sectarian power-sharing.

“As a result, many of those advocating for amnesty are Islamists and individuals from the Baalbek-Hermel region, many of whom are facing in absentia arrest warrants related to clashes with security forces or drug-related offenses.

“This may explain why the draft amnesty law was sent to parliamentary committees. However, what is truly needed is justice for the oppressed.”


Israeli army kills 5 Palestinians in West Bank shootout as Smotrich calls for razing of towns

Israeli army kills 5 Palestinians in West Bank shootout as Smotrich calls for razing of towns
Updated 16 May 2025
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Israeli army kills 5 Palestinians in West Bank shootout as Smotrich calls for razing of towns

Israeli army kills 5 Palestinians in West Bank shootout as Smotrich calls for razing of towns
  • The 'terrorists' were killed in a shootout near the settlement where a pregnant woman was killed earlier
  • Shootout came as Israel's hardline minister called for razing of Palestinian towns

JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH: Israel’s military killed five Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, hours after a pregnant settler was killed in a shooting, as hard-line pro-settler leaders including a government minister called for Palestinian towns to be razed.
The military said in a statement it had killed five “terrorists” and arrested a sixth who had barricaded themselves in a building in Tamoun, following an exchange of gunfire and the use of shoulder-fired missiles by Israeli soldiers.
The military wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad later issued a statement saying five of its members were killed while clashing with Israeli forces that surrounded their house in the town of Tamoun, north of the West Bank.
Tamoun is a Palestinian town about 35 km (22 miles) from the Israeli settlement of Brukhin, near which the heavily pregnant woman, Tzeela Gez, was killed on Wednesday night in a shooting that drew strong condemnation from Israeli leaders.
The military said it was searching for those responsible for Wednesday’s shooting — whom it did not identify — though it was not immediately clear whether the Tamoun operation was linked.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting, which occurred amid one of the largest Israeli military operations in the West Bank in two decades and while the Israeli military bombards Gaza.
Gunfire could be heard in Tamoun on Thursday, while Reuters footage showed flames and black smoke on the top floor of a house as Israeli soldiers stood on the street outside. The Palestinian WAFA news agency said the Israeli military was demolishing the house where the Palestinian men had been killed.
The Israeli military said soldiers had identified the “terrorists” in a building during an overnight operation in Tamoun and the nearby city of Tubas. It recovered rifles used by the militants in the building in Tamoun, it said.
The military also said that three armed individuals had been arrested in Tubas.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the military had taken the bodies of four of the deceased. The local Red Crescent said it had recovered a fifth body from a burning building.

Demand for retribution
Gez, the pregnant woman, was shot near the Brukhin settlement while traveling to hospital with her husband to give birth. She was pronounced dead at the hospital where her baby was delivered by caesarean section, Israeli media reported.
The baby was reportedly in serious but stable condition, while Gez’s husband Hananel was lightly injured.
As retribution, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the nearby Palestinian towns of Bruqin and az-Zawiya should be destroyed, just as cities in Gaza have been.
“Just as we are flattening Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza (in the Gaza Strip), we must also flatten the terror nests in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said on social media, employing the term often used in Israel for the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped security forces would quickly find those responsible for Gez’s death, while President Isaac Herzog expressed his condolences to her family.
The chief of Israel’s general staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, visited the troops searching for Gez’s killer on Thursday near Brukhin.
The Israeli military has killed dozens of Palestinians and destroyed many homes since it launched an operation in January in the West Bank city of Jenin to root out militants.
Those killed have included members of Hamas and other militant groups but also some civilians, including women and children.


Turkiye FM meets Russia delegation in Istanbul

Turkiye FM meets Russia delegation in Istanbul
Updated 16 May 2025
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Turkiye FM meets Russia delegation in Istanbul

Turkiye FM meets Russia delegation in Istanbul

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s foreign minister was on Thursday meeting with the Russian delegation that is in Istanbul for their first direct peace talks with Ukraine in three years, a ministry source said.
“The meeting between Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the Russian side, headed by Vladimir Medinsky has started,” the source said of talks taking place at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace.
The talks had been announced earlier in the evening by a foreign ministry spokesman.
Russia and Ukraine had been expected to meet on Thursday in Istanbul for their first direct peace talks in more than three years at the Dolmabahce Palace on the banks of the Bosphorus.
But as the day wore on without any concrete indications of timings, it remained unclear whether the delegations would meet later in the evening or leave it until Friday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in southern Turkish city of Antalya for a NATO summit Thursday, was due in Istanbul on Friday.
He told reporters he would meet Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andriy Sybiga there, while a lower-level US official would meet with the Russian delegation.
The minister was not thought to be part of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks.
Rubio also expressed hope that Turkiye would work to bring the two delegations together.
Earlier on Thursday, Fidan and Rubio held talks on the sidelines of the NATO meeting, with the pair agreeing that “efforts would continue to be made to ensure direct negotiations between the parties,” a source at the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Ankara earlier on Thursday, has sent a pared-down team to the Istanbul talks after Russia showed up with a relatively low-level delegation.
The Ukrainian delegation is headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while the Russian side is being led by Medinsky, a hawkish adviser to Russia’s Vladimir Putin who has questioned Ukraine’s right to exist and led failed talks in 2022 at the start of the war.


ICC says Libya recognizes authority of war crimes, repression probe

ICC says Libya recognizes authority of war crimes, repression probe
Updated 16 May 2025
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ICC says Libya recognizes authority of war crimes, repression probe

ICC says Libya recognizes authority of war crimes, repression probe

UNITED NATIONS: Libya has accepted the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged war crimes in the country despite not being party to the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said Thursday.
“I strongly welcome the courage, the leadership and the decision by the Libyan authorities” to recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction over possible war crimes and repression committed since 2011 until the end of 2027, Khan added.