Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody

Special Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody
Mohammed Naj Khamash died while in Houthi custody in Sanaa. (X/@YemenVibes)
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Updated 23 October 2024
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Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody

Houthis criticized after educator dies in custody
  • Family of Mohammed Naj Khamash received a phone call from the Houthis asking them to collect his remains
  • Houthis abducted 55-year-old Khamash from Sanaa in June as the militia launched a surprise crackdown on a number of organizations

AL-MUKALLA: The death of a Yemeni educational expert and Ministry of Education official in a Houthi-run detention facility was a result of torture, it is being claimed.

Yemeni government officials and human rights activists said the family of Mohammed Naj Khamash, the director general of primary and secondary education at the Ministry of Education, received a call from the Houthis on Tuesday asking them to collect his remains. They were told his death was caused by a heart attack.

The Houthis abducted 55-year-old Khamash from Sanaa in June as the militia launched a surprise crackdown on Yemeni employees of UN agencies, international human rights and aid organizations, diplomatic missions, and education experts.

The Yemeni government’s Ministry of Human Rights office in Sanaa, which is outside Houthi-controlled areas, has disputed that Khamash died of natural causes. Instead they say he was brutally tortured in Sanaa detention facilities and his family prevented from visiting or contacting him.

“We strongly condemn the terrorist Houthi militia’s actions, including the death of abducted Mohammed Naj Khamash, the continuation of physical and psychological torture, and the deliberate neglect and denial of treatment and health care to abductees, which has resulted in the deaths of a number of them in Houthi prisons,” the office said.

Khamash’s death is the latest in a string of mysterious fatalities of Houthi detainees in Sanaa and other areas under their control which Yemeni activists and rights groups say are the result of mistreatment, deplorable conditions, and deprivation of medical care. Sabri Al-Hakimi, a prominent educationist, died in March after being abducted and held in a detention facility in the city.

International charity Save the Children temporarily halted operations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen late last year in an attempt to pressure the organization to explain the death of employee Hisham Al-Hakimi during detention by the militia.

The Houthis continue to hold a number of prominent teachers and educators, including Mohammed Hatem Al-Mekhlafi, a professor of public education at Sanaa University and co-author of the country's primary school curriculum, and Mujeeb Al-Mekhlafi, an educational training expert.

Al-Mekhlafi and other abducted educationalists appeared in videos broadcast by Houthi media, confessing to inserting “American ideas” such as homosexuality and atheism into Yemeni school curricula, persuading Yemeni children to normalize relations with Israel, and recruiting Yemenis for Israeli and American intelligence agencies.

Khamash’s death sparked condemnation from local and international rights groups, who called for stronger international action to pressure the Houthis to release the abductees and end the widespread torture in their detention facilities.

The Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties issued a statement urging the international community to take immediate action to rescue abductees from Houthi prisons.

“SAM urges the international community to take immediate action to rescue detainees in Houthi prisons, emphasizing that the continued occurrence of serious human rights violations, such as torture and ill-treatment, necessitates effective and serious pressure on the Houthis to release detainees and protect their rights,” it read.

On Wednesday, a Houthi drone dropped two bombs on a school in Al-Hanaeh, in Yemen’s southern province of Taiz, injuring two students, according to SABA.


UN General Assembly pushes for Palestinian state

UN General Assembly pushes for Palestinian state
Updated 36 sec ago
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UN General Assembly pushes for Palestinian state

UN General Assembly pushes for Palestinian state
  • The United Nations considers the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip to be unlawfully occupied by Israel
  • Alluding to recent rulings by the International Court of Justice, the assembly called on Israel to end its “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible” and halt all new settlement activity

UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN General Assembly on Tuesday called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories and pushed for the creation of a Palestinian state, convening an international conference in June to try to jumpstart a two-state solution.
In a resolution passed by a 157-8 vote, with the United States and Israel among those voting no, and seven abstentions, the Assembly expressed “unwavering support, in accordance with international law, for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine.”

Palestinian UN Representative Riyad Mansour attends the General Assembly 46th plenary meeting on the Question of Palestine on December 3, 2024, at UN headquarters in New York. (AFP)

The Assembly said the two states should be “living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders, based on the pre-1967 borders.”
It has called for a high-level international meeting in New York in June 2025, to be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, to breathe new life into diplomatic efforts to make the two-state solution a reality.
The assembly called for “realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination and the right to their independent state.”
The United Nations considers the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip to be unlawfully occupied by Israel.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained troops and settlements there until 2005. Though it has withdrawn, it is still considered the occupying power there.
Alluding to recent rulings by the International Court of Justice, the assembly called on Israel to end its “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible” and halt all new settlement activity.
“The question of Palestine has been on the UN agenda since the inception of the organization and remains the most critical test to its credibility and authority and to the very existence of an international law-based order,” Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said.
It was a UN General Assembly resolution in 1947 that divided British-ruled Palestine into two states — one Arab and one Jewish.
But only the creation of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. This triggered a war between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

 


UN condemns deadly shelling of Sudan displacement camp

Displaced Sudanese people sit at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, Sudan, August 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
Displaced Sudanese people sit at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, Sudan, August 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
Updated 24 min 51 sec ago
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UN condemns deadly shelling of Sudan displacement camp

Displaced Sudanese people sit at Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, Sudan, August 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
  • According to the UN, which managed to deliver its first aid convoy to Zamzam in months in November, families have been reduced to eating peanut shells to survive as children die of malnutrition

UNITED NATIONS, United States: The United Nations on Tuesday denounced the shelling of a displacement camp in North Darfur by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which killed at least six people.
The famine-stricken Zamzam camp, just south of state capital El-Fasher, came under intense rocket and artillery bombardment by the RSF on Sunday.
“The United Nations and humanitarian partners in Sudan strongly condemn these acts of violence against innocent civilians,” the UN resident coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said in a statement.
She added: “I am deeply concerned by reports of the indiscriminate shelling of Zamzam camp, health clinics and shelters of displaced people. Their protection is paramount.”
Since April last year, a war between the regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands, displaced more than 11 million and created what the UN has called the worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory.
El-Fasher has been besieged by paramilitaries for months, paralyzing aid operations and plunging the Zamzam camp, which is home to at least half a million people, into famine.
According to the UN, which managed to deliver its first aid convoy to Zamzam in months in November, families have been reduced to eating peanut shells to survive as children die of malnutrition.
“It is now 232 days since the siege of El-Fasher began, which has resulted in unacceptable levels of human suffering,” Nkweta-Salami said.
Both sides of the conflict face accusations of war crimes, including targeting civilians, shelling residential areas and blocking or looting aid.
In recent weeks, the RSF has tightened its grip on El-Fasher, launching attacks on multiple fronts against Sudan’s military and allied armed groups.

 


Doctors urge medical evacuations from war-torn Gaza to east Jerusalem

Doctors urge medical evacuations from war-torn Gaza to east Jerusalem
Updated 04 December 2024
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Doctors urge medical evacuations from war-torn Gaza to east Jerusalem

Doctors urge medical evacuations from war-torn Gaza to east Jerusalem
  • Israel controls all points of departure from the Gaza Strip which has been battered by over a year of war between Israel and militants led by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas

JERUSALEM: Medics and rights groups on Tuesday called for the immediate opening of a humanitarian corridor from Gaza to allow the urgent evacuation of patients to hospitals in east Jerusalem.
Israel controls all points of departure from the Gaza Strip which has been battered by over a year of war between Israel and militants led by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Rare medical evacuations have been organized by international organizations or foreign countries in coordination with Israeli authorities.
But amid mounting casualties from the war, the East Jerusalem Hospitals Network and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) called for the immediate reopening of the Gaza to east Jerusalem medical corridor, estimating that about 25,000 patients in Gaza were in need of urgent care.
Fadi Atrash, the director of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in east Jerusalem, said the reopening of the evacuation corridor “is essential to allow us to continue to provide vital treatments in hospitals in east Jerusalem, where we have both the space and the medical expertise.”
Prior to the war, patients in Gaza who were in need of medical care unavailable in the Palestinian territory could be evacuated to hospitals in the Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem or the occupied West Bank, and in some cases in Israel.
But since the Gaza war broke out last year, that mechanism has been defunct.
During an exceptional evacuation of about 200 patients from Gaza in early November, the World Health Organization said about 14,000 people were awaiting medical evacuations.
Days later, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said “Israeli authorities blocked, without explanation, the medical evacuation of eight children and their caretakers from Gaza who are in need of medical care, including a two-year-old with leg amputations, to the MSF hospital in Jordan.”
“We strongly denounce this decision,” it said.
On Tuesday, “31 patients and caregivers left Gaza” through the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel, COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry agency managing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said.
It added that the patients were to be transferred to Jordan and the United States for treatment.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X that the 31 comprised 11 children with cancer awaiting treatment and 20 companions.
“Thousands of patients across Gaza still need medical evacuations for life-saving medical care. We urge that all corridors be utilized for the safe transfer of patients outside the Gaza Strip,” he said.
More than 105,000 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war erupted on October 7, 2023, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry which the United Nations deems reliable.
Gaza’s health care system has largely been decimated by the war, with only a handful of medical facilities now able to provide care.


Palestinian factions Hamas, Fatah close to deal on postwar Gaza governance

Palestinian factions Hamas, Fatah close to deal on postwar Gaza governance
Updated 04 December 2024
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Palestinian factions Hamas, Fatah close to deal on postwar Gaza governance

Palestinian factions Hamas, Fatah close to deal on postwar Gaza governance

CAIRO: Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war. It would effectively end Hamas’ rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel.
The two factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. Israel has meanwhile ruled out any postwar role in Gaza for either Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah.
A Palestinian Authority official on Tuesday confirmed that a preliminary agreement had been reached following weeks of negotiations in Cairo. The official said the committee would have 12-15 members, most of them from Gaza.
It would report to the Palestinian Authority, which is headquartered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and work with local and international parties to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction.
A Hamas official said that Hamas and Fatah had agreed on the general terms but were still negotiating over some details and the individuals who would serve on the committee.
The official said an agreement would be announced after a meeting of all Palestinian factions in Cairo, without providing a timeline.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the talks. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is dismantled and scores of Israeli hostages are returned. He says Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza, with civilian affairs administered by local Palestinians unaffiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas.
No Palestinians have publicly volunteered for such a role, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with the Israeli military.
The United States has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood.


Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction

Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction
Updated 03 December 2024
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Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction

Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction

NAJAF: Lebanese families displaced in Iraq by the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah have begun returning to their homes in southern Lebanon following a recently brokered ceasefire.

The cessation of hostilities has allowed many to return despite widespread destruction.

“After two months, we are returning to our homeland. We will return even if we find our homes destroyed; we will sit on the ground,” said Ali Abdulla, a southern Lebanon resident, waiting along with dozens of others at Najaf airport in Iraq to fly back to Beirut with his family.

More than 20,000 Lebanese have sought refuge in Iraq since the outbreak of the war, according to official figures.

“Returning home was faster than we expected. A ceasefire has been achieved. We, the southerners, have not and will not abandon our land,” said Yousef Barakat, who was also waiting in Najaf to board a Middle East Airlines flight to Beirut. Najaf airport officials said around 800 Lebanese were leaving for Beirut every week, while others were using government-provided buses to travel to the Qaim border crossing with Syria and then on to Lebanon.

Iraqi local officials said at least 1,000 Lebanese had been crossing into Syria daily for three days. 

But then an escalation of hostilities in Syria following a militant offensive against Syrian government forces led many to shun the land route, fearing for their safety. 

They now prefer to wait for flights.

Iraq’s government and some institutions in Najaf and Kerbala have provided essential support, including free accommodation, healthcare, and meals, ensuring that displaced families have a safe, supportive environment during their stay.

The ceasefire, brokered by the US and France, aims to end the conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed at least 3,768 people in Lebanon since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

However, not all Lebanese are eager to return, saying their homes are uninhabitable due to damaged water and electricity networks. 

They are uncertain about what will happen once the 60-day ceasefire ends.