Jordan to take sick Gaza kids as Trump pushes takeover plan

Jordan to take sick Gaza kids as Trump pushes takeover plan
King Abdullah II of Jordan speaks during a meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Feb. 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 11 February 2025
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Jordan to take sick Gaza kids as Trump pushes takeover plan

Jordan to take sick Gaza kids as Trump pushes takeover plan
  • Jordan would take in some 2,000 sick children from war-torn Gaza
  • US president called it a 'beautiful gesture' and said he didn’t know about it before the Jordanian monarch’s arrival at the White House

WASHINGTON: Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday told Donald Trump that his country would take in some 2,000 sick children from war-torn Gaza, as the US president pushed his plan to take over the territory and push out Palestinians.
Speaking at the White House, King Abdullah added that Egypt would present a proposal on how countries in the region could “work” with Trump on the plan, despite Arab nations and the Palestinians having rejected it outright.
“I think one of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children, cancer children who are in a very ill state, that is possible,” King Abdullah said as Trump welcomed him and Crown Prince Hussein in the Oval Office.
Trump called it a “beautiful gesture” and said he didn’t know about it before the Jordanian monarch’s arrival at the White House.
The US president meanwhile backed down on a suggestion that he could withhold aid for Jordan and Egypt if they refused to take in more than two million Palestinians from Gaza.
“I think we’ll do something. I don’t have to threaten that, I do believe we’re above that,” Trump said.
Trump stunned the world when he announced a proposal last week for the United States to “take over” Gaza, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East” — but only after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, with no plan for them ever to return.
Jordan’s King Abdullah was repeatedly pressed by reporters on whether he supported the plan, but said only that Egypt was coming up with a response and that Arab nations would then discuss it at talks in Riyadh.
“The president is looking at Egypt coming to present that plan... (then) we will be in Saudi Arabia to discuss how we should work with the president and with the United States,” King Abdullah said.
“The point is, how do we make this work in a way that is good for everybody," he added.


Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements
Updated 10 min 40 sec ago
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Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

Palestinians denounce Israeli recognition of new West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM: The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned on Sunday an Israeli decision to recognize more than a dozen new settlements in the occupied West Bank, upgrading existing neighborhoods to independent settlement status.
The decision by Israel’s security cabinet was a show of “disregard for international legitimacy and its resolutions,” said a statement from the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry.
The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about three million Palestinians as well as nearly 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader and settler who was behind the cabinet’s decision, hailed it as an “important step” for Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Smotrich is a leading voice calling for Israel to formally annex the West Bank — as it did in 1967 after capturing east Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
“The recognition of each (neighborhood) as a separate community... is an important step that would help their development,” Smotrich said in a statement on Telegram, calling it part of a “revolution.”
“Instead of hiding and apologizing, we raise the flag, we build and we settle,” he said.
“This is another important step toward de facto sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” added Smotrich, using the Biblical name for the West Bank.
In its statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry also mentioned an ongoing major Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank, saying it was accompanied by “an unprecedented escalation in the confiscation of Palestinian lands.”
The 13 settlement neighborhoods approved for development by the Israeli cabinet are located across the West Bank. Some of them are effectively part of the bigger settlements they belong to while others are practically separate.
Their recognition as separate communities under Israeli law is not yet final.
Hailing the “normalization” of settlement expansion, the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization for the municipal councils of West Bank settlements, thanked Smotrich for pushing for the cabinet decision.
According to EU figures, 2023 saw a 30-year record in settlement building permits issued by Israel.


Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south

Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south
Updated 31 min 22 sec ago
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Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south

Lebanon says one dead as Israel resumes strike on south
  • The NNA also reported separate Israeli strikes on Sunday on Naqurah, Shihin and Labbouneh in the south

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed Sunday in an Israeli drone strike, a day after the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah.
“The Israeli enemy raid with a drone on a car in Aita Al-Shaab led to the death of one citizen,” the health ministry said, after the official National News Agency (NNA) had reported the strike on the southern village.
The NNA also reported separate Israeli strikes on Sunday on Naqurah, Shihin and Labbouneh in the south, near the Israeli border.
Saturday saw the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire halted the war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The Lebanese health ministry said seven people were killed on Saturday, including in an attack on Tyre which a security source told AFP targeted a Hezbollah official.
Israel said the strikes were “a response to rocket fire toward Israel and a continuation of the first series of strikes carried out” in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack, and called Israel’s accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon.”
The November ceasefire brought relative calm after a year of hostilities, including two months of open war, between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon after the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic.”


Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains

Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains
Updated 17 min 58 sec ago
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Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains

Paramilitary shelling kills 3 in Omdurman after Sudan army gains
  • Eyewitnesses in the area reported seven rounds of shelling rocking residential neighborhoods controlled by the army
  • In recent days, the army regained most of central Khartoum’s government district from the RSF

KHARTOUM: Three civilians including two children were killed Sunday in an artillery attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Omdurman, part of the Sudanese capital, a medical source told AFP.
Eyewitnesses in the area reported seven rounds of shelling rocking residential neighborhoods controlled by the army, which in recent days regained most of central Khartoum’s government district from the RSF.
“Two children and a woman were killed and eight others injured in the shelling,” said the medical source at Al-Nao hospital, one of the city’s last functioning health facilities, requesting anonymity for their safety.
Since April 2023, the RSF has battled Sudan’s regular army in a war that has killed tens of thousands, uprooted over 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
The army and allied groups on Friday recaptured the country’s presidential palace, launching a clearing operation to push the RSF out of central Khartoum’s administrative and financial district.
On Saturday, they claimed several strategic state institutions that had been overrun by paramilitaries, including the central bank, state intelligence headquarters and the national museum.
RSF fighters remain stationed in parts of central Khartoum including the airport, as well as the capital’s south and west.
From their positions in western Omdurman, they have regularly launched strikes on civilian areas.
In February, over 50 people were killed in a single RSF artillery attack on a busy Omdurman market.
Despite the army’s advances in the capital, Africa’s third largest country remains effectively split in two, with the army holding the east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of the western region of Darfur and parts of the south.


Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial

Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial
Updated 23 March 2025
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Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial

Turkish court jails Istanbul mayor Imamoglu pending trial
  • Ruling likely to stoke tensions after four days of protests
  • The court said Imamoglu and at least 20 others were jailed as part of a corruption investigation

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Sunday pending trial, state media and other broadcasters said, in a move likely to stoke the country’s biggest protests in more than decade.
The decision to send Imamoglu — who is President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — to prison comes after the main opposition party, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticized the actions against him as politicized.
The court said Imamoglu and at least 20 others were jailed as part of a corruption investigation. A separate ruling on a terror-related investigation has yet to be issued.Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said on Sunday that he will not bow down after court ruled to jail him pending trial over corruption related investigation.
"We will, hand in hand, uproot this blow, this black stain on our democracy... I am standing tall, I will not bow down," Imamoglu said in a post on X.


Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen

Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen
Updated 23 March 2025
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Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen

Israel military says it intercepted missile from Yemen
  • The Houthis said early on Saturday they had “targeted Ben Gurion airport” with a ballistic missile
  • United States began launching heavy strikes against Yemen’s Houthis last week

Jerusalem: Israel’s military said early on Sunday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen after air raid sirens sounded in several areas across the country.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF (Israeli Air Force) prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
The latest interception is part of an escalation between Israel and the Houthis after the Iran-backed group claimed a series of missile launches this week.
The Houthis had threatened to escalate attacks in support of Palestinians following Israel’s renewal of attacks against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which began on Tuesday.
The Israeli military also said late on Friday it had intercepted another missile launched from Yemen.
The Houthis said early on Saturday they had “targeted Ben Gurion airport” with a ballistic missile, calling it the third launch in two days.
Israeli airspace would remain unsafe “until the aggression against Gaza stops,” the group said in the statement.
The United States began launching heavy strikes against Yemen’s Houthis last week.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Houthis “will be completely annihilated” and warned Tehran against continuing aid for the group.