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BEIRUT: At least seven people were killed in an Israeli strike on Nabatieh in Southern Lebanon, two security sources told Reuters early on Wednesday.
The strike appeared to be targeted at the Islamic Group’s emergency and relief center in Hebbariyeh village in Southern Lebanon, the sources said.
On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes near two towns in northeast Lebanon killed three Hezbollah militants, the group posted on Telegram and Israel confirmed the strikes.
JERUSALEM: More than 50 freed Israeli hostages urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire deal and secure the release of those still held in the Palestinian territory.
“We who have experienced the inferno know that a return to war is life-threatening for those still left behind,” a group of 56 freed hostages said in a letter posted on the social media platform Instagram on Friday evening.
“Implement the agreement in full, in one single maneuver.”
Among those to sign the letter was Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons died while held captive in Gaza.
Their plea came as Hamas released a video showing Israeli hostage Matan Angrest alive, footage that his family said had left them “shaken.”
In the footage, Angrest, who turned 22 in November, also calls on the Israeli authorities to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, though hostilities have not resumed.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has said are dead.
On Saturday, a high-level Hamas delegation is expected to hold talks with Egyptian officials over the second phase of the ceasefire, two senior Hamas officials told AFP the day before.
“The delegation will meet with Egyptian officials on Saturday to discuss the latest developments, assess progress in implementing the ceasefire agreement and address matters related to launching the second phase of the deal,” one official told AFP.
During its talks with Egyptian mediators, the Hamas delegation will demand that Israel “implement the agreement, begin negotiations for the second phase and open the border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Palestinian militant group wants a “comprehensive agreement that ensures a permanent and complete ceasefire,” the other official said.
He said Hamas’s demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the blockade, the reconstruction of the territory and financial support based on the decisions of this week’s Arab summit in Cairo.
He also said that Hamas was ready to “negotiate a prisoner exchange to release all Israeli prisoners including those with American citizenship.”
DUBAI: Each year, an estimated 3.27 million tons of food are wasted in the UAE, according to a report published in 2024 by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
In Dubai alone, 38 percent of prepared food is wasted daily, a figure that rises to 60 percent during Ramadan.
The UAE set a national target of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030, in line with the country’s food security strategy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
According to the UAE’s National Food Loss and Waste Initiative’s website, this target aims to cause a behavioral change in how people approach food waste and collectively strive toward a sustainable future.
This Ramadan, the UAE’s Food Bank launched an initiative to reduce food waste during the holy month by collecting food surplus from supermarkets, hotels and restaurants across the country.
Collaborating with Deliveroo, a food delivery app in the UAE, 500 tons of food are set to be collected this month.
Issa Hassan, general manager and representative of the UAE Food Bank, told Arab News that the food collected would be distributed to families in need and people living in harsh conditions.
“Since (the COVID-19 pandemic), many laborers are suffering, and we’re talking about hundreds of laborers who have no jobs or low salaries and cannot afford to eat. The food we are getting from different entities is getting transferred to them, and at least there are people benefitting from this food that used to go to the garbage,” he said.
Food is collected daily from hotels and restaurants then repackaged and sent off to families in need, explained Hassan.
“Although food waste is a huge problem throughout the year, there is an increase during Ramadan,” he added.
The UAE’s National Food Loss and Waste Initiative, also known as Ne’ma, is involved in the food collection project as well.
Each year, Ne’ma leads one of the largest food drives in the country during Ramadan and places community fridges in high-demand areas.
Community fridges accept donations of food and water, and trained kitchen staff package the meals and distribute them to ensure health and safety standards are maintained.
The UAE’s National Food Loss and Waste Initiative reported a 62 percent decrease in food waste in 2023 achieved during behavioral nudge trials in the hospitality sector.
In addition to the food drive, the UAE Food Bank has led initiatives to raise awareness on food security and demonstrate how food waste can be reduced at home.
Hassan encouraged families to package their leftover food from iftar or any other meal and distribute it to people in their communities.
“Maybe a security guard, people at the mosque or even your neighbors can benefit from this food,” he added.
JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday endorsed an Arab League counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to take over Gaza and displace its residents, two ministers have said.
The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League ratified the plan at a summit in Cairo.
The Egyptian-crafted alternative to Trump’s widely condemned takeover proposes to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority.
“The emergency ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopted the Egyptian plan, which has now become an Arab-Islamic plan,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said, in comments echoed by his Sudanese counterpart.
“It is certainly a very positive thing,” Abdelatty said.
Trump triggered global outrage by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt or Jordan.
Cameroonian Foreign Minister Lejeune Mbella, chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers, said the meeting was called in light of “new developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including calls for the displacement of Palestinians.”
He urged the full implementation of the agreement with a view to reaching a final solution to the conflict via a “concerted and multilateral approach.”
Mbella stressed, however, that “this approach can only be applicable and relevant within the framework of the two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side within internationally recognized borders, thus ensuring comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”
Mamadou Tangara, the foreign minister of Gambia — the current Chair of the Islamic Summit — slammed plans to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip as “provocative, brutal and inhumane,” and also uncalled for considering that positive steps are being looked into to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict following the recently reached ceasefire agreement.
“Now is the time for the international community to exert more concerted efforts to establish a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire that will lead to the full withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories, reiterating that the two-state solution is a prerequisite for stability and peace in the Middle East,” he said.
Tangara expressed deep concern over the recent passage of laws by the Israeli parliament banning the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is in complete contravention of the UN Charter and international law.
OIC Secretary General Hissein Ibrahim Taha affirmed his support for the reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, while adhering to the right of the Palestinian people to remain in their land.
He called for more concerted efforts “to achieve a sustainable ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces, the delivery of humanitarian aid, helping the displaced to return to their homes, enabling the Palestinian government to assume its duties, preserving the unity of the Palestinian territory.”
Gaza trust fund
At Tuesday’s summit in Cairo, leaders of the Arab League also announced a trust fund to pay for Gaza’s reconstruction and urged the international community to back it.
“The next step is for the plan to become an international plan through adoption by the European Union and international parties such as Japan, Russia, China and others,” Abdelatty said.
“This is what we will seek and we have contact with all parties, including the American party.”
However, the counter-proposal does not outline a role for Hamas, which controls Gaza, and was rejected by both the United States and Israel.
The plan “does not meet the expectations” of Washington, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters on Thursday.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff gave a more positive reaction, calling it a “good-faith first step from the Egyptians.”
Rabha Seif Allam, of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, said Egypt was seeking “broad support” for its proposal.
“This is an attempt to build a broad coalition that refuses the displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza, she said.
Trump’s plan has already united Arab countries in opposition, with Saudi Arabia also hosting Arab leaders two weeks ago to discuss alternatives.
During Friday's meeting, the OIC also readmitted Syria, which was suspended in 2012 early in the civil war under Bashar Assad, following the long-time ruler’s toppling in December.
“This decision represents an important step toward Syria’s return to the regional and international communities as a free and just state,” a Syrian foreign ministry statement said.
(With AFP & SPA)
CAIRO: The Syrian Arab Republic welcomed on early Saturday the re-activation of its membership in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) after it was frozen for 13 years, the foreign ministry said.
“This decision represents an important step toward Syria’s return to the regional and international communities as a free and just state,” a ministry said in a statement.
Syria's membership frozen since 2012, was re-activated during a meeting of the 57-member group at the organization's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
The source said the initiative put forth by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to re-activate Syria’s membership was accepted.
A statement posted on the OIC website highlighted Syria's membership as one of the topics in the discussion of the "extraordinary ministerial" meeting at the organization's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but did not mention how the meeting turned out.
In his opening statenment, OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said the initiative to include an item on Syria on the agenda of the session comes at an appropriate time.
In December, Syrian opposition forces led by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) toppled Bashar Assad after an 11-year civil war, ending his five-decade rule.
Syria’s new government has since sought to rebuild ties with Arab nations, Western powers, and others.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani was called into the meeting to take Syria’s seat after the vote, the source said. A video shared by Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry showed members applauding as the minister entered the room.
NATO member Turkiye has backed opposition forces looking to oust Assad for years. It is a close ally and supporter of the new government in Damascus, vowing to help rebuild the country and help them train their armed forces.
Last month, Syria’s new President Ahmed Al-Sharaa received an invitation from Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to participate in an Arab League summit in Cairo, a major step in rebuilding ties with the Arab world after Assad’s downfall.
RIYADH: Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Al-Budaiwi affirmed the council’s support for the Syrian Arab Republic in efforts and measures it takes to safeguard its stability and the security of its people.
Al-Budaiwi reiterated the position outlined in the final statement issued by the GCC Ministerial Council during its 163rd session, which condemned all acts of violence aimed at destabilizing Syria.
He further emphasized the GCC’s firm stance against violence, terrorism, and criminal acts, regardless of their motives or justifications.
Al-Budaiwi hoped for peace, stability, and prosperity to prevail in Syria, under the principles of law and justice, while fulfilling the aspirations of the Syrian people for a brighter and more prosperous future.
