CAIRO: Libyan officials returned to the Egyptian capital Sunday for a third round of talks on constitutional amendments for elections. The North African nation once again finds itself at a political impasse with two rival administrations claiming legitimacy.
The talks in Cairo come on the heels of clashes between rival militias that caused residents of the Libyan capital of Tripoli to panic and revived nightmares of previous bouts of fighting in the chaos-stricken nation.
Lawmakers from Libya’s east-based parliament and the High Council of State, an advisory body from western Libya, began the UN-brokered negotiations amid concerted international pressure on the two chambers to put their disputes aside and agree on the election’s legal basis.
The UN special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, said talks in a Cairo hotel will continue till June 19 with the aim of establishing a constitutional framework “required to take the country to national elections as soon as possible.”
In the previous two rounds of talks, the parties came to an initial consensus on 137 articles of the constitutional draft, including on rights and freedoms. They would continue discussing a handful of disputed articles on legislative and judicial authority, Williams said.
The dispute over the constitutional framework of the election was among major challenges that caused planned national elections to fail in December.
The failure to hold the vote was a major blow to international efforts to end decade of chaos in Libya. It has opened a new chapter in its long-running political impasse, with rival governments now claiming power after tentative steps toward unity in the past year.
On Friday, clashes broke out in Tripoli between rival militias, spurring residents to take shelter and women and children to flee a busy park as artillery shells flew across the night sky. It was not clear what cause the clashes. Authorities in Tripoli said an investigation was opened.
Williams, the UN adviser, condemned the fighting, saying in a Twitter post, “Enough is enough!” She called for those responsible to be held accountable.
The US ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, threatened to sanction those responsible for the fighting, saying they “will pay a price with the Libyan people and the international community.”
The violence was the latest bout of infighting in recent weeks between rogue militias, especially in the western region, which is ruled by an array of militias loosely allied with the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
East and south Libya are controlled by forces of military commander Khalifa Haftar, who is allied with a rival government led by parliament-appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha.
The oil-rich country has been wrecked by conflict since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. The country has for years been split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by different militias and foreign governments.
UN-brokered talks on Libya elections resume in Cairo
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UN-brokered talks on Libya elections resume in Cairo
- Talks will continue till June 19 with the aim of establishing a constitutional framework ‘required to take the country to national elections as soon as possible’
UN chief ‘deeply alarmed’ by Israeli strike on Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply alarmed” at Sunday’s strike by Israeli
GENEVA: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply alarmed" at Sunday's strike by Israeli forces on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.
"Under international humanitarian law, wounded and sick, medical personnel and medical facilities, including hospitals, must be respected and protected," the U.N. chief's spokesperson said.
He said the attack dealt "a severe blow to an already devastated healthcare system in the Strip", adding there was strong concern that medical supplies are running low as well as food and water.
Two Israeli missiles hit the major Gaza hospital on Sunday, putting the emergency department out of action and damaging other structures, medics said, in a strike that Israel said was aimed at Hamas fighters exploiting the facility.
Health officials at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital evacuated patients after a phone call from someone who identified himself as Israeli security shortly before the attack.
No new humanitarian supplies have entered the Palestinian enclave since Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks on March 2, as talks stalled on the next stage of a now broken truce. Israel resumed its military assault on March 18.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 25,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the 42 days of the ceasefire and that Hamas had used the aid to rebuild its war machine, an allegation which the group has denied.
Hamas says it’s sending a delegation to Qatar to continue Gaza ceasefire talks
- Hamas official says that the Palestinian militant group is sending a delegation to the Gulf Arab state of Qatar to continue the indirect ceasefire talks with Israel
- Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 38 people were confirmed dead over the past day
DEIR AL-BALAH: A Hamas official said Monday that the Palestinian militant group is sending a delegation to the Gulf state of Qatar to continue indirect ceasefire talks with Israel over the war in Gaza, as the territory’s Health Ministry said that 38 people were confirmed dead over the past day.
The Hamas official said teams have been discussing terms for a new ceasefire agreement over recent days in Cairo, including a proposal that Hamas free eight to 10 hostages held in Gaza. But the Hamas official said a major sticking point remained over whether the war would end as part of any new deal.
The talks in Qatar are meant to take place later this week or next, the official said.
The Hamas official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive talks with the media. Officials from Israel and Qatar had no immediate comment.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in January that lasted eight weeks before Israel resumed the war last month. The initial ceasefire agreement was meant to bring the sides toward negotiating an end to the war, something Israel has resisted doing because it wants to defeat Hamas first.
Hundreds have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed
Since the ceasefire fell apart last month, Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza and forces have also seized swaths of the coastal enclave in a bid to ratchet up pressure on Hamas to agree to a deal more aligned with Israel’s terms.
On Monday, the United Nations humanitarian office warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is now likely to be “the worst” since Israel launched its retaliation to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, pointing to the Israeli ban on all supplies entering the Gaza Strip since March 2.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters: “No fuel has come in, no food has come in, no medicine has come in.”
The war started when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during the attack on southern Israel and took 251 people captive. Most have since been freed in ceasefire agreements and other deals. Fifty-nine remain in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Nearly 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
The Health Ministry said Monday that the bodies of 38 people killed in Israeli strikes were brought to hospitals across the territory over the past 24 hours. It said more than 1,600 people have been killed since the ceasefire collapsed.
The Red Cross says Israel has detained a Palestinian medic
Also Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that a Palestinian medic was detained during an Israeli military operation in which troops killed 15 first responders in the Gaza Strip. It was the first confirmation of the medic’s whereabouts since the March 23 attack in southern Gaza.
A statement from the Red Cross said it has not been granted access to visit him and did not say how it had received confirmation of his detention. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
The Israeli military initially said troops had opened fire on vehicles that raised suspicion because they were traveling without lights on. It later backtracked after a cellphone video emerged showing clearly marked ambulances traveling with their sirens flashing before the shooting.
The military also said it killed nine militants traveling in the ambulances, without providing evidence. It named one of the militants, but the name did not match those of any of the paramedics, and no other bodies are known to have been recovered.
The military says it is investigating further.
Sudan’s two years of war have ‘shattered’ children’s lives: UNICEF
- The number of children in need of humanitarian assistance has doubled in two years
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The number of major violations against children in Sudan, from killings to abductions, has increased by 1,000 percent following two years of civil war, UNICEF said Monday, calling for increased global awareness.
The United Nations children’s agency said that such incidents — which also include maiming and attacks on schools and hospitals — had previously been confined to a few regions.
But the ongoing nature of the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s army had resulted in their spread to further areas.
“Two years of violence and displacement have shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
“The number of grave violations against children has surged by 1,000 percent in two years,” the statement said.
For example, the number of children killed or maimed has increased drastically from 150 verified cases in 2022 to an estimated 2,776 across 2023 and 2024, according to figures provided to AFP by UNICEF, which are likely underestimates.
Attacks on schools and hospitals have also gone up from 33 verified cases in 2022 to around 181 over the two prior years.
Furthermore, the number of children in need of humanitarian assistance has doubled in two years, from 7.8 million at the beginning of 2023 to more than 15 million today, UNICEF said.
“Sudan is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today, but it is not getting the world’s attention,” Russell said, adding “we cannot abandon the children of Sudan.”
“We have the expertise and the resolve to scale up our support, but we need access and sustained funding,” she said.
The war between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, first erupted in April 2023.
Since then, the conflict has left tens of thousands dead and displaced 13 million people, according to the UN.
Famine has additionally been declared in at least five locations, including the Zamzam displacement camp in Darfur, where the RSF recently wrested control.
With the arrival of the rainy season and the risk of flooding, the situation in Sudan could worsen further. According to UNICEF, this year’s rainy season could result in 462,000 children suffering severe acute malnutrition.
UN chief says stop flow of weapons to Sudan
- The UN experts also said fighters had been recruited in neighboring countries like Chad, Libya and the Central African Republic and sent to South Sudan
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he is worried that weapons and fighters keep flowing into Sudan, perpetuating a civil war about to enter its third year.
The war, which erupted on April 15, 2023, has left tens of thousands dead, pushed parts of Sudan into famine and fractured the country into warlord-run territories.
“The external support and flow of weapons must end,” Guterres said without naming any specific country in a statement issued a day before the third anniversary of the start of the war between Sudan’s army and its paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“Those with greatest influence on the parties must use it to better the lives of people in Sudan — not to perpetuate this disaster,” said Guterres.
But in their last report early this year the experts said they could not confirm actual transfers of military material along this route from Chad to Darfur.
They said, however, that weapons had come in from Libya but could not identify who sent them.
The UN experts also said fighters had been recruited in neighboring countries like Chad, Libya and the Central African Republic and sent to South Sudan.
They added there were credible accusations that Colombian mercenaries were fighting with the paramilitary side in Sudan.
“The only way to ensure the protection of civilians is to end this senseless conflict,” Guterres said Monday.
Israeli makes new Gaza ceasefire proposal but prospects appear slim
- Hamas insists Israel commit to ending the war and pull out its forces from the Gaza Strip as agreed in the three-phase ceasefire accord that went into effect in late January
- “Handing over the resistance’s weapons is a million red lines and is not subject to consideration, let alone discussion,” Abu Zuhri said
CAIRO: Mediator Egypt has presented a new Israeli proposal for a Gaza ceasefire to Hamas, Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Monday, but a senior Hamas official said at least two elements of the proposal were non-starters.
Citing sources, Al Qahera said mediators awaited Hamas’ response.
Hamas said in a statement later in the day that it was studying the proposal and that it will submit its response “as soon as possible.”
The militant group reiterated its core demand that a ceasefire deal must end the war in Gaza and achieve a full Israeli pull-out from the strip.
Earlier, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the proposal did not meet the Palestinian group’s demand that Israel commit to a complete halt of hostilities.
In the proposal, Israel also for the first time called for the disarmament of Hamas in the next phase of negotiations, which the group will not agree to, Abu Zuhri said.
“Handing over the resistance’s weapons is a million red lines and is not subject to consideration, let alone discussion,” Abu Zuhri said.
Israel did not immediately comment on the reported proposal.
The head of the Egyptian state information service told Al Qahera: “Hamas knows very well the value of time now and I believe that its response to the Israeli proposal will be quick.”
Israel restarted its offensive in the enclave in March, ending a ceasefire that went into effect in late January.
The latest round of talks on Monday in Cairo to restore the ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.
Hamas insists Israel commit to ending the war and pull out its forces from the Gaza Strip as agreed in the three-phase ceasefire accord that went into effect in late January.
Israel has said it will not end the war unless Hamas is eliminated and returns the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
“Hamas is ready to hand over the hostages in one batch in exchange for the end of war and the withdrawal of Israeli military” from Gaza, Abu Zuhri said.
Since restarting its military offensive last month, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities have said. It has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave.
Meanwhile, 59 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of the militants. Israel believes 24 of them are alive.
