‘Promotion of human fraternity must extend to empowerment of women,’ Zayed Award panel judge Epsy Campbell Barr tells Arab News

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity recognizes those who contribute most to human progress and coexistence. (Adjaye Associates)
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Updated 23 January 2023
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‘Promotion of human fraternity must extend to empowerment of women,’ Zayed Award panel judge Epsy Campbell Barr tells Arab News

  • Former Costa Rica vice president says “more understanding between the sexes” needed to build a better world
  • Zayed Award for Human Fraternity was launched in 2019 following Pope Francis’ historic visit to Abu Dhabi

DUBAI: Promotion of the values of human fraternity must extend to the empowerment of women, according to Epsy Campbell Barr, a former vice president of Costa Rica and member of the judging panel for this year’s Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.

“We need more understanding between the sexes in order to build a better world,” she told Arab News in the lead-up to this year’s award ceremony on Feb. 4. “It is impossible to do so without the inclusion of women.

“This is where the message of the human fraternity is important: Through the promotion of equality and non-discrimination.”

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity was created to build on the historic meeting in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 4, 2019, between Pope Francis and Ahmed El-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar.

Their meeting, which marked the first-ever papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula, culminated in the co-signing of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, also known as the Abu Dhabi declaration.




The award was set up following the meeting between Pope Francis and Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb in 2019. (AFP)

It was born from a fraternal discussion between the two religious leaders with the aim of helping to guide others in advancing a “culture of mutual respect.” Francis later described it as “no mere diplomatic gesture but a reflection born of dialogue and common commitment.”

The Abu Dhabi declaration led to the founding of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity and the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who was then the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and is now the ruler of the emirate and president of the UAE.

The award, now in its fourth edition, is named in honor of Sheikh Mohammed’s father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, founder of the UAE.

Campbell Barr, who was in office in Costa Rica from May 2018 until May 2022, was the first woman of African descent to hold the post of vice president in Latin America, and was named among the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent in 2021.

As an economist and long-serving politician, she believes the full implementation of the Document of Human Fraternity can help promote the political, social and economic empowerment of women and girls.

“We need to build bridges,” she said. “When we think of women’s economic empowerment, we have to make sure we can have a dialogue with the financial sector to offer women finances for their entrepreneurship ideas, as well as having a sense of human fraternity in political dialogues.

“We need money in the hands of women because we know it will not only change her life but the life of the community around her and, eventually, the country.”




The panel of judges for this year’s Zayed Award. (Supplied)

Campbell Barr’s comments come at a time when the rights of women and girls are being rolled back in many parts of the world, and as the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflationary pressures resulting from the war in Ukraine fall disproportionately on their shoulders.

Nowhere is the assault on women’s liberties more blatant perhaps than in Afghanistan, where the Taliban, which stormed back to power in August 2021, has barred girls from secondary education and, more recently, blocked their access to colleges and universities.

According to the World Bank, although women make up half of the global population, they contribute a mere 37 percent to global gross domestic product. The bank said global GDP could increase by 26 percent if the gap between men and women in the workforce is closed.

“We have to change our minds, we have to cooperate,” said Campbell Barr. “The message of the document can be useful for social, economic and environmental issues. We have to use the human fraternity agreement as a tool for general dialogue, to build our consensus for a new world.”

FASTFACT

Feb. 4 has been designated as the International Day of Human Fraternity in honor of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity by Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb in Abu Dhabi on that day in 2019.

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity is an independent global prize, presented by the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, that was launched in recognition of those who make profound contributions to human progress and peaceful coexistence.

Honorees are awarded $1 million in support of their efforts and to fund the continuation of their work in advancing human fraternity, collaborating across divides, and driving real progress.

The 2021 prize was jointly awarded to Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, and French-Moroccan activist Latifa Ibn Ziaten, founder of the Imad Association for Youth and Peace who, after losing her son to an act of terrorism, channeled her sorrow into developing an outreach program for young people.

The 2022 award was bestowed on King Abdullah of Jordan and his wife, Queen Rania, “in appreciation of their efforts to promote human fraternity, mutual respect and peaceful coexistence,” and Haitian humanitarian organization the Foundation for Knowledge and Liberty.

Pope Francis welcomed the 2023 judging committee to the Vatican on Jan. 9 to discuss the significance of the award in promoting human fraternity on a global scale, including the protection of women’s rights.

Francis, himself a 2019 honorary recipient of the award along with El-Tayeb, told the members of the judging panel: “Your work is important in advancing the message of human fraternity.”

He also stressed the importance of the global award for humanity and urged the committee to do its part to advance the rights of women.

“It is important in your work to uphold the dignity of women, as women’s rights are often outlined on paper but not practiced in reality,” he said.

In addition to Campbell Barr, this year’s judging panel includes Miguel Angel Moratinos, the UN undersecretary general and high representative for the alliance of civilizations, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church the pro-prefect of the dicastery for evangelization.

They are joined by child rights activist and 2014 Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, entrepreneur and 2015 Nobel laureate Ouided Bouchamaoui, and Mohammed Abdelsalam, secretary general of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity and the Muslim Council of Elders.

Ahead of the committee’s meeting at the Vatican, Satyarthi said he was looking for an award nominee with the “light of compassion to make long-lasting changes to society. We need strong actions and bold ideas to make a beautiful, more just, and equitable world.”

Abdelsalam said the award was designed to promote understanding and respect among all peoples, adding: “That is why the award aims to highlight individuals and organizations that contribute to making a long-term impact, and who are building a framework for initiatives and ideas that foster the development of a more harmonious, global human community.”

Campbell Barr said that human fraternity “is an understanding between people, between civilizations. It is a new ideology to embrace the things we have in common rather than our differences.”

She added: “It is the building of society based on mutual peace and respect. We have been focusing far too long on what makes us different. Agreements can change lives, organizations and countries. It is the way to build a new world. We need to build bridges and understand each other.”




Epsy Campbell Barr. (AFP)

Campbell Barr said she is looking for compassion, commitment, respect and the application of human fraternity in a nominee.

“I am looking for one who promotes dialogue,” she told Arab News. “The award is not the objective. Rather, it is a tool to apply the concept of human fraternity.

“We need to build bridges and this can be made possible through a political dialogue and a sense of fraternity. We have to cooperate rather than compete.”

Campbell Barr said that over the course of her political career she had to overcome several barriers but is proud to have been able to serve her fellow Costa Ricans, empower communities and make a difference.

“I had the great opportunity of being the VP of my country, but I feel I didn’t do it for Costa Rica alone but for all the girls and women in the world to show them that they can do everything they wish to achieve,” she said.

“Women lead differently to men. We do so with more love, we are more cooperative than competitive.”

Above all, Campbell Barr believes political power ought to be used to help ease the suffering of those who are less fortunate, who often lack the opportunities afforded the better off in societies.

“Using one’s voice is so important, to inspire people,” she said. “And when one is in a high political position, we have to work with both hands.”

The winner of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity 2023 will be announced on Feb. 4, which is the UN-recognized International Day for Human Fraternity.


Israeli airstrikes kill 23 in Gaza as outcry over aid blockade grows

Updated 7 sec ago
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Israeli airstrikes kill 23 in Gaza as outcry over aid blockade grows

  • Israel has said the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and disarm

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City: Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza, including three children and their parents whose tent was bombed in Gaza City, health officials said.
The bombardment continued as international warnings grow over Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza as Israel’s blockade on the territory of over 2 million people is in its third month.
The UN and aid groups have rejected Israel’s aid distribution moves, including a plan from a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Among the 23 bodies brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours were those of the family of five whose tent was struck in Gaza City’s Sabra district, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
Another Israeli strike late Friday hit a warehouse belonging to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in the northern area of Jabaliya. Four people were killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, where bodies were taken.
AP video showed fires burning in the shattered building. The warehouse was empty after being hit and raided multiple times during Israeli ground offensives against Hamas fighters over the past year, said residents including Hamza Mohamed.
Israel’s military said nine soldiers were lightly wounded Friday night by an explosive device while searching Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood. It said they were evacuated to a hospital in Israel.
Israel resumed its bombardment in Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Ground troops have seized more than half the territory and have been conducting raids and searching parts of northern Gaza and the southernmost city of Rafah. Large parts of both areas have been flattened by months of Israeli operations.
Under Israel’s blockade, charity kitchens are virtually the only source of food left in Gaza, but dozens have shut down in recent days as food supplies run out. Aid groups say more closures are imminent. Israel has said the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and disarm. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.
Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of siphoning off aid in Gaza, though it hasn’t presented evidence for its claims. The UN denies significant diversion takes place, saying it monitors distribution.
The 19-month-old war in Gaza is the most devastating ever fought between Israel and Hamas. It has killed more than 52,800 people there, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 119,000, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed thousands of militants, without giving evidence.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped over 250 others. Hamas still holds about 59 hostages, with around a third believed to still be alive.
Hamas released a video Saturday showing hostages Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana, who appeared under duress. They were abducted during the Oct. 7 attack from a music festival where over 300 people were killed. Hamas released a video of them a month and half ago and has released several videos of Bohbot alone since then.
Protesters on Saturday night rallied once more in Tel Aviv to demand a ceasefire that would bring all hostages home.
“Can you grasp this? The Israeli government is about to embark on a military operation that could and will endanger the lives of the hostages,” Michel Illouz, father of hostage Guy Illouz, told the gathering, referring to the plan to vastly expand operations in Gaza.


Why Israel’s Gaza reoccupation threat is fueling fears of regional spillover

Updated 10 May 2025
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Why Israel’s Gaza reoccupation threat is fueling fears of regional spillover

  • Analysts warn of slide toward ethnic cleansing as Israel signals plans for indefinite military control over enclave
  • Palestinian plight worsens as far-right voices increasingly influence Israeli war aims ahead of Trump’s Gulf tour

LONDON: For the people of Gaza, the threat of destruction, displacement and death at the hands of the Israeli military is nothing new.

But for the next week they will living with a countdown to a threatened operation that would be unprecedented: the complete and indefinite occupation of Gaza by Israel, and the forcing of its Palestinian population into a tiny area in the south of the strip.

If such an unthinkable end-game exercise were to go ahead — and reports that tens of thousands of Israeli reservists are being called up suggests it might — critics of the plan say Israel appears to have forgotten the lessons of the events that led to its own creation in 1948.

According to sources inside the Israeli government, the only thing standing between the Palestinians of Gaza and this 21st-century Nakba is next week’s visit to the region by US President Donald Trump, who is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE between Tuesday and Friday. 

A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows Israeli armored vehicles and bulldozers returning to the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP) 

On Tuesday this week an unnamed Israeli defense official told AP that the operation would not be launched before Trump had left the region, adding there was a “window of opportunity” for a ceasefire and a hostage deal during the president’s visit.

And so, the countdown to the military operation began. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his security cabinet had approved an “intensive” renewed offensive against Hamas in Gaza, and that Palestinians would be moved “for their own safety.”

“Last night we stayed up late in the cabinet and decided on an intensive operation in Gaza,” Netanyahu said.

A US-backed truce between Israel and Hamas ended in March, after only two months, when Israel resumed its attacks.

It was, Netanyahu added, seeming to tether a scapegoat to the decision, “the chief of staff’s recommendation to proceed, as he put it, toward the defeat of Hamas — and along the way, he believes this will also help us rescue the hostages.”

News of the plan triggered immediate protests outside Israel’s parliament by families of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. Few among them believe the plan has anything to do with a genuine desire to see their loved ones freed.

Israelis demonstrate in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on May 10, 2025, calling on the Netanyahu government to end the war and to secure the release of the hostages held since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas militants. (AFP) 

The chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces is retired Major-General Eyal Zamir, a favorite of the far-right members of Israel’s government, who was appointed only last month. His predecessor resigned, after taking responsibility for Israel’s military failings during the Hamas attack in October 2023.

“I’m pretty sure Zamir is praying that he will not have to execute this plan,” Ahron Bregman, a UK-based Israeli historian and senior teaching fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, and a former IDF officer, told Arab News. “He’s experienced enough to know that the operation might well kill the remaining Israeli hostages, or lead to a situation where the hostages are left to die in the tunnels without water or food, never to be found.

“As I have always maintained, Israel cannot destroy Hamas. Hamas, weak, bleeding and exhausted, will still be in the Gaza Strip when this hopeless war is over,” he added.

Israeli troops, who have evicted Palestinians from so-called security zones, already occupy about one-third of Gaza. If implemented, the new plan would see the seizure of the entire territory, with Gaza’s remaining two million Palestinians forced toward the south.

The UN has already expressed alarm at Israel’s plan to expand its operation in Gaza. “This will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza,” UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday. “What’s imperative now is an end to the violence, not more civilian deaths and destruction.”

He added: “Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian state.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s security cabinet has voted to end distribution of aid by international NGOs and UN bodies, and to give the job to as-yet unnamed private companies. At the beginning of the month, the UN condemned Israel’s decision two months ago to halt humanitarian aid as a “cruel collective punishment” of the Palestinian population.

On Friday, Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, said a US-backed mechanism for distributing aid into Gaza should take effect soon but he gave few details. Israel and the US have both indicated in recent days that they were preparing to restore aid through mechanisms that would bypass Hamas.

“The Israeli military plan for Gaza is mainly aimed at satisfying the far-right elements in Netanyahu’s government,” said Bregman. “The new idea here is seizing chunks of the Gaza Strip and staying there, not getting out, as used to be the case.”

Right-wing, pro-settler members of the Israeli Cabinet, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Givr, “hope that staying inside will eventually lead to the resettling of the Gaza Strip by Jewish settlers who will resort to the tactics they employ on the West Bank, building settlements even if ‘official Israel’ opposes it,” he added. “They also trust far-right elements in the IDF — and the IDF is packed with them, especially in the ground forces — to turn a blind eye and enable the resettling of the Strip.” 

But, he warned, “if ordered to implement the Gaza plan, Israeli troops must refuse to carry out the orders, lest they turn themselves into war criminals.”

On Tuesday, the day after Netanyahu’s announcement, Smotrich told a settlements conference in the West Bank that Gaza would soon be “totally destroyed,” and that its entire population would be “concentrated” in a narrow strip of land along the Egyptian border, which he euphemistically described as a “humanitarian zone.” 

Here, he added, ”they will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”

Sir John Jenkins, former UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria, and British consul-general in Jerusalem, told Arab News: “There are clearly elements within the Israeli Cabinet who want to reoccupy some or even all of Gaza and there are others who want to establish settlements. What is unclear is how extensive or long-term such plans are — and whether they have Netanyahu’s full support.

Sir John Jenkins, former UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria, and British consul-general in Jerusalem. (Supplied)

“He has clearly got his own tactical reasons for going along with some of the wilder claims: he needs to keep Smotrich and Ben Gvir inside the tent in order to maintain his government. He also probably genuinely believes — as, quite rightly, do most Israelis and a lot of outsiders — that Hamas cannot be allowed to retain political control of Gaza when the fighting stops.

“But he must also know that without a long-term political plan, this won’t work. Israel needs its neighbors to support it in its quest for security. And they will do so only if they have an answer to the question: How do we collectively make Israeli security compatible with Palestinian self-determination?”

Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute, said it remains unclear whether Israel’s threat of reoccupation is “a form of deterrence, a credible threat, or a last-ditch effort to (force) Hamas’ hand.”

However, “the fear of abandoning the Israeli hostages to a terrible fate is too much to bear for the majority of the Israeli polity, and this would inevitably have consequences for the current Israeli government,” he told Arab News.

President Trump’s upcoming visit may also change the script. “It is rumored that Trump is not on board with Israel’s escalation of the war in Gaza, especially ahead of his visit to the Gulf next week,” said Ozcelik. “The White House has been pressing for a deal to announce as a triumph and a hostage-release announcement would be a crucial win for (US special envoy to the Middle East) Steve Witkoff, but so far it has been elusive.”

Furthermore, “under the threat of a looming ‘forever’ Israeli reoccupation of Gaza, Saudi Arabia cannot be expected to agree to any deal with the US that is conditional on normalization with Israel. So, this, in a counterintuitive way, throws open a path for US-Saudi security cooperation,” Ozcelik added.

Doubts also surround the announcement by Witkoff that the US will set up a private foundation to deliver aid to Gaza, without involving the IDF or the US government. 

“The UN and key international humanitarian agencies have already rejected both the US and Israeli aid proposals, labelling them highly unworkable,” Kelly Petillo, program manager, MENA, at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Arab News.

“And in the context of Israel’s campaign of starvation by stopping humanitarian aid since March and the targeting of civilians, hospitals, schools and so on, and of the new US administration’s rhetoric around the Gaza war and overall positioning, there are clearly doubts over the lack of good will by the delivering authorities, which means that Palestinians will be starved and eventually be forced to leave. 

“This would amount to ethnic cleansing and also corresponds to weaponizing aid and using starvation as a weapon of war. It will mean that considerations over how many people will receive aid, or where distribution will occur, would be based on strategic or military considerations, rather than humanitarian ones.” 

Israel’s apparent ambition to force Palestinians out of Gaza can only further stoke regional tensions, added Petillo. 

“Regional actors, (most) of all Egypt and Jordan, have been very clear in their total rejection of any displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and of the possibility of them receiving these refugees. In particular, Egypt has come up with a proposal to address aid and other issues as a way to counter this scenario. 

“But the potential displacement of Palestinians in Gaza is nothing less than an existential threat for these countries which are also receiving so many other refugees — from Syria to Sudan and more. Syria and Lebanon have also been floated as possible destinations for Gazans, but this would be a major red line for these countries too.”

Echoing Petillo’s concerns, Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East North Africa Program at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said the Israeli plan to capture and indefinitely occupy Gaza “carries grave policy implications at multiple layers and levels for Israel, Palestinians and the region.”

Vakil said: “Beyond deepening an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis, it risks entrenching violent resistance, destabilizing neighboring states and triggering large-scale displacement that may be viewed internationally as ethnic cleansing — particularly in light of right-wing Israeli rhetoric and emboldening signals from past US policies.

“While Israel consistently sees Gaza as an existential security crisis that needs a military solution, it needs to take a step back and consider the larger and longer implications for its isolation, integration and values as a democracy,” she added. “Today, Arab states are watching Israel’s response in a fearful rather than (admiring) way.”

Caroline Rose, director of the Strategic Blind Spots Portfolio at the Washington think-tank New Lines Institute, said the expansion in Israel’s war plan for the Gaza Strip “signals Netanyahu’s imperative to continue the conflict as a mechanism of political survival, despite the strain on Israel’s economy, IDF personnel and reserves, and reduced chances for a hostage agreement.”

She told Arab News: “It’s likely also that Netanyahu and his cabinet are seeking to expand operations as a negotiation tool with the US and its regional counterparts, particularly following disappointment with the US for exploring negotiation opportunities with Iran over their nuclear program.”

But “by design, this war plan will have serious implications for the civilian population of Gaza, as there are very few places left for them to go. It is a direct reflection of Netanyahu’s broader objective not only to eradicate Hamas, but also to seriously fragment the Palestinian cause and identity.”

In the past, said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer whose NGO, Terrestrial Jerusalem, tracks developments in the city that threaten to spark violence or create humanitarian crises, “ethnic cleansing would have been unthinkable. But today the unthinkable has become thinkable and is unfolding in Gaza.” 

The Israeli government is “willing hostage to the messianic right” and is led by “a prime minister who will not only do anything to remain in power but is also a genuine believer in a world governed by war and brute force.”

More and more Israelis, he added, “are using the terms ‘genocide,’ ‘war crimes’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ in decrying our actions in Gaza. Retired generals and former heads of the intelligence community are prominent among them.”

However, he said, “this trend is not visible in the partisan politics of the Knesset. With the exception of the Arab members, they remain spineless.”
 

 


Syrian leader discusses regional affairs with Bahrain’s king

Updated 10 May 2025
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Syrian leader discusses regional affairs with Bahrain’s king

  • Al-Sharaa’s leadership has been improving ties with Arab and Western countries

BEIRUT: The president of the Syrian Arab Republic flew to Bahrain on Saturday where he discussed mutual relations and regional affairs with King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa on his latest trip abroad since taking office in January.

Al-Sharaa’s leadership has been improving ties with Arab and Western countriesSyria’s state news agency, SANA, said President Ahmad Al-Sharaa was heading a high-ranking delegation to Bahrain.

Bahrain’s news agency said the two leaders discussed mutual relations and ways of boosting them, as well as regional affairs and ways of backing Syria’s security and stability.

Al-Sharaa’s visit to Bahrain comes days before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the region for talks with leaders of Gulf Arab nations.

Since taking office, Al-Sharaa has visited Arab and regional countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Turkiye. 

Earlier this week, he made his first trip to Europe where he met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and announced that his country is having indirect talks with Israel.

After Assad’s fall, Syria and its neighbors have been calling for the lifting of Western sanctions that were imposed on Assad during the early months of the country’s conflict that broke out in March 2011.

The lifting of sanctions would open the way for the Gulf countries to take part in funding Syria’s reconstruction from the destruction caused by the conflict that has killed nearly half a million people.

The UN in 2017 estimated that it would cost at least $250 billion to rebuild Syria. Some experts now say that number could reach at least $400 billion.

In April, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said they will pay Syria’s outstanding debt to the World Bank, a move likely to make the international institution resume its support to the war-torn country.

Since the fall of Assad, a close ally of Iran, Syria’s new leadership has been improving the country’s relations with Arab and Western countries.


Situation in Gaza ‘unbearable,’ Berlin says

Updated 10 May 2025
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Situation in Gaza ‘unbearable,’ Berlin says

BERLIN: Germany’s new top diplomat Johann Wadephul called on Saturday for “serious discussions for a ceasefire” in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation “is now unbearable.”

Ahead of a visit to Israel, Wadephul said it was “imperative to start” talks “to free all hostages and to ensure that supplies reach the population of Gaza,” according to comments reported by his ministry.

While reaffirming Germany’s unwavering support for Israel, the official said he would “inquire about the strategic objective of the fighting that has intensified since March.”

In Israel, Wadephul is expected to meet his counterpart Gideon Saar and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced “considerable concern” about the Gaza conflict and demanded that Israel “respect its humanitarian obligations.”

“In the West Bank as well, Palestinians need political and economic future prospects so that hatred and extremism no longer find fertile grounds,” Wadephul said. His visit comes at a time when Israel and Germany are preparing to celebrate 60 years of joint diplomatic relations.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog is expected in Berlin on Monday, while his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit Israel on Tuesday. 


Hamas releases video of two Israeli hostages alive in Gaza

Updated 10 May 2025
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Hamas releases video of two Israeli hostages alive in Gaza

  • Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana
  • The three-minute video released by Hamas shows one of the hostages visibly weak

JERUSALEM: Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The three-minute video released by Hamas’s Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.


Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in video footage from the day of the Hamas attack. After a video of him was released last month, his family said they were “extremely concerned” about his health.

The second hostage, said to be Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives — a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

Bohbot and Ohana, both abducted by Palestinian militants from the site of a music festival, are among 58 hostages held in Gaza since the 2023 attack, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 war.

Israel resumed its military offensive across the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages.

Since the ceasefire collapsed, Hamas has released several videos of hostages, including of the two appearing in Saturday’s video.

Israel says the renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.