Gaza in anarchy, says UN

Gaza in anarchy, says UN
Palestinian and Israeli peace activists demonstrate against the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip in the West Bank city of Beit Jala Nov. 29, 2024.(AP)
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Updated 29 November 2024
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Gaza in anarchy, says UN

Gaza in anarchy, says UN
  • Palestinians are suffering “on a scale that has to be seen to be truly grasped,” Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said
  • “This time I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger,” Sunghay told a media briefing in Geneva

GENEVA: The Gaza Strip has descended into anarchy, with hunger soaring, looting rampant and rising numbers of rapes in shelters as public order falls apart, the United Nations said on Friday.
Palestinians are suffering “on a scale that has to be seen to be truly grasped,” Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said after concluding his latest visit to the devastated Palestinian territory.
“This time I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger,” Sunghay told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Amman.
“The breakdown of public order and safety is exacerbating the situation with rampant looting and fighting over scarce resources.
“The anarchy in Gaza we warned about months ago is here,” he said, calling the situation entirely predictable, foreseeable and preventable.
Sunghay said young women, many displaced multiple times, had stressed the lack of any safe spaces or privacy in their makeshift tents.
“Others said that cases of gender-based violence and rape, abuse of children and other violence within the community has increased in shelters as a consequence of the war and the breakdown of law enforcement and public order,” he said.
Sunghay described the situation in Gaza City as “horrendous,” with thousands of displaced people sheltering in “inhumane conditions with severe food shortages and terrible sanitary conditions.”
He recounted seeing, for the first time, dozens of women and children in the beseiged enclave now scavenging in giant landfills.
The level of destruction in Gaza “just gets worse and worse,” he added.
“The common plea by everyone I met was for this to stop. To bring this to an end. Enough.”
He said the UN was being blocked from taking any aid to the 70,000 people still thought to be living in northern Gaza, due to “repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities.”
“It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in — and it is not.”
UN Human Rights Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence called for an immediate ceasefire.
“The killing must end,” he said.
“The hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Those arbitrarily detained must be released,” he added.
“And every effort must be made to urgently provide the full quantities of food, medicine and other vital assistance desperately needed in Gaza.”
Fighters from Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, that resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 44,363 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.


365 Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in West Bank refugee camps since mid-January

365 Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in West Bank refugee camps since mid-January
Updated 24 February 2025
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365 Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in West Bank refugee camps since mid-January

365 Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in West Bank refugee camps since mid-January
  • Some detainees subjected to threats, beatings, investigations
  • Rights group says homes in Jenin, Tulkarem turned into military positions

LONDON: Israeli forces have detained 365 Palestinians in the occupied northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem since mid-January, according to a rights group affiliated with the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society documented the arrest of 365 people following the Israeli launch of a military campaign in Jenin on Jan. 21, just days after a ceasefire and captives-exchange deal was reached with Hamas in Gaza.

The group said that during 35 days of Israeli operations in the Jenin refugee camp, at least 200 individuals were detained, while in Tulkarem, 165 people were arrested, including children, women and the elderly.

Israeli forces deployed tanks this week to the Jenin refugee camp after displacing nearly 20,000 people, along with another 20,000 Palestinians from Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, and said it planned to keep forces in these areas “for many months.”

The PPS said Israeli forces had turned Palestinian homes in Jenin and Tulkarem into military positions, deployed snipers on the rooftops of buildings and used bulldozers to destroy roads and infrastructure.

Some of those detained were subject to threats, beatings and field investigations, it said.

Since late 2023, nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. At least 32 Israelis have died from Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same period, according to official figures.


Red Cross says ‘deeply concerned’ with impact of Israeli operation in West Bank

Israeli tanks are deployed during an ongoing army operation in the West Bank Jenin refugee camp, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP)
Israeli tanks are deployed during an ongoing army operation in the West Bank Jenin refugee camp, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP)
Updated 24 February 2025
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Red Cross says ‘deeply concerned’ with impact of Israeli operation in West Bank

Israeli tanks are deployed during an ongoing army operation in the West Bank Jenin refugee camp, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP)

JERUSALEM: The International Committee of the Red Cross expressed on Monday its concern over the impact of a weeks-long Israeli offensive in the occupied West Bank that has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.
“The International Committee of the Red Cross is deeply concerned with the impact of ongoing security operations on the civilian population in Jenin and Tulkarem, Tubas and other locations in northern West Bank,” it said in a statement, adding that “people are struggling to access basic needs such as clean water, food, medical care and shelter.”


Bahraini military commander-in-chief reviews defense ties with UK ambassador

Bahraini military commander-in-chief reviews defense ties with UK ambassador
Updated 24 February 2025
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Bahraini military commander-in-chief reviews defense ties with UK ambassador

Bahraini military commander-in-chief reviews defense ties with UK ambassador
  • Field Marshal Khalifa highlights historic relationship between the kingdoms
  • Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Theyab bin Saqr Al-Nuaimi attended the meeting

LONDON: Field Marshal Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, commander-in-chief of the Bahrain Defence Force, reviewed historical and defense ties with Alastair Long, the UK ambassador to Manama.

Several senior military officials from Bahrain attended the meeting, including Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Theyab bin Saqr Al-Nuaimi and Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, an adviser for financial and technical affairs at General Command.

Khalifa highlighted the historic relationship between Bahrain and the UK during his meeting with Long, and outlined developments in various sectors, according to the Bahrain News Agency.


Morocco foils attacks by cell loyal to Daesh

Morocco’s counterterrorism agency said on Monday it had foiled attacks against targets in the country by a cell loyal to Daesh.
Morocco’s counterterrorism agency said on Monday it had foiled attacks against targets in the country by a cell loyal to Daesh.
Updated 24 February 2025
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Morocco foils attacks by cell loyal to Daesh

Morocco’s counterterrorism agency said on Monday it had foiled attacks against targets in the country by a cell loyal to Daesh.
  • Suspects, arrested in nine cities, had been receiving orders from a Libyan leader of Daesh, the head of Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations said

RABAT: Morocco’s counterterrorism agency said on Monday it had foiled attacks against national and international targets in the country by a 12-member cell loyal to Daesh in the Sahel.
The operation underscores the threat emanating from extremist militancy in the Sahel, as groups linked to Daesh and Al-Qaeda expand activity in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
The suspects, arrested in nine different cities, had been receiving orders from a Libyan leader of Daesh, the head of Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, Habboub Cherkaoui, told reporters.
The suspects, aged 18 to 40, have been radicalized online, Cherkaoui said, adding that most of them had “occasional jobs.”
The group, which branded itself “the Lions of the Caliphate in the Maghreb Al Aqsa (Morocco),” was planning remotely controlled bomb attacks, he said.
Explosive devices and chemical substances were found during the operation, in addition to a weapons cache including automatic firearms and handguns, in the south-eastern region of Errachidia near the Algerian borders, Cherkaoui said.
The seized weapons and ammunition had been supplied by the Daesh leader via smugglers, he said. The operation “confirms that the African branches of IS tend to internationalize their activities,” Cherkaoui said, adding that the nexus between “terrorist groups and criminal networks is a real threat” to Morocco and Europe.

In recent years, Daesh branches in Africa have recruited more than 130 Moroccan fighters, Cherkaoui said. Since its establishment in 2015, the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations has dismantled dozens of militant cells and arrested more than 1,000 suspected extremists.
The last extremist attack in the country was in 2023, when three individuals loyal to Daesh killed a Moroccan policeman in Casablanca.


Egyptian military delegation visits Oman’s top military training college

Egyptian military delegation visits Oman’s top military training college
Updated 24 February 2025
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Egyptian military delegation visits Oman’s top military training college

Egyptian military delegation visits Oman’s top military training college
  • Delegation attended a presentation about Joint Command and Staff College and its curricula

LONDON: An Egyptian military delegation visited the Joint Command and Staff College in Muscat on Monday, reinforcing the strong ties between Oman and Egypt.

The delegation from Egypt’s Military Academy for Postgraduate and Strategic Studies was received by Omani Brig. Saif Hamad Al-Yousefi, commandant of the Joint Command and Staff College, the leading organization responsible for training personnel from the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces in Oman.

The delegation attended a presentation about the college, its curricula, and its educational training programs. Additionally, they toured the college’s facilities and departments, the Oman News Agency reported.

The college has previously hosted military delegations, including those from the Royal Jordanian Command and Staff College and Saudi Arabia’s Command and Staff College of the National Defense University.