LONODN: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to get aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said.
“The prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance,” a statement said.
In a phone conversation, Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza “which they agreed is appalling.”
“They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace,” according to a readout released by Downing Street.
“They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan.... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region. They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it,” it added.
The discussion comes a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a “moral crisis that challenges the global conscience.”
Aid groups have warned of surging cases of starvation, particularly among children, in war-ravaged Gaza, which Israel placed under an aid blockade in March amid its ongoing war with Hamas. That blockade was partially eased two months later.
The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

TRIPOLI: Libyan authorities detained on Saturday some 1,500 undocumented migrant workers in a raid on a neighborhood housing them east of the capital Tripoli, an AFP reporter saw.

“Saturday’s inspections uncovered housing units where undocumented foreign workers were living,” Libyan labor minister Ali Al-Abed, who was present during the raid, told reporters.

“These workers, of various nationalities, had no residency permits, no official passports, and not even health records.”

Libya has been gripped by conflict since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

The country remains split between Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah’s government based in Tripoli and a rival administration based in the east.

With Italy some 300 kilometers (186 miles) away, Libya has become a key launchpad for tens of thousands of migrants who risk their lives at sea trying to reach Europe.

The area targeted in the sweep east of Tripoli housed makeshift encampments surrounded by high walls and a large gate.

Hundreds of migrants — mostly Egyptians and sub-Saharan Africans — were said to have lived there.

Inside the compound, an AFP journalist saw a small grocery store, a butcher shop and vegetable vendors.

The labor minister said the site had “unregulated housing that fails to meet basic requirements for decent accommodation, health and workplace safety.”

The detained migrant workers will be “transferred to centers run by the Anti-Illegal Immigration Authority, and legal proceedings will be initiated against them according to national regulations,” Abed said.

It remained unclear whether the migrants would be immediately deported.

Earlier this month, a European Union commissioner and ministers from Greece, Italy and Malta were in Libya to discuss irregular migration from the North African country.

Migrants intercepted by Libyan authorities, including in international waters before reaching the Italian coast, are forcibly returned to Libya and held in detention under harsh conditions frequently condemned by the United Nations.