CAIRO: For the past five years, Egyptian Laila Abdel Maksoud and her family have run a charity offering free meals during the holy month of Ramadan, serving more and more people even as soaring inflation has driven up costs for the organization.
Maksoud said they first started out with 500 meals, but this year they’ve surpassed 4,000 as millions of Egyptians struggle to cope with record inflation.
A severe shortage of foreign currency exacerbated by global factors including a drop in Suez Canal revenue has hobbled the economy over the last two years.
Despite investments from Gulf countries and a financial package from the IMF last month, Egyptians and charities still feel the pinch from soaring prices.
“Every year it’s becoming more expensive and with the current conditions, we don’t know where we’re heading, but we intend to continue,” Maksoud said.
Similarly, Ahmed Farouk, administrative director of the charity Ummat Al-Habib Association that provides families stipends and meals, said costs have surged six-fold, sending more people into poverty.
“There’s a category of people who previously didn’t come (to receive meals), now they started coming,” he said. “I can confirm wholeheartedly that Egypt is moving only because of its people’s good intentions.”
Egyptian charities dish out meals during Ramadan, despite soaring costs
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Egyptian charities dish out meals during Ramadan, despite soaring costs
- Despite investments from Gulf countries and a financial package from the IMF last month, Egyptians and charities still feel the pinch from soaring prices
Swiss authorities exploring probe into Gaza aid group
Swiss authorities said on Sunday they were exploring whether to open a legal investigation into the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization that plans to oversee aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave.
The move comes after a Swiss NGO submitted a request for a probe into GHF’s aid plan, which the UN has opposed, saying it is not impartial or neutral and forces further displacement and exposes thousands of people to harm.
The GHF, which has said it hopes to start work in Gaza by the end of May, said it “strictly adheres” to humanitarian principles, and that it would not support any form of forced relocation of civilians.
Israel has allowed limited aid deliveries to resume this week after having stopped all aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2.
TRIAL International, a Switzerland-based NGO, on Friday said it had filed two legal submissions asking Swiss authorities to investigate whether the Swiss-registered GHF complies with Swiss law and international humanitarian law.
The submissions were made to the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, or FDFA, on May 20 and 21.
The FDFA on Sunday confirmed that both authorities had received the submissions.
TRIAL International said it asked the Swiss FDFA to explain if the GHF had submitted a declaration, in accordance with Swiss law, to use private security companies to distribute aid, and if Swiss authorities had approved it.
The FDFA said it was investigating whether such a declaration would be required for the foundation.
It said that the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations cannot review whether foundations comply with their statutes until they start their activities.
The GHF said that though using private security firms represents a change from prior aid delivery frameworks, it would ensure aid is not diverted to Hamas or criminal organizations.
Jordan, Spain pledge closer ties, urge action on Gaza during Madrid talks
- Foreign ministers discuss expanding cooperation across range of sectors, including defense, trade, economy, tourism
MADRID: Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi held high-level talks in Madrid on Sunday with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares, as both nations reaffirmed their commitment to deepening ties and advancing regional peace efforts.
The two ministers discussed expanding cooperation across a range of sectors, including defense, trade, economy, and tourism, the Jordan News Agency reported.
They also confirmed ongoing efforts to finalize a strategic partnership agreement between Jordan and Spain, with the aim of accelerating its implementation.
Safadi and Albares reiterated mutual support for each other’s candidacies in international organizations and pledged continued coordination within global forums.
They also reviewed preparations for the upcoming Union for the Mediterranean summit, set to take place later this year in Barcelona to mark the 30th anniversary of the union.
Jordan and the EU are scheduled to co-chair the event.
A major focus of the talks was the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The meeting came ahead of a ministerial session of the expanded Madrid Group aimed at pushing forward efforts to implement a two-state solution.
Safadi stressed that halting the violence and delivering immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza must be a global priority.
He warned that the international community’s failure to stop the war had undermined the credibility of international law and endangered the prospects for a just and lasting peace.
Praising Spain’s “principled” positions, Safadi welcomed the Spanish government’s decision to suspend arms sales to Israel and recognize the State of Palestine.
He also lauded Madrid’s efforts to mobilize international support for a ceasefire, its backing of Palestinian statehood, and the hosting of Sunday’s meeting attended by more than 20 nations and a delegation from the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee.
Albares reiterated Spain’s desire to deepen its long-standing partnership with Jordan, and commended the role of King Abdullah II in promoting regional stability and peace. He also extended congratulations to the kingdom on the occasion of its 79th Independence Day.
Turkiye’s Erdogan, Pakistan PM Sharif discuss boosting cooperation
- Erdogan’s office said he told Sharif it was in the interest of Turkiye and Pakistan to increase solidarity in education and intelligence sharing
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Istanbul on Sunday and said the two countries would strive to boost cooperation, particularly in defense, energy and transportation, Erdogan’s office said.
Turkiye has strong ties with Pakistan, both being largely Muslim countries and sharing historical links, and expressed solidarity with it during its recent clashes with India.
Erdogan’s office said he told Sharif it was in the interest of Turkiye and Pakistan to increase solidarity in education, intelligence sharing and technological support in the fight against terrorism.
Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler and intelligence agency chief Ibrahim Kalin also attended the meeting.
Earlier in May, Erdogan expressed solidarity with Pakistan after India conducted military strikes in response to an attack in Indian Kashmir by extremists. The clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbors were the worst in more than two decades.
Ankara also maintains cordial ties with India but after Erdogan’s expression of support for Pakistan, small Indian grocery shops and major online fashion retailers boycotted Turkish products.
Father in intensive care after nine children killed in Israeli strike on Gaza
- Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike occurred, killing all but one of them
GAZA/CAIRO: The father of nine children killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza over the weekend remains in intensive care, said a doctor on Sunday at the hospital treating him.
Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike occurred, killing all but one of them. He was rushed to the nearby Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza where he is being treated for his injuries.
Abdul Aziz Al-Farra, a thoracic surgeon, said Najjar had undergone two operations to stop bleeding in his abdomen and chest and that he sustained other wounds including to his head.
“May God heal him and help him,” Farra said, speaking by the bedside of an intubated and heavily bandaged Najjar.
The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis on Friday but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.
The military is looking into claims that “uninvolved civilians” were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began.
According to medical officials in Gaza, the nine children were aged between one and 12 years old. The child that survived, a boy, is in a serious but stable condition, the hospital has said.
Najjar’s wife, Alaa, also a doctor, was not at home at the time of the strike. She was treating Palestinians injured in Israel’s more than 20-month war in Gaza against Hamas in the same hospital where her husband and son are receiving care.
“She went to her house and saw her children burned, may God help her,” said Tahani Yahya Al-Najjar of her sister-in-law.
“With everything we are going through only God gives us strength.”
Tahani visited her brother in hospital on Sunday, whispering to him that she was there: “You are okay, this will pass.”
On Saturday, Ali Al-Najjar said that he rushed to his brother’s house after the strike, which had sparked a fire that threatened to collapse the home, and searched through the rubble. “We started pulling out charred bodies,” he said.
In its statement about the air strike, the Israeli military said Khan Younis was a “dangerous war zone.”
Practically all of Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians have been displaced after more than 20 months of war.
The war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 more.
The retaliatory campaign, that Israel has said is aimed at uprooting Hamas and securing the release of the hostages, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, Gazan health officials say.
Most of them are civilians, including more than 16,500 children under the age of 18, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Iraq’s water reserves lowest in 80 years: official
- Iraqi spokesperson of the Water Resources Ministry Khaled Shamal says the country hasn't seen such a low reserve in 80 years
- Iraq is considered by the United Nations to be one of the five most impacted countries by climate change
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s water reserves are at their lowest in 80 years after a dry rainy season, a government official said Sunday, as its share from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers shrinks.
Water is a major issue in the country of 46 million people undergoing a serious environmental crisis because of climate change, drought, rising temperatures and declining rainfall.
Authorities also blame upstream dams built in neighboring Iran and Turkiye for dramatically lowering the flow of the once-mighty Tigris and Euphrates, which have irrigated Iraq for millennia.
“The summer season should begin with at least 18 billion cubic meters... yet we only have about 10 billion cubic meters,” water resources ministry spokesperson Khaled Shamal told AFP.
“Last year our strategic reserves were better. It was double what we have now,” Shamal said.
“We haven’t seen such a low reserve in 80 years,” he added, saying this was mostly due to the reduced flow from the two rivers.
Iraq currently receives less than 40 percent of its share from the Tigris and Euphrates, according to Shamal.
He said sparse rainfall this winter and low water levels from melting snow has worsened the situation in Iraq, considered by the United Nations to be one of the five countries most vulnerable to some impacts of climate change.
Water shortages have forced many farmers in Iraq to abandon the land, and authorities have drastically reduced farming activity to ensure sufficient supplies of drinking water.
Agricultural planning in Iraq always depends on water, and this year it aims to preserve “green spaces and productive areas” amounting to more than 1.5 million Iraqi dunams (375,000 hectares), said Shamal.
Last year, authorities allowed farmers to cultivate 2.5 million dunams of corn, rice, and orchards, according to the water ministry.
Water has been a source of tension between Iraq and Turkiye, which has urged Baghdad to adopt efficient water management plans.
In 2024, Iraq and Turkiye signed a 10-year “framework agreement,” mostly to invest in projects to ensure better water resources management.
