The costs and benefits of Arab-Israeli normalization on Abraham Accords’ two-year anniversary

Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan sign the Abraham Accords at the White House in 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 21 May 2023
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The costs and benefits of Arab-Israeli normalization on Abraham Accords’ two-year anniversary

  • As part of the deal with the UAE, Israel pledged to suspend its plans to annex occupied Palestinian territories
  • Two years on, even the agreement’s signatories doubt whether it has changed Israel’s behavior for the better

WASHINGTON D.C.: Two years ago this week, the UAE and Bahrain formalized the peace deals they had reached with Israel the previous month by signing the Abraham Accords at the White House, in a ceremony overseen by then US President Donald Trump.

As Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Abdullatif Al-Zayani, respectively the UAE and Bahrain’s foreign ministers, and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put their signatures on the document on Sept. 15, 2020, the moment was hailed as the beginning of a new era of Middle East diplomacy.

As part of the agreement, Israel said it would suspend its plans to annex occupied Palestinian territories. Sheikh Abdullah said that the UAE remained committed to a two-state solution and that its support for the Palestinian cause was “unshakable.”

The prospect of immediate economic and diplomatic benefits prompted Sudan to normalize relations with Israel in October 2020. The North African country became a signatory to the Abraham Accords in January 2021, around the same time it was removed from the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

Morocco normalized its relations with Israel two months after Sudan did, with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz signing a security agreement with his Moroccan counterpart in November 2021. Israel recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for establishing ties.

Two years on from the Abraham Accords signing ceremony on the White House lawn, it is now possible to assess some of the outcomes of the agreement, such as how it has affected bilateral ties and who stands to benefit most from them, in a logical and dispassionate manner.

Apart from diplomatic engagement and economic cooperation, Israel and the Abraham Accords signatories were expected to collaborate on a number of shared interests, including energy, agriculture, tourism, security and technological innovation.

Israeli and Bahraini government officials have been interacting with each other publicly since the signing of the accords. Israel began importing aluminum from Bahrain, and the two countries are planning to sign an agreement that allows the transshipment of goods arriving by sea in Bahrain onto planes heading to Israel.




Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (L) welcomes Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani upon his arrival for the Negev Summit, at Sde Boker in the southern Negev desert on March 27, 2022. (AFP/File Photo)

Last year Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid, the foreign minister at the time, made the first ministerial visit to Bahrain, where he inaugurated the Embassy of Israel in Manama. In February this year, Gantz became the first Israeli defense minister to ever officially visit the Gulf country. He was accompanied by several top military and security officials, including the Israeli navy chief.

Gantz signed a memorandum of understanding with his Bahraini counterpart, formalizing a security relationship that his office claimed would “help advance intelligence cooperation, a framework for exercises, and cooperation between the countries’ defense industries.”

Gantz’ visit came as the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, launched its biennial International Maritime Exercise 2022. The Israeli Navy took part in the drill, for the first time publicly joining Arab and Muslim countries with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations.

With regard to Morocco and Israel, today the two countries cooperate in such areas as education, tourism, cross-border investment, renewable energy and security. Morocco has a strong Jewish tradition with many historic Jewish buildings, monuments and cemeteries, as well as the largest Jewish community in an Arab country. Israel, meanwhile, is home to one of the largest Moroccan expatriate communities.




Israeli and Moroccan flags are pictured during an official ceremony in Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv. (AFP)

An 84 percent year-on-year growth in Morocco’s trade with Israel to $41.6 million is viewed by the two countries as the beginning of a valuable new trading relationship. Israeli technical know-how combined with capital from the Abraham Accord partners, Bahrain and the UAE, could turbocharge Morocco’s moves to diversify away from fossil fuels .

By contrast, the full agreement between Israel and Sudan has yet to come to full fruition because of instability and the October 2021 coup. In May the Biden administration suspended development, trade and investment assistance to Sudan, including food aid related to its normalization deal with Israel, such as wheat shipments.

Predictably, trade and commerce between Israel and the UAE has flourished since the normalization of relations two years ago. In May this year, the two countries signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that is expected to increase bilateral trade to more than $10 billion within five years, and add $1.9 billion to the UAE’s gross domestic product by 2030.

On June 27, Amir Hayek, Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, said in a message posted on Twitter that total trade volume between the two countries for the first five months of the year reached a value of $912.1 million, compared with $399.5 million during the same period last year.




Palestinian and other activists raise national flags as they face Israeli security forces, during a demonstration against Jewish settlements. (AFP)

Israel and the UAE have also signed multi-billion-dollar deals in the fields of medicine, bilateral investment and space travel over the past two years.

In July, the US, Israel, the UAE and India announced the formation of a new bloc, I2U2, with the aim of enhancing technological collaboration in the region and tackling transnational challenges in six main areas: Water, energy, transportation, space, health and food security.

Tourism between the UAE and Israel has also expanded rapidly since 2020. Commercial flights between the two nations began in November 2020, with daily flights introduced the following year. Tourism websites aimed at attracting Arab visitors to Israel encourage them to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter, in addition to the Museum of Islamic Art.

The flow of tourists in the opposite direction has been even more substantial. Between 2020 and 2021, about 230,000 Israelis visited the UAE, despite pandemic restrictions.




Then-Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (L) receiving Israel's President Isaac Herzog (2nd-L) in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. (AFP)

The increase in tourism between Israel and the UAE has, however, exposed the wide gulf that separates the two societies. In August many Arab and Israeli news outlets reported that Israeli police had briefly arrested two Emirati tourists after a shooting in Tel Aviv.

Though the pair were released and received an apology from the officers who arrested them, many social media users suggested that the Israeli police had racially profiled the tourists, mistaking them for Palestinians. One Twitter user said that “if you are Arab, Israel will always treat you like a suspect.”

The alleged arrest of the Emiratis is not the only reason Arabs worldwide have questioned whether normalization agreements will encourage the hardliners in positions of power in Israel to adopt a more reasonable stance toward Palestinians and the holy sites in Jerusalem.

Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief and a former ambassador to London and Washington, has expressed doubts that Arab normalization efforts with Israel will lead to improved rights for Palestinians.

“The Palestinian people are still occupied; they are still being imprisoned by the Israeli government. Attacks and assassinations of Palestinian individuals take place almost on a daily basis,” he told the Arab News talk show “Frankly Speaking” in May.

“The stealing of Palestinian land by Israel continues despite assurances that Israel gave to the signatories of the peace (accord) between the UAE and Israel. So, there is no sign whatsoever that appeasing Israel is going to change their attitude.”

In July, citing a poll carried out by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which asked residents of Arab countries about their views on Arab-Israeli normalization, UAE academic Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said Emiratis view the normalization process in a negative light. The 2022 poll found that only one in four Emiratis surveyed considered the improved ties to be a positive development.

In the lead-up to the signing of the Abraham Accords, Yousef Al-Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the US, writing in the Israeli news website Ynetnews, said: “In the UAE and across much of the Arab world, we would like to believe Israel is an opportunity, not an enemy. We face too many common dangers and see the great potential of warmer ties. Israel’s decision on annexation will be an unmistakable signal of whether it sees it the same way.”




The flags of the UAE and Israel fly at the Expo 2020 Dubai. (AFP/File Photo)

Two years on, following two military offensives against Gaza, few Arabs are probably under the illusion that the normalization initiatives under the Abraham Accords have changed Israel’s behavior, much less ended its policy on the annexation of Palestinian land.

Repeated calls by the Arab League for an end to Israeli violations of the sanctity of the holy sites in Jerusalem, a halt to the violence and the restoration of calm appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Attacks by Israeli security forces on Muslim worshippers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and permission for Jewish prayers at the holy site are viewed by the Arab League as a flagrant provocation to Muslims everywhere.

Participating in a discussion on Sept. 8 organized by the Atlantic Council think tank to mark the two-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords, Al-Otaiba appealed for more to be done to advance a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“All the stuff that we’re talking about is great, but we can’t avoid talking about the two-state solution. We really can’t,” he said at the virtual event, during which he described the Palestinians as “the elephant in the room.”

Referring to the Abraham Accords, Al-Otaiba said: “I don’t think it was meant to solve — I think it was meant to buy space and time to create room for diplomacy to address the two-state solution. I still believe the two-state solution is the only game in town. I think we need to pursue it.”

 


Lebanon army says receives suspect in Christian party official’s killing

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Lebanon army says receives suspect in Christian party official’s killing

Pascal Sleiman of the Lebanese Forces Christian party was abducted and killed in April 2024
The army had said he was killed in a carjacking by Syrian gang members

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s army said Saturday it had taken into custody a suspect in last year’s killing of a Christian political official, with help from Syria’s new authorities, in a case that sparked public outrage.

Pascal Sleiman, a coordinator in the Byblos (Jbeil) area north of Beirut for the Lebanese Forces (LF) Christian party, was abducted and killed in April 2024.

The army had said he was killed in a carjacking by Syrian gang members who then took his body across the border.

The army received “one of the main individuals involved in the crime of kidnapping and killing” Sleiman after coordinating with Syrian authorities, a military statement said.

The suspect “heads a gang involved in kidnapping, robbery and forgery and has a large number of arrest warrants against him,” the statement said, adding that investigations were underway.

Sleiman’s LF party opposed Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar Assad, who was ousted in December, as well as its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which last year was engaged in cross-border fire with Israel that escalated into all-out war.

Beirut and Damascus have been seeking to improve ties since the overthrow of Assad, whose family dynasty for decades exercised control over Lebanese affairs.

Anti-Syrian sentiment soared after Sleiman’s disappearance and death, in a country hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

Some accused Hezbollah of having a hand in the killing, but then chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was later killed in a massive Israeli air strike, denied his party was involved.

The LF had said it would consider Sleiman’s death a “political assassination until proven otherwise.”

Will sanctions relief unlock Syria’s potential, spur economic recovery?

Updated 1 min 13 sec ago
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Will sanctions relief unlock Syria’s potential, spur economic recovery?

  • With US and EU restrictions easing and the diaspora mobilizing, Syria’s entrepreneurs are cautiously eyeing a path to renewal
  • The future may depend less on oil, and more on whether people believe it is safe to come home — and stay, analysts say

LONDON: In a dramatic shift in US foreign policy, President Donald Trump recently pledged to lift sanctions on Syria — a move that has sparked cautious optimism among Syrian entrepreneurs eyeing a long-awaited path to economic recovery after years of war and isolation.

The announcement was quickly followed by a high-profile meeting in Riyadh on May 14 between Trump and Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, ahead of a broader summit of Gulf leaders during Trump’s regional tour, signaling a renewed emphasis on diplomatic engagement with Damascus.

Hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the meeting marked the most significant international overture to Syria since the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December.

It also marked the first meeting between a sitting US president and a Syrian head of state in more than 20 years.

Further cementing this policy change, the US on Saturday issued a six-month waiver of key Caesar Act sanctions, authorizing transactions with Syria’s interim government, central bank, and state firms. The move also clears the way for investment in energy, water, and infrastructure to support humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

In a further boost, the EU announced on May 20 that it would follow the US lead and lift its own remaining sanctions on Syria. “We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,” EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, posted on X.

Analysts believe that these developments suggest a thaw in relations, opening the door to future cooperation, particularly in rebuilding Syria’s war-ravaged economy.

“Lifting sanctions is a necessary and critical measure,” Syrian economic adviser Humam Aljazaeri told Arab News, highlighting that a key sector poised to benefit is energy, particularly electricity generation.

Syria’s energy infrastructure has been decimated by more than a decade of civil war and sanctions.

Before the conflict erupted in 2011, Syria produced about 400,000 barrels of oil a day, nearly half of which was exported, according to the Alma Research and Education Center.

Since then, oil and gas output has plunged by more than 80 percent, as fields, refineries and pipelines were destroyed or seized by warring factions, according to World Bank data.

Power generation dropped 56 percent between 2011 and 2015, the local newspaper Al-Watan reported at the time. Today, daily blackouts — sometimes lasting 20 hours — are a grim feature of life across Syria.

Beyond energy, Aljazaeri highlighted the humanitarian sector as another area in urgent need of relief. If sanctions are lifted, Syria “would enjoy a frictionless flow of programs through various UN and other international agencies,” he said.

That relief cannot come soon enough. The UN estimates that 16.7 million Syrians — roughly three-quarters of the population — will require humanitarian aid in 2025. Syria is now the world’s fourth most food-insecure country, with 14.5 million people in need of nutritional support.

Despite the scale of need, international funding remains woefully short. As of late February, only 10 percent of the $1.2 billion required for early 2025 humanitarian operations had been secured, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Even when funds are available, getting aid to those in need is an ongoing logistical challenge. Continued conflict, insecurity and decimated infrastructure — especially in the hard-hit northern and northeastern regions — make delivery slow and difficult.

Conditions are worsening. Severe drought this year threatens to wipe out up to 75 percent of Syria’s wheat crop, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, placing millions at even greater risk of hunger.

The crisis is further compounded by the return of about 1.2 million displaced Syrians between December and early 2025. Many have returned to towns and villages in ruins, overwhelming humanitarian services.

While sectors such as transport and trade could see quick wins if sanctions are eased, Aljazaeri cautioned that a full recovery would require time and clearer international policy direction.

“Sectors like infrastructure, health, education and general business are not expected to move quickly in the interim period,” he said. “These areas need a clearer international policy on sanctions and a more stable investment climate.”

For now, Aljazaeri said, the US is expected to offer only limited relief — temporary exemptions and executive licenses for 180 days — before reassessing its stance, potentially through a broader congressional review.

“This piecemeal approach won’t provide enough assurance for serious investors,” he said. “Against this backdrop, it is important to see how the government will act in the coming weeks and months to justify further international integration and a more sustainable lifting of sanctions.”

Rebuilding Syria could cost between $400 billion and $600 billion, according to Lebanese economist Nasser Saidi.

Syria’s natural resources and its regional pipeline network could attract investors, he wrote in an essay for Arabian Gulf Business Insight magazine.

However, he emphasized that tapping this potential would require dismantling the country’s “corrupt, politically controlled, state-owned enterprises and government-related entities,” and reviving a vibrant private sector.

Some positive steps, however small, are already underway. The Karam Shaar Advisory, a New Zealand-based consulting firm, noted that 97 new limited liability companies were registered in Syria between Assad’s fall in December and March 26.

While the firm called it “a modest rise in formal company formation,” it said that economic stagnation persists.

Meanwhile, efforts to rebuild shattered infrastructure are gaining traction, particularly with the Syrian diaspora poised to play a role.

“Conversations are underway about involving all stakeholders to create enabling frameworks,” Mohamed Ghazal, managing director of Startup Syria, a community-led initiative supporting Syrian entrepreneurs, told Arab News.

Government buy-in will be essential. “Think tanks and task forces are working on this, but strong cooperation from the Syrian government is crucial — and there are promising signs in this direction,” Ghazal said.

He highlighted the diaspora’s potential to drive investment, skills transfer and community development. “There is a growing recognition that the Syrian diaspora can significantly contribute to ecosystem-building,” he said.

Still, many in the diaspora remain cautious. Ghazal said that the tipping point for engagement included sustainable peace, rule of law, property rights, improved governance, reduced corruption, investment incentives, infrastructure reconstruction and a coordinated international approach.

Aljazaeri echoed those concerns, noting that lifting sanctions alone would not stabilize Syria or improve living conditions. “Issues related to law and order, reconciliation and good policies are detrimental,” he said.

“In our view, it is not inflation, corruption, or cronyism that would pose a challenge at this stage, rather ‘right economics’ or the lack of it. The Syrian administration needs to demonstrate competency in running the economy and applying the necessary reforms.

“It has the power, maybe also the will, but must have the capabilities to do the right thing,” he said, stressing that “to do that, it needs to engage more and widen the pool of dialogue and trust.”

However, the path ahead remains fraught with dangers. Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, warned on Wednesday of “the real dangers of renewed conflict and deeper fragmentation” in the war-torn country.

Since Assad’s fall, Syria has seen new waves of violence, particularly along the coast, where his Alawite sect is concentrated. Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Islamist group that led the offensive that toppled Assad, now controls much of the area, which has been wracked by sectarian violence.

Reports of mass executions, looting and arson have heightened fears of renewed sectarian conflict. Al-Sharaa’s government is reportedly struggling to assert control, facing clashes with Druze in the south and standoffs with Kurds in the northeast.

“The Al-Sharaa government has two options in Syria; bring the minorities into government in a meaningful way so they feel invested in the future of the country and believe that they can protect themselves from within the state, or to suppress the minorities and force their compliance,” Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told Arab News.

“So far, Al-Sharaa has been using both methods. With the Alawites, he has favored the second method — force. With the Druze and Kurds, he has offered deals.”

Despite the instability, experts argue the interim government and international partners can still take steps to foster investment and recovery.

“Temporarily unlocking frozen financial assets could provide a lifeline,” Aljazaeri said. “How those resources are used will define the government’s direction.”

Ghazal said that capital is urgently needed to fuel entrepreneurship. “Transparent financial channels, encouragement of diaspora investment and attraction of impact investors could bring necessary seed and growth capital,” he said.

He noted Syria’s growing startup scene, with more than 200 active ventures. Events such as the “Hack for Syria” hackathon, held from Feb. 22–28, showcased the country’s talent and drive to solve local problems.

“However, these entrepreneurs need support to scale and access global opportunities,” he said.

Sanctions imposed on the Assad regime and inherited by Al-Sharaa’s government targeted key sectors such as banking, transport and energy.

Syria’s gross domestic product plunged from $67.5 billion in 2011 to about $21 billion in 2024, according to the World Bank.

The sanctions cut Syria off from the global financial system, froze government assets and strangled trade — especially in oil — crippling state revenues and economic activity.

This contributed to widespread poverty, with more than 90 percent of Syrians forced below the poverty line.

As Syria emerges from more than a decade of turmoil, the lifting of US and EU sanctions offers a rare economic lifeline — and the possibility of a new chapter in its complex relationship with the West.


‘Many more’ Conservative MPs back UK govt stance on Israel: MP

Updated 24 May 2025
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‘Many more’ Conservative MPs back UK govt stance on Israel: MP

  • Mark Pritchard: PM ‘on right side of history’ after joint statement condemning Gaza war
  • Britain must recognize Palestinian state in ‘huge symbol of support’

LONDON: “Many more” Conservative MPs in the UK privately support calls by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and British allies for Israel to end its Gaza war, a Conservative MP has said.

Mark Pritchard told LBC that Starmer is on the “right side of history” and “humanity,” The Independent reported on Saturday.

However, Pritchard refused to criticize Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who questioned new British sanctions on Israeli settlers and a joint UK-France-Canada statement on Gaza this week.

The leaders of the three countries condemned “egregious” Israeli actions in Gaza and threatened to take “concrete actions” if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to change course.

In response, Netanyahu accused the UK, France and Canada of being on the “wrong side of justice.”

Pritchard, who describes himself as strongly pro-Israel, told LBC: “Half the population of Gaza are children. They are being literally bombed to bits every single day. They are being slowly starved.

“It’s absolutely right the UK prime minister, who so happens to be a Labour prime minister right now, would stand up on the right side.

“I push it back to the Israeli prime minister. I think Keir Starmer and those standing up for the children of Gaza are on the right side of history, the right side of humanity and are making the right moral judgment.”

Pritchard said he now believes in the necessity of Britain recognizing a Palestinian state. “It may be symbolic, but I think it will be a huge symbol of support both for the Israelis that want to see that and also for the Palestinians. But the key point at the moment is the Israeli government need to be held to account,” he added.

“I support the UK prime minister and many more, by the way, in the British Conservative Party, are coming up to me privately at the moment.”

On Friday, Badenoch said the government’s new actions targeting Israeli settlers and trade relations with the country are not the “right way” to resolve differences with Netanyahu.

Pritchard told LBC: “I’m coming on to support Kemi on the comments on antisemitism and supporting the prime minister on his strong stand, finally, on what’s going on in Gaza.”


UAE hits record May temperature of 51.6C

Updated 24 May 2025
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UAE hits record May temperature of 51.6C

  • The highest temperature recorded over the country was 51.6C in Sweihan (Al Ain)
  • Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates breached its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to the National Center of Meteorology.

“The highest temperature recorded over the country today is 51.6C in Sweihan (Al Ain) at 13:45 UAE local time (0945 GMT),” the office said in a post on X, 1.2C hotter than the temperature recorded on Friday in the Abu Dhabi area.

Both those temperatures exceeded a previous record for the month of 50.2 Celsius recorded in May 2009, according to the meteorology office.

The desert nation lies in one of the planet’s hottest regions and one which is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming and that these heatwaves are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.

The number of extremely hot days has nearly doubled globally in the past three decades.

According to a 2022 Greenpeace study, the Middle East is at high risk of water and food scarcity as well as severe heat waves as a result of climate change.

The report, which focused on six countries, found the region was warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, making its food and water supplies “extremely vulnerable” to climate change.


Nine of Gazan doctor’s 10 children killed in Israeli air strike

Updated 24 May 2025
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Nine of Gazan doctor’s 10 children killed in Israeli air strike

  • Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar also saw her husband, Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar, critically injured
  • Couple’s only surviving child, 11-year-old boy, was severely wounded

LONDON: A pediatrician working in southern Gaza has lost nine of her 10 children in an Israeli air strike that hit her family home, in what fellow medics have described as an “unimaginable” tragedy.

Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, who was on duty at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis at the time of the strike, also saw her husband, Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar, critically injured.

The couple’s only surviving child, an 11-year-old boy, was severely wounded and underwent emergency surgery on Friday, according to reports.

“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” said Dr. Muneer Alboursh, director general of Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. “In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted, Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”

Graphic footage shared by Palestinian Civil Defense, and verified by media outlets including the BBC, showed the remains of small children being pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building near a petrol station in Khan Younis.

British surgeon Dr. Graeme Groom, who is volunteering at Nasser hospital, said Dr Al-Najjar’s surviving son was his final patient of the day.

“He was very badly injured and seemed much younger as we lifted him onto the operating table,” he said in a video posted to social media.

Groom added that the child’s father, also a physician at the same hospital, had “no political and no military connections and doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media,” calling the strike “a particularly sad day.”

He continued: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here… and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”

Relative Youssef Al-Najjar, speaking to AFP, made an emotional plea: “Enough. Have mercy on us. We plead to all countries, the international community, the people, Hamas, and all factions to have mercy on us. We are exhausted from the displacement and the hunger.”

Dr. Victoria Rose, another British doctor at the hospital, said the family had lived near a petrol station and speculated that the strike may have caused or been worsened by a large explosion. “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza,” she said.

The Israel Defence Forces did not comment directly on the strike, but in a general statement said it had hit more than 100 targets across Gaza in a 24-hour period.

The Hamas-run health ministry reported at least 74 Palestinian deaths in that time frame alone.

The UN has warned that Gaza may be entering its “cruelest phase” of the war, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denouncing Israel’s restrictions on aid as exacerbating a humanitarian catastrophe.

Although Israel partially lifted its blockade this week, allowing limited aid to enter, the UN says the deliveries fall far short of the 500–600 trucks of supplies needed daily to meet basic needs for the territory’s 2.1 million people.

Since Israel launched its offensive after Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 others, on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which includes women and children in its total but does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.