KHAN YOUNIS: Israel closed the main commercial crossing in the Gaza Strip, effectively banning exports from the coastal territory after saying it had uncovered explosives in a shipment of clothes to the occupied West Bank. Gaza’s fishermen, with their perishable exports, were among the first to feel the pain.
The new restrictions choke off the territory’s already ailing economy. They come on top of the punishing 16-year blockade that Israel and Egypt have maintained since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the enclave in 2007.
The blockade, which Israel says is needed to prevent Hamas from arming, severely limits the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza.
Israel closed the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing late on Monday after saying it had discovered explosives hidden in a shipment of Zara jeans and other clothing bound for the West Bank — one of the main markets for Gaza’s tiny export sector. Israeli officials fear the explosives were bound for Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Israel has not said when the crossing will reopen.
Palestinian fishermen, businessmen and rights advocates condemned Israel’s latest measure as a form of collective punishment against Gaza’s 2 million people, including tens of thousands of laborers who heavily depend on exports to Israel and the West Bank to stay afloat. Nearly all the goods that enter and exit Gaza pass through Kerem Shalom.
Gaza’s 4,000 fishermen, with their perishable exports, condemned the ban.
“Now I can’t make a living,” said Khalid Al-Laham, 35, from his bare home in the southern town of Khan Younis as his five children scurried around him. “I have to borrow food from the shops.”
The struggle also has reached Gaza’s wealthiest traders.
“Fish are completely different from any product, it’s sensitive,” said Mohammed Abu Hasira, a 38-year-old owner of a popular Gazan fish restaurant near the Mediterranean. “They should punish those who are at fault. Why are we being punished with them?”
Abu Hasira’s plans to export truckloads of seafood on Thursday were thwarted by the Israeli decision, he said. Within moments, his profits evaporated and costs skyrocketed.
Overall, the measure has caused 26 tons of fish to rot and resulted in $300,000 in weekly losses, Gaza’s main fishermen’s union said.
The restrictions represented a reversal of recent Israeli military moves to ease the blockade to relieve economic pressure on Gaza to prevent tensions from boiling over into another bloody conflict.
Israel now allows some 21,000 Gazan laborers to enter Israel for work, and in July, Israel issued hundreds more permits. Over 90 percent more people left the strip than during the same time last year, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.
But now Gaza’s 4,000 fishermen and others affected by the Israeli measure said they’ve again been subsumed into a larger political struggle that has nothing to do with them.
Israel says the closure was intended to deter militants from sneaking explosives through the crossing and to press the strip’s Hamas rules to crack down on the smuggling.
“The defense establishment will not allow terror organizations to take advantage of civilian and humanitarian facilities,” Israel’s defense ministry said.
But the move, rights groups said, also laid bare Israel’s inability to provide an effective answer to the security incidents and to address Gaza’s underlying problems.
“Instead of finding proportionate and reasonable measures, it just imposes sweeping measures and punitive closings,” said Miriam Marmur, a spokeswoman for Gisha, an Israeli human rights group.
Under the blockade, Gaza’s businessmen have grappled with what they describe as exasperating bureaucratic controls and routine indignities.
Fishermen say their struggle reflects how the blockade has damaged a vital part of Gaza’s economy. In July, fish accounted for 6 percent of all exports, according to the UN
The restrictions have prevented them from importing engines, fiberglass, and other materials needed to repair their dilapidated boats. The naval blockade limits how far out into the Mediterranean Sea the fishermen can go – and how much and what type of fish they can catch. If they drift too close to the boundaries, they risk being shot at or having their boats seized by the Israeli navy.
In an upscale tower just blocks away from the seaport, Muhammad Al-Ghussein, an engineer and spokesperson for the Palestinian Businessmen Association, said all merchants in Gaza shared the fishermen’s concerns.
“Halting exports is like dealing a fatal blow to a sector that’s already dying,” he said.
Palestinian fishermen decry Israel’s ban on Gaza exports as collective punishment
https://arab.news/yudrm
Palestinian fishermen decry Israel’s ban on Gaza exports as collective punishment
- New restrictions choke off the territory’s already ailing economy
- Come on top of punishing 16-year blockade Israel, Egypt have maintained since Hamas seized control
Paramilitary shelling hits Sudan’s presidential palace: army source
They targeted the army’s General Command headquarters in central Khartoum
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s presidential palace in central Khartoum was shelled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Thursday, a military source said, the second such attack on the capital in a week.
The RSF, at war with the army for two years, used “long-range artillery” launched from their holdout position in Al-Salha, located south of Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
On Saturday, the RSF targeted the army’s General Command headquarters in central Khartoum, also using long-range artillery fire, according to a military source.
The attacks come weeks after the army pushed the RSF out of central Khartoum, which the paramilitary had swept through early in the war.
In a major military offensive in March, army forces regained control of the presidential palace, the airport and other strategic areas in the capital.
But the RSF still clings to its last pockets of control in southern and western Omdurman.
Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
The conflict has effectively divided the country in two with the army holding the center, east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.
Tunisia leader’s opponents, supporters stage rival rallies in sharp political split
The anti-Saied demonstration — the second opposition protest in a week — reflects growing concerns among human rights groups that the birthplace of the Arab Spring is sliding toward one-man rule.
Demonstrators on the capital’s main thoroughfare chanted slogans such as “Saied go away, you are dictator” and “The people want the fall of the regime,” a slogan reminiscent of the 2011 uprising that toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
On the same street, Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Saied’s supporters rallied in his defense, chanting, “No to foreign interference” and “The people want Saied again.”
Riot police deployed in large numbers to separate the groups. No clashes were reported.
The demonstrations follow a months-long government crackdown on Saied’s critics, including the detention last week of prominent lawyer Ahmed Souab, a fierce critic of the president.
On Thursday the anti-Saeid protesters marched from the headquarters of the Administrative Court, where Souab had served as a judge before retiring and becoming a lawyer widely respected by all political parties.
They then joined other protesters in a square that is home to the headquarters of the powerful UGTT union, before heading toward Habib Bourguiba Avenue.
Souab’s arrest followed prison sentences handed down last week to opposition leaders on conspiracy charges, drawing criticism from France, Germany, and the United Nations.
Saied rejected the criticisms, calling it a blatant interference in Tunisia’s sovereignty.
The opposition accuses Saied of undermining the democracy won in the 2011 revolution, since he seized extra powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree before assuming authority over the judiciary.
They described his move as a coup, while Saied says it was legal and necessary to end chaos and rampant corruption.
The leaders of most political parties in Tunisia are in prison, including Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party, and Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Ennahda — two of Saied’s most prominent opponents.
The government says there is democracy in Tunisia. Saied says he will not be a dictator, but insists that what he calls a corrupt elite must be held accountable.
Turkiye says it remains committed to contested ‘Kanal Istanbul’ project
- The plan was shelved in recent years largely due to economic turmoil, lack of financing, and public opposition
- Critics have questioned the viability of a waterway running 45 km (28 miles) through marshland and farms on the western edge of Istanbul
ANKARA: Turkiye is determined to construct a canal project intended to relieve pressure on the busy Bosphorus Strait, when financing is secured, a government minister said on Thursday, despite widespread criticism over its possible environmental impact.
President Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation of the canal in 2021, aiming to connect the Black Sea north of Istanbul to the Marmara Sea to the south and prevent accidents in the Bosphorus.
The initiative, described by Erdogan as his “crazy project” when he revealed it more than a decade ago, was estimated to cost some 75 billion lira ($1.95 billion).
Critics have questioned the viability of a waterway running 45 km (28 miles) through marshland and farms on the western edge of Istanbul, and say it will wreak environmental havoc, destroy a marine ecosystem and endanger some fresh water supply for the country’s biggest city.
The plan was shelved in recent years largely due to economic turmoil, lack of financing, and public opposition.
“We have not abandoned the Kanal Istanbul project. It is not on our agenda today, but when the day comes, the right financing is found, we will definitely do it,” Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.
He was speaking a day after Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said the project was not, and had not been, on the government’s agenda for some time.
Uraloglu’s comments come amid a widening legal crackdown on opposition members of the Istanbul municipality, including senior personnel that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) says were responsible for environmental matters among other issues. The CHP runs the municipality.
In March, a court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, from the CHP, as part of the months-long crackdown. The mayor is seen as Erdogan’s main political rival and leads him in some polls.
Imamoglu has denied all charges against him, while the CHP, other opposition parties and Western powers have said his arrest was a politicized move to eliminate a potential electoral threat to Erdogan, who has run the country for more than two decades.
His arrest has triggered mass protests and economic turmoil, but the government denies any influence over the judiciary.
Looting of Gaza stores signals worsening hunger crisis
- Aid workers say raids are result of desperation
- Kitchens that feed hundreds of thousands risk closure
CAIRO: Increased looting of food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip shows growing desperation as hunger spreads two months after Israel cut off supplies to the Palestinian territory, aid officials say.
Palestinian residents and aid officials said at least five incidents of looting took place across the enclave on Wednesday, including at community kitchens, merchants’ stores, and the UN Palestinian refugee agency’s (UNRWA) main complex in Gaza.
Israeli forces are continuing their aerial and ground offensive across Gaza in the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas that began nearly 19 months ago. Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed at least 12 people, the territory’s health ministry said.
The looting “is a grave signal of how serious things have become in the Gaza Strip — the spread of hunger, the loss of hope and desperation among residents as well as the absence of the authority of the law,” said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza.
Thousands of displaced people broke into the UNRWA complex in Gaza City late on Wednesday, stealing medicines from its pharmacy and damaging vehicles, said Louise Wateridge, a senior official for the agency based in Jordan.
“The looting, while devastating, is not surprising in the face of total systemic collapse. We are witnessing the consequences of a society brought to its knees by prolonged siege and violence,” she said in a statement shared with Reuters.
Hamas deployed thousands of police and security forces across Gaza after a ceasefire took effect in January, but its armed presence shrunk sharply since Israel resumed large-scale attacks in March.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Gaza Hamas-run government media office, described the looting incidents as “isolated individual practices that do not reflect the values and ethics of our Palestinian people.”
He said that despite being targeted, Gaza authorities were “following up on these incidents and addressing them in a way that ensures the preservation of order and human dignity.”
CHILD MALNUTRITION
Thawabta said Israel, which since March 2 has blocked the entry of medical, fuel, and food supplies into Gaza, was to blame. Israel says its move was aimed at pressuring Hamas to free hostages as the ceasefire agreement stalled.
Israel has previously denied that Gaza was facing a hunger crisis. It has not made clear when and how aid will be resumed.
Israel’s military accuses Hamas of diverting aid, which Hamas denies.
The United Nations warned earlier this week that acute malnutrition among Gaza’s children was worsening.
Community kitchens that have provided lifelines for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are at risk of closure due to lack of supplies, and face an additional threat from looting.
“This is going to undermine the ability of the community kitchens to provide meals to a great number of families, and an indication that things have reached an unprecedentedly difficult level,” PNGO’s Shawa told Reuters.
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s campaign in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.
It was launched after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Much of the narrow coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.
UK in talks with France, Saudi Arabia over Palestinian statehood
- Foreign Secretary David Lammy: Discussions taking place ahead of UN conference in June
- ‘It’s unacceptable for any group of people to have lived with no state for longer than I’ve been alive’
LONDON: The British government is in talks with its French and Saudi counterparts over official recognition of a Palestinian state, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has revealed.
Discussions are set to take place at a conference at the UN in June, The Guardian reported.
So far, 160 countries recognize Palestine, including most recently Spain, Norway and Ireland. If a deal can be reached, it would mean adding two permanent UN Security Council members — and key allies of Israel — to that list.
Lammy told the House of Lords International Relations Select Committee that EU countries’ recognition of Palestine had made little to no difference on progress toward statehood, and that the UK wanted something more than to make a symbolic gesture.
“It’s unacceptable for any group of people to have lived with no state for longer than I’ve been alive,” he told the committee.
“No one has a veto on when the UK recognizes that Palestinian state … We’ve always said that recognition isn’t an end in of itself, and we’ll prefer recognition as a part of a process to two states.
“(French) President (Emmanuel) Macron has had a lot to say about that, most recently, alongside the Saudis, and of course we’re in discussion with them at this time.”
Lammy said a viable state could not include Hamas remaining in power in Gaza, and a full demilitarization process of the enclave would need to be undertaken.
He added that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is a threat to a two-state solution, and that settler violence against Palestinians is “shocking.”
He also took aim at Israel for its continuing prevention of aid entering Gaza, saying: “The blockade of necessary aid into Gaza is horrendous, the suffering is dire, the need is huge, the loss of life is extreme.”
On April 9, Macron said France would likely recognize a Palestinian state at the June conference, following an official visit to Egypt.
He later said the move, which would be the first such act of recognition by a G7 state, is intended to “trigger a series of other recognitions … including the recognition of Israel by states that do not currently do so.”
Michel Duclos, a special adviser at the Paris-based think tank Institut Montaigne, told The Guardian that the outcome of the June conference “may be nothing more than a roadmap or set of proposals.”
He added: “The dilemma for France may soon become more challenging — can it continue postponing its recognition of Palestine while waiting for a true two-state momentum? Or would further postponement undermine its credibility?”
Saudi Arabia has made clear that normalizing ties with Israel is conditional on a pathway to achieving a two-state solution.
