Biden and UAE president discuss hostage deal, Gaza truce during call

US President Joe Biden holds a phone call with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. (Wikipedia/UAE embassy in Washington DC)
US President Joe Biden holds a phone call with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. (Wikipedia/UAE embassy in Washington DC)
Short Url
Updated 01 December 2023
Follow

Biden and UAE president discuss hostage deal, Gaza truce during call

Biden and UAE president discuss hostage deal, Gaza truce during call
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah discussed the pause in the conflict between Israel and Hamas

LONDON: US President Joe Biden spoke with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the Middle East region, the White House said in a statement.

The two leaders “welcomed the recent hostage deal and humanitarian pause, which has enabled a surge in assistance to the people of Gaza,” it added.

“President Biden reiterated the steadfast US commitment to peace and security in the Middle East region,” the statement also said.

Biden and Sheikh Mohammed also affirmed the strong bilateral ties between their two countries, and the US president expressed appreciation to the Emirates for organizing the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. 

Biden asked Vice President Kamala Harris to attend the COP28 Leaders Summit on his behalf “to showcase US global leadership on climate at home and abroad and to help galvanize increased global ambition at this critical event.”

The American delegation will also include Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and dozens of senior US officials representing more than 20 departments and agencies.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to discuss “the pause in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has allowed for the release of hostages and an increase in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to people in Gaza,” the State Department said on Wednesday. 

Blinken reiterated the US “commitment to working with Kuwait and regional partners toward the formation of viable, prosperous Palestinian state” and “reaffirmed the friendship and strategic partnership between Kuwait and the United States.”


Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam, his office says

Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam, his office says

Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam, his office says
TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the details of “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam, his office said on Friday.
He directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there, it added in a statement.
Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotel rooms following the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.
“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered anti-Semitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X.
The nature of the attacks not immediately clear.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, Saar told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call on Friday.

US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms
Updated 6 min 53 sec ago
Follow

US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms
  • US has given Israel until Nov. 13 to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
  • The letter calls for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has informed the United States that it will open an additional crossing for aid into Gaza, the State Department said Thursday, as a US-imposed deadline looms next week.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in the war-besieged Gaza Strip or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.
They made the demands in a letter before Tuesday’s election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to give freer rein to Israel.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel, after recently reopening the Erez crossing, has informed the United States that they “hope to open an additional new crossing at Kissufim” in “the next few days.”
“We have continued to press them, and we have seen them, including in the past few days since the election, take additional steps,” Miller told reporters.
He stopped short of saying how the United States would assess Israel’s compliance with the aid demands.
In the letter, Blinken and Austin had urged Israel to “consistently” let aid through four major crossings and to open a fifth crossing.
Kissufim, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
The letter called for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza. Miller said 229 trucks entered on Tuesday.
Outgoing President Joe Biden has repeatedly pressed Israel to improve humanitarian aid and protect civilians, while mostly stopping short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.
Miller said Blinken hoped to keep using the rest of his term to press for an end to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.


US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

Children stare at the destruction following an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November
Children stare at the destruction following an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November
Updated 6 min 28 sec ago
Follow

US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

Children stare at the destruction following an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November
  • The US has given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza
  • Letter calls for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has informed the United States that it will open an additional crossing for aid into Gaza, the State Department said Thursday, as a US-imposed deadline looms next week.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in the war-besieged Gaza Strip or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.
They made the demands in a letter before Tuesday’s election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to give freer rein to Israel.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel, after recently reopening the Erez crossing, has informed the United States that they “hope to open an additional new crossing at Kissufim” in “the next few days.”
“We have continued to press them, and we have seen them, including in the past few days since the election, take additional steps,” Miller told reporters.
He stopped short of saying how the United States would assess Israel’s compliance with the aid demands.
In the letter, Blinken and Austin had urged Israel to “consistently” let aid through four major crossings and to open a fifth crossing.
Kissufim, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
The letter called for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza. Miller said 229 trucks entered on Tuesday.
Outgoing President Joe Biden has repeatedly pressed Israel to improve humanitarian aid and protect civilians, while mostly stopping short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.
Miller said Blinken hoped to keep using the rest of his term to press for an end to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.


France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank

France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank
Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank

France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank
  • “France has been a driving force to establish the first sanction regime at the European level,” Barrot said
  • Barrot renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

RAMALLAH: France is mulling new sanctions on those enabling the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, regarded as illegal under international law, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on a visit to the territory on Thursday.
“France has been a driving force to establish the first sanction regime at the European level targeting individuals or entities, either actors or accomplices of settlement activities,” Barrot said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.
“This regime has been activated two times already and we’re working on a third batch of sanctions targeting these activities that again are illegal with respect to international law.”
Barrot renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and warned settlement activities “threaten the political perspective that can ensure durable peace for Israel and Palestine.”
Before meeting Abbas, Barrot visited the adjacent town of Al-Bireh, where Israeli settlers set fire to 20 cars on Monday, damaging a nearby building.
After speaking with residents and local officials at the scene, Barrot noted that the attack took place in a part of the West Bank where the Palestinians were supposed to enjoy both civil and security control under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s.
“These attacks from extremist and violent settlers are not only completely inexcusable, not only contrary to international law, but they weaken the perspective of a two-state solution,” Barrot said.
Ramallah and Al-Bireh governor Laila Ghannam expressed outrage that settler attacks were “taking place in full view and hearing of the entire silent international community.”
“Perhaps today, with the visit of the French foreign minister, there will be a spotlight here,” she told AFP.
Speaking in Jerusalem earlier Thursday, Barrot said he saw prospects for ending Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon after Donald Trump’s re-election, citing the Republican’s “wish to see the end of the Middle East’s endless wars” as well as recent “tactical successes” for Israel.


Moroccan population grows to 36.8 million in 2024

The Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million since the last census in 2014. (AFP)
The Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million since the last census in 2014. (AFP)
Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Moroccan population grows to 36.8 million in 2024

The Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million since the last census in 2014. (AFP)

RABAT: The Moroccan population grew to 36.82 million by September 2024, according to the preliminary results of a national census, the spokesman for the government said on Thursday.
Compared with the most recent census in 2014, the Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million or 8.8 percent, spokesman Mustapha Baitas told reporters.
The number of households grew to 9.27 million by September 2024, up 26.8 percent compared to 2014, while the number of foreigners living in the country increased to 148,152, up 71.8 percent, he said.