US delays bomb shipment to Israel as battles rage in Rafah

A girl carries a baby as she mourns Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024. (Reuters)

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Updated 09 May 2024

Arab News

May 08, 2024 08:59

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US delays bomb shipment to Israel as battles rage in Rafah

A girl carries a baby as she mourns Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024.

No attack without protecting civilians, Pentagon chief says, but heavy fighting erupted on outskirts of city
US said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in an impasse in negotiations

Updated 09 May 2024

Arab News

May 08, 2024 08:59

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JEDDAH: The US on Wednesday delayed delivery of a shipment of 3,500 powerful bombs to Israel amid heavy fighting on the outskirts of Rafah in southern Gaza.

The decision to hold up delivery of the munitions was taken because Israel appeared to be continuing with a ground offensive on the city, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the US Senate.

“We’ve been very clear ... from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battle space,” Austin said.

“And again, as we have assessed the situation, we have paused one shipment of high payload munitions. We’ve not made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment.”

The United States, which aims to stave off a full Israeli invasion of Rafah, said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in an impasse in negotiations, with talks resuming in Cairo on Wednesday.

But Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters battled with Israeli troops on the outskirts of Rafah on Wednesday a day after Israeli tanks closed the nearby border crossing with Egypt, cutting off deliveries of food, fuel and other humanitarian aid.

Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and the only exit for the evacuation of wounded patients.

A UN official said no fuel or aid had entered the Gaza Strip due to the military operation, a situation “disastrous for the humanitarian response” in Gaza where more than half the population is suffering catastrophic hunger.

Hospitals in southern Gaza have only three days of fuel, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Israel has threatened a major assault on Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there.

But the city is also a refuge for up to 1.5 million Palestinians who have fled Israeli attacks further north.

They have crammed into tented camps and makeshift shelters, suffering from shortages of food, water and medicine. Rafah’s main maternity hospital, where nearly half of Gaza’s births take place, has stopped admitting patients, the United Nations Population Fund told Reuters on Wednesday.

“The streets of the city echo with the cries of innocent lives lost, families torn apart, and homes reduced to rubble,” Rafah’s Mayor Ahmed Al-Sofi said in an appeal to the international community to intervene.

“We stand on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.”

One refugee in Rafah, Aref, 35, said: “Some streets look like a ghost town now. We don’t fear death but we have kids to care for and live for another day when this war ends and we rebuild the city.”

Heavy bombs withheld

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah and as a result paused a shipment consisting of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs.

This would be the first such delay since the Biden administration, offered its “ironclad” support to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Washington is Israel’s closest ally and main weapons supplier.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, called Washington’s decision “very disappointing” although he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.

US President Joe Biden “can’t say he is our partner in the goal to destroy Hamas while on the other hand delay the means meant to destroy Hamas,” Erdan told Israel’s Channel 12 News.

An Israeli government spokesperson said he had nothing to add to the reports.

While Israel has stated its intention to destroy Hamas entirely, it is unclear how they would do so and experts doubt that is even possible.

The Israeli military said it troops had discovered Hamas infrastructure in several places in eastern Rafah and were conducting targeted raids on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.

It has told civilians, many of whom have been uprooted several times already, to go to an “expanded humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi, some 20 km (12 miles) away. The mayor said the coastal area lacked all “the necessities of life.”

Around 10,000 Palestinians have left Rafah since Monday, said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number at tens of thousands.

“Some streets look like a ghost town now,” Aref, 35, told Reuters via a chat app. “We don’t fear death and martyrdom but we have kids to care for and live for another day when this war ends and we rebuild the city.”

Armed groups of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah said in separate statements that gunfights continued in the central Gaza Strip, while residents of northern Gaza reported heavy Israeli tank shelling against eastern areas of Gaza City.

Israel’s offensive has killed 34,844 Palestinians in seven months of war in Gaza, most of them civilians, the Gaza health ministry said.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 128 remain hostage in Gaza and 36 have been declared dead, according to the latest Israeli figures.

Cease-fire talks
In Cairo, delegations to negotiations from Hamas, Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar reacted positively to their resumption on Tuesday, two Egyptian sources said.

“The talks are ongoing,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.

CIA Director William Burns traveled from Cairo to Israel on Wednesday and met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official said.

Israel on Monday declared that a three-phase proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. White House spokesperson John Kirby said a new text presented by Hamas suggests gaps could be closed.

The proposal included a first phase with a six-week ceasefire, an influx of aid to Gaza, the return of 33 Israeli hostages, alive or dead, and the release by Israel of 30 detained Palestinian children and women for each released Israeli hostage, according to several sources.

UNRWA said no aid was getting into Gaza, despite desperate need. Israel said it was reopening the other crossing in southern Gaza, Kerem Shalom, but two Red Crescent sources said aid was still waiting on the Egyptian side of the border on Wednesday afternoon.

(With Reuters)

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In Gaza’s crowded tent camps, women wrestle with a life stripped of privacy

Updated 53 min 53 sec ago

AP

December 30, 2024 05:06

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In Gaza’s crowded tent camps, women wrestle with a life stripped of privacy

Updated 53 min 53 sec ago

AP

December 30, 2024 05:06

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City: For Gaza’s women, the hardships of life in the territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of never having privacy.
Women struggle to dress modestly while crowded into tents with extended family members, including men, and with strangers only steps away in neighboring tents. Access to menstrual products is limited, so they cut up sheets or old clothes to use as pads. Makeshift toilets usually consist of only a hole in the sand surrounded by sheets dangling from a line, and these must be shared with dozens of other people.
Alaa Hamami has dealt with the modesty issue by constantly wearing her prayer shawl, a black cloth that covers her head and upper body.
“Our whole lives have become prayer clothes, even to the market we wear it,” said the young mother of three. “Dignity is gone.”
Normally, she would wear the shawl only when performing her daily Muslim prayers. But with so many men around, she keeps it on all the time, even when sleeping — just in case an Israeli strike hits nearby in the night and she has to flee quickly, she said.

Women wait to receive donated food at a distribution center for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)

Israel’s 14-month-old campaign in Gaza has driven more than 90 percent of its 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of them are now living in squalid camps of tents packed close together over large areas.
Sewage runs into the streets, and food and water are hard to obtain. Winter is setting in. Families often wear the same clothes for weeks because they left clothing and many other belongings behind as they fled.
Everyone in the camps searches daily for food, clean water and firewood. Women feel constantly exposed.
Gaza has always been a conservative society. Most women wear the hijab, or head scarf, in the presence of men who are not immediate family. Matters of women’s health — pregnancy, menstruation and contraception — tend not to be discussed publicly.
“Before we had a roof. Here it does not exist,” said Hamami, whose prayer shawl is torn and smudged with ash from cooking fires. “Here our entire lives have become exposed to the public. There is no privacy for women.”
Even simple needs are hard to meet
Wafaa Nasrallah, a displaced mother of two, says life in the camps makes even the simplest needs difficult, like getting period pads, which she cannot afford. She tried using pieces of cloth and even diapers, which have also increased in price.
For a bathroom, she has a hole in the ground, surrounded by blankets propped up by sticks.

Wafaa Nasrallah shows her sanitary pads at her tent in a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday Dec. 28, 2024. (AP)

The UN says more than 690,000 women and girls in Gaza require menstrual hygiene products, as well as clean water and toilets. Aid workers have been unable to meet demand, with supplies piling up at crossings from Israel. Stocks of hygiene kits have run out, and prices are exorbitant. Many women have to choose between buying pads and buying food and water.
Doaa Hellis, a mother of three living in a camp, said she has torn up her old clothes to use for menstrual pads. “Wherever we find fabric, we tear it up and use it.”
A packet of pads costs 45 shekels ($12), “and there is not even five shekels in the whole tent,” she said.
Anera, a rights group active in Gaza, says some women use birth control pills to halt their periods. Others have experienced disruptions in their cycles because of the stress and trauma of repeated displacement.
The terrible conditions pose real risks to women’s health, said Amal Seyam, the director of the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza, which provides supplies for women and surveys them about their experiences.
She said some women have not changed clothes for 40 days. That and improvised cloth pads “will certainly create” skin diseases, diseases related to reproductive health and psychological conditions, she said.
“Imagine what a woman in Gaza feels like, if she’s unable to control conditions related to hygiene and menstrual cycles,” Seyam said.

Alaa Hamami shows some of her deteriorated clothes inside her tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP)

‘Everything is destroyed’
Hellis remembered a time not so long ago, when being a woman felt more like a joy and less like a burden.
“Women are now deprived of everything, no clothes, no bathroom. Their psychology is completely destroyed,” she said.
Seyam said the center has tracked cases where girls have been married younger, before the age of 18, to escape the suffocating environment of their family’s tents. The war will “continue to cause a humanitarian disaster in every sense of the word. And women always pay the biggest price,” she said.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israel launched its assault in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others.
With large swaths of Gaza’s cities and towns leveled, women wrestle with reduced lives in their tents.
Hamami can walk the length of her small tent in a few strides. She shares it with 13 other people from her extended family. During the war, she gave birth to a son, Ahmed, who is now 8 months old. Between caring for him and her two other children, washing her family’s laundry, cooking and waiting in line for water, she says there’s no time to care for herself.
She has a few objects that remind her of what her life once was, including a powder compact she brought with her when she fled her home in the Shati camp of Gaza City. The makeup is now caked and crumbling. She managed to keep hold of a small mirror through four different displacements over the past year. It’s broken into two shards that she holds together every so often to catch a glimpse of her reflection.
“Previously, I had a wardrobe that contained everything I could wish for,” she said. “We used to go out for a walk every day, go to wedding parties, go to parks, to malls, to buy everything we wanted.”
Women “lost their being and everything in this war,” she said. “Women used to take care of themselves before the war. Now everything is destroyed.”

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Topics: War on Gaza

Now Syria’s long-ruling Baath party is collapsing, too

Updated 30 December 2024

AP

December 30, 2024 05:07

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Now Syria’s long-ruling Baath party is collapsing, too

Many members of the party’s leadership have gone into hiding and some have fled the country
Calls are on the rise to officially dissolve the Arab Socialist Baath Party that had ruled Syria since 1963

Updated 30 December 2024

AP

December 30, 2024 05:07

DAMASCUS: A few days after insurgents in Syria overthrew President Bashar Assad, his ruling Baath party announced it was freezing its activities, marking a stunning change in fortunes for the political group that had ruled for more than six decades.
Many members of the party’s leadership have gone into hiding and some have fled the country. In a symbolic move, Syria’s new rulers have turned the former party headquarters in Damascus into a center where former members of the army and security forces line up to register their names and hand over their weapons.
Calls are on the rise to officially dissolve the Arab Socialist Baath Party that had ruled Syria since 1963.
Many Syrians — including former party members — say its rule damaged relations with other Arab countries and aided in the spread of corruption that brought the war-torn nation to its knees.
“The party should not only be dissolved, it should go to hell,” said Mohammed Hussein Ali, 64, who worked for a state oil company and was a party member for decades until he quit at the start of Syria’s anti-government uprising in 2011 that turned into civil war. He never left the country and said he is happy the Baath rule is over.
An official with Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, the group that led the insurgent offensive that overthrew Assad, said no official decision has been made on what to do with the Baath party.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, noted that HTS leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa has said that officials who committed crimes against the Syrian people over the past decades will be brought to justice and hinted that they include party members.
The Baath party, whose aim was to unify Arab states in one nation, was founded by two Syrian Arab nationalists, Michel Aflaq and Salaheddine Bitar, in 1947 and at one point ruled two Arab countries, Iraq and Syria.
A rivalry developed between the Syrian branch under Assad and his late father, Hafez, and the one in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, who was removed from power by a US-led invasion in 2003.
In Syria, the Baath party became inextricably associated with the Assad family, which took power in 1970. For decades, the family used the party and its pan-Arab ideology to control the country. Many senior military jobs were held by members of the family’s minority Alawite sect, and party membership was used as a cover to give it a nationalist rather than a sectarian nature.
A former soldier and decades-long Baath party member who came to party headquarters to cut his military ties, Abdul-Rahman Ali, said he had no idea it was founded by Aflaq and Bitar. He had always thought that Hafez Assad was the founder.
“I am happy. We have been liberated from fear,” said Ali, 43. “Even the walls had ears. We didn’t dare express opinions with anyone.” He was referring to the dreaded security and intelligence agencies that detained and tortured people who expressed criticism of Assad or government officials.
Many Syrians were required to join the Baath Vanguards, the party’s youth branch, while in elementary school, where Arab nationalist and socialist ideology was emphasized.
It was difficult for people who were not party members to get government jobs or join the army or the security and intelligence services.
In 2012, a year after Syria’s uprising began, a paragraph of the constitution stating that the Baath party was the leader of the nation and society was abolished, in a move aimed to appease the public’s demand for political reforms. In practice, however, the party remained in control, with members holding majority seats in parliament and government.
Another former soldier, who gave only his first name, Ghadir, out of fear of reprisals as a member of the Alawite sect, said he came from a poor family and joined the party so he could enter the military for a stable income.
“You could not take any job if you were not a Baathist,” he said.
While few are mourning the party’s fall in Syria, some are concerned that the Sunni majority that now controls the country could carry out a purge similar to the one in Iraq after Saddam’s fall.
A de-Baathification committee was formed in Iraq and its main job was purging Saddam loyalists from government and military institutions. The Sunni minority considered it a means of sectarian score-settling by Iraq’s Shiite majority. The Sunni resentment and disenfranchisement that followed helped to drive the rise of extremist groups in the country including Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq.
In Syria, a Baath party statement issued three days after Assad’s fall called on all members to hand their weapons and public cars to the new authorities.
On Dec. 24, party member and former army colonel Mohammed Merhi was among hundreds who lined up at the former party headquarters and handed over weapons.
Merhi said the Baath party should be given another opportunity because its principles are good but were exploited over decades. But he said he might want to join another party if Syria becomes a multiparty democracy in the future.
He handed over his Soviet Makarov pistol and received a document saying he can now move freely in the country after reconciling with the new authorities.
“I want to become again a normal Syrian citizen and work to build a new Syria,” he said.

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Topics: Fall of Assad Syria Baath Party

Gas explosion kills 3 police officers, Egypt interior ministry says

Egyptian police and security stands guard in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada on January 9, 2016. (AFP)

Updated 30 December 2024

Reuters

December 30, 2024 02:07

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Gas explosion kills 3 police officers, Egypt interior ministry says

Updated 30 December 2024

Reuters

December 30, 2024 02:07

CAIRO: A gas explosion killed three police officers as maintenance work was being performed at Egypt's police academy in Cairo on Sunday night, the country's interior ministry said in a statement on social media.
Two security sources said no foul play was suspected and added that two additional police personnel were injured.

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Topics: Egypt

Israeli hospital says Netanyahu has undergone successful prostate surgery

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem. (AP)

Updated 29 December 2024

AP

December 29, 2024 20:40

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Israeli hospital says Netanyahu has undergone successful prostate surgery

Netanyahu, who has had a series of health issues in recent years, has gone to great lengths to bolster a public image of himself as a healthy, energetic leader

Updated 29 December 2024

AP

December 29, 2024 20:40

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent successful surgery Sunday to have his prostate removed, hospital officials said, a procedure that came as he manages multiple crises including the war in Gaza and his trial for alleged corruption.
Netanyahu, who has had a series of health issues in recent years, has gone to great lengths to bolster a public image of himself as a healthy, energetic leader. During his trial this month, he boasted about working 18-hour days, accompanied by a cigar. But as Israel’s longest-serving leader, such a grueling workload over a total of 17 years in power could take a toll on his well-being.
Netanyahu, 75, is among older world leaders including US President Joe Biden, 82, President-elect Donald Trump, 78, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 79, and Pope Francis, 88, who have come under scrutiny for their age and health issues.
Netanyahu’s latest condition is common in older men, but the procedure has had some fallout. The judges overseeing his trial accepted a request from his lawyer on Sunday to call off three days of testimony scheduled this week. The lawyer, Amit Hadad, had argued that Netanyahu would be fully sedated for the procedure and hospitalized for “a number of days.”
Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center announced late Sunday that the procedure had been “completed successfully.” Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close ally, served as acting prime minister during the operation. Netanyahu is expected to remain hospitalized for several days.
With so much at stake, Netanyahu’s health in wartime is a concern for both Israelis and the wider world.
A turbulent time in the region
As Israel’s leader, Netanyahu is at the center of major global events that are shifting the Middle East. With the dizzying pace of the past 14 months, being incapacitated for even a few hours can be risky.
Netanyahu will be in the hospital at a time when international mediators are pushing Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and as fighting between Israel and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis intensifies.
Prostate issues are common and in many cases easily treatable. Still, the procedure puts a dent in Netanyahu’s image of vigor at a time when he would want to project strength more than ever, both to an Israeli audience navigating constant threats as well as to Israel’s enemies looking to expose its weaknesses.
Previous health issues, including a heart condition
Netanyahu insists he is in excellent health. His office releases footage of him touring war zones in full protective gear flanked by military officers, or meeting with defense officials on windswept hilltops in youthful dark shades and puffer jackets.
But that image was shattered last year when Netanyahu’s doctors revealed that he had a heart condition, a problem that he had apparently long known about but concealed from the public.
A week after a fainting spell, Netanyahu was fitted with a pacemaker to control his heartbeat. Only then did staff at the Sheba Medical Center reveal that Netanyahu has for years experienced a condition that can cause irregular heartbeats.
The revelation came as Netanyahu was dealing with massive anti-government protests. The news about a chronic heart problem stoked further anger and distrust during extreme political polarization in Israel.
Last year, Netanyahu was rushed to the hospital for what doctors said likely was dehydration. He stayed overnight, prompting his weekly Cabinet meeting to be delayed.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu underwent hernia surgery, during which he was under full anesthesia and unconscious. Levin served as acting prime minister during the operation.
Recovery can be quick
According to Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli leader was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection on Wednesday stemming from a benign enlargement of his prostate. The infection was treated successfully with antibiotics, but doctors said the surgery was needed in any case.
Complications from prostate enlargement are common in men in their 70s and 80s, Dr. Shay Golan, head of the oncology urology service at Israel’s Rabin Medical Center, told Israeli Army Radio. Golan spoke in general terms and was not involved in Netanyahu’s care or treatment.
He said an enlarged prostate can block proper emptying of the bladder, leading to a build-up of urine that can lead to an infection or other complications. After medicinal treatment, doctors can recommend a procedure to remove the prostate to prevent future blockages, Golan said.
In Netanyahu’s case, because the prostate is not cancerous, Golan said doctors were likely performing an endoscopic surgery, carried out by inserting small instruments into a body cavity, rather than making surgical cuts in the abdomen to reach the prostate.
The procedure lasts about an hour, Golan said, and recovery is quick. He said that aside from catheter use for one to three days after the procedure, patients can return to normal activity without significant limitations.

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Topics: War on Gaza Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Jailed PKK leader says ‘ready’ to support Turkiye peace drive

Updated 29 December 2024

AFP

December 29, 2024 23:21

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Jailed PKK leader says ‘ready’ to support Turkiye peace drive

The government’s approval of the visit comes two months after the head of Turkiye’s nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahceli, extended Ocalan a shock olive branch, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his group, a move backed by Erdogan

Updated 29 December 2024

AFP

December 29, 2024 23:21

ISTANBUL: Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is “ready to make a call” to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict, Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party said Sunday.
Two lawmakers from the DEM party made a rare visit to Ocalan on Saturday on his prison island, the first by the party in almost a decade, amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK.
On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government approved DEM’s request to visit the founder of the PKK, which is designated a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on the island of Imrali south of Istanbul since 1999.
The government’s approval of the visit comes two months after the head of Turkiye’s nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahceli, extended Ocalan a shock olive branch, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his group, a move backed by Erdogan.
“I have the competence and determination to make a positive contribution to the new paradigm started by Mr.Bahceli and Mr.Erdogan,” Ocalan said, according to a DEM statement Sunday.
Ocalan said the visiting delegation would share his approach with both the state and political circles.
“In light of this, I am ready to take the necessary positive steps and make the call.”
DEM party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan lauded Ocalan’s appeal as “historic opportunity to build a common future,” in a message on social media platform X.
“We are on the eve of a potential democratic transformation across Turkiye and the region. Now is the time for courage and foresight for an honorable peace,” he said.

The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming tens of thousands of lives.
A peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed in 2015, unleashing violence especially in the Kurdish-majority southeast.
The new initiative launched in October by Bahceli, who has been fiercely hostile to the PKK, sparked a public debate, with Erdogan hailing it as a “historic window of opportunity.”
But a deadly terror attack in October on a Turkish defense company in the capital Ankara, for which PKK militants claimed responsibility, put those hopes on hold.
Turkiye launched strikes on Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria after the attack, which killed five people.
“Re-strengthening the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility but also... an urgency for all peoples,” Ocalan said, according to the DEM statement.
He said all the efforts would “take the country to the level it deserves” and become a “very valuable guide for a democratic transformation.”
“It’s time for peace, democracy and brotherhood in Turkiye and the region.”
The new outreach by both sides comes as Islamist rebels consolidate their control in neighboring Syria after toppling its strongman president Bashar Assad.
Turkiye hopes Syria’s new leaders will address the issue of Kurdish forces in the country, which Ankara sees as a terror group affiliated to the PKK.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday that Kurdish fighters “cannot be allowed to take shelter in Syria,” according to the ministry spokesman.
According to the DEM statement, Ocalan said developments in Syria had shown that outside interference would only complicate the problem, and a solution could no longer be postponed.

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Topics: Turkiye Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan

US delays bomb shipment to Israel as battles rage in Rafah

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US delays bomb shipment to Israel as battles rage in Rafah

US delays bomb shipment to Israel as battles rage in Rafah

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In Gaza’s crowded tent camps, women wrestle with a life stripped of privacy

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