‘Stop this war now,’ Slovenian PM tells Israel’s Netanyahu

Slovenia Prime Minister Robert Golob addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP)
Slovenia Prime Minister Robert Golob addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 27 September 2024
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‘Stop this war now,’ Slovenian PM tells Israel’s Netanyahu

‘Stop this war now,’ Slovenian PM tells Israel’s Netanyahu
  • Addressing UN General Assembly, Robert Golob demands Israel ‘stop the bloodshed, end the occupation’
  • Sudan experiencing ‘man-made humanitarian catastrophe’ with millions displaced

LONDON: Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, telling his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop this war now.”

Golob was addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, with Slovenia having assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council on Sept. 1. 

During the speech, he left no room for doubt, thumping the lectern as he said: “I want to say this out loud and clear to the Israeli government: Stop the bloodshed, stop the suffering, bring the hostages home and end the occupation.”

He told the UNGA that the UNSC is finding itself unable to respond “in an effective way to major conflicts such as Gaza, Ukraine or Sudan,” adding that the council needs reform.

“In Gaza, almost four months since the council’s resolution on (a) ceasefire and hostage release, the deal is nowhere close,” Golob said.

“As the (UN) secretary-general (Antonio Guterres) said yesterday … people in Gaza are existing, not living, existing among lakes of sewage, piles of rubbish and mountains of rubble. The only certainty they have is that tomorrow is going to be worse.

“In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, violence and dehumanization of Palestinians is increasing and has reached a boiling point.

“All this is taking us further away from the two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in peace and security. 

“(The) escalation of (the) Gaza crisis into the region is now a reality. The region is (on) the brink of an abyss. De-escalation is urgently needed, starting with the ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon.”

Golob also highlighted the civil war in Sudan, saying: “We’re witnessing a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, with millions displaced and in desperate need of humanitarian aid. At the same time, we’re seeing (an) atrocity happening again in Darfur.”

He blamed the five permanent members of the UNSC for “misusing veto power and putting national interest first,” adding: “We urgently need a council that’s a true representation of the international community, a council that’s fit for the world of today.

“We need to ensure that the distribution of the seats is fair. The council needs stronger voices of the regions that have been underrepresented, such as (the) African continent.”

Golob added that the “erosion of respect for international humanitarian law” is making it harder for humanitarian work to be carried out.

“In Gaza, humanitarians aren’t just occasional collateral victims — they seem to have become a deliberate military target,” he said.

“There’s no other explanation for the highest number of humanitarian workers being killed last year, of whom the vast majority (were) in Gaza.

“The sense of impunity for crimes in Gaza is putting humanitarian organizations under stress elsewhere. This is undermining the very essence of the UN.”

Golob also addressed climate change and the measures being taken to halt its effects across the world, especially threats to water supplies, including the use of supercomputers and artificial intelligence.

“Unfortunately, people suffering from armed conflicts don’t have the luxury of high-tech solutions. More often than not, they’re denied basic access to clean drinking water,” he said.

“Even more, we’re increasingly seeing how access to water is becoming weaponized in Yemen, Somalia, Gaza and Sudan.”

Golob spoke about how children disproportionately suffer as a result of climate change and conflict, once again highlighting the dire situation of young people in Gaza.

“Slovenia is offering concrete help with the foundation Let Them Dream, which is dealing with the rehabilitation of children from Gaza,” he said.

“It’s an extremely noble and human project which was launched years ago and has already helped hundreds of children from Gaza who came for rehabilitation in Slovenia, and will continue to do so. Sadly, some of these kids are now already the victims of recent aggression on Gaza.”

Golob concluded his address by telling delegates about an experience earlier this week when he met two young “courageous” Palestinian girls at an event hosted by Save the Children.

“They spoke about their challenges in life. They spoke about their feelings. They spoke about their plans for the future. And despite all of the destruction, dehumanization and fear, there was no anger nor hate in their stories,” he said.

“They just had this enormous wish to live a normal, decent life. They just had this enormous wish to be able to educate and study in order to be able to contribute back to their community.

“One wants to become a doctor, the second wants to become a humanitarian worker. Today, I fulfill my promise to them, and I bring their story to the General Assembly.”


Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians

Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians
Updated 11 sec ago
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Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians

Egypt says it will not be part of any proposal that displaces Palestinians
Egypt denounced expressions of support by Israeli cabinet members for the plan to create a “Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza
The ministry said: “Egypt stresses the catastrophic consequences of this irresponsible act“

CAIRO: Egypt rejects and will not be part of any proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza, its foreign ministry said on Thursday, following President Donald Trump’s plan for the US to take over the enclave and his call to Egypt to take in resettled Palestinians.
Egypt, which borders the tiny enclave, denounced expressions of support by Israeli cabinet members for the plan to create a “Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza under US control.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow for the voluntary departure of Gaza residents from the strip, Israeli media reported.
Apparently referring to Katz’s order, the ministry said: “Egypt stresses the catastrophic consequences of this irresponsible act which weakens the ceasefire negotiations, and would squash them and incite a return of fighting.”
In January Egypt, alongside Qatar and the US, brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas ending a 15-month-long war that upended the Middle East. Talks about the second phase of the deal were supposed to get under way this week.

Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees

Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees
Updated 5 min 57 sec ago
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Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees

Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees
  • The court handed the soldier a suspended sentence and demoted him to the rank of private.
  • The military said the soldier had served as a security guard at the detention center but did not say what rank he had held

JERUSALEM: An Israeli soldier who was found to have struck Palestinian detainees while they were restrained and blindfolded has been sentenced to seven months in jail by an Israeli military court.
The Israeli military on Thursday announced the court had accepted a plea agreement with the soldier, a reservist who it said admitted to having “severely abused” Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman military detention center near the border with the Gaza Strip.
“The defendant was convicted of several incidents in which he struck detainees with his fists and his weapon while they were bound and blindfolded,” the military said. It did not name the soldier or detail the charges he was convicted of.
The military statement did not identify where the Palestinian detainees were from, why they had been detained or whether they had since been charged or convicted of crimes or released from detention.
In addition to seven months imprisonment, the court handed the soldier a suspended sentence and demoted him to the rank of private. The military said the soldier had served as a security guard at the detention center but did not say what rank he had held. Israeli media reported the soldier’s jail sentence included time that he had already spent in detention.
The military court found that other masked soldiers had participated in the abuse but that their identities had not been determined, the military said, without saying how many.
The convicted soldier had beaten the detainees in front of other soldiers, some of whom had told him to stop, the military said, adding that a recording of the abuse had been found on the mobile phone of the convicted soldier.
The military has been investigating allegations that soldiers had abused Palestinians from Gaza held in military detention since the start of the war in October 2023. The military on Thursday did not say whether investigations were still ongoing or if any other soldiers had been charged.
In July last year, right-wing Israeli protesters broke into Sde Teiman detention facility and another Israeli military compound after investigators arrived to question soldiers about suspected abuse.
Sde Teiman was opened after the war started and held captured Palestinians from Gaza. Israel last year said it would close the facility.


UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port

UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port
Updated 38 min 3 sec ago
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UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port

UAE Sheikha Fatima’s aid ship for Palestinians in Gaza arrives at Al-Arish Port
  • Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak is a prominent advocate for women’s education and children’s well-being
  • Ship carries 5,800 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, shelter, medical essentials

LONDON: A ship from the UAE carrying almost 6,000 tons of aid relief to Palestinians arrived on Thursday at Al-Arish Port in Egypt, destined for the Gaza Strip.

The aid shipment is a gift from Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the wife of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the late founder and first president of the UAE.

Known as the Mother of the Nation, she is a prominent advocate for women’s education and children’s well-being.

The ship carries 5,800 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, shelter materials, and medical essentials. It sailed from Al-Hamriyah Port in Dubai on Jan. 20 as part of Operation Chivalrous Knight 3, aimed at addressing the urgent needs of Palestinians in Gaza.

The aid vessel’s timely arrival before the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, ensures emergency relief for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Maitha bint Salem Al-Shamsi, the Emirati minister of state; Rashid Mubarak Al-Mansouri, secretary-general of the Emirates Red Crescent; and Maj. Gen. Khaled Megawer, governor of North Sinai, received the ship at Al-Arish Port.

The delegation visited the UAE Floating Hospital in Al-Arish, which provides medical care to Palestinians, and learned about the services available for the injured.

Emirati aid to Palestinians in Gaza was made possible through contributions from the Emirates Red Crescent, the Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan Foundation, the Khalifa bin Zayed Foundation, the Dar Al-Ber Society, and Sharjah Charity International.


Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye

Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye
Updated 06 February 2025
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Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye

Three PKK fighters killed in Iraq strike blamed on Turkiye
  • Turkiye often carries out ground and air operations in northern Iraq against the PKK
  • The strikes “killed a military commander and two other PKK fighters” in the Mawat area

IRBIL: Drone strikes killed a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) commander and two fighters in northern Iraq on Thursday, Kurdish authorities said, blaming Turkiye for the attack.
Turkiye often carries out ground and air operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.
Turkish drones “struck between 10:45 and 11:00 am (0745 and 0800 GMT) two cars and a hideout of the PKK,” said the counterterrorism services of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
The strikes “killed a military commander and two other PKK fighters” in the Mawat area in the northen Sulaimaniyah province, it said, adding two other fighters were missing.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye and its Western allies, holds positions in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where Turkiye also maintains military bases.
During a January visit to Baghdad, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for regional efforts to combat the PKK in Iraq, as well as Kurdish fighters in neighboring Syrian Arab Republic, whom Ankara accuses of having links to the outlawed group.
Baghdad has recently sharpened its tone against the PKK, quietly listing it as a “banned organization” last year.
But Ankara wants Iraq to go further and officially declare it a terrorist group.
In August, Baghdad and Ankara signed a military cooperation deal to establish joint command and training centers with the aim of fighting the PKK.


Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source

Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source
Updated 06 February 2025
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Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source

Sudan army advances on central Khartoum: military source
  • “Our forces are close to reaching the center of Khartoum... and expelling the Dagalo militia,” a source in the army said
  • “Our armored forces are advancing from multiple axes“

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s military advanced on central Khartoum “from multiple axes” on Thursday, an army source told AFP, with troops nearing the paramilitary-controlled Republican Palace.
The army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, has in recent weeks mounted a fierce offensive to reclaim full control of the capital.
“Our forces are close to reaching the center of Khartoum... and expelling the Dagalo militia,” a source in the army told AFP, referring to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
“Our armored forces are advancing from multiple axes,” he added, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Wednesday, the army said it had “cleared out” the neighborhoods of Al-Remila and the Industrial Area in central Khartoum — only three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the RSF-held Republican Palace.
But eyewitnesses on Thursday said army troops had to make their way through RSF snipers posted on high-rises in what used to be Khartoum’s business and government district.
The RSF did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Further south, witnesses reported clashes between the army and the RSF around Soba Bridge — a key southeastern entry point to the capital.
In recent weeks, the army has surged through the capital, breaking a nearly two-year siege by the RSF on its headquarters and pushing the paramilitary to the edges of Khartoum North, also known as Bahri.
The army’s advance on the capital is its biggest victory in a year, since it regained Omdurman across the Nile River which, together with Khartoum North and the city center, makes up greater Khartoum.
Since it erupted, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 12 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine.