Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns
Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns/node/2579092/middle-east
Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns
Ilze Brands Kehris, UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, speaks during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the growing risk of famine in Gaza. (X/@UN_News_Centre)
NEW YORK CITY: Not only are Israeli authorities seeking to clear northern Gaza of Palestinians by displacing them to the south of the territory, but their actions pose a grave risk of atrocities of “the most serious nature,” the UN warned on Tuesday.
Ilze Brands Kehris, the organization’s assistant secretary-general for human rights, urged all states to assess their arms sales or transfers “with a view to ending such support if this risks serious violations of international law.”
Speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the growing risk of famine in Gaza, she described the humanitarian and human rights situation for Palestinians across the battered enclave as “catastrophic.”
The meeting followed an alert issued at the weekend by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee, which said there was “a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip.” It called for the international community to act “in days, not weeks” to address this threat.
Figures verified by the UN Human Rights Office reveal that almost 70 percent of those killed in Gaza since the war began in October last year were children, mostly between the ages of 5 and 9 years old, or women. According to the Palestinian health ministry, the total death toll from the conflict stands at least 43,000 Palestinians, and more than 100,000 have been injured.
However, these figures are likely to be “a serious understatement,” Brands Kehris told the Security Council, because the bodies of many other victims are thought to be buried under rubble.
Nearly 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced, many of them repeatedly, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly and children, she said. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on shelters and residential buildings continue to kill unconscionable numbers of civilians, she added: women, men, young and old.
“Attacks on so-called ‘safe zones’ prove that nowhere in Gaza is safe,” Brands Kehris said.
The destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure by the Israeli military — including facilities that enjoy protected status under international law, such as hospitals, schools and vital services such as including power supplies, water and sewage — is directly contributing to the risk of famine, she added.
In addition, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of medical personnel, civilian police officers, journalists and humanitarian aid workers, including more than 220 UN staff, she said, and thousands of Palestinians have been taken from Gaza to Israel, usually shackled and blindfolded, where they are held incommunicado.
“Meanwhile, there is constant and continued interference with the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, which has fallen to some of the lowest levels in a year,” Brands Kehris added.
“The cumulative impact of more than a year of destruction in Gaza has taken an enormous toll. Basic services for Palestinians in Gaza, the fabric of society, have been decimated. Conditions of life, particularly in northern Gaza, are increasingly not fit for survival.
“This horrific possibility cannot be separated from the unrelenting attacks on the human rights of civilians there.”
Over the past five weeks, she said, Israeli strikes have resulted in massive civilian fatalities in northern Gaza, particularly among women, children, the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities, many of whom are reportedly “trapped by Israeli military restrictions and attacks on escape routes.”
She added: “The pattern and the frequency of these reported attacks suggest the systematic targeting of locations known, or which should have been known, as sheltering significant numbers of civilians, coupled with the continued use of weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas.
“The Israeli military has also conducted repeated attacks on the three major hospitals in the area and on other vital infrastructure, while unlawfully restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance to northern Gaza.”
Brands Kehris echoed a call by the high commissioner for human rights for an end to the war, the release of Israeli hostages, and the urgent delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza “by all routes.”
There must also be “due reckoning” over allegations of serious violations of international law, she said, overseen by “credible and impartial judicial authorities.”
She added: “In line with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion and the General Assembly resolution, Israel must end its continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible, allowing the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination.”
2024 Year in Review: When turmoil and divisions deepened in Libya
Fractured governance blamed for cycles of conflict and foreign meddling among other problems in 2024
Local elections failed to provide a pathway to political reconciliation, stability and sovereignty
Updated 10 sec ago
Robert Edwards
LONDON: When the Arab uprisings swept through the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, many in the West hoped the fall of these entrenched regimes would herald a new era of development and good governance. Instead, it marked the beginning of a period of unprecedented suffering for millions.
Nearly 14 years later, in the wake of a grinding civil war, there are now renewed hopes that Syria, after its brutally suppressed uprising, might finally be stepping into the light following the toppling of the Bashar Assad regime.
However, as a diverse array of victorious armed opposition groups struggle to impose order and unity on a fractured nation, many observers share a common fear — that Syria could become another Libya.
In this Nov. 3, 2008 file photo, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi attends a wreath laying ceremony in the Belarus capital Minsk. (AP)
Indeed, since the NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has become a byword for state failure — divided between rival administrations, plagued by criminality, and used as a proxy battleground by foreign powers keen to exploit its oil and strategic location.
While 2024 offered glimpses of possible reconciliation between the North African nation’s competing factions, steps toward national elections, and perhaps even justice for its long-suffering citizens, the country remains deeply unstable as it enters the new year.
In April, Abdoulaye Bathily, the UN special envoy to Libya, resigned, citing the country’s entrenched political stalemate. His resignation followed 18 months of attempts to mediate between Libya’s divided factions, but a “lack of political will and good faith” thwarted progress.
“The selfish resolve of current leaders to maintain the status quo must stop,” Bathily told the Security Council. The delay of the national reconciliation conference, originally scheduled for April, highlighted the ongoing gridlock.
While Libya’s oil-rich economy offers immense potential, it remains plagued by a fractured political landscape — with the Tripoli-based UN-recognized Government of National Unity headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh opposing the eastern administration allied with General Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army.
Bathily’s departure underscored the international community’s struggle to bring stability to a nation divided since the 2011 uprising. Despite his efforts, Libya’s entrenched rivalries and external meddling have kept progress elusive, prolonging the suffering of its population.
Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar gestures as he speaks during Independence Day celebrations in Benghazi, Libya December 24, 2020. (REUTERS)
Libya’s fragile peace was repeatedly shattered in 2024, with violence escalating across major cities and border regions. In May, clashes in Zawiya between militias loyal to the GNU left one dead and six injured.
Violence escalated in Tripoli in July, where clashes between the Interior Ministry’s Special Deterrence Forces, also known as RADA, and Presidential Council units resulted in 13 fatalities, including civilians. August brought another tragedy in Tripoli, with nine killed in militia fighting.
Although political leaders have periodically called for ceasefires, the lack of cohesive state authority has allowed armed factions to exploit and perpetuate the chaos, leaving Libyans trapped in repeated cycles of violence.
Members of the "Tripoli Brigade", a militia loyal to the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), sit in the back of a pickup truck as they parade through the Martyrs' Square at the centre of the GNA-held Libyan capital Tripoli on July 10, 2020. (AFP)
Amid this summer of bloodshed, there was a glimmer of justice. In July, Libya’s Derna Criminal Court sentenced 12 officials to up to 27 years in prison for their roles in the catastrophic Sept. 10, 2023, dam collapse.
The disaster, triggered by Storm Daniel, unleashed torrents of water that obliterated entire neighborhoods in the coastal city of Derna, claiming thousands of lives.
Neglected infrastructure and corruption were deemed key factors in the disaster, as funds earmarked for dam maintenance were found to have been misappropriated. The court’s verdict represented a rare moment of accountability in a nation fraught with impunity.
Abdoulaye Bathily, the UN special envoy to Libya. (X @Bathily_UNSMIL)
While some saw this as a step toward justice, critics argue systemic reform is still absent.
Rebuilding efforts in Derna remain slow, hindered by political infighting. Meanwhile, the disaster’s survivors, grappling with trauma and displacement, want to see comprehensive infrastructure upgrades to prevent future tragedies.
September brought a breakthrough as Libya’s rival legislative bodies agreed to appoint Naji Mohamed Issa Belqasem as interim central bank governor, ending months of turmoil over financial leadership.
A picture taken on September 24, 2020 shows the Brega oil port some 270kms west of Libya's eastern city of Benghazi. (AFP)
This crisis erupted when Tripoli’s Presidential Council moved to replace longstanding Governor Sadiq Al-Kabir, leading eastern factions to halt oil production in protest.
Libya’s oil-dependent economy suffered immensely, with crude exports plummeting from 1 million barrels per day in August to just 400,000 in September.
The UN facilitated the agreement, urging an end to unilateral decisions that deepen institutional divisions. While the resolution temporarily eased tensions, it highlighted the broader issue of competing power centers undermining Libya’s economic stability.
Fighters of Wagner private mercenary group pose for a picture as they get deployed near the headquarters of the Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. (REUTERS)
With the interim governor tasked to form a board of directors, the deal’s success hinges on sustained cooperation, a rare commodity in Libya’s fragmented political landscape.
The murder of Abdel-Rahman Milad, a notorious Libyan Coast Guard commander known as “Bija,” in September spotlighted Libya’s lawlessness and corruption.
Sanctioned by the UN in 2018 for human trafficking, Milad symbolized the overlap of state and criminal enterprise.
Libyans vote in the country's local elections in Misrata, Libya's third-largest city, on November 16, 2024. (AFP)
Speculation still abounds about the reason behind his killing — ranging from militia infighting to fears he might expose high-level corruption.
Milad’s killing also raised questions about the EU’s reliance on Libyan partners accused of human rights abuses to help control the flow of migration to Europe.
Observers see his death as a byproduct of power struggles between rival gangs and a reflection of Libya’s inability to reform its fractured governance and security apparatus.
Handout picture taken and released on July 5, 2019 by German migrant rescue NGO Sea-Eye, shows an overloaded rubber boat spotted by Sea-Eye in international waters off the Libyan coast. (AFP)
While Milad’s death may serve as a test for Libya’s broken justice system, there has been some progress on addressing historic injustices.
October saw the International Criminal Court unseal arrest warrants for six Libyans implicated in war crimes during the Second Libyan Civil War of 2014-20. The suspects, linked to the Kaniyat militia, face charges including murder, torture and sexual violence.
These crimes occurred in Tarhuna, a town notorious for mass graves uncovered in 2020 after the militia’s retreat.
The ICC warrants mark a significant step toward accountability and highlight ongoing international scrutiny of Libya’s human rights record. However, Libya’s weak judicial system and fragmented governance pose challenges to enforcing these warrants.
As families of victims seek closure, the outcome may set a precedent for addressing atrocities committed during Libya’s protracted conflict.
In November, the GNU’s Interior Minister Emad Al-Trabelsi sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups when he announced plans to establish a morality police force.
The new force would enforce conservative social norms, including mandatory veiling for girls over the age of nine and restrictions on women’s mobility without a male guardian.
Al-Trabelsi justified the move as preserving “Islamic social values,” dismissing personal freedom as incompatible with Libyan society.
However, the measures appear to have been slapped down by the GNU. There are also doubts that the government even has the means to enforce such rules.
“Al-Trabelsi’s sweeping moral measures were never likely to materialize,” Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert and senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told Arab News. “Enforcing such rules requires broad territorial control, religious credibility, and a clear moral gap to address.
“Much of Libya’s population is already conservative, the Interior Ministry lacks religious backing, and no armed actor — Al-Trabelsi included — can truly project power citywide, let alone nationwide.
“Unsurprisingly, nothing substantial has followed the initial announcement, which had drawn so much international attention.”
While national elections intended to reunify the country have been repeatedly postponed, November’s municipal polls marked a rare democratic exercise, with voting held simultaneously in Libya’s east and west for the first time since 2014.
Despite logistical challenges and political tensions, voter turnout hit 77 percent, signaling public demand for stability. The elections even included areas previously under military control, where mayors had been replaced with appointees.
International observers, including the G7, praised the process as a step toward national reconciliation. However, skepticism remains about whether these local elections can pave the way for overdue presidential and parliamentary votes.
Libya has become one of the busiest and most deadly routes used by migrants and refugees attempting to reach Europe — something that armed groups have long facilitated for a profit or have sought to curtail, often brutally, in exchange for EU funding.
Tragedy struck Libya’s migrant routes repeatedly in 2024, with multiple fatal incidents highlighting the perils faced by those seeking refuge.
In September, a boat capsized near Tobruk, leaving 22 missing. October brought another disaster, with only one survivor from a vessel carrying 13 passengers. Then in November, 28 people disappeared off Libya’s coast when their rubber boat got into difficulty.
Rights groups criticized both Libyan and European policies that push migrants into perilous crossings. The Mediterranean remains a graveyard for those fleeing violence and poverty, with international efforts to address the crisis falling short.
The Kremlin’s strategic ambitions in Libya are likely to keep growing in the new year as it seeks to offset losses in Syria following the overthrow earlier this month of Assad, a key ally who had permitted Russian use of air and naval bases.
Moscow has deepened ties with General Haftar’s Libyan National Army in recent years, using Libya as a launchpad for expanding its influence in North Africa and the Sahel.
The Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor recently rebranded as the Africa Corps, has established bases in southern Libya, supporting resource extraction and military operations across the continent.
Russia’s efforts to consolidate its presence in Libya align with broader objectives to counter NATO and secure Mediterranean access for its ships.
As Libya’s rival factions vie for power, analysts believe this kind of foreign influence could further complicate efforts to achieve peace and sovereignty.
While Syria embarks on its own delicate transition out of war and dictatorship, Libya stands as a cautionary tale for what can happen when factionalism, greed, and foreign interests are allowed to trump the needs and aspirations of a long-suffering people.
Israeli leader diagnosed with urinary tract infection resulting from benign prostate enlargement
Updated 8 min 57 sec ago
AFP
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to undergo prostate removal surgery on Sunday, his office said after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.
The procedure comes with Israel at war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip more than 14 months after the Palestinian militants carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 last year.
Netanyahu underwent a test at Hadassah Hospital on Wednesday, where he was “diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
“As a result, the prime minister will undergo prostate removal surgery tomorrow,” it said.
In March, he underwent a hernia surgery, while in July last year doctors implanted a pacemaker in Netanyahu after a medical scare.
Gaza amputees get new limbs, but can’t shake off war trauma
Survivors are haunted by memories of war and their terror of losing loved ones
Updated 46 min 5 sec ago
AFP
ABU DHABI: Layan Al Nasr, 14, thought she would never walk again after both of her legs were amputated following an Israeli bombing in Gaza one year ago.
Now, she stands proudly on artificial limbs fitted in the UAE. But fear for her family, still living under the attacks, gnaws away.
“When I was told about prosthetics when I arrived, I didn’t even know they existed,” she jokes, taking a few steps supported by crutches.
She is able to smile as she describes her operations, rehabilitation and her newfound hope. But emotion eventually catches up with her.
“What scares me today is losing my brothers, my sisters and my father,” she confides, bursting into tears.
Nasr is one of more than 2,000 wounded or seriously ill Palestinians flown with their closest relatives to the UAE during the Israel-Hamas war.
Plucked from shattered Gaza, much of it in ruins, they are lucky to escape a conflict that has left more than 45,000 people dead in the Palestinian territory.
The survivors brought to the UAE are haunted by their memories of war and their terror of losing loved ones, despite their new existence in calm, quiet Abu Dhabi.
“I don’t care what happens to me, the important thing is that nothing happens to them,” insists Nasr.
The complex housing them in the UAE capital has a school, mosque, grocery store and a hairdresser, as well as a care center offering physiotherapy, speech therapy and counseling.
“Thanks to the prosthetics and the care provided, patients have regained their autonomy,” says physiotherapist Mustafa Ahmed Naji Awad.
But the hardest thing to treat is the psychological impact, he admits.
Faten Abu Khoussa, who came with her 10-year-old daughter Qamar, can testify to this.
The little girl was caught in an air raid in Gaza when she went out to buy a packet of crisps, losing a leg from her injuries.
Qamar’s spirits have gradually improved over time, but “it remains very difficult for her. She loved nothing more than playing on her scooter,” says her mother.
“She feels alone without her brothers and sisters” who have fled to Egypt, Abu Khoussa adds.
The single mother, now separated from the other children she has been raising since her husband’s death, is desperately trying to reunite her family in the UAE.
Until then she feels her life is “suspended,” leaving her unable to plan for the future.
The Emirati authorities say the afflicted Palestinians and their family members will be asked to return home when conditions allow.
Ahmad Mazen, 15, who came with his mother to have a lower-leg prosthesis fitted, was looking forward to being reunited with his father and brother.
But shortly after his arrival, he learned that they had been killed in a bombing raid.
His only consolation is football, his passion, and the “indescribable feeling” of finally being able to kick a ball again, he says.
Turkey and US discuss need to cooperate with new Syrian administration
Turkish fForeign Minister Hakan Fidan tells Secretary of State Blinken that Ankara would not allow Kurdish YPG militia to take shelter in Syria
Updated 48 min 58 sec ago
Reuters
ANKARA: Turkiye’s foreign minister discussed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday the need to act in cooperation with the new Syrian administration to ensure the completion of the transition period in an orderly manner, the ministry said.
In a phone call, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Blinken that Ankara would not allow Kurdish YPG militia to take shelter in Syria, the ministry spokesperson said.
During the call, Blinken emphasized the need to support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that “upholds human rights and prioritizes an inclusive and representative government,” according to a statement from the US State Department.
Blinken and Fidan also discussed preventing terrorism from endangering the security of Turkiye and Syria, the statement said.
Dozens of somber protesters holding pictures of the disappeared assembled in central Damascus’s Hijaz Square
Updated 28 December 2024
AFP
DAMASCUS: A silent crowd gathered in the Syrian capital Damascus to press the new authorities about the fate of relatives who went missing under Bashar Assad and to demand justice for their loved ones.
The fate of tens of thousands of people who disappeared under Assad — who was ousted on Dec. 8 by a coalition of rebels — is a key question after more than 13 years of devastating civil war that saw upwards of half a million people killed.
Dozens of somber protesters holding pictures of the disappeared assembled in central Damascus’s Hijaz Square, a journalist said.
“It is time for tyrants to be held accountable,” read a black banner unfurled from the balcony of the elegant Ottoman-era train station.
Other placards read: “Revealing the fate of the missing is a right,” and “I don’t want an unmarked grave for my son, I want the truth.”
Such a demonstration would have been unthinkable under Assad’s rule, but it is now possible under the new authorities dominated by the radical group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which led the offensive that overthrew him.
“Unfortunately for many years we were united in the grief of absence and uncertainty, waiting for our loved ones, one amnesty after another,” said Wafa Mustafa in a speech in the midst of the protesters.
Her father Ali was arrested in 2013.
“We all saw the scenes of prisoners being freed. It was a source of joy, but it was also very difficult because we did not see our own loved ones among them,” she said.
“We are here to say we will not accept anything less than the whole truth, to know what happened to our relatives, who tortured them, and if they were buried, where they are,” she added.
Amani Al-Hallaq, 28, was seeking news about where to find the remains of her cousin, who was kidnapped in 2012 when he was a student dentist.
“I was once one of those who was afraid. This is the first time I am protesting,” the 28-year-old Amani said.
Her cousin was abducted as he came out of the university, said the young woman in a headscarf.
“They pulled out his nails. He died instantly,” she said.
“We want to know where the disappeared are, their bodies, so we can identify them.”
