Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

CIA chief to discuss fresh Gaza hostage deal and ceasefire with Israel and Qatar – reports

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William Burns and the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service will reportedly meet Qatari prime minister in Europe as part of efforts to broker a deal

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency and his Israeli counterpart will meet Qatari officials in coming days for talks on a second potential Gaza hostage deal and pause in fighting, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

William Burns and the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, will meet Qatari prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Europe this weekend, one official briefed on the meeting told the news agency.

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Israel braces for interim ICJ ruling on allegation of genocide in Gaza

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Behind bullish statements officials have been examining potential scenarios for impending decision in case brought by South Africa

Israeli officials are bracing for an expected interim ruling from the international court of justice on South Africa’s allegation that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against Palestinians, an emergency measure that could expose Israel to international sanctions.

The UN’s top court, which settles disputes between states, said on Wednesday that it would hand down its landmark ruling on Friday. The Hague-based body could order Israel to stop its three-month campaign in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the unprecedented attack by Hamas on 7 October. ICJ rulings are binding and cannot be appealed against, although the court has no power to enforce them.

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Iran bars Hassan Rouhani from seeking re-election to key body

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Former president’s exclusion from group likely to choose next supreme leader angers reformists

The Iranian regime has taken its crackdown on any internal opposition into a new phase by disqualifying the reformist former president Hassan Rouhani from seeking re-election to the assembly of experts, the body that chooses the country’s supreme leader.

Reformists reacted angrily on Thursday to the regime-controlled guardian council’s announcement. The 88 assembly members serve an eight-year term, and since the incumbent supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is 84, it is highly likely that the next assembly will choose his successor.

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Middle East crisis: US and UK impose new sanctions on Houthi leaders; Nasser hospital ‘runs out of food, anaesthetics and painkillers’ – as it happened

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At least four senior figures from Houthis subject to asset freezes and travel bans, say reports; Gaza-run health ministry says situation in Khan Younis hospital ‘extremely catastrophic’

The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, said the conflict in Gaza shows the UN and other world bodies have lost their effectiveness and called on Muslim countries and other nations to unite for a new “fair world order”, reports Al Jazeera.

Reporting from Ankara on Wednesday, where Raisi met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Al Jazeera journalist Sinem Köseoğlu said the main agenda of the meeting had been Israel’s war on Gaza.

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Emirates-backed stake in Vodafone is security risk, says UK

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UAE firm’s increased investment prompts Cabinet Office order for security panel at telecoms company

The stake in Vodafone held by a United Arab Emirates-backed telecoms group poses a national security risk to the UK, the government said.

The Cabinet Office issued a notice late on Wednesday warning that the 14.6% stake held in Vodafone by Emirates Telecoms, which is also known as e&, amounted to a security concern given Vodafone’s strategic role in the country’s telecommunications services.

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‘It’s going to be tough’: the impact of war on Israeli lives and businesses

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Despite signs of revival, the true costs of conflict are impossible to calculate because no one can say how long it will last

Cafe Merkaz is busy. A handful of patrons sit at its half dozen tables on Jerusalem’s Hanevi’im Street on a sunny lunchtime, while inside the coffee grinders grind and a pile of sandwiches on the counter shrinks hour by hour.

“A month or so ago, things looked pretty desperate. But we had twice as many people through the door this morning by 10am as we had in entire days back then. Now I think the year is just going to be tough, but we’ll hang on,” said Yaakov Saly, the 27-year-old owner.

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Qatar accuses Netanyahu of deliberately obstructing Gaza mediation efforts

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Doha ‘appalled’ at leaked remarks allegedly by Israeli PM in which he said Qatar’s role in talks was ‘problematic’

Qatar has harshly criticised Israel’s prime minister, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately obstructing ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Hamas for personal political gain.

Doha’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said on Wednesday night that his government was “appalled” by leaked remarks allegedly made by Netanyahu in which he criticised the country’s mediation efforts over the war in Gaza, adding that the Israeli leader’s comments were “irresponsible and destructive” but “not surprising”.

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Saudi Arabia to allow first alcohol sales in 72 years, dividing opinion

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Shop will be open only to non-Muslim diplomats – but some fear it is first step to wider availability of alcohol in teetotal kingdom

The news that Saudi Arabia will allow its first alcohol shop has citizens and foreigners alike mulling one question: is this a minor policy tweak, or a major upheaval?

Sources familiar with preparations for the store disclosed details of the plan on Wednesday, as a document circulated indicating just how carefully leaders of the teetotal Gulf kingdom will manage its operations.

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Denmark admits role in Nato airstrikes on Libya that killed 14 civilians in 2011

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In first such admission, previously secret document says Danish aircraft participated in attacks linked to civilian deaths

Denmark’s defence ministry said it would launch a review after evidence emerged showing its air force participated in airstrikes on Libya that killed 14 civilians in 2011, the first time any of the 10 countries involved in the Nato bombing campaign has acknowledged a possible link to non-combatant casualties.

Documents released under freedom of information show the Danish air force had concluded privately as long ago as 2012 that two F-16 attacks were connected to civilian casualty reports compiled by the UN, media and human rights groups.

An airstrike on Surman, nearly 40 miles west of Tripoli, on 20 June 2011 that killed 12 civilians, including five children and six members of one family. A surviving family member said the target was solely a residential compound, owned by a retired Libyan government member, but Nato said at the time it was “a legitimate military target”, despite reports of non-combatant deaths.

The bombing of an apartment block in Sirte, central Libya, on 16 September 2011 that killed two, a man and a woman who was five months pregnant. Although there were unconfirmed reports of snipers on the rooftop, questions were raised in the aftermath over whether an attack would have been proportionate, given civilians were killed.

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Thousands trapped in Gaza hospitals as Israeli troops encircle Khan Younis

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Israel’s assault on Gaza’s second-largest city continues as Hamas delegation travels to Egypt for ceasefire and hostage-release talks

Thousands of people sheltering in hospitals in Khan Younis are now trapped by Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip’s second largest city, even as a delegation from Hamas travelled to Egypt for the latest round of talks aimed at another ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had “encircled” the southern city of Khan Younis after two days of heavy fighting, in what Israeli officials have described as the last large ground assault in the three-month-old war before a shift to “lower intensity” operations aimed at eradicating the Palestinian militant group.

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US navy escorts cargo ships to safety after Houthi missile attack from Yemen

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Two vessels forced to turn around as Iran-aligned group continues strikes against Red Sea shipping

Two ships sailing close to the Gulf of Aden were forced to seek the support of the US navy after explosions were heard nearby, as the Houthi group kept up their assault on commercial shipping off the coast of Yemen.

The Houthis have said their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians as Israel bombards Gaza. The ships belonging to the Danish shipping company Maersk came under attack from three anti-ship missiles near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the US central command (Centcom) said. No damage was caused either to the Maersk Detroit or the Maersk Chesapeake.

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ICJ to deliver interim ruling on genocide case against Israel on Friday

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South Africa’s foreign minister will fly to The Hague for the ruling in a possible sign of Pretoria’s confidence in its case

South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, is flying to The Hague to be present on Friday when the international court of justice (ICJ) delivers its highly anticipated verdict on South Africa’s request for an interim ruling in its genocide case against Israel.

The ruling, if granted, would probably take the form of an order to Israel to announce a ceasefire in Gaza and allow more UN humanitarian aid into the country.

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Middle East crisis: UN court to deliver Israel genocide ruling on Friday; Houthis fire three missiles at Red Sea ships, says US – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest reporting out of the the Middle East, you can read:

The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) has outlined some of the violence happening in the West Bank in its latest update. It describes the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank in 2023 as “the highest” since Ocha started recording casualties in 2005.

It also says “the number of Israelis killed in the West Bank and Israel in 2023 in attacks perpetrated by Palestinians from the West Bank was the highest” in the same time frame.

Since 7 October 2023 and as of 23 January 2024, 360 Palestinians have been killed, including 92 children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Additionally, two Palestinians from the West Bank were killed while carrying out an attack in Israel on 30 November. Of these 360 fatalities, 350 were killed by Israeli forces, eight by Israeli settlers and two by either Israeli forces or settlers.

Since 7 October 2023 and as of 23 January 2024, five Israelis, including four members of Israeli forces, have been killed in Palestinian-perpetrated attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

In addition, four Israelis were killed in an attack carried out by Palestinians from the West Bank in West Jerusalem (one of the four was killed by Israeli forces who misidentified him) on 30 November 2023. Another Israeli woman was killed in another attack perpetrated by Palestinians in Israel on 15 January 2024.

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Iraq accuses US of ‘reckless escalation’ of regional violence after latest strikes

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Pentagon calls overnight attacks ‘necessary and proportionate’, after US personnel were injured in a weekend attack in Iraq

US strikes against militias in Iraq have prompted the most scathing criticism yet from Baghdad, with the prime minister’s office accusing Washington of contributing to a “reckless escalation” of regional violence.

The Pentagon announced earlier on Wednesday that it had carried out overnight retaliatory strikes against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militias in response to its own forces coming under attack at an Iraqi airbase at the weekend.

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UN secretary general says Israel’s rejection of two-state solution is ‘unacceptable’

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António Guterres says denial of Palestinian state will embolden extremists at highly charged security council debate

Israel’s “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution” is unacceptable, and could only prolong the conflict in Gaza, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said, at the launch of a highly charged security council debate focusing on aid shipments to Gaza.

Gutteres told the meeting in New York on Monday that the denial of a Palestinian state will only embolden extremists everywhere and indefinitely extend the conflict.

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Twenty-four soldiers killed in deadliest day for Israeli forces of Gaza war

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Deaths come as talks of ceasefire increase and pressure rises on Netanyahu over leadership and handling of war effort

Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza on Monday, by far the biggest single-day Israeli death toll in the three-month war against Hamas, as talks about a ceasefire intensified and Palestinian casualties continued to climb.

The deaths came amid fierce fighting around the southern city of Khan Younis, with dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded. The Israeli casualties are likely to increase domestic pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu over his leadership and handling of the war effort.

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Netanyahu faces hostages dilemma as Israeli political debate heats up

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Deal to free hostages could give boost to unpopular PM but concessions could cost him key allies’ support

As Israeli military casualties mount in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself on the horns of a dilemma. The Israeli prime minister’s popularity has plummeted and polls suggest that in an immediate election his rightwing Likud party would lose half its seats to a resurgent centrist opposition.

Voters have not forgotten the glaring failures that allowed Hamas to attack southern Israel from Gaza on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 240. But the lack of tangible results from the Israeli offensive in Gaza that was supposed to bring “total victory” over Hamas is now important too.

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Houthis say US-UK airstrikes will not go unpunished or unanswered

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Houthi leaders reiterate commitment to targeting Israel-linked ships in Red Sea after attacks they say targeted Yemeni capital

Houthi leaders have vowed defiance in the face of a new wave of attacks they say targeted five governorates, including the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and surrounding areas.

A Houthi army spokesperson, Brig Gen Yahya Saree, said the allied attacks would not go unpunished or unanswered. Houthi leaders also repeated that their threats to ships in the Red Sea were solely directed at stopping commercial ships trading with Israel due to its bombardment of Gaza. They insisted other ships had free passage. Some ships navigating the Red Sea have put out identifiers saying they are “not Israeli connected”.

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Rishi Sunak warns of further Yemen airstrikes if Houthi attacks continue

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PM rejects calls from MPs for Commons vote over military action as pressure grows to clarify long-term strategy on Red Sea crisis

Rishi Sunak has warned there could be further bombing of Yemen if Houthi attacks on shipping continue, as he came under mounting pressure from MPs to clarify Britain’s long-term strategy for tackling the deepening crisis.

The prime minister told parliament that a second round of RAF airstrikes, conducted on Monday night with the US, were taken in self-defence and rejected calls for MPs to be allowed a vote on whether to endorse the military action.

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Fresh US/UK airstrikes ‘send clear message’ to Houthis, says Cameron

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Foreign secretary defends continued campaign in Yemen, while Labour says it was not briefed beforehand

A fresh set of US and UK airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen were intended to “send the clearest possible message that Britain backs its words and our warnings with action”, David Cameron has said.

The foreign secretary insisted he was confident that attacks carried out 10 days ago by Britain and the US had had an effect on degrading the Houthis’ abilities to attack shipping in the Red Sea.

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