Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Egypt’s Sisi wins third term as president after amending constitution

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President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wins Egypt election with 89.6% of vote after facing no serious challengers

The president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was voted in for a third term on Monday after an election where he faced no serious challengers, calling the vote a rejection of the “inhumane war” in neighbouring Gaza.

The president was able to claim the top job after Egypt’s constitution was amended in 2019, extending the presidential term to six years from four, and allowing Sisi to stand for a third term.

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US defence secretary reasserts support but urges Israel to change tactics in Gaza

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Lloyd Austin discusses focus on precise targeting of Hamas leaders; however, UN delays vote calling for cessation of hostilities

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has held talks with Israeli officials about shifting away from large-scale aerial and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to a new phrase in the war focused on the precise targeting of Hamas leaders.

“Hamas should never again be able to project terror from Gaza into Israel. This is Israel’s operation; I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms,” Austin told reporters after meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in Tel Aviv on Monday. He added that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza was “both a moral duty and a strategic imperative”.

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RSF paramilitary seizes control of Wad Madani, Sudan’s second city

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Advance comes after three days of intense fighting that forced thousands to flee towards the south

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized Wad Madani, the country’s second city, which had taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from the capital, Khartoum, early in the eight-month war between the regular army and the paramilitary RSF.

Videos posted by the RSF on Monday showed fighters in pickup trucks driving along streets in the city, the capital of el-Gezira state.

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Keir Starmer joins Rishi Sunak in calling for sustainable ceasefire in Gaza

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Labour leader also reiterates support for ‘two-stage solution’ as ‘the only way this is going to be resolved’

Keir Starmer has joined Rishi Sunak in calling for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, as the political rhetoric continues to shift away from unqualified support for Israel’s assault in line with moves from the US and others.

Some senior Conservatives were even more explicit. Ben Wallace, a former defence secretary, said Israel’s “killing rage” risked it losing international support, and Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, said she believed Israel had broken international humanitarian law.

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US announces creation of multinational operation in Red Sea after attacks from Yemen’s Houthis – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

The UN security council is to be asked to support a new call for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities that allows the delivery of humanitarian aid by land sea and air.

The resolution places pressure on the US not to protect Israel again by using its veto as one of the five permanent members of the 15-member security council.

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Gaza diary, part 34: ‘I just wish to go back to spending a day in bed, reading’

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Ziad, a 35-year-old Palestinian, describes the extra hardship that winter rain brings and a friend reminisces about a cappuccino

8am
I have never been a fan of the sun nor the sunny weather. I am a lover of the rain, winter and tree leaves falling. I remember at high school – my English language teacher would always ask me and other students during the recess to stand in the sun. “Hug the sun, feel its warmth. It is full of vitamin D.” I did what she asked but never liked it.

On the other hand, this teacher opened the door for me to learn about literature, which I loved. In class, we would read summarised classics like Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities.

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BP halts oil and gas shipments through Red Sea after rebel attacks

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Energy company follows decisions by five big shipping firms as Houthi militants step up attacks on vessels

BP has halted all shipments of oil and gas through the Red Sea after an increase in the number of attacks on cargo ships by Houthi militants in Yemen, including a strike on a Norwegian-owned vessel.

The British oil company said on Tuesday that it had paused shipping in the region indefinitely, citing a “deteriorating security situation” amid tensions in the Middle East.

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Cardinal condemns ‘cold–blooded’ killing of two women in Gaza church

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Vincent Nichols says shooting of mother and daughter did nothing to further Israel’s right to defend itself

The shooting of a mother and daughter allegedly by an Israeli military sniper in a church compound in Gaza City was a “cold–blooded killing”, the most senior Catholic cleric in England has said.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, said the shooting did “nothing to further Israel’s right to defend itself”.

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War’s toll on education in Gaza casts shadow over children’s future

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With pupils and teachers uprooted and buildings destroyed, it is likely to be many months before classes can resume

Mohammad Mosa packed his laptop when he fled his home in October and hoped he would still be able to Zoom into classes between airstrikes. The 14-year-old has his heart set on a competitive scholarship and has studied through wars before.

Two months later, the only new thing he has learned is how to bake bread over an open fire. Intense bombardment and a tight blockade have meant that civilian life in Gaza has turned into a daily fight to survive, and education is one of the many casualties.

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US to announce expanded protection force for Red Sea shipping

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Response to Houthi attacks from Yemen seeks to reassure commercial shipping companies suspending use of Red Sea

The US is to announce the launch of an expanded maritime protection force involving Arab states to combat the increasingly frequent Houthi attacks being mounted from Yemen’s ports on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The force, provisionally entitled Operation Prosperity Guardian, is due to be announced by the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, when he visits the Middle East, including the fifth fleet stationed in Bahrain. Similar to the Task Force 153 already operating out of Bahrain, the larger protection force is designed to provide reassurance to commercial shipping companies that Houthi attacks will be seen off, and the Red Sea remains safe for commercial shipping.

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Israeli airstrikes kill dozens as calls for Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks grow

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Fatalities in last 24 hours come amid public anger over mistaken killing of three hostages by Israeli forces

Airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 100 people over the last 24 hours, as Israel’s leadership faces growing international pressure for a ceasefire and calls at home to resume hostage negotiations after the Israeli army shot and killed three men kidnapped by Hamas.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said on Sunday that at least 90 people had been killed by Israeli bombardment in the Jabalia camp in the north, and another 12 had died in bombings in the central city of Deir al-Balah, as fighting was reported in several parts of Gaza.

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MP Layla Moran fears family trapped in Gaza church ‘will not survive until Christmas’

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Oxford and Abingdon MP’s extended family among those sheltering in besieged Holy Family church in Gaza City

“I fear my family under siege by Israeli forces in a church in Gaza will not survive until Christmas, between the snipers and the lack of water.”

Those were the stark words of Layla Moran, the MP for Oxford and Abingdon whose extended Christian Palestinian family members are among those who have been trapped inside the Holy Family church complex in Gaza City for 60 days.

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Two-state solution would mean relocating 200,000 settlers, says Israeli lawyer who has David Cameron’s ear

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Lawyer who has advised foreign secretary says Israel has the capacity, but not the will, to relocate even one settler

Nearly 200,000 of the 700,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank would have to be relocated to Israel to create a viable Palestinian state, according to an Israeli lawyer from whom the UK foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, has sought advice on his visits to Israel.

Cameron has said he realises reaching a two-state solution would be tough, but he has not spelled out the practical consequences in terms of borders, including the need to persuade so many Israelis to relocate.

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Fears grow of all-out Israel-Hezbollah war as fighting escalates

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Many in Israel see Hezbollah as a greater threat than Hamas and consider a new war in Lebanon to be inevitable

When the news first broke of the Hamas attack early on 7 October, Itai Reuveni and the other reservists in his paratrooper battalion packed their bags and arrived at their muster point well before their call-up came from the army.

The paratroopers did not head south to Gaza but to the northern border, where they believed a far greater threat than Hamas was poised to join the fight: Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement backed by Tehran.

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More than 60 people presumed dead after boat sinks off Libya, says UN

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Victims were from Nigeria, the Gambia and other African countries and included women and children, UN agency says

Dozens of people are missing and presumed dead after their boat sank off Libya’s coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said, in the latest migration tragedy off north Africa.

The 61 people are believed to have died because of high waves, which swamped their vessel after it left from Zuwara, on Libya’s north-west coast, the IOM’s Libya office said in a statement on Saturday.

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Pro-Palestine rally leaders credit public ‘pressure’ with Labor’s shift on Gaza

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Change of heart on ceasefire shows ‘collective action is working’, Sydney protest speaker says

Speakers at Sydney’s pro-Palestine rally have said public outcry against the war in Gaza has pushed the Albanese government to shift its position and back calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, while criticising Labor for not calling for a permanent end to the conflict.

On Wednesday Australia joined 152 other nations in voting in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in an emergency session of the United Nations general assembly. The move followed Australia’s decision in late October to abstain from casting a vote on a similar motion.

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Israel-Gaza war: UK and Germany call for ‘sustainable’ ceasefire

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UK foreign minister David Cameron and German counterpart Annalena Baerbock say goal must be peace lasting ‘generations’

The foreign secretary, David Cameron, has called for a “sustainable” ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, as he warned that “too many civilians have been killed” by Israel in spite of its right to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas.

In a significant shift in tone by the UK government, Cameron, in a joint article with the German foreign affairs minister Annalena Baerbock, wrote: “Our goal cannot simply be an end to fighting today. It must be peace lasting for days, years, generations. We therefore support a ceasefire, but only if it is sustainable.

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MP Layla Moran’s family trapped inside Catholic church in Gaza City

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‘Beyond desperate and terrified’ relatives among hundreds inside compound amid bombing by Israeli forces

An MP’s relatives have been trapped alongside hundreds of other civilians in a Catholic church in Gaza City since almost the start of the conflict, and the situation has only grown more dire in recent days.

Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford and Abingdon, told the BBC that some of her Christian Palestinian extended family – a grandmother, her son, his wife and their 11-year-old twins – sought refuge inside the Holy Family Church complex after their home was bombed in the first week of the war.

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USAid contractor and family killed in Israeli Gaza airstrike, agency says

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Deaths of Hani Jnena, 32, wife and daughters aged 2 and 4 led NGO to call for Biden to demand Israeli accountability

A contractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAid) in Gaza was killed with his wife and two daughters aged four and two in an Israeli airstrike in November, his employer said on Saturday.

“We are deeply saddened to confirm the tragic loss of our colleague, Hani Jnena (33), along with his family in Gaza, including his wife, Abeer (32), and their two young daughters, Mariam and Zayna, aged 4 and 2,” the non-profit organization Global Communities, which partners with governments and private-sector entities for humanitarian work, said in a statement.

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Three killed while repairing ancient wall at Unesco world heritage site in Tunisia

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Two other workers were injured when a 30m section of wall around the Old City of Kairouan gave way while being restored

A section of the ancient walls around the Old City of Kairouan collapsed on Saturday, killing three masons carrying out repairs on the Unesco world heritage site, Tunisian authorities said.

In addition two workers were injured when a 30-metre (100ft) section of the 6-metre-high walls near the Gate of the Floggers crashed to the ground, the Civil Protection department said.

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