Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Gaza risks sliding into deadly limbo of ‘no war, no peace’, top Qatari diplomat warns

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Majed al-Ansari calls for international force to be set up urgently to pave way for Israeli withdrawal

Gaza risks sliding towards a deadly limbo where a ceasefire is nominally in place but killing continues, a top Qatari diplomat has warned, calling for rapid progress in setting up the international security force and administration to pave the way for full Israeli withdrawal.

“We don’t want to reach a situation of no war, no peace,” said Majed al-Ansari, adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and spokesperson for the foreign ministry.

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Egypt’s vast $1bn museum to open in Cairo after two-decade build

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Grand Egyptian Museum next to pyramids of Giza billed as world’s largest archaeological facility for single civilisation

A vast $1bn museum billed as the world’s largest archaeological facility dedicated to a single civilisation will open outside Cairo on Saturday, after countless delays over the course of its two-decade construction.

The Grand Egyptian Museum, located a mile away from the pyramids of Giza, covers an area of 470,000 sq metres. The complex was announced in 1992 but it was not until 2005 that construction began. Some areas of the museum opened in a soft launch in 2024.

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Hamas hands over bodies of two Israeli hostages amid fragile Gaza truce

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Remains of Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch returned to Israel for burial after identification process, Israeli military said

Hamas handed over two bodies of deceased Israeli hostages on Thursday, a day after the tenuous Gaza ceasefire was shaken by deadly Israeli strikes across the strip.

The bodies of the hostages Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch were returned to Israel for burial after an identification process was completed, the Israeli military said late on Thursday.

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UN leaders condemn ‘horrifying’ mass killings in Sudan

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Emergency security council session criticises killings of civilians in El Fasher and external supply of arms to RSF

Diplomats and senior UN figures speaking at the UN security council have condemned mass killings by the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher after the Sudanese city “descended into an even darker hell” following the paramilitary group’s takeover at the weekend.

Widespread reports of ethnically targeted killings in recent days prompted the UK, as the UN penholder on Sudan, to call an emergency session of the security council in New York on Thursday.

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Lebanese president orders army to confront Israeli incursions after deadly raid

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IDF says it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure when it fired at a ‘suspect’ and the incident is under review

Israeli troops have killed a Lebanese municipal worker while carrying out a raid in the south of the country, prompting Lebanon’s president to order the army to confront future incursions.

Lebanese state media identified the slain man as Ibrahim Salameh, an employee of the Blida municipality, a village near the border with Israel. The Israeli military confirmed the raid and said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure when it fired at a “suspect”. It said the incident was under review.

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UK rule change allows some Palestinian scholars to bring families from Gaza

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Previous visa policy had forced the students ‘to choose between their education and their family’

Some Palestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families with them from Gaza after the government announced it would consider case-by-case exemptions to its evacuation policy.

After lobbying by MPs and supporters, the UK government has said partners and children could be allowed to accompany students on government-backed Chevening scholarships or studying for longer research degrees, such as PhDs.

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‘They killed civilians in their beds’: chaos and brutality reign after fall of El Fasher

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Thousands have fled the North Darfur city in terror with stories of the Rapid Support Forces attacking and killing civilians

Nawal Khalil had been volunteering as a nurse for three years at El Fasher South hospital when the city was captured on Sunday by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was busy treating patients, including an elderly woman who needed a blood transfusion, when the attack began.

“They killed six wounded soldiers and civilians in their beds – some of them women,” she says. “I don’t know what happened to my other patients. I had to run when they stormed the hospital.”

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Hundreds reportedly killed at Sudanese hospital as evidence of RSF atrocities mounts

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Rapid Support Forces, which claimed control of El Fasher on Sunday, reportedly killed at least 460 people ‘in cold blood’

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces killed hundreds of patients and staff inside a hospital in El Fasher, according to the World Health Organization and the Sudan Doctors Network, after the paramilitary group claimed control of the city on Sunday.

The WHO secretary general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was “appalled and deeply shocked” at reports that more than 460 people had been killed at the Saudi maternity hospital, without assigning blame, in a post on X.

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Greek police increase security after protests against Israeli cruise ship

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Measures are being taken at the harbours of Patras and Katakolo after demonstrations earlier this week

Greek authorities have stepped up security in two harbours in an attempt to keep protesters away from a cruise liner carrying Israeli tourists on an 11-day tour around the Mediterranean.

The measures taken at Patras and Katakolo in the Peloponnese followed demonstrations when the MS Crown Iris docked at Kalamata earlier this week. In July passengers on the same ship were prevented from disembarking and it was forced to divert to Cyprus after local people staged a protest in support of Palestine on the Cycladic isle of Syros.

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Teenager from Gaza ‘stuck in hell’ after being prevented from joining mother in UK

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Dania Alafranji, 16, still waiting on visa from Home Office despite being offered school place in Berkshire 18 months ago

A teenager from Gaza who has been denied an opportunity to attend school in Britain and be reunited with her mother has said she is “stuck in hell”, despite other European countries making exceptions for students from the region.

Dania Alafranji, 16, was accepted on to the Nsouli Scholars Programme to attend Reddam House school in Berkshire more than 18 months ago, but has yet to receive a visa that would allow her to escape the war in Gaza, with her family saying that they feel helpless and have been “going in circles” trying to get her to Britain.

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Returned body parts were of Gaza hostage recovered two years ago, Israel says

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Netanyahu accuses Hamas of ‘clear violation’ of ceasefire as far-right ministers call for resumption of war

Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of a “clear violation” of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire, saying the militant group had returned body parts of a hostage whose remains Israeli troops had recovered two years before.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli. Hamas has yet to return 13 bodies.

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UK military equipment used by militia accused of genocide found in Sudan, UN told

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Exclusive: two dossiers of material seen by the security council raise questions over export of British arms to the UAE, which has been accused of supplying weapons to paramilitary RSF group

British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.

UK-manufactured small-arms target systems and British-made engines for armoured personnel carriers have been recovered from combat sites in a conflict that has now caused the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe.

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Hamas returns remains of Israeli hostage after Red Cross’s help in search

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Exclusive: Red Cross acts as ‘neutral intermediary’ to recover hostages’ remains in areas under Israeli control

The International Committee of the Red Cross has accompanied members of Hamas inside areas of Gaza still under the control of the Israeli military to facilitate the search for the bodies of Israeli hostages, as the Palestinian militant group delivered the remains of another captive.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli.

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Radiohead’s Thom Yorke says he would ‘absolutely not’ play in Israel now

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Singer says he will not perform in Israel while Benjamin Netanyahu remains in power, eight years after Radiohead defied criticism to perform in Tel Aviv

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has said he would not now perform in Israel, eight years after the band defied pro-Palestinian activists to play a show in Tel Aviv.

“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime,” he told the Sunday Times magazine, referring to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

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Turkey likely to be excluded from Gaza stabilisation force after Israeli objection

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Doubts over whether Ankara will be part of 5,000-strong force to be deployed to prevent postwar power vacuum

Turkey will probably be excluded from the 5,000-strong stabilisation force that is to be set up inside Gaza after Israel made clear it did not want Turkish troops taking part.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said it was a requirement that Israel is comfortable with the nationality of the multinational force, set up to prevent a security vacuum when the massive task of reconstruction in Gaza starts. Turkey has said it is willing to offer troops, but Israel has let it be known that it disapproves of Turkish troops taking part in the force.

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Palestinian factions say they agree to let independent technocrat committee run Gaza

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Administration will manage basic services ‘in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions’, says joint statement

The main Palestinian factions have said they have agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of Gaza after Hamas said it had received “clear guarantees” from mediators that “the war has effectively ended”.

A joint statement published on the Hamas website said the groups had agreed in a meeting in Cairo to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent ‘technocrats’, which will manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”.

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Scottish fire engine destined for West Bank may return after 15-month Israeli seizure

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Dundee firefighters request return of donated appliance to avoid Nablus officials having to pay £16,000 Ashdod holding fees

A fully equipped fire engine donated by Dundee firefighters to their counterparts in the West Bank city of Nablus could be sent back to Scotland after being impounded for more than a year by Israeli authorities.

Firefighters in Dundee, which is twinned with Nablus, have regularly donated kit, equipment and medical supplies to the West Bank over the past 15 years, as well as bringing Palestinian firefighters to Scotland for training.

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UK’s biggest weapons firm BAE grounds ‘lifeline’ aircraft delivering food aid

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Exclusive: In the year they announced record profits, Britain’s arms maker has revoked licence to fly for planes taking supplies of food to starving people in South Sudan, Somalia and DRC

Britain’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, has quietly scrapped support for a fleet of aircraft providing “life-saving” humanitarian aid to some of the world’s poorest countries.

The decision further reduces the distribution of vital aid to countries facing serious humanitarian crises, including South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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Palestine rights group seeks prosecution of UK citizens who fought for Israel

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Highly unusual court application alleges more than 10 individuals breached foreign enlistment laws

A human rights group has launched an attempt to mount a private prosecution alleging British citizens unlawfully went to fight for Israel.

An application to a magistrates court for a summons against a named individual was lodged on Monday.

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Vance says Knesset votes on annexing West Bank are an ‘insult’ as Netanyahu halts progress

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US vice-president suggests votes were ‘stupid political stunt’ as Israeli PM orders a stop to any further work on bills

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered a halt to the advancement of parliamentary bills linked to the annexation of the West Bank after the US vice-president, JD Vance, described a vote on two bills in the Knesset as an “insult”.

The bills applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, which would be tantamount to the annexation of land Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament on Wednesday, barely a week after Donald Trump pushed through a deal aimed at ending a two-year Israeli offensive in Gaza.

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