Slovenia urges more countries to follow its lead and recognize Palestinian statehood

Update Appeal to the international community followed an informal, high-level meeting, chaired by Slovenia in its role as president of the UN Security Council this month, between council members and the secretary-general and other representatives of the Arab League. (SPA)
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Appeal to the international community followed an informal, high-level meeting, chaired by Slovenia in its role as president of the UN Security Council this month, between council members and the secretary-general and other representatives of the Arab League. (SPA)
Update Prince Faisal took part in an Arab League troika meeting, which included the Kingdom, Bahrain and Iraq, with the member states of the council chaired by Slovenia on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. (SPA)
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Prince Faisal took part in an Arab League troika meeting, which included the Kingdom, Bahrain and Iraq, with the member states of the council chaired by Slovenia on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. (SPA)
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Updated 27 September 2024

Slovenia urges more countries to follow its lead and recognize Palestinian statehood

Slovenia urges more countries to follow its lead and recognize Palestinian statehood
  • It follows meeting, chaired by the country’s foreign minister, between members of the UN Security Council and representatives of the Arab League
  • Arab participants back US and French proposal for 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, say Arab Peace Initiative deal remains on the table for Israel

WASHINGTON: Slovenia’s foreign minister on Thursday called for an end to Israel’s wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and for peace in the wider Middle East.

Tanja Fajon also urged more countries to follow in the footsteps of her nation by recognizing Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, and called on the Israeli government to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupies, follow the rules of international law and respect the UN Charter.

Her appeal to the international community followed an informal, high-level meeting, chaired by Slovenia in its role as president of the UN Security Council this month, between council members and the secretary-general and other representatives of the Arab League.

Of the 193 members of the UN, 146 now formally recognize Palestinian statehood. Slovenia became one of them in June, following a vote in which 52 members of its parliament voted in favor and none against. Norway, Spain and Ireland similarly recognized Palestinian statehood in May.

“I urge other countries to follow our example and recognize the Palestinian state as a sovereign state, an independent state, and give a hope to the Palestinian population,” said Fajon.

Regarding Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, the first anniversary of which is approaching, and the recent escalation of hostilities against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Fajon said she was very concerned about the possibility that hostilities might spread across the region.

She said Slovenia has called for restraint and peace since the beginning of the conflict and added: “It’s our collective responsibility to respect the resolutions of the Security Council and to do everything in our power to have a political solution because there is no military solution that can bring peace to the region.”

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7 last year, many of them women and children, and thousands have been injured.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general of the Arab League, said that overall, the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, had been “constructive.”

The participants included representatives from , Bahrain and Iraq, the current members of the Arab Summit Troika, a rotating group of three nations that monitors the implementation of resolutions and commitments adopted by the Arab League.

He said the Arab representatives listened to the views expressed during the meeting and highlighted the need for an end to hostilities in Lebanon and support for the current proposal by the US and France for a 21-day ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.

They also discussed with members of Security Council the current situations in Gaza and Lebanon and reiterated that the Saudi-proposed Arab Peace Initiative endorsed by an Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002 remains on the table for Israel.

It calls for Israeli authorities to withdraw from all occupied Arab territories in Palestine and the Golan Heights in Syria, in exchange for full recognition of the State of Israel and full diplomatic ties with all Arab nations.

Aboul Gheit said the meeting provided “an opportunity to show the members of the Security Council and the rest of the UN that the Arab world and Arab countries are still insisting on offering Israel the Arab Peace Initiative that (includes) recognition (of Israel in exchange for) withdrawal” from occupied Arab territories.


US biker gang running security at contentious Gaza aid sites 

US biker gang running security at contentious Gaza aid sites 
Updated 49 min 40 sec ago

US biker gang running security at contentious Gaza aid sites 

US biker gang running security at contentious Gaza aid sites 
  • GHF has come under international scrutiny because of the hundreds of Palestinians that have been killed while seeking assistance at its distribution sites
  • Edward Ahmed Mitchell: Putting the Infidels biker club in charge of delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza is like putting the Ku Klux Klan in charge of delivering humanitarian aid in Sudan

LONDON: Members of an anti-Islamic US biker gang are running security at contentious Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites in the besieged enclave.

Infidels Motorcycle Club members are working for UG Solutions, a private contractor that provides security for GHF in Gaza, a BBC report has revealed.

GHF has come under international scrutiny because of the hundreds of Palestinians that have been killed while seeking assistance at its distribution sites

The biker gang Infidels MC was set up by US military veterans of the Iraq war in 2006 and members comport themselves as latter-day crusaders.

“Putting the Infidels biker club in charge of delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza is like putting the Ku Klux Klan in charge of delivering humanitarian aid in Sudan. It makes no sense whatsoever,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a leading Muslim civil rights organization in the US.

“It’s bound to lead to violence, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen happen in Gaza.”

The motorbike gang’s leader, Johnny “Taz” Mulford, is a former sergeant in the US Army and is now the “country team leader” running UG Solutions’ contract in Gaza.

Social media posts show that in May, just two weeks before traveling to Gaza, Mulford sought to recruit US military veterans who follow him on Facebook, inviting anyone who “can still shoot, move and communicate” to apply.

At least 40 of about 320 people hired to work for UG Solutions in Gaza were recruited from Infidels MC, according to an estimate by a former contractor.

UG Solutions is paying each contractor $980 per day, including expenses, rising to $1,580 per day for team leaders at GHF’s “safe distribution sites.”

One leader of a team in Gaza overseeing site security, Josh Miller, posted a photo of a group of contractors in Gaza with a banner reading “Make Gaza Great Again.”

Motorbike gang leader Mulford has the date 1095 tattooed across his chest. He has a crusader cross tattooed on his right forearm and another on his left upper arm along with the word “Infidels.”

“When you see anti-Muslim bigots today celebrating 1095, celebrating the crusades, they are celebrating the wholesale massacre of Muslims — the erasure of Muslims and Jews from the holy city of Jerusalem,” said Ahmed Mitchell from the US Muslim civil rights organization CAIR.

He said the gang bore all the hallmarks of anti-Muslim hate groups which for decades have used the name “Infidels.”

Scenes of chaos and pandemonium are commonplace at GHF distribution sites in Gaza. Up to the start of this month, 1,135 children, women and men have been killed near the sites while seeking food, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The UN has said most of the killings appear to have been carried out by Israeli security forces. Incidents where civilians were harmed while seeking aid are “under review by the competent authorities in the IDF,” the Israeli military said.

UGS has denied allegations that its security contractors also fired on civilians and that it put people seeking food in danger due to incompetent leadership. However, the company has also tellingly admitted that warning shots have been used to disperse crowds.


Nine dead, 118 wounded in Israeli strikes on rebel-held Yemen: Houthis

Nine dead, 118 wounded in Israeli strikes on rebel-held Yemen: Houthis
Updated 33 min 41 sec ago

Nine dead, 118 wounded in Israeli strikes on rebel-held Yemen: Houthis

Nine dead, 118 wounded in Israeli strikes on rebel-held Yemen: Houthis
  • “Ambulances and rescue teams are still searching for the missing,” Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi posted on X
  • Sanaa residents said the attack was on a hideout between two mountains

SANAA: At least nine people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Israeli strikes on Yemen’s capital Sanaa and Jawf province on Wednesday, the militants said in a statement.
“The death toll has reached nine martyrs and 118 wounded in a preliminary tally as civil defense, ambulances and rescue teams are still searching for the missing,” Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi posted on X.
Israel struck Sanaa on Wednesday, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said, in an attack that witnesses said targeted the Houthi defense ministry.

Israeli media said Israel was carrying out strikes on Yemen but there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Sanaa residents told Reuters the attack was on a hideout between two mountains that is used as a command and control headquarters. The extent of any damage was not immediately clear.

Israeli army radio said that among the targets of the attack were the Houthi headquarters and military camps.

The strikes are the latest in more than a year of attacks and counterstrikes between Israel and Houthi militants in Yemen, part of a spillover from the war in Gaza.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked vessels in the Red Sea in what they describe as acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

They have also fired missiles toward Israel, most of which have been intercepted. Israel has responded with strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the vital Hodeidah port.


Missing limbs and loved ones, Gazan children begin treatment journey abroad

Missing limbs and loved ones, Gazan children begin treatment journey abroad
Updated 10 September 2025

Missing limbs and loved ones, Gazan children begin treatment journey abroad

Missing limbs and loved ones, Gazan children begin treatment journey abroad
  • Omar was the lone survivor of an Israeli airstrike that flattened his grandparents’ home in Gaza in December 2023, killing his parents, sister and extended family
  • Fourteen-year-old Amir Hajjaj only remembers snapshots of the night his world changed: a red flash, an explosion, then silence

BEIRUT: Six-year-old Omar Abu Kuwaik still believes that by his next birthday, his missing hand will have grown back.
He is one of thousands of Palestinian children who have lost limbs and loved ones in Israel’s bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip.
“It’ll be big again when I turn seven,” he tells his aunt, softly rubbing his left arm, which ends just below his elbow.
Omar was the lone survivor of an Israeli airstrike that flattened his grandparents’ home in Gaza in December 2023, killing his parents, sister and extended family.
He is among a small group of Gazan families who arrived in the Lebanese capital Beirut earlier this month for medical treatment.
His aunt Maha Abu Kuwaik says he now calls her “mama.”
“He’s scared of everything now — sleep, doctors, any loud sound. He asks me not to be sad. ‘Smile, Mama,’ he says. ‘I don’t like it when people cry’,” she told Reuters, her voice cracking.
Omar was pulled from the rubble with severe burns, a shattered leg, and his left hand already severed by the blast.
With Gaza’s hospitals in ruins, Maha sought help from the World Health Organization, which helped evacuate Omar to Egypt for basic treatment before his transfer to Lebanon.
Maha had to leave her own children in Gaza to accompany Omar.
“It was the hardest decision of my life — to leave my sons in a war zone,” she said. “But Omar had no one else. I couldn’t leave him.”
Doctors in Beirut are now considering a prosthetic hand and reconstructive surgery for Omar.

’YOU’RE A HERO’
Fourteen-year-old Amir Hajjaj only remembers snapshots of the night his world changed: a red flash, an explosion, then silence.
“I was just sitting on a chair,” he said softly, “then everything turned red, and I was on the ground. I didn’t even know what happened.”
An Israeli strike hit his family’s home in northern Gaza in late 2023. Shrapnel pierced both his shoulders, his leg, and his hand. He bled for hours as Israeli tanks shelled their street during their escape, Amir’s older sister Alaa said.
“He kept saying, ‘Leave me, save yourselves’,” Alaa recalled. “But how could I leave him behind?“
Amir bled for four days in an overcrowded hospital. By the time doctors got to him, it was too late to save the fingers of his right hand.
He was evacuated to Cairo, where the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund later arranged for his transfer to Beirut. He is now awaiting nerve treatment and physiotherapy.
“He tries to hide his hand in photos. I tell him, ‘You’re a hero,’” Alaa told Reuters.
At least 45,000 children have been wounded in Gaza, many of them suffering life-changing injuries, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Over 18,000 children have been killed in the war, among a total death toll of 64,000, it said.
Israel began its offensive in Gaza after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a cross-border attack into Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israel. It controls all entry and exit from the enclave and is pursuing an offensive in Gaza City despite mounting international pressure.
More recent efforts to evacuate civilians have repeatedly stalled due to relentless airstrikes, decimated infrastructure and shifting Israeli evacuation routes.
Olfat Abdulkarim Abdallah, a mother of three, arrived in Lebanon with her two wounded daughters: Mays, 5, who has three fractures and a torn nerve in her leg, and Aya, 7, who lost her right leg.
An Israeli strike tore through their home in Gaza on November 8, 2023. “I didn’t even hear the explosion,” Olfat said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I only heard Aya scream. Mays didn’t make a sound. She just looked down at the blood pouring out of her.”
Olfat clings to the hope that her daughters’ pain might finally give way to healing. Doctors at the American University of Beirut Medical Center and the Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund said Aya will need a new limb, while Mays might walk again with physiotherapy alone.
“I’m holding onto the possibility that this treatment will give them a better life than the horrors they’ve lived,” their mother said.


Qatar digs through the rubble of Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha

A picture taken from a distance shows in the background the damaged building housing members of Hamas's political bureau.
A picture taken from a distance shows in the background the damaged building housing members of Hamas's political bureau.
Updated 10 September 2025

Qatar digs through the rubble of Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha

A picture taken from a distance shows in the background the damaged building housing members of Hamas's political bureau.
  • Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that its top leaders survived the strike but that five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil Al-Hayya

DOHA: Qatari security forces and emergency fire personnel deployed Wednesday around the site of an Israeli attack the previous day on Hamas’ political leaders who had gathered in Doha to consider a US proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Tuesday’s strike on a building in the Qatari capital killed at least six people in a neighborhood that is home to foreign embassies and schools.
The strike on the territory of a US ally drew widespread condemnation from countries in the Mideast and beyond. It also marked a dramatic escalation in the region and risked upending talks aimed at ending the war and freeing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
At least 10 bombs used
An Israeli official said at least 10 bombs were used in the raid. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the attack, the official said about 10 planes participated in the mission and dropped about 10 missiles.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he had made the decision on Monday to carry out the strike. The official did not know how long the mission had been planned, but said the timing was connected to “operational opportunity” — with Israel knowing that many Hamas officials would be gathered in an area relatively easy to hit without threatening Qatari civilians.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, called out Netanyahu over the attack.
“Such hostile behavior reflects only the barbarism of Netanyahu,” the minister said while consoling the family of a Qatari security official killed in Israel’s strike, according to the Foreign Ministry. He added that Netanyahu “was pushing the region toward irreparable instability, undermining international laws and frameworks.”
Sheikh Mohammed also “criticized Netanyahu for previously declaring intentions to reshape the Middle East, questioning whether this was also meant as a threat to reshape the Arabian Gulf,” the statement said.
At the scene of the attack
From a distance beyond the security cordon, the buildings that had housed the Hamas leadership in Doha could be seen still standing. But one room in particular appeared to have been the target of the strike — its walls had collapsed, and gray rubble could be seen inside.
Security forces and emergency personnel surrounded the site and blocked traffic.
A gas station to one side did not appear to have suffered any fire damage. The windows of the building next to the one targeted remained intact.
Israel hasn’t specified what it used to carry out the strike, beyond saying it employed precision-guided weapons meant to minimize collateral damage.
Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that its top leaders survived the strike but that five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil Al-Hayya — Hamas’ leader for Gaza and its top negotiator — as well as three bodyguards and the head of Al-Hayya’s office. Hamas, which has sometimes only confirmed the assassination of its leaders months later, offered no immediate proof that Al-Hayya and other senior figures had survived.
Hitting an American ally
Qatar maintains a major arsenal of air defense systems, including both American-made Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD batteries. However, it didn’t immediately appear that Qatari air defenses engaged during the attack, which occurred just before 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Sheikh Mohammed said Tuesday that “the Israeli enemy used weapons that were not detected by radar.”
He did not elaborate but the statement suggests Israeli fighter jets could have launched so-called “stand-off” missiles at a distance to strike the site without actually entering Qatari airspace.
The United States has said it warned Qatar before the strike. Qatar disputes that, with Sheikh Mohammed saying that “the Americans sent a message 10 minutes after the attacks took place, saying they were informed that there was going to be a missile attack on the state of Qatar.”
Qatar is also home to the US military’s forward headquarters for its Mideast-based Central Command. The headquarters, located at the sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base, also has American-run radars and defense systems and recently hosted US President Donald Trump on his tour of the region in May.
Qatar’s advisory Shoura Council condemned what it described as a “criminal, treacherous and cowardly attack” which it said “represents a flagrant and ongoing breach of all international laws and norms.”
Stalled Gaza talks
The leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the ruler of Abu Dhabi, traveled Wednesday to Qatar.
In recent days, the UAE warned Israel that any effort to annex the West Bank, part of land the Palestinians want for their future state, would be a “red line” that would threaten the Abraham Accords.
Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, welcomed Sheikh Mohammed.
The state-run Qatar News Agency said Sheikh Tamim held a series of calls with world leaders, including Trump.
Sheikh Tamim condemned the attack and according to a readout of the call, said that Qatar holds Israel “responsible for its repercussions, in light of the policy of aggression they adopt that threatens the region’s stability and obstructs efforts to de-escalate and reach sustainable diplomatic solutions.”


UNHCR warns of humanitarian funding shortfall as Zakat App offers direct aid to refugees

UNHCR warns of humanitarian funding shortfall as Zakat App offers direct aid to refugees
Updated 10 September 2025

UNHCR warns of humanitarian funding shortfall as Zakat App offers direct aid to refugees

UNHCR warns of humanitarian funding shortfall as Zakat App offers direct aid to refugees
  • Kabbara told Arab News that 11 million people had lost access to essential services and assistance due to the shortage of funding for aid agencies such as UNHCR

SHARJAH: The world is facing its worst humanitarian crises with the least funding on record, UNHCR Communications Officer Khaled Kabbara warned on Wednesday, revealing that only 23 percent of the agency’s $10 billion appeal has been met this year.

Kabbara told Arab News that 11 million people had lost access to essential services and assistance due to the shortage of funding for aid agencies such as UNHCR. 

“We are only able to respond to either the needs of 23 percent of the people who are in urgent need of support, or to the 23 percent of the needs of these people. It is a situation that we have to endure, but we also command the courage of our colleagues,” he said.

“Unfortunately UNHCR in 2024 alone responded to over 43 emergencies in 27 countries, and hope is one of the most important things that we can try to highlight through our work.  

“Hope is one of the most important elements that really restores people’s faith in humanity, but also enables them to be inspired to continue their resilience and achieve greater and achieve a better world,” he said. 

Speaking at the International Government Communication Forum 2025 in Sharjah, Kabbara urged the audience not to underestimate the impact of their involvement, no matter how small.   

“It definitely adds up to the general efforts we run globally,” he said.

“Behind every number lies a person,” Kabbara said. “There is a story of a family who had to leave everything overnight and seek refuge in order to protect their loved ones.”

Kabbara was joined by Issa Al-Habib, a content creator, Jennifer Greco, account director at Adyen, and Maywand Jabarkhyl, CEO of the Fatima Bint Mohamed bin Zayed Initiative, at a panel discussion titled “Quality of Life for Refugees Starts with an Idea and a Mission.” 

Greco explained how Adyen, a payment service provider company, is working to develop a form of donation that is sustainable and makes it easy for customers to donate to refugees. 

“It’s about lowering the barrier for private companies so they can support refugees without the operational burden,” he said, adding that so far Adyen had collected $25 million globally and was committed to $100 million by 2030. 

Al-Habib, a content creator who partnered with the UNHCR in Ramadan, commended their Zakat program and said that it allowed him to directly support refugees in need.

“The app calculated my Zakat and showed me how to allocate it. It was so easy, and I knew exactly who I was helping,” he said. 

The UNHCR Refugee Zakat Fund App was officially launched in 2021. The platform was developed to facilitate Zakat and Sadaqah donations worldwide.