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Blinken heads to Middle East for 11th time since Gaza war, truce prospects uncertain

Blinken heads to Middle East for 11th time since Gaza war, truce prospects uncertain
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's trip to the Middle East marks his eleventh since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered the Gaza war. (File/AFP)
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Updated 21 October 2024

Blinken heads to Middle East for 11th time since Gaza war, truce prospects uncertain

Blinken heads to Middle East for 11th time since Gaza war, truce prospects uncertain
  • The latest trip comes as Israel intensifies military campaign in Gaza and in Lebanon against Hezbollah
  • Blinken to discuss with regional leaders importance of ending Gaza war and ways to chart post-war plan

WASHINGTON DC: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading again to the Middle East, making his 11th trip to the region since the war in Gaza erupted last year and as Israel steps up attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The State Department said Blinken would depart Monday for a weeklong trip to Israel and a number of Arab countries on a visit that also comes as Israel weighs retaliation against Iran for a ballistic missile attack earlier this month. His other stops are likely to include Jordan, 黑料社区, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, officials say.
The trip had been expected after President Joe Biden said last week he would dispatch Blinken to the region following Israel鈥檚 killing of Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar, a move that some believe could open a window for new talks on a ceasefire proposal that has been languishing for months.
In Israel on Tuesday, Blinken will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, according to Israeli officials.
鈥淪ecretary Blinken will discuss the importance of bringing the war in Gaza to an end, securing the release of all hostages, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people,鈥 State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
In the region, Blinken will discuss planning for when the conflict ends and 鈥渢he need to chart a new path forward that enables Palestinians to rebuild their lives,鈥 Miller added.
He said Blinken also would underscore the need for a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, something that Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials last week. That letter reminded Israel that the Biden administration could be forced by US law to curtail some forms of military aid should the delivery of humanitarian assistance continue to be hindered.
In addition to the conflict in Gaza, Blinken will also raise the importance the administration places on reaching a diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and elsewhere.
鈥淗e will reaffirm the US commitment to work with partners across the region to de-escalate tensions and provide lasting stability,鈥 Miller said in the statement.
Since the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the Israeli response, Blinken has traveled to the Middle East 10 other times seeking an end to the crisis. His previous trips have yielded little in the way of ending hostilities, but he has managed to increase aid deliveries to Gaza in the past.
Since just last month, the situation has grown increasingly tense, sparking renewed fears of a wider regional war, particularly since Israel began ground operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah and killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive airstrike in the Beirut suburbs.
Iran has responded to Israeli attacks against its proxies with ballistic missile launches, the latest of which Israel has yet to retaliate for. Biden administration officials have cautioned Israel about its planned retaliation and believe they have won assurances from Israeli leaders that they will not hit nuclear or oil facilities.
However, Netanyahu has said repeatedly that while Israel will listen to American advice, his country will act in its own national interest. And previous US warnings about escalation have gone unheeded.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden was 鈥渄eeply concerned鈥 about the unauthorized release of classified documents on Israel鈥檚 preparation for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday. US officials said an investigation is underway.


798 people killed while receiving aid in Gaza, says UN human rights office

798 people killed while receiving aid in Gaza, says UN human rights office
Updated 4 sec ago

798 people killed while receiving aid in Gaza, says UN human rights office

798 people killed while receiving aid in Gaza, says UN human rights office
  • Killings both at aid points run by the US- and Israeli-backed group and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief bodies
GENEVA: The UN human rights office said on Friday that it had recorded at least 798 killings both at aid points run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief groups, including the UN.
The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel says had let militants divert aid.
The United Nations has called the plan 鈥渋nherently unsafe鈥 and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules.
鈥淯p until the seventh of July, we鈥檝e recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,鈥 OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May and has repeatedly denied that incidents had occurred at its sites.

Kurdish PKK militants begin handing over weapons in cave in Iraq

Kurdish PKK militants begin handing over weapons in cave in Iraq
Updated 8 min 21 sec ago

Kurdish PKK militants begin handing over weapons in cave in Iraq

Kurdish PKK militants begin handing over weapons in cave in Iraq
  • Disarmament ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party from armed insurgency to democratic politics
  • Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said peace efforts with the Kurds would gain momentum after the PKK begin laying down its weapons

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq: Dozens of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants began handing over weapons in a ceremony in a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, officials said, marking a symbolic but significant step toward ending a decades-long insurgency against Turkiye.

Helicopters hovered above the mountain where the disarmament process got underway, with dozens of Iraqi Kurdish security forces surrounding the area, a Reuters witness said.

The PKK, locked in conflict with the Turkish state and outlawed since 1984, decided in May to disband, disarm and end its separatist struggle after a public call to do so from its long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.

After a series of failed peace efforts, the new initiative could pave the way for Ankara to end an insurgency that has killed over 40,000 people, burdened the economy and wrought deep social and political divisions in Turkiye and the wider region.

The ceremony was held inside the Jasana cave in the town of Dukan, 60 kilometers northwest of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq鈥檚 north, according to an Iraqi security official and another regional government official.

Around 40 PKK militants and one commander were to hand over their weapons, people familiar with the plan said. It was unclear when further handovers would take place.

The PKK has been based in northern Iraq after being pushed well beyond Turkiye鈥檚 southeastern frontier in recent years. Turkiye鈥檚 military has regularly carried out operations and strikes on PKK bases in the region and established several military outposts there.

No footage of the ceremony has been made available yet, but Turkish broadcasters have been showing the crowds gathered near Sulaymaniyah and landscapes of the mountainous region as part of their coverage of what they said was a historic moment.

The arms are to be destroyed later in another ceremony attended by Turkish and Iraqi intelligence figures, officials of Iraq鈥檚 Kurdistan regional government, and senior members of Turkiye鈥檚 pro-Kurdish DEM party 鈥 which also played a key role in facilitating the PKK鈥檚 disarmament decision.

Next steps

The PKK, DEM and Ocalan have all called on Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan鈥檚 government to address Kurdish demands for more rights in regions where Kurds form a majority, particularly the southeast where the insurgency was concentrated.

In a rare online video published on Wednesday, Ocalan also urged Turkiye鈥檚 parliament to set up a commission to oversee disarmament and manage the broader peace process.

Ankara has taken steps toward forming the commission, while the DEM and Ocalan have said that legal assurances and certain mechanisms were needed to smooth the PKK鈥檚 transition into democratic politics.

Omer Celik, a spokesman for Erdogan鈥檚 AK Party, said the disarmament process should not be allowed to drag on longer than a few months to avoid it becoming subject to provocations.

Erdogan has said the disarmament will enable the rebuilding of Turkiye鈥檚 southeast.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said Turkiye spent nearly $1.8 trillion over the past five decades combating terrorism, endorsing the peace steps as an economic boon.

The end of NATO member Turkiye鈥檚 conflict with the PKK could have consequences across the region, including in neighboring Syria where the United States is allied with Syrian Kurdish forces that Ankara deems a PKK offshoot.

Washington and Ankara want those Kurds to quickly integrate with Syria鈥檚 security structure, which has been undergoing reconfiguration since the fall in December of autocratic President Bashar Assad. PKK disarmament could add to this pressure, analysts say.


Gaza civil defense says Israeli strikes kill six

Gaza civil defense says Israeli strikes kill six
Updated 11 July 2025

Gaza civil defense says Israeli strikes kill six

Gaza civil defense says Israeli strikes kill six
  • In central Gaza on Friday, the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said it received several casualties after Israeli forces had opened fire at civilians near an aid distribution point

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Gaza鈥檚 civil defense agency said Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least six people in the Palestinian territory鈥檚 north, including five at a school-turned-shelter.

鈥淔ive martyrs and others injured in an Israeli strike on Halima Al-Saadia School, which was sheltering displaced persons in Jabalia Al-Nazla, northern Gaza,鈥 the agency said in a brief statement.

In a separate strike on Gaza City, to the south, the agency said at least one person was killed and several others wounded.

In central Gaza on Friday, the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said it received several casualties after Israeli forces had opened fire at civilians near an aid distribution point.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations in the Gaza Strip as the war against Hamas militants entered its 22nd month.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.

A Palestinian speaking to AFP from southern Gaza on condition of anonymity said there were ongoing attacks and widespread devastation, with Israeli tanks seen near the city of Khan Yunis.

鈥淭he situation remains extremely difficult in the area 鈥 intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land to the south, west and north of Al-Maslakh,鈥 an area to Khan Yunis鈥檚 south, said the witness.


Francesca Albanese, UN investigator and critic of Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza, shocked by US sanctions

Francesca Albanese, UN investigator and critic of Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza, shocked by US sanctions
Updated 11 July 2025

Francesca Albanese, UN investigator and critic of Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza, shocked by US sanctions

Francesca Albanese, UN investigator and critic of Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza, shocked by US sanctions
  • Francesca Albanese: The powerful are trying to silence me for defending those without any power of their own
  • Albanese accuses US officials of receiving Israeli leader with honor and standing side-by-side with someone facing an arrest warrant

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina: An independent UN investigator and outspoken critic of Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza said Thursday that 鈥渋t was shocking鈥 to learn that the Trump administration had imposed sanctions on her but defiantly stood by her view on the war.

Francesca Albanese said in an interview with The Associated Press that the powerful were trying to silence her for defending those without any power of their own, 鈥渙ther than standing and hoping not to die, not to see their children slaughtered.鈥

鈥淭his is not a sign of power, it鈥檚 a sign of guilt,鈥 the Italian human rights lawyer said.

The State Department鈥檚 decision to impose sanctions on Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, followed an unsuccessful US pressure campaign to force the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the UN鈥檚 top human rights body, to remove her from her post.

She is tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories and has been vocal about what she has described as the 鈥済enocide鈥 by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the US have strongly denied that accusation.

鈥淎lbanese鈥檚 campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,鈥 Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on social media. 鈥淲e will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.鈥

The US announced the sanctions Wednesday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Washington to meet with President Donald Trump and other officials about reaching a ceasefire deal in the war in Gaza. Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which accuses him of crimes against humanity in his military offensive in Gaza.

In the interview, Albanese accused American officials of receiving Netanyahu with honor and standing side-by-side with someone wanted by the ICC, a court that neither the US nor Israel is a member of or recognizes. Trump imposed sanctions on the court in February.

鈥淲e need to reverse the tide, and in order for it to happen 鈥 we need to stand united,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey cannot silence us all. They cannot kill us all. They cannot fire us all.鈥

Albanese stressed that the only way to win is to get rid of fear and to stand up for the Palestinians and their right to an independent state.

The Trump administration鈥檚 stand 鈥渋s not normal,鈥 she said at the Sarajevo airport. She also defiantly repeated, 鈥淣o one is free until Palestine is free.鈥

Albanese was en route to Friday鈥檚 30th anniversary commemoration of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica where more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in a UN-protected safe zone were killed when it was overrun by Bosnian Serbs.

The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Constitutional Rights opposed the US move.

鈥淭he imposition of sanctions on special rapporteurs is a dangerous precedent鈥 and 鈥渋s unacceptable,鈥 UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

While Albanese reports to the Human Rights Council 鈥 not Secretary-General Antonio Guterres 鈥 the US and any other UN member are entitled to disagree with reports by the independent rapporteurs, 鈥渂ut we encourage them to engage with the UN human rights architecture.鈥

Trump announced the US was withdrawing from the council in February.

The war between Israel and Hamas began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people captive. Israel鈥檚 retaliatory campaign has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead but does not specify how many were fighters or civilians.

Nearly 21 months into the conflict that displaced the vast majority of Gaza鈥檚 2.3 million people, the UN says hunger is rampant after a lengthy Israeli blockade on food entering the territory and medical care is extremely limited.


ICC warns of worsening atrocities in Darfur, cites evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity

ICC warns of worsening atrocities in Darfur, cites evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity
Updated 11 July 2025

ICC warns of worsening atrocities in Darfur, cites evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity

ICC warns of worsening atrocities in Darfur, cites evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity
  • Court鈥檚 deputy prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, tells UN Security Council the humanitarian situation in the region has reached an 鈥榠ntolerable鈥 level
  • 鈥楶eople are being deprived of food and water. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized. Abductions have become common practice,鈥 she says

NEW YORK CITY: The International Criminal Court has 鈥渞easonable grounds to believe鈥 that war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Darfur, its deputy prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

The humanitarian situation in the region has reached an 鈥渋ntolerable鈥 level, he warned.

Speaking in New York, Khan described an escalating crisis marked by widespread famine, targeted attacks on hospitals and aid convoys, and sexual violence.

鈥淧eople are being deprived of food and water,鈥 she said. 鈥淩ape and sexual violence are being weaponized. Abductions have become common practice. Things can still get worse.鈥

Her comments came amid escalating violence in Sudan鈥檚 Darfur region, where the Rapid Support Forces, one of two main rival military factions in the country, and allied groups have been accused of targeting civilians at displacement camps such as Zamzam and Abu Shouk, and during attacks on the regional capital, Al-Fashir.

Khan said the findings of the ICC were based on extensive evidence gathered from various sources over the past six months, including field missions to refugee camps in Chad, and cooperation with civil society organizations and UN fact-finding agencies.

鈥淲e have collected over 7,000 evidence items, documentary, testimonial and digital, supporting our conclusion,鈥 she added.

Highlighting gender-based crimes as a key focus of the investigations, Khan detailed ongoing efforts to increase the visibility of such violations, which remain 鈥渦nderreported and insufficiently recognized.鈥

A dedicated team is working with Darfuri women and girls to gather testimonies of sexual violence, she said, adding: 鈥淭here is an inescapable pattern of offending targeting gender and ethnicity through rape and sexual violence. These crimes are being given particular priority.鈥

There were signs of growing cooperation with the court from the Sudanese government, including a recent visit to Port Sudan that allowed investigators to identify potential new witnesses, Khan said, and a second visit is planned in the near future.

But she urged Sudanese authorities to take bolder steps, particularly in the execution of ICC warrants for the arrest of senior officials, including the former president, Omar Bashir, as well as Ahmad Harun and Abdul Raheem Mohammed Hussein, former officials wanted by the ICC over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Darfur conflict of the early 2000s.

鈥淭ransferring Mr. Harun now would carry exceptional weight,鈥 Khan said. She noted that the charges against him closely resemble those at the heart of another ongoing case, against Ali Mohammed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, a former Janjaweed militia leader accused by the ICC of orchestrating war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Darfur conflict. A verdict in that case is expected this year.

Khan urged the Security Council and the wider international community to act collectively to address the crisis and break what she described as a 鈥渟eemingly never-ending cycle of violence fueled by impunity.鈥

She added: 鈥淓very single state here is appalled by what is happening in Darfur. Let us take our report as a blueprint. With your support, we can not only deliver justice but prevent this cycle of violence.鈥

Despite mounting challenges, including limited resources and obstruction on the ground, Khan said the ICC remains determined to pursue accountability in Darfur.

鈥淲e need your support now more than ever before,鈥 she said. Though the ICC鈥檚 progress is 鈥渘ever sufficient, relative to the scale of the suffering,鈥 if it can be reinforced through international support, 鈥渏ustice delivered collectively can reduce suffering and lay foundations for peace,鈥 Khan added.

鈥淚f we can come together, if we can agree that such suffering needs the support of all those who are able to provide it, I believe the present crisis can ultimately demonstrate how justice delivered collectively can set the foundations for the reduction of suffering and the beginning of work towards peace.鈥