OIC condemns ‘horrific’ Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed dozens

OIC condemns ‘horrific’ Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed dozens
Palestinians mourn relatives, killed in an Israeli airstrike amid the continuing war between Israel and Palestinian militants. (AFP)
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Updated 14 December 2024

OIC condemns ‘horrific’ Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed dozens

OIC condemns ‘horrific’ Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed dozens
  • Statement: The act is an extension of organized terrorism and continuous genocide that has been ongoing against the Palestinian people

RIYADH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday denounced the killing of 33 Palestinians in a crowded Gaza camp as Israel continued its attacks on the enclave.
“The act is considered an extension of organized terrorism and continuous genocide that has been ongoing for more than fourteen months against the Palestinian people,” the organization said in an Arabic statement.
The attack, which the OIC called “horrific,” was on a post office in Nuseirat and follows a long list of Israeli attacks which have killed civilians in dense makeshift camps in the Gaza Strip. Israel claims to be targeting Palestinian militants in the strikes.
Relatives of the deceased wept and read verses of the Qur’an as they gathered at Al-Awda Hospital before burying their loved ones on Friday.
“Every time things happen and we say there will be a truce and we will rest... After that, they change their minds, they change their minds, we don’t know why,” Mattar said.
“They have killed the hope and optimism,” said Suheil Mattar, whose grandchildren and daughter-in-law were killed.
Gaza health officials said Friday that at least 44,875 people had been killed in more than 14 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants. Over 105,454 people have been wounded during the same period, according to the enclave’s health ministry.

— with input from Reuters


Israel expands Eli settlement, further fragmenting Palestinian territory in occupied West Bank

Israel expands Eli settlement, further fragmenting Palestinian territory in occupied West Bank
Updated 6 sec ago

Israel expands Eli settlement, further fragmenting Palestinian territory in occupied West Bank

Israel expands Eli settlement, further fragmenting Palestinian territory in occupied West Bank
  • Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission says aim of the expansion is to separate the central West Bank from its northern region
  • The settlement, located north of Ramallah on Highway 60, is built on land that belonged to Palestinians from the villages of Al-Sawiya, Al-Lubban and Qaryut

LONDON: Israeli authorities have approved plans to transform several large illegal outposts around the Eli settlement in the occupied West Bank into neighborhoods that expand the colony, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said Tuesday.

The settlement, located north of Ramallah on Highway 60, was built on lands that belonged to Palestinians from the villages of Al-Sawiya, Al-Lubban and Qaryut.

Muayyad Shaaban, the head of the commission, said the aim of the expansion was to separate the central West Bank from its northern region by creating “a colonial bloc” between the cities of Ramallah and Nablus.

Israel intends to build 50 housing units in a 0.86 hectare area inside Eli, plus 650 housing units in large illegal outposts east of Eli as part of two expansion plans covering a total area of 63.8 hectares.

In July, Israeli authorities reviewed 39 settlement plans, 34 in the West Bank and five in Jerusalem. They approved 22, one of them in Jerusalem, containing a total of 4,492 housing units.

Shaaban said Israel continues “to impose facts on the ground, on Palestinian soil, which will fragment the Palestinian territory and impose a system of isolated enclaves to eliminate the possibility of a future Palestinian state.”

He added that such serious violations by Israel not only infringe on the rights of the Palestinian people but also contravene international law and resolutions, the Wafa News Agency reported.


Denmark to participate in aid airdrops over Gaza

Humanitarian aid packages are airdropped over the Gaza Strip on Saturday. (Reuters)
Humanitarian aid packages are airdropped over the Gaza Strip on Saturday. (Reuters)
Updated 12 August 2025

Denmark to participate in aid airdrops over Gaza

Humanitarian aid packages are airdropped over the Gaza Strip on Saturday. (Reuters)
  • UN-mandated experts have warned that Gaza is slipping into famine while international organizations have for months condemned the restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on aid distribution in Gaza

COPENHEGEN: Denmark will take part in airdropping humanitarian aid over Gaza, in an operation coordinated by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, Danish media reported Tuesday.
“We have decided to participate in an airdrop over Gaza,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told public broadcaster DR.
“There is currently an open window until the end of August, during which Israel has allowed access to its airspace,” he added.
He noted that the method was “by no means an optimal way to deliver emergency aid.”
“It is a kind of emergency solution but it is also where we are now,” the minister said.
The United Arab Emirates and Jordan had requested Denmark’s assistance, news agency Ritzau reported.
The supplies will be dropped from a C-130 aircraft that will fly over the Gaza Strip once or twice before August 22, according to Lokke, who did not give details about the size of the Danish contribution.
Concern has escalated about the situation in the Gaza Strip after 22 months of war, which started after Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a deadly attack against Israel in October 2023.
UN-mandated experts have warned that Gaza is slipping into famine while international organizations have for months condemned the restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on aid distribution in Gaza.
Western countries, including Britain, France and Spain, have recently partnered with Middle Eastern nations to deliver humanitarian supplies by air to the Palestinian enclave.

 


Israel PM says ‘will allow’ Palestinians to leave Gaza

Israel PM says ‘will allow’ Palestinians to leave Gaza
Updated 12 August 2025

Israel PM says ‘will allow’ Palestinians to leave Gaza

Israel PM says ‘will allow’ Palestinians to leave Gaza
  • Netanyahu said “we are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave”
  • In the Gaza Strip, Israel for years has tightly controlled the borders and barred many from leaving

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel would let Palestinians leave the Gaza Strip, as the military prepares a broader offensive in the territory.
Past calls to resettle Gazans outside of the war-battered territory, including from US President Donald Trump, have sparked concern among Palestinians and condemnation from the international community.
In an interview with Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS, as the military prepares a broader offensive in Gaza, Netanyahu said “we are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave.”
“Give them the opportunity to leave, first of all, combat zones, and generally to leave the territory, if they want,” he said, citing refugee outflows during wars in Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
In the Gaza Strip, Israel for years has tightly controlled the borders and barred many from leaving.
“We will allow this, first of all, within Gaza during the fighting, and we will certainly allow them to leave Gaza as well,” Netanyahu said.
For Palestinians, any effort to push them force them off their land would recall the “Nakba,” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.
Earlier this year, Trump stirred controversy by openly suggesting that the United States should take control of Gaza and expel its 2.4 million inhabitants to Egypt and Jordan.
Netanyahu also previously said his government was working to find third countries to take in Gaza’s population, following Trump’s suggestion they be expelled and the territory redeveloped as a holiday destination.
Far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have called for the “voluntary” departure of Gaza’s Palestinians.
Last week, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to expand the war into the remaining parts of Gaza not yet controlled by the military.
The vast majority of Gaza’s people have been displaced at least once during the war, triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.


Jordan’s king meets Syrian FM, US envoy over Syria developments

Jordan’s king meets Syrian FM, US envoy over Syria developments
Updated 12 August 2025

Jordan’s king meets Syrian FM, US envoy over Syria developments

Jordan’s king meets Syrian FM, US envoy over Syria developments
  • Both meetings focused on supporting Syria’s security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

AMMAN: King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday met separately with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani and US Ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack to discuss the latest developments in Syria, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Both meetings, which were also attended by Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II, focused on supporting Syria’s security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

King Abdullah highlighted the importance of US support for Syria’s reconstruction in a way that protects the rights of all Syrians, and said Jordan was ready to share its expertise to strengthen Syrian institutions.

He also called for closer Jordanian-Syrian cooperation in combating terrorism and curbing arms and drug smuggling.

Al-Shaibani and Barrack were in Amman for a tripartite Jordanian-Syrian-US meeting to follow up on talks last month on Syria’s situation and reconstruction efforts.

On Monday, King Abdullah and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed developments in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as mutual concerns and Saudi-Jordanian relations, at NEOM Palace.


Iraq electricity gradually back after nationwide outage

A large Ferris wheel is pictured near the Dora (Daura) Thermal Power Station in the Dora district of southern Baghdad.
A large Ferris wheel is pictured near the Dora (Daura) Thermal Power Station in the Dora district of southern Baghdad.
Updated 12 August 2025

Iraq electricity gradually back after nationwide outage

A large Ferris wheel is pictured near the Dora (Daura) Thermal Power Station in the Dora district of southern Baghdad.
  • Most households rely on private generators, acquired to compensate for daily power cuts to public electricity
  • In the capital Baghdad, the grid was back to 95 percent of its normal capacity, said the official

BAGHDAD: Electricity supply returned to all Iraq’s provinces on Tuesday, a government official told AFP, expecting the grid’s full recovery within a day after a nationwide power outage.
Electricity shortages are a frequent complaint in Iraq, suffering from endemic corruption and dilapidated public infrastructure.
Most households rely on private generators, acquired to compensate for daily power cuts to public electricity.
On Monday, the electricity ministry said that “a record rise in temperatures” coupled with a surge in demand resulted in the shutdown of transmission lines, which then led to a total outage.
A senior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Tuesday that “since midnight, all provinces have seen the return” of power supply.
The official cautioned that “it is happening gradually,” with the central province of Karbala, where millions of Shiite Muslim pilgrims were expected for a major religious commemoration, being “the first to recover its electricity.”
In the capital Baghdad, the grid was back to 95 percent of its normal capacity, said the official.
The outage came amid a heatwave that Iraqi meteorological services expect to last more than a week, with temperatures climbing as high as 50C in parts of the country.
While the vast majority of Iraqis rely on private generators, they often cannot power all household appliances, especially air conditioners.
Iraq is sometimes rocked by protests when outages worsen in the hot summer months.
To avoid outages during peak demand, Iraq would need to produce around 55,000 megawatts of electricity.
This month, for the first time, the country’s power plants reached the 28,000-megawatt threshold.
The electricity ministry official said that “the system has returned to normal and is stable,” producing 24,000 megawatts and expected to reach 27,000 once the final malfunctions related to Monday’s outage are resolved.