Israeli strikes ‘shredding people to pieces’ in Gaza: British surgeon
Israeli strikes ‘shredding people to pieces’ in Gaza: British surgeon/node/2601433/middle-east
Israeli strikes ‘shredding people to pieces’ in Gaza: British surgeon
Palestinian mourn relatives who were killed in Israeli army airstrike on the Gaza Strip, at the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, May 20, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 20 May 2025
Arab News
Israeli strikes ‘shredding people to pieces’ in Gaza: British surgeon
Tom Potokar: ‘It is difficult to imagine how human beings can treat other human beings in this way’
‘This will be a stain on humanity when people look back in years to come’
Updated 20 May 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Israeli strikes on Gaza are “shredding people to pieces,” a British surgeon working in hospitals there has told the Daily Telegraph.
Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon working in southern Gaza, said he was at the European Hospital when it was attacked by Israel.
Its new offensive has been met by international condemnation, with Gaza’s Health Ministry saying hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent days.
Potokar, who is now stationed at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, said: “You have to consider that the Gaza Strip is, geographically, a very small area and yet there are nearly two million people living here.
“So, when you drop ordnance — with the amounts being used and the type of weapons being used in such a small, densely populated area — you are literally shredding people to pieces.”
Potokar was forced to move hospital three times in the past week to avoid Israeli bombing. Describing the attack on the European Hospital, he said: “It is difficult to imagine how human beings can treat other human beings in this way. To see children particularly with horrific injuries and amputations, to see pregnant women requiring major surgery — it’s absolute brutality.”
Israeli attacks on hospitals have drawn widespread condemnation from humanitarian organizations.
The UN Human Rights Office and Human Rights Watch said Israeli bombardment is pushing Gaza’s already-damaged healthcare system to the brink of collapse.
Potokar was also near an airstrike that hit Al-Amal Hospital. “It was around 6 a.m. and a massive strike happened about 400 meters from the hospital, with heavy machine gun fire and helicopters,” he said.
“Thankfully, there were no casualties in the hospital, but a huge piece of shrapnel landed in front of the emergency room.”
He added: “What is the West doing, what is the rest of the world doing? Churning out press statement after press statement but nothing is changing.
“This will be a stain on humanity when people look back in years to come, when we say ‘how did we allow this to happen?’ We’ve been here before, and no lessons are being learned.”
Potokar said: “The killing goes on, the slaughter goes on and these are people like you and me.”
Rubio says Gaza war not yet over, priority is to get hostages out
Secretary of State says the US would know “very quickly” whether Hamas is serious or not
Updated 6 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON: The war in Gaza has “not yet” ended, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, describing the release of the hostages held by Hamas as the first phase, while details on what happens after that still need to be worked out. He said Hamas had “basically” agreed to President Donald Trump’s proposal and the framework for releasing the hostages, while meetings were underway to coordinate the logistics of that. “They have also agreed, in principle and generalities, to enter into this idea about what’s going to happen afterwards,” he said. “A lot of details are going to have to be worked out there.” He said the US would know “very quickly” whether Hamas was serious or not during the current technical talks to coordinate the release of the hostages. “Priority number one, the one that we think we can achieve something very quickly on hopefully, is the release of all the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back” to the yellow line — where Israel stood within Gaza in the middle of August — Rubio said. He described the second phase of the long-term future of Gaza as “even harder.” “What happens after Israel pulls back to the yellow line, and potentially beyond that, as this thing develops? How do you create this Palestinian technocratic leadership that’s not Hamas?” Rubio said. “How do you disarm any sort of terrorist groups that are going to be building tunnels and conducting attacks against Israel? How do you get them to demobilize?” “All that work, that’s going to be hard, but that’s critical, because without that, you’re not going to have lasting peace,” he added.
Hamas calls for swift prisoner release as Cairo talks set to begin/node/2617809/middle-east
Hamas calls for swift prisoner release as Cairo talks set to begin
Foreign ministers of several countries say the talks a “real opportunity” to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza
The diplomatic push follows the Palestinian militant group’s positive response to US President Donald Trump’s roadmap
Updated 05 October 2025
AFP
CAIRO: Hamas on Sunday called for a swift start to a hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel as negotiators from the two warring sides meet in Egypt for crucial talks aimed at ending the nearly two-year war.
Foreign ministers of several countries, including Egypt, said the talks were a “real opportunity” to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.
“Hamas is very keen to reach an agreement to end the war and immediately begin the prisoner exchange process in accordance with the field conditions,” a senior Hamas official said on condition of anonymity.
The diplomatic push follows the Palestinian militant group’s positive response to US President Donald Trump’s roadmap for the release of captives in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Negotiators are due to hold talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing hope that hostages held in Gaza could be released within days.
Netanyahu said Saturday he had instructed negotiators to go to Egypt “to finalize the technical details,” while Cairo confirmed it would also be hosting a delegation from Hamas for talks on “the ground conditions and details of the exchange of all Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners.”
Egyptian state-linked media said the two parties would hold indirect talks on Sunday and Monday, just before the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
The White House said Trump had sent two envoys to Egypt — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.
“During communications with mediators, Hamas insisted that it is essential for Israel to halt military operations across all areas of the Gaza Strip, cease all air, reconnaissance, and drone activity, and withdraw from inside Gaza City,” a Palestinian source close to Hamas said.
“In parallel with the cessation of Israeli military activity, Hamas and the resistance factions will also halt their military operations and actions,” he added.
According to Trump’s plan, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and more than 1,700 detainees from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the ongoing war.
But Trump warned he would “not tolerate delay” from Hamas, urging the group to move quickly toward a deal “or else all bets will be off.”
Trump said on Truth Social that Israel had agreed to an initial line of withdrawal in Gaza and that this had been shared with Hamas.
“When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal,” he posted, alongside a map of the proposed line.
Netanyahu said that “in the coming days we will be able to bring back all our hostages... during the Sukkot holidays,” referring to the week-long Jewish festival that begins on Monday.
Strikes continue
Despite Trump calling on Israel to halt its bombings, Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Gaza.
AFPTV footage showed thick smoke billowing into the skyline over the coastal territory on Sunday.
Gaza civil defense agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli strikes killed at least five people in Gaza City in the morning, after several attacks through the night.
On Saturday, nearly 60 people were killed in Israeli strikes, including 40 in Gaza City alone, the agency reported.
“The decision to occupy Gaza, the collapse of multi-story buildings, and the intensity of IDF operations in the city have led to the evacuation of roughly 900,000 residents to the south, creating immense pressure on Hamas and the countries that support it,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a speech on Sunday.
The United Nations had estimated that around one million people were living the area before the start of the assault.
“There has been a noticeable decrease in the number of air strikes (since last night). The tanks and military vehicles have slightly pulled back, but I believe this is a tactical move, not a withdrawal,” said Muin Abu Rajab, 40, a resident of Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City.
No role for Hamas
Hamas has insisted it should have a say in the territory’s future.
Trump’s roadmap stipulates that Hamas and other factions “not have any role in the governance of Gaza,” while also calling for a halt to hostilities, the release of hostages within 72 hours, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’s disarmament.
Under the proposal, administration of the territory would be taken up by a technocratic body overseen by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.
“Netanyahu will not be able to escape this time... (Trump) is the only one who can force Israel to comply and stop the war,” said Sami Adas, 50, who lives in a tent in Gaza City with his family.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 67,139 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
Syria selects members of first post-Assad parliament
More than 1,500 candidates are running for the assembly, which will have a renewable 30-month mandate
Incoming parliament will exercise legislative functions until a permanent constitution is adopted and new elections are held
Updated 05 October 2025
AFP
DAMASCUS: Members of local committees in Syria began on Sunday selecting members of a transitional parliament, in a process criticized as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed directly by interim leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
The assembly’s formation is set to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose Islamist forces led a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.
An AFP correspondent witnessed dozens of members of the local committees queueing at Syria’s National Library, formerly called the Assad National Library, to cast their vote.
According to the organizing committee, more than 1,500 candidates – just 14 percent of them women – are running for the assembly, which will have a renewable 30-month mandate.
Sharaa is to appoint 70 representatives out of the 210-member body.
The other two-thirds will be selected by local committees appointed by the electoral commission, which itself was appointed by Sharaa.
But southern Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province, which suffered sectarian bloodshed in July, and the country’s Kurdish-held northeast are excluded from the process for now as they are outside Damascus’s control, and their 32 seats will remain empty.
“I support the authorities and I’m ready to defend them, but these aren’t real elections,” said Louay Al-Arfi, 77, a retired civil servant sitting with friends at a Damascus cafe.
“It’s a necessity in the transitional phase, but we want direct elections” to follow, he said.
The new authorities dissolved Syria’s rubber-stamp legislature after taking power.
Under a temporary constitution announced in March, the incoming parliament will exercise legislative functions until a permanent constitution is adopted and new elections are held.
Sharaa has said it would be impossible to organize direct elections now, noting the large number of Syrians who lack documentation after millions fled abroad or were displaced internally during the civil war.
‘Not elections’
Around 6,000 people are taking part in Sunday’s selection process.
Preliminary results are expected to emerge after it ends, with state television reporting that some centers started counting the votes.
The final list of names is due to be announced on Monday.
Under the rules, candidates must not be “supporters of the former regime” and must not promote secession or partition.
Those running include Syrian-American Henry Hamra, the first Jewish candidate since the 1940s.
“The next parliament faces significant responsibilities, including signing and ratifying international agreements. This will lead Syria into a new phase, and it is a major responsibility,” said Hala Al-Qudsi, a member of Damascus’s electoral committee who is running for a seat herself.
Qudsi was particularly focused on the ongoing negotiations between Syria and Israel, stating that she would “say ‘no’ to any security agreement with Israel that does not serve the interests of the Syrian people.”
In September, Sharaa again voiced hope for a security agreement with Israel, which has kept up attacks on Syria, despite ongoing negotiations between the neighbors.
Rights groups have criticized the selection process, saying it concentrates power in Sharaa’s hands and lacks representation for the country’s ethnic and religious minorities.
In a joint statement last month, more than a dozen groups said the process means Sharaa “can effectively shape a parliamentary majority composed of individuals he selected or ensured loyalty from.”
“You can call the process what you like, but not elections,” said Bassam Alahmad, executive director of the France-based Syrians for Truth and Justice, among the groups that signed the statement.
At a meeting in Damascus this week, candidate Mayssa Halwani, 48, said criticism was normal.
“The government is new to power and freedom is new for us,” she said.
Nishan Ismail, 40, a teacher in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, said “elections could have been a new political start” after Assad’s fall, but “the marginalization of numerous regions shows that the standards of political participation are not respected.”
Negotiations on integrating the Kurds’ civil and military institutions into the new central government have stalled, with Damascus rejecting calls for decentralization.
In southern Syria’s Druze-held city of Sweida, activist Burhan Azzam, 48, expressed a similar sentiment.
The authorities “have ended political life” in Syria, he said, adding that the selection process “doesn’t respect the basic rules of democracy.”
Israel strikes Gaza as Palestinians pin hopes on Trump peace plan
Israel escalates its offensive as Egypt prepares to host peace talk delegates
Palestinians wonder when Donald Trump’s Gaza plan will be implemented
Updated 05 October 2025
Arab News
CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Israeli planes and tanks pounded areas across the Gaza Strip overnight and on Sunday, destroying several residential buildings, witnesses said, as traumatized Palestinians hoped a US plan to end the war would soon ease their suffering.
US President Donald Trump, who had called for an end to the bombing, said on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Israel had agreed to an “initial withdrawal line” inside Gaza and that “when Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective.”
Israel escalated its offensive as Egypt prepares to host delegates from Hamas, Israel and the United States, and Qatar, to kick off talks over the implementation of the most advanced effort yet to halt the conflict. Cairo talks will tackle unresolved issues
Hamas had drawn a welcoming response from Trump on Friday by saying it accepted certain key parts of his 20-point peace proposal, including ending the war, Israel’s withdrawal, and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian captives.
But the group left some issues up for further negotiation, as well as questions unanswered, such as whether it would be willing to disarm, a key demand from Israel to end the war.
“Progress would depend on whether Hamas would agree to the map, which shows the Israeli army would remain in control of most of the Gaza Strip,” said a Palestinian official, close to the talks.
“Hamas may also ask for a strict timetable for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The first phase of talks will determine how things are going to proceed,” he told Reuters, asking not to be named.
In a sign of Israeli optimism over the Trump plan, the shekel currency hit a three-year high against the dollar and Tel Aviv stocks reached an all-time high.
Domestically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is caught between growing pressure to end the war — from hostage families and a war-weary public — and demands from hard-line members of his coalition who insist there must be no let-up in Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X that halting attacks on Gaza was a “grave mistake.”
Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, also a hard-liner, have significant influence in Netanyahu’s government and have threatened to bring it down if the Gaza war ends. Arab states welcome Hamas response to Trump plan
But opposition leader Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid party has said political cover will be provided so the Trump initiative can succeed and “we won’t let them torpedo the deal.”
Trump has won backing from Arab and other Muslim states.
, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Turkiye, Indonesia, and Pakistan issued a joint statement welcoming the steps taken by Hamas regarding Trump’s Gaza plan.
“The Foreign Ministers reiterated their joint commitment to support efforts toward the implementation of the proposal, to work for the immediate end of the war on Gaza, and achieve a comprehensive agreement,” they said in the joint statement.
In Gaza City, which Israel describes as one of Hamas’ last bastions, Israeli forces continued attacks and warned residents who left against returning, saying it was a “dangerous combat zone.”
On Sunday, witnesses said Israeli planes escalated attacks against targets across the city, Gaza’s biggest urban center.
This followed a tense night in which drones dropped grenades on the rooftops of residential buildings and troops blew up explosive-laden vehicles, demolishing dozens of houses in two Gaza City neighborhoods, Sabra and Sheikh Radwan.
Hamas keen to reach deal
A senior Hamas official on Sunday said the Palestinian militant group is eager to reach an agreement to end the war and implement a prisoner swap with Israel, as negotiators converge in Egypt for talks.
Israeli and Hamas negotiators are set to iron out details during talks in Egypt in a bid to end nearly two years of war in Gaza, after Hamas approved a peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump.
“Hamas is very keen to reach an agreement to end the war and immediately begin the prisoner exchange process in accordance with the field conditions,” he said.
“The occupation must not obstruct the implementation of President Trump’s plan. If the occupation has genuine intentions to reach an agreement, Hamas is ready.”
A Palestinian source close to Hamas told AFP that the two delegations would be in the same building but away from media coverage.
“The negotiations aim to discuss the timeline for preparing field conditions for the transfer of captives held in Gaza, as a prelude to launching the prisoner exchange process,” he added.
“During communications with mediators, Hamas insisted that it is essential for Israel to halt military operations across all areas of the Gaza Strip, cease all air, reconnaissance, and drone activity, and withdraw from inside Gaza City,” the source said.
“In parallel with the cessation of Israeli military activity, Hamas and the resistance factions will also halt their military operations and actions,” he added. Gazans desperate for start of Trump’s truce plan
“Where is Trump in all of this?” said Rami Mohammad-Ali, 37, from Gaza City, now displaced on the city’s western side.
“The explosions don’t stop, the drones drop bombs everywhere, as if nothing has happened. Where is the truce Trump told us about?” he asked.
Local health authorities said at least one Palestinian was killed, and several others were wounded in those attacks. Three other people were killed in separate Israeli strikes across the enclave, medics said.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, which liaises with the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations, said Gaza City has begun experiencing acute shortages of food and fuel, days after Israel blocked the route from the south to the north.
Under Trump’s plan, all Israeli hostages, alive and deceased, were due to be released within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting the agreement. Israel says 48 hostages remain, 20 of whom are alive.
There may be logistical challenges too. Sources close to Hamas told Reuters handing over living hostages could prove relatively straightforward, but retrieving bodies of dead ones amid the huge devastation and rubble of Gaza may take longer than a few days to achieve.
Trump said on Friday he believed Hamas had shown it was “ready for a lasting PEACE” and he called on Netanyahu’s government to halt airstrikes in Gaza.
Iran approves plan to slash four zeros from currency
Lawmakers passed the bill two months after a parliamentary commission revived the long-stalled proposal aimed at simplifying transactions
Updated 05 October 2025
AFP
TEHRAN: Iran’s parliament on Sunday approved a plan to remove four zeros from the national currency, the rial, which has sharply depreciated as the country grapples with renewed sanctions.
Lawmakers passed the bill two months after a parliamentary commission revived the long-stalled proposal aimed at simplifying transactions, the legislature’s website said.
Under the plan, 10,000 current rials will be replaced by one new rial.
Both versions will circulate for up to three years, with the central bank given two years to launch the transition.
The rial has hit repeated record lows in recent days, according to black market trackers, amid the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran.
Britain, France and Germany — signatories to Iran’s moribund 2015 nuclear deal — last month triggered the “snapback” mechanism to restore the international sanctions over the Islamic republic’s non-compliance.
On Sunday, the rial was trading at about 1,115,000 to the US dollar, compared with around 920,000 when the plan was revived in early August.
The redenomination was first floated in 2019 but later shelved.
It still requires approval by the Guardian Council and the signature of President Masoud Pezeshkian to take effect.
In daily life, Iranians drop a zero from the rial and use the resulting figure, called the toman, for most transactions.
