Author: Steven Sahiounie

The White House’s announcement that Israel has agreed to a four-hour pause in fighting to allow civilians to flee south falls woefully short of the needs in Gaza, Abdel Hamid Siyam, a Middle East expert at Rutgers University, told Al Jazeera. “Pauses are not a solution,” he said, saying what is needed is a “ceasefire so that humanitarian aid can come in uninterrupted, that foreigners can leave the country, and maybe negotiations cane take place”. “If this is only a pause to allow people to move from the north to south, it did not work in the past, it will…

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Wednesday met with Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi on the sidelines of the Arab foreign ministers’ preparatory meeting for the extraordinary session of the Arab Summit to be held in Riyadh. The prince and Safadi discussed the latest developments in Gaza and its surrounding areas, Israeli strikes on civilian-occupied locations, and the need for coordinated international action to prevent the forced displacement of Gazans. Their talks also centered around ways to push for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war to enable the delivery of vital relief aid and medical…

Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Fayssal Mikdad met with Tunisian Foreign Minister, Nabil Ammar on the sidelines of the ministerial preparatory meeting for the emergency Arab summit being held in Riyadh. Talks during the meeting dealt with the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the continuation of Israeli crimes against defenseless Palestinian civilians. Both sides stressed the importance of coordinating a unified Arab stance to confront this barbaric aggression. The two sides also called for an immediate stop to the Israeli aggression and to allow the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. They condemned the US and…

The White House has announced that Israel has agreed to suspend fighting for four hours on a daily basis to allow for Palestinian civilians to flee from northern Gaza. The pauses will start from today in what the White House said is a step in the right direction. Source: AlJazeera

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh today urged an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after 35 days of constant Israeli bombardment that killed more than 10,000 people, most of them children, and wounded over 25,000 others. “How many Palestinians must be killed for the war to stop? Are xix children killed every hour enough? Are four women killed every hour enough? Are more than 10,000 martyrs in 30 days enough?” he said addressing the International Conference for Gaza Relief held in Paris at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron. “Are more than 25,000 people injured, and some of them may die due…

Palestinian journalist and writer Mohammed Mhawish said he received a call at about 1:30pm (11:30 GMT) in Gaza City from an unknown source who identified themselves as an officer of the Israeli army. During the call, Mhawish was given 20 minutes to evacuate his house with about 30 members of his family. “I have received several pre-recorded calls from the military to evacuate,” Mhawish told Al Jazeera. “They were all generally addressed to the residents of the north and the centre of the Gaza Strip to go south,” he said, adding: “But this time, the speaker, who sounded [like] a…

Cleverly is due to discuss ways to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza, as he intends to boost diplomatic efforts to avoid escalation not only in “Israel” but also in Lebanon and Yemen. The UK Foreign Office announced on Thursday that Foreign Secretary James Cleverly landed in Saudi Arabia to convene with regional foreign ministers to discuss the situation in Gaza “Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has traveled to Saudi Arabia after the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Tokyo … He will hold high-level talks with regional Foreign Ministers in diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation and work towards a two-state solution,”…

Türkiye ready to resolve issue by taking responsibility as guarantor, Erdogan says in meeting with Iranian counterpart Raisi in Tashkent Israel stopping its attacks on Gaza, which it has continued for over a month, would promote peace in the region and around the world, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday while meeting his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of an Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan. The two leaders discussed the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s attacks on Gaza, the steps that could be taken to find a solution, as well as bilateral relations and regional…

Israeli occupation forces targeted this evening the Al Nasr Children’s Hospital in Gaza with artillery bombardment, causing material damages, according to WAFA correspondent. He said Israeli artillery targeted the hospital with several shells, causing severe damage to its facilities. No human casualties were reported in the Israeli strike. Earlier this week, the Ministry of Health announced that 18 out of 35 hospitals across Gaza had stopped working, while 71% of primary care facilities had closed due to fuel shortages or Israeli bombing. The ministry explained that doctors are still forced to perform surgeries without anesthesia, including wounded individuals and women…

The Israeli police this morning detained in Nazareth, northern Israel, the head of the Arab Follow-Up Committee in Israel, Mohammad Baraka, and other Arab leaders, according to local sources. They said Baraka was on his way to a protest event against the war on the Gaza Strip when he was stopped in the street and arrested. Other local Palestinian leaders were taking part in the limited, by invitation only, event planned in the Al-Ain area in Nazareth, and was not open to the public, according to the organizers. Nevertheless, the police raided the event and arrested the participants. The Israeli…