Author: Steven Sahiounie

Sudan is experiencing a crisis “beyond imagination,” the outgoing UN aid chief warned, with 750,000 people facing imminent famine and conditions expected to worsen, The Guardian reported on Sunday. Martin Griffiths, the British diplomat retiring as the UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, leaves his position at a time when Sudan and Gaza are both on the brink of historic famines. Recent statistics from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) revealed that 495,000 Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic conditions, characterized by “extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities,” over the next six months. Simultaneously, the IPC estimated that 755,262 people in…

Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted the importance of Chinese-Australian relations on Monday, emphasizing his readiness to develop a more mature and stable partnership with Canberra based on mutual respect and benefit. In a congratulatory telegram to new Australian governor-general Samantha Mostyn, Xi attached great importance to finding a “common ground while maintaining differences, to contribute to the creation of more mature and stable, more fruitful Chinese-Australian relations of comprehensive strategic partnership to bring even more benefit to the peoples of the two countries,” as cited by the China Central Television. The Chinese president also stated the countries’ pivotal roles in the process…

Russia began its one-month presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday. The last time the country coordinated the work of the global body’s key department was in April 2023. Russia convenes its first UNSC meeting on Monday to approve the agenda of the Security Council for the coming month. After that, Russia’s envoy to the UN Vasily Nebenzya will hold a press conference, then brief the United Nations General Assembly behind closed doors. Major events under Russia’s presidency, discussions on how to build a fairer and more democratic world order and ways to resolve the Middle East…

Hussein al-Sheikh, the Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), today discussed the Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, the latest developments. During his meeting in Doha, the Sheikh discussed the internal reconciliation file, the recent measures taken by the occupation government, bilateral, Arab and international action to stop the genocide waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the necessity of a political horizon for a comprehensive solution. Source: WAFA

In an official statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly denounced Israel’s exploitation of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip to perpetuate more illegal settlement expansion and its attempt to change the legal status in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. In addition, the foreign ministry stressed that Israel’s continuation of these illegal measures aims to undermine the implementation of the two-state solution, which is based on respect for the legitimate, inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and is the only path to comprehensive and lasting peace. On Thursday, the Israeli Security Cabinet legalized five outposts in the occupied West…

The presidential spokesman, member of the Fatah Central Committee, Nabil Abu Rudeina, today delivered a message from the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, to his Iraqi counterpart, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, in the presence of the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Iraq, Ahmed Al-Ruwaidi. During his meeting with the Iraqi President at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, Abu Rudeina conveyed the greetings of President Mahmoud Abbas and voiced his appreciation over Iraq’s steadfast and supportive positions for the Palestinian people and their just cause in all international forums, He further expressed his appreciation for Iraq’s…

Israel released the head of Gaza’s biggest hospital, who had been detained for more than seven months, among dozens of Palestinian prisoners returned Monday to the besieged territory for treatment. His release was confirmed on social media by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and by a medical source inside the Gaza Strip. Al-Shifa director Mohammed Abu Salmiya was detained in November. Successive raids have seen the hospital where he worked largely reduced to rubble since Israel launched its assault on Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel. Salmiya and the other freed detainees crossed back…

The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates today condemned the decisions and actions of the Israeli government that entrench the occupation of the Palestinian Territory through the legalizing and expanding of colonies. This came in response to Israel’s announcement to legalize five colonial outposts in the occupied West Bank and the issuance of tenders for thousands of new housing units in colonies, in a blatant challenge and violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions, most notably Security Council resolution 2334. The Ministry’s official spokesman, Sufyan Qudah, stressed the necessity of stopping the escalating colonial terrorism in the occupied…

Bahrain ‘s official news agency reported that Manama called on the UN Security Council on Saturday to issue a resolution for a ceasefire in southern Lebanon, stating it had been monitoring the developments and military escalation on the Lebanese-Palestinian border, and expressing its concern about the escalation. Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry emphasized “the necessity of avoiding military escalation and preventing the widening of the conflict in the region to preserve Lebanon’s security, while seeking to achieve security, peace, and stability in the region.” Manama also called for “a ceasefire between the two sides and resorting to peaceful solutions through negotiation to preserve the…

UN General Assembly President, Dennis Francis, said in condemnation of ongoing Israeli aggression and killings in Gaza that “Enough is enough.” “Too many civilians have already lost their lives in Gaza. Too many women, too many children, in what was, without a doubt, an avoidable situation, it’s time to bring this to a halt,” he said in an interview with Anadolu. “The cease-fire is important, among other things, because hopefully, it will, in some way, engender a political process that could and should result in the adoption of a two-state solution,” he said. “This cycle of bloodletting, mayhem, destruction is…