Author: Steven Sahiounie

 IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the fund and Egypt were in the “very last stretch” of negotiations to increase the country’s $3 billion programme

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East from Sunday to Thursday to work for the release of captives still held by Hamas and to secure a humanitarian pause, the State Department said Friday. On his fifth crisis trip to the Middle East, Blinken will visit Qatar and Egypt, the mediators of the proposal, as well as Israel and the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, the State Department added. On Friday, Blinken held a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan. During the call, they discussed developments in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings, and…

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, has asserted that the key to restoring stability in the West Asia region is to put an end to Israeli crimes. Amirabdollahian made this statement during a phone conversation with Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Thursday. In the discussion, Amirabdollahian and Borrell covered the latest issues in Iran-EU relations, as well as regional and international developments. The Iranian minister emphasized that the recent decision by the United States and Britain to attack Yemen had further escalated the regional situation. He pinpointed the Israeli occupation…

Naledi Pandor has noted that “Israel” has killed hundreds of civilians even after the ICJ specifically ordered it to protect them. South Africa has accused “Israel” of violating one of the measures imposed on it by the International Court of Justice, ordering the occupation to protect Palestinian civilian lives. South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor highlighted how Israeli occupation forces directly killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians just days after, and in spite of, the ICJ ruling. “I can’t be dishonest. I believe the rulings of the court have been ignored. Hundreds of people have been killed in the last three or…

The resolution presented by Algeria to the 15-member Security Council on Wednesday demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, says the draft could jeopardise negotiations aimed at brokering a pause in fighting in Gaza. “This draft resolution could put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy – derailing the exhaustive, ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure the release of hostages, and secure an extended pause that Palestinian civilians and aid workers so desperately need,” she told reporters. Source; AlJazeera

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Friday received a phone call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry said.During the call, they discussed regional and international issues of common interest, particularly the developments in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings.The two sides also discussed the efforts to deal with the security and humanitarian repercussions of the Gaza war. Source: Arab News

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has identified the female employee killed by the Israeli army as Hidaya Hamad, director of its Youth and Volunteers Department in Gaza. The medical organisation reported earlier that the Israeli army had opened fire on its building in Khan Younis. Source: AlJazeera

Dmitry Rybolovlev had sued the auction house Sotheby’s for allegedly helping a dealer defraud him

The Palestinian Prisoners Society says 25 Palestinians have been detained overnight during Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank. Eleven of them are from Baqat al-Hatab in Qalqilya while the rest are from Jenin, Hebron, Tubas, Tulkarem and Jerusalem. Those detained include a woman, minors and one injured Palestinian. These arrests increase the number of Palestinians detained in the occupied territory since October 7 to 6,485. Source: AlJazeera

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported today that more than 89 hours have passed, and the fate of its ambulance crew, consisting of paramedics Yusuf Zaino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, remains unknown. The paramedics had embarked on a rescue mission to save 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who was trapped in her family’s car after an Israeli shelling. The Red Crescent urgently appealed to the international community to intervene and exert immediate pressure on Israeli occupation authorities to disclose the fate of both the missing child, Hind, and the ambulance crew deployed to rescue her. The incident unfolded when Hind was traveling with…