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RAMALLAH: Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians in a large-scale operation on Monday in the occupied West Bank.
Sixty people were wounded, 10 of them seriously, in the Jenin refugee camp during the extensive military operation launched at dawn.
More than 1,000 Israeli armed forces personnel and dozens of armed vehicles, bulldozers, helicopters, and drones took part in the military operation — the largest since the Jenin camp’s destruction in 2002.
Mahmoud Al-Saadi, ambulance director of the Red Crescent in Jenin, confirmed that the Israeli armed forces prevented ambulance crews from entering the camp at certain points, blocking the way and pointing weapons at crew members.
The municipality of Jenin said that the Israeli forces destroyed the electricity and water networks in the camp and prevented crews from working to repair them.
Mansour Al-Saadi, deputy governor of Jenin, told Arab News that the army isolated the camp from the city using dirt mounds that its bulldozers piled up at all entrances leading to the camp.
He likened the situation in parts of the city near the camp to being under a curfew and said that the city had turned into something like a ghost town.
Firefighting vehicles could only move in Jenin with security coordination with the Israeli side.
Family members of the wounded called on the city’s hospitals to check on the health status of their loved ones, some of them children, who were injured by the army bullets.
Jenin hospitals called on citizens to donate blood, while ambulances were reinforced with a fleet from Tulkarm and Tubas neighboring cities.
Al-Saadi asked the Red Cross to enter the Jenin camp to evacuate the wounded, but Israeli bulldozers damaged the streets leading up the camp so that vehicles could not move easily.
“If the military operation continues for a longer period, the situation in Jenin camp will turn into a humanitarian catastrophe,” Al-Saadi told Arab News.
Walid Masharqa, a resident of the Jenin camp, told Arab News that conditions inside the camp are brutal and that this invasion of the camp has been more severe and violent than all previous ones.
Israeli snipers are deployed on the roofs of tall buildings, firing at every moving target, even if it does not pose a threat to them, said Masharqa.
“Soldiers are stationed on the roofs of buildings, and drones are hovering in the air all the time,” Masharqa told Arab News.
All entrances to the camp are now closed, he said.
Bulldozers have destroyed the camp’s streets and vehicles parked on them and demolished homes and commercial places inside the camp. The army is also carrying out a campaign of house searches, said Masharqa.
Palestinian sources in Jenin said that the Israeli army continued to besiege the Al-Ansar Mosque in the camp and that a military bulldozer was carrying out a demolition operation around the mosque.
Loudspeakers meanwhile asked citizens inside to surrender amid the outbreak of violent confrontations and the flight of Israeli “reconnaissance” planes, said the sources.
There were also clashes with the Israeli army in Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, and in the Bab Al-Zawiya area in Hebron late on Monday.
Ambassador Muhannad Al-Aklouk, permanent representative of Palestine to the Arab League, said that he submitted a request to convene an urgent meeting of the league’s permanent delegates on Tuesday to discuss confronting the Israeli aggression on the city of Jenin and its camp.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said that the crimes in Jenin, Nablus, and Gaza would not bring security to Israel if “our Palestinian people were attacked.”
Speaking at the beginning of the Cabinet session in Ramallah on Monday, Shtayyeh said that Israel was guilty of committing a crime on Monday when it invaded the camp in Jenin, resulting in the death of innocent people and the destruction of infrastructure.
He called on the international community to intervene and put an end to the aggression against Palestinians, impose sanctions on Israel, “which sponsors terrorism,” and prevent the Israeli seizure of Palestinian lands to expand their settlements.
The prime minister affirmed that President Mahmoud Abbas and the government were following up with friendly countries to stop the aggression, saying: “We will provide everything we can to strengthen the steadfastness of our people in Jenin and its camp.”
Abbas chaired an urgent meeting of the Palestinian leadership late on Monday to discuss the Israeli aggression against Jenin and its camp.
In the wake of a march condemning the Israeli aggression on Jenin, the Israeli army shot in the head Mohammed Hassanein, a 21-year-old Palestinian youth from the Gaza Strip who lives in Ramallah, while he was with several other young men at the northern entrance to the city of Al-Bireh.
Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, called on the Israeli army to secure the entry of ambulance crews into the Jenin camp to rescue the injured.
In a post on Twitter on Monday, Hastings expressed her deep concern about the scale of the Israeli military aggression in Jenin.
Also on Monday, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the continuous Israeli escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories.
It called on the international community to take immediate action to stop the Israeli attacks.
Ambassador Sinan Majali, official spokesperson for the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed the need to stop the continuous incursions into Palestinian cities and the escalation of violence, which constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.
Majali warned of the consequences of the escalation, which would only lead to more violence.
He reiterated Jordan’s position rejecting these attacks and all unilateral measures that undermine efforts to achieve stability.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi discussed the situation in Jenin and joint efforts at the regional and international levels to stop Israeli aggression against Jenin.
During a phone call on Monday with Al-Safadi, Al-Sheikh said that the continued aggression against “our people would drag the region into a spiral of violence and instability.”
BEIRUT: Syrian Kurdish fighters killed at least five members of Turkiye-backed Syrian opposition forces in an attack early on Monday in the northern Syrian town of Afrin.
The Turkish Defense Ministry also confirmed that two Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack in northern Iraq on Sunday by members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK. One of the soldiers died of his wounds in hospital.
The violence is the latest in a months long escalation between Turkiye and Turkish-backed groups, and Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq.
Ankara says the main Syrian Kurdish militia is allied to the outlawed Kurdish group. The PKK has led an insurgency against Turkiye since 1984 that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor in the UK with a network of observers in Syria, said Monday’s attack was carried out by the Afrin Liberation Forces, a Kurdish faction allied with the main Kurdish militia in Syria known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG. The group has claimed scores of attacks against Turkiye-backed Syrian fighters.
Syrian opposition activist Taher Al-Omar said the attack took place about 20 km south of Afrin, and five members of the Turkiye-backed Failaq Al-Sham faction were killed.
Afrin has been under the control of Turkiye and its allied Syrian opposition fighters since 2018, following a Turkiye-backed military operation that drove Syrian Kurdish fighters and thousands of Kurdish residents from the area. Since then, there has been a series of attacks on Turkish and Turkiys-backed targets in the town and surrounding villages.
TUNIS: Tunisia has suspended salary payments for 17,000 teachers and sacked 350 school principals over protests demanding an increase in pay, authorities said on Monday.
The salary suspensions could affect about 30 percent of the country’s primary school teachers, and will escalate the conflict with the powerful UGTT union at a time when the North African country’s citizens grapple with a dire economic crisis.
As part of their protest, teachers in the country have refused to hand in school grades.
“The students’ failure to obtain school grades is a disaster and a crime against children,” Education Minister Mahamed Ali Bougdiri said.
Ikbel Azzabi, a union official, told Reuters that Tunisia’s decision aims at “starving teachers,” and the next school season would be difficult due to expected protest movements. Hundreds of school principals have already started submitting their resignations.
The education ministry maintains that the country’s public finances do not allow the teachers’ requests to be approved.
Dozens of thousands of families fear that the conflict between the ministry and union will deepen the ongoing crisis in Tunisia and threaten a turbulent new school season, while they are already facing high inflation, poor public services, and the loss of several food commodities.
TEHRAN: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will embark Tuesday on a rare Africa tour in the latest diplomatic efforts to reduce the Islamic republic’s isolation by forging new alliances.
The three-day trip — which includes Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe — will be the first by an Iranian president to Africa in 11 years.
Raisi will head a delegation that includes Iran’s foreign minister as well as senior businesspeople. He is scheduled to meet with presidents from the three countries, according to the official IRNA news agency.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani described the trip as “a new turning point” which could bolster economic and trade ties with African nations.
He also said the rapprochement is based “on common political views” between Tehran and the three African countries.
Iran has stepped up its diplomacy in recent months to reduce its isolation and offset the impact of crippling sanctions reimposed since the 2018 withdrawal of the United States from a painstakingly negotiated nuclear deal.
On Saturday, Raisi welcomed Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf in a bid to boost relations with Algiers.
Last week, the Islamic republic became a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which includes Russia, China, and India.
In March, Iran agreed to restore ties with its regional rival Saudi Arabia under a China-mediated deal. It has since been looking to reestablish ties with other countries in the region including Egypt and Morocco.
In June, Raisi set out on a Latin America tour that included Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba before a trip to Indonesia.
ADDIS ABABA: Sudan’s government refused Monday to join a regional meeting aimed at ending nearly three months of brutal fighting, accusing Kenya, which chaired the talks, of favoring the rival paramilitaries.
A power struggle between Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), spilled into war in mid-April and has since killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
The east African regional bloc IGAD had invited the foes to a meeting in Ethiopia’s capital on Monday, while fighting still raged across Sudan.
Neither Burhan nor Daglo personally attended the talks in Addis Ababa, although the RSF sent a representative to the “quartet” meeting led by Kenya, South Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
Since April 15, around 3,000 people have been killed in the violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, but the actual death toll is believed to be much higher as parts of the country remain inaccessible.
A further three million people have been displaced internally or fled across borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Multiple diplomatic initiatives to halt the fighting have produced only brief respites, with the UN warning on Sunday that Sudan was on “the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilising the entire region.”
Previous truce deals have been brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, but the east African bloc now seeks to take the lead.
However, on Monday Sudan’s foreign ministry said its delegation would not participate until its request to remove Kenya as chair of the talks was met.
The ministry had asked for “Kenyan President William Ruto (to) be replaced… in particular because of his partiality,” the statement said.
In a communique released after Monday’s meeting, the quartet noted “the regrettable absence of the delegation of the Sudanese Armed Forces in spite of the invitation and confirmation of attendance.”
Daglo had sent a political adviser to the talks in Addis Ababa, while the RSF in a statement denounced “irresponsible behavior” on the army’s part.
The quartet agreed to “mobilize and concentrate the efforts of all stakeholders toward delivering a face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the warring parties,” its statement said.
It also called on the rival generals to “immediately stop the violence and sign an unconditional and indefinite cease-fire.”
IGAD said it would request the African Union to look into possibly deploying the East Africa Standby Force — usually tasked with election observer missions — in Sudan “for the protection of civilians and… humanitarian access.”
Sudanese ex-rebel leader Mubarak Ardol, now aligned with Burhan, denounced “a plan to occupy Sudan” and moves to “promote military interference,” while praising the army for boycotting the meeting.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee was also in the Ethiopian capital on Monday for meetings with Sudanese and regional officials.
In a statement on Sunday, she had called on the forces loyal to Burhan and Daglo to “immediately end the fighting.”
“We echo the call of countries in the region to prevent any external interference and military support which would only intensify and prolong the conflict,” added Phee.
Experts say that both the army and the RSF enjoy support beyond Sudan’s borders. Neighbouring Egypt backs Burhan, while the United Arab Emirates and Russia’s Wagner mercenary group support Daglo’s efforts.
On the ground, residents reported battles and air strikes in several areas of Khartoum.
“Rockets fell on houses of civilians,” one told AFP.
Witnesses also reported fighting in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan and a commercial hub some 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of Khartoum.
An army source said troops “pushed back against an attack” by rebel forces in Blue Nile state near Ethiopia.
CAIRO: A court in eastern Libya sentenced five people to life in prison after they were convicted of human trafficking over the deaths of 11 migrants who were on a rickety boat trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, the office of Libya’s chief prosecutor said Monday.
The court in the city of Bayda also sentenced nine other defendants to 15 years in prison each, the office of General Prosecutor Al-Sediq Al-Sourr said in a statement. Another 24 others were jailed for a year, the statement added.
The defendants were part of a network smuggling migrants from Libya to Europe, it said. The statement did not say when the deadly shipwreck took place or provide further details.
The court ruling was the latest in the conflict-wracked North African nation to target traffickers. On Friday, the chief prosecutor’s office said another court in the capital, Tripoli, sentenced one defendant to life in prison and two others to 20 years each for human trafficking.
In recent years, Libya has become a major transit point for Middle Eastern and African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to seek a better life in Europe. The oil-rich country descended into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi.
Human traffickers have benefited from the instability in Libya, smuggling migrants across borders from six nations, including Egypt, Algeria and Sudan. They then pack desperate people into ill-equipped rubber boats and other vessels for the risky voyage across the central Mediterranean.
For years, the United Nations and rights groups have decried the inhumane conditions faced by migrants trafficked and smuggled across the Mediterranean.
In March, UN-backed human rights experts said there was evidence that crimes against humanity had been committed against Libyans and migrants in in Libya, including women being forced into sexual slavery.