BENGHAZI: Libya’s internationally recognized Parliament voted on Monday to reject a unity government proposed under a UN-backed plan to resolve the country’s political crisis and armed conflict.
Of 104 members attending the session in the eastern city of Tobruk, 89 voted against backing the government.
Since 2014, Libya has had two competing parliaments and governments, one based in Tripoli and the other in the east. Both are backed by loose alliances of armed groups and former rebels who helped topple Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
Eastern lawmakers said the proposed 32-member government had been rejected because it included too many posts. They said that the Tunis-based Presidential Council now had 10 days to put forward a new, shorter list of ministers.
Lawmaker Mohamed Al-Abani told Reuters that the proposed administration also did not represent the interests of the Libyan people but had been formed “according to the demands of militia leaders.”
In a second vote, the Tobruk parliament approved the UN-mediated agreement that sets out a political transition for Libya and under which the Presidential Council operates. However, lawmakers rejected a clause that transfers power over the armed forces to the prime minister.
Representatives from both sides of Libya’s political divide signed the UN-backed plan in Morocco in December, but the agreement has faced stiff opposition from many members of the two parliaments and from factions on the ground.
Recognized Libya Parliament rejects UN-backed unity govt
Recognized Libya Parliament rejects UN-backed unity govt
Dozen people entered Egypt from Gaza on first day of Rafah opening: source
- The reopening, demanded by the UN and aid groups, is a key part of the second phase of Trump’s truce plan for Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire after two years of war
RAFAH: A handful of injured Palestinians and their companions entered Egypt from Gaza on Monday, the first day of a limited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, a source on the Egyptian side of the border told AFP.
“Five injured people and seven companions” crossed the border, the source said on Tuesday.
The reopening, demanded by the United Nations and aid groups, is a key part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s truce plan for Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire after two years of war.
The number of patients allowed to enter Egypt through the crossing was limited to 50 on Monday, each accompanied by two companions, according to three officials at the Egyptian border.
An Egyptian health official told AFP on Monday that three ambulances had arrived with Palestinian patients who were screened upon arrival to determine which hospital to be taken to.
AlQahera News, citing Egypt’s health ministry, reported that 150 hospitals and 300 ambulances had been prepared to receive Palestinian patients.
It said 12,000 doctors and 30 rapid deployment teams had been allocated to work with those transferred.
The director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said there were 20,000 patients in the territory in urgent need of treatment, including 4,500 children.
There was no official announcement of the number of people who returned to Gaza via the crossing.
AFP images on Monday showed empty buses crossing back to Egypt after transporting Palestinians to Gaza earlier in the day.
The partial resumption of operations at the crossing comes after Israeli forces seized control of the gateway to Egypt in May 2024 during the war with Hamas.
Gaza’s civil defense reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes over the weekend, in what the military said was retaliation for Palestinian fighters exiting a tunnel in Rafah city.
Ali Shaath, the head of a Palestinian technocratic committee established to oversee the day-to-day governance of Gaza, said Rafah’s reopening offered a “window of hope” for the territory.
