ABU DHABI: Prince Charles and his wife Camilla on Sunday started a three-day visit to the UAE coming from Oman.
Upon their arrival the couple visited Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, escorted by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, and Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance, who welcomed the British royal couple before they attended a meeting on religious tolerance inside the mosque.
Prince Charles and Camilla viewed the architectural master piece while expressing their admiration for its distinctive features. Following the tour, they headed to another part of the grounds where they signed the guest book.
“The Duchess was just so humble, and she spent a good time chatting to us ... this was such a special experience for us,” said Sara Saeed Al Hameli, President of the Zayed University Student Council, who met Camilla at the event along with her fellow students. She added that the Duchess told them that she was very impressed with the sheer number of UAE women and their distinctive role in the country’s progress.
“She said she had never seen that in any other country...she also said she was very impressed with people’s positive attitudes in the UAE,” added Al Hameli.
The couple are scheduled to attend the inauguration of the UK-UAE Year of Culture at Jahili Fort in Al Ain on Monday as well as a number of other events.
Charles and Camilla are on a week-long tour of the region which started in Oman on Saturday and are expected to visit Bahrain later.
This was the couple’s second visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and the eighth time Prince Charles has visited the UAE since his first tour in 1989.
Prince of Wales visits Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi
Prince of Wales visits Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi
Israel’s hostage forum releases AI-generated video of last Gaza captive
- The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling
JERUSALEM: An Israeli group representing the families of Gaza hostages released on Tuesday an AI-generated video of Ran Gvili, the last captive whose body is still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The one-minute clip, created whole cloth using artificial intelligence, purports to depict Gvili as he sits in a Gaza tunnel and appeals to US President Donald Trump to help bring his body back to Israel.
“Mr President, I’m asking you to see this through: Please bring me home. My family deserves this. I deserve the right to be buried with honor in the land I fought for,” says the AI-generated image of Gvili.
Gvili was 24 at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
He was an officer in Israel’s Yasam elite police unit and was on medical leave when he learnt of the attack.
He decided to leave his home and brought his gun to counter the Hamas militants.
He was shot in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz before he was taken to Gaza.
Israeli authorities told Gvili’s parents in January 2024 that he had not survived his injuries.
The AI clip was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those taken captive to Gaza.
The Forum said it was published with the approval of Gvili’s family.
“Seeing and hearing Rani speak in his own voice is both moving and heartbreaking. I would give anything to hear, see and hold him again,” Gvili’s mother Talik said, quoted by the Forum.
“But all I can do now is plead that they don’t move to the next phase of the agreement before bringing Rani home — because we don’t leave heroes behind.”
The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
In the first stage, Palestinian militants were expected to return all of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages held in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, militants have released 47 hostages.
In the next stages of the truce, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump in Florida later this month to discuss the second phase of the deal.
