BENGHAZI: The Libyan government postponed the prime minister’s first visit to the east of the country late on Sunday, hours after an advance security team was turned back from Benghazi airport, a source said.
A Cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday in the city would also have marked national unity government leader Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s first trip to Libya’s east, a bastion of military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
But on Sunday a spokesperson said preparations were underway to arrange another date, without giving a reason for the postponement.
The announcement came several hours after a government security team was turned away by local authorities at Benghazi airport, forcing them to get back on their plane and return to the capital Tripoli, a local security source said.
Dbeibah was selected earlier this year through a UN-backed inter-Libyan dialogue to lead the country to national elections in December 2021.
Libya has been mired in chaos since its leader Muammar Qaddafi was deposed and killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.
Dbeibah’s government replaced two rival administrations based in Tripoli and the country’s east, the latter loyal to Haftar, whose forces tried but failed to seize the capital in a 2019-20 offensive.
The rival authorities have given their backing to the new administration, adding to tentative hopes that Libya can exit a decade of crisis.
Dbeibah had previously announced his intention to hold Cabinet meetings in different cities across the country, most notably in Benghazi, Libya’s second city and one of Haftar’s strongholds.
PM’s trip to eastern Libya delayed after security row
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PM’s trip to eastern Libya delayed after security row
- Dbeibah was selected earlier this year through a UN-backed inter-Libyan dialogue to lead the country to national elections in December 2021
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.
