GENEVA: Egypt warned on Tuesday that Israel’s planned ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza would have “catastrophic repercussions” for peace in the Middle East.
Foreign ministers from Arab League countries told the United Nations Human Rights Council that some nations were turning a blind eye to the suffering in Gaza.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the extreme polarization exposed by the Gaza war had laid bare the double standards of some members of the UN’s top rights body.
Israel has said a truce with Hamas would delay, not prevent, a ground invasion of Rafah on the Egyptian border, where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinian civilians have sought refuge from the war.
“The world is witnessing the most heinous crimes and violations against the Palestinian people,” Shoukry said.
He called for an immediate ceasefire and urged Israel not to attack Rafah.
“Any military action in the present circumstances would have catastrophic repercussions that undermine peace in the region,” he warned.
The war in Gaza began after the Hamas militant group that controls the Palestinian territory launched an attack on October 7 that killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Hamas militants also took hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza have killed at least 29,878 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Shoukry said some countries on the 47-member Human Rights Council in Geneva were shying away from the firm action they had taken over other conflicts.
“It seems that life in Gaza is not worthy enough of their attention, that the massacre of tens of thousands of children fails to shake their otherwise all-too-sensitive conscience,” he said.
“The lives of Gaza’s children are seemingly less valuable than others.
“This preludes the... collapse of the international system, including this council.”
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya said the “brutal crimes of the Israeli occupation forces against defenseless civilians” had led to “catastrophic crisis and destruction.”
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the world “cannot keep turning a blind eye” to the “unprecedented human disaster” in Gaza.
Qatari International Cooperation Minister Lolwah Al-Khater said Gaza was witnessing a “genocidal war,” while the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was also deteriorating.
“Sponsoring this Israeli exceptionalism above international law by some global powers should stop,” she told the council.
Meanwhile Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar, speaking via video-link, said human rights were being violated in Gaza “with the utmost barbarism” and said the international community had been “paralyzed because of a handful of countries.”
Egypt warns of ‘catastrophic repercussions’ if Israeli attacks Rafah
https://arab.news/wd5t9
Egypt warns of ‘catastrophic repercussions’ if Israeli attacks Rafah
- Israel has said a truce with Hamas would delay, not prevent, a ground invasion of Rafah
- “The world is witnessing the most heinous crimes and violations against the Palestinian people,” Shoukry said
Israeli foreign minister visiting Somaliland, sources say
- Territory lies in northwestern Somalia along strategic Gulf of Aden and shares land borders with Ethiopia and Djibouti
- Netanyahu has said Israel would pursue cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology, and has invited Somaliland’s president to visit Israel
NAIROBI/JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited Somaliland, the breakaway region of Somalia, on Tuesday, two sources told Reuters, 10 days after Israel formally recognized the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent state.
One of the sources, a senior Somaliland official, said Saar would meet Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi to discuss ways to enhance bilateral ties. The second source confirmed the Israeli minister’s presence in Somaliland.
The Israeli foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Saar was in Somaliland.
Israel formally recognized Somaliland as a sovereign state on December 27, a move that drew criticism from Somalia, which has long opposed Somaliland’s efforts to secede. No other country has formally recognized Somaliland.
At the time, Abdullahi said Somaliland would join the Abraham Accords, a deal brokered by the Trump administration in 2020 that saw Gulf states the United Arab Emirates — a close partner of Somaliland — and Bahrain establish ties with Israel.
Somaliland, once a British protectorate, has for decades sought formal recognition as an independent state, though it has signed bilateral agreements with various foreign governments on investments and security coordination.
The territory lies in northwestern Somalia along the strategic Gulf of Aden and shares land borders with Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland follows two years of increasingly strained ties with many of its closest partners over the war in Gaza and policies in the West Bank.
Strategic location
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would pursue cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology, and the economy, and has invited Somaliland’s president to visit Israel.
Somaliland sits across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthis have launched long-range missile and drone attacks on Israel since October 2023, coinciding with the Gaza war.
Somaliland has denied that the recognition agreement allows for Israel to establish military bases there, or for the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza. Israel’s government has advocated for what officials describe as voluntary Palestinian migration from Gaza.
