Arab League chief voices Gaza fears in talks with UN official

Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat meets with Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Cairo. (X/@arableague_gs)
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Updated 18 April 2024
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Arab League chief voices Gaza fears in talks with UN official

  • Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit met with the UN’s Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat
  • UNTSO chief briefed the secretary-general on conflicts in several areas monitored by the UN

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has told a senior UN official that he fears the conflict in Gaza could spiral out control and threaten regional security.

In a meeting in Cairo with Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat, head of mission and chief of staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization, Aboul Gheit highlighted the need to implement the UN Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, and provide urgent humanitarian aid to the famine-stricken population in Gaza.

Gamal Roshdy, a spokesperson for the Arab League chief, said that the meeting discussed the regional situation, with Aboul Gheit saying that Israel’s war on Gaza violated international law and humanitarian principles.

The UNTSO chief briefed the secretary-general on conflicts in several areas monitored by the UN, including the Blue Line, which delineates the truce between Lebanon and Israel.

Aboul Gheit said that political resolutions remain the most effective means to ensure security for all parties.

However, achieving such resolutions remains challenging while Israel pursue its objectives through military force and by targeting civilians, he said.

According to the UNTSO website, the Security Council, in Resolution 50 (1948), called for a cessation of hostilities in Palestine on May 29, 1948, and decided that the UN Mediator should supervise the truce with the assistance of a group of military observers.

The first group of military observers, established in 1949 to supervise the implementation of the Israel-Arab Armistice Agreements, became known as the UN Truce Supervision Organization.

UNTSO observers in the Middle East to monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN peacekeeping operations in the region.


Turkiye bus accident kills eight, injures 26: governor

Updated 34 min 56 sec ago
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Turkiye bus accident kills eight, injures 26: governor

ISTANBUL: A passenger bus rolled off a road in southern Turkey’s Antalya province on Sunday, killing eight people, a senior official said.
Images on state broadcaster TRT showed the vehicle lying on its side on an embankment on a highway slip road in Dosemealti, a district to the northwest of Antalya city center.
Provincial Gov. Hulusi Sahin said 26 people were injured, some of them critically. The DHA news agency reported that some passengers were thrown from the bus, which had traveled overnight from Tekirdag in Turkey’s northwest.
Antalya, a popular tourist destination on the Mediterranean, has been hit by heavy rain in recent days. “The ground was wet and there was also fog in the area. It’s not a place to speed, but it seems the bus was speeding,” Sahin told TRT.