UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations chief on Tuesday denounced the “systematic” looting of humanitarian aid in Gaza, a day after the territory’s Hamas authorities said 20 people were killed in a security operation targeting such actions.
“Armed looting has become systematic and must end immediately. It is hindering life saving aid operations and further endangering the lives of our staff,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“However, the use of law enforcement operations must be lawful, necessary and proportionate.”
Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza in the early stages of the war last year, and the UN warned on November 9 that famine was looming in some areas due to a lack of aid.
Aid distribution in Gaza is complicated by shortages of fuel, war-damaged roads and looting, as well as fighting in densely populated areas and the repeated displacement of much of the territory’s 2.4 million people.
Several humanitarian officials have told AFP on condition of anonymity that almost half the aid that enters Gaza is looted, especially basic supplies.
On Monday, Gaza’s interior ministry said it had carried out a major operation targeting looters.
“More than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in cooperation with tribal committees,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the operation was “the beginning of a broad security campaign that has been long planned and will expand to include everyone involved in the theft of aid trucks.”
On Tuesday, the US-based Washington Post newspaper cited a UN memo as saying some of the gangs were receiving “passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israel Defense Forces.
Dujarric said he was unaware of the memo, but that the allegation was “fairly alarming” if true.
“The idea that the Israeli forces may be allowing looters or not doing enough to prevent it is frankly, fairly alarming, given the responsibilities of Israel as the occupying power to ensure that humanitarian aid is distributed safely,” he said.
UN chief slams ‘systematic’ looting of Gaza humanitarian aid
https://arab.news/45g4h
UN chief slams ‘systematic’ looting of Gaza humanitarian aid
- Aid distribution in Gaza is complicated by shortages of fuel, war-damaged roads and looting
- On Monday, Gaza’s interior ministry said it had carried out a major operation targeting looters
Novo Nordisk, other companies meet Danish prime minister following Trump’s Greenland threat
The Danish leader said Trump had not retracted his threats of economic coercion during the 45-minute phone conversation
COPENHAGEN: The CEO of obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk and heads of other Danish companies met on Thursday with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to discuss preparations for a possible trade conflict with the United States over Greenland.
Frederiksen summoned business leaders after speaking on Wednesday with US President-elect Donald Trump, who last week refused to rule out military or economic action to take control of Greenland, which is strategically important to Washington.
Trump has suggested he would impose tariffs on Danish goods if it resists his offer to buy the vast Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
The Danish leader said Trump had not retracted his threats of economic coercion during the 45-minute phone conversation, in which she told him it was up to Greenland to decide its future and offered to do more to strengthen security in the Arctic.
“We don’t want to have any kind of conflict with the Americans in the trade area, but of course we are working with the companies, with the business organizations and with our European colleagues,” Frederiksen told journalists.
She said she had informed Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede ahead of the phone call with Trump, and that she had also spoken to Egede right afterwards.
“We’re not preparing for specific things we don’t know yet, but it has been hinted at from the US side that there may unfortunately be a situation where we work less together than we do today,” she added.
DISCUSSIONS WITH BUSINESS LEADERS
Frederiksen said she had emphasized in her conversation with Trump that Danish companies contribute to growth and jobs in the United States and that the EU and the US have a common interest in increased trade.
The CEO of Danish obesity and diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, will participate in the meeting, the company said on Thursday.
Novo, which competes with US drugmaker Eli Lilly in the fast-growing weight-loss drug market, makes the main active ingredient — semaglutide — in its popular obesity and diabetes injections Wegovy and Ozempic in Denmark, and exports it to the United States.
In the first nine months of 2024, Novo’s US sales totalled 115 billion Danish crowns ($15.86 billion), of which obesity drug Wegovy accounted for 31.1 billion.
Other participants in the meeting include CEOs of jewelry maker Pandora, toymaker Lego, brewer Carlsberg , wind turbine maker Vestas and offshore wind farm developer Orsted, the companies said.
Shipping group Maersk said its executives were traveling and would not participate.
Airlines including Lufthansa cautiously plan to resume some Middle East flights
- Airlines remain cautious and watchful before re-entering the region in full
- Air France-KLM said its flights between Paris and Beirut will be suspended until Jan. 31
DUBLIN: Germany’s Lufthansa Group is set to resume flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel from Feb. 1 and Wizz Air restarted its London to Tel Aviv route on Thursday, the companies said following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Many Western carriers canceled flights to swaths of the Middle East in recent months, including Beirut and Tel Aviv, as conflict tore across the region. Airlines also avoided Iraqi and Iranian airspace out of fear of getting accidentally caught in drone or missile warfare.
Wizz Air also resumed flights to Amman, Jordan starting on Thursday from London Luton airport.
Lufthansa Group carriers Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss were included in Lufthansa’s decision to resume flights to Tel Aviv.
Ryanair said it was hoping to run a full summer schedule to and from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv in an interview with Reuters last week, before the ceasefire deal was announced.
In the wake of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Turkish Airlines said it would start flights to Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Jan. 23, with three flights per week.
CAUTIOUS RETURN
But airlines remain cautious and watchful before re-entering the region in full, they said.
Air France-KLM said its operations to and from Tel Aviv remain suspended until Jan. 24, while its flights between Paris and Beirut will be suspended until Jan. 31.
“The operations will resume on the basis of an assessment of the situation on the ground,” it said in a statement.
The suspension of Lufthansa flights to and from Tehran up to and including Feb. 14 remains in place and the airline will not fly to Beirut in Lebanon up to and including Feb. 28, it said.
MENA economic growth to accelerate to 2.9% in 2025, says Moody’s
RIYADH: Oil production and large investment projects will accelerate annual economic growth across the Middle East and North Africa by 0.8 percentage points in 2025, according to Moody’s.
The global credit rating agency forecasts growth of 2.9 percent this year, up from 2.1 percent in 2024, and also maintained a stable outlook for the credit fundamentals of sovereigns in the region over the next 12 months.
The agency emphasized that the impact of large investments will be most evident in Saudi Arabia, driven by high government and sovereign wealth fund spending linked to the Vision 2030 diversification program.
The projections align with those of global consultancy Oxford Economics, which expects regional gross domestic product to grow by 3.6 percent in 2025, outpacing the firm’s global forecast of 2.8 percent.
Moody’s added that the pickup in the MENA economy will be driven primarily by “stronger growth in the region’s hydrocarbon exporters because of a partial unwinding of strategic oil production cuts under the OPEC+ agreement.”
Alexander Perjessy, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s, said: “Large-scale investment projects, many of them part of longer-term government development and diversification agendas, will support non-hydrocarbon economic activity across the region.”
According to the credit rating agency, real gross domestic product growth for hydrocarbon-exporting nations is expected to rise to 3.5 percent in 2025, up from 1.9 percent in the previous year, as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, and Oman ease the oil production cuts implemented in 2023.
In Qatar, growth in the small, gas-rich nation will be bolstered by the development of the petrochemical industry and construction activities related to the expansion of liquefied natural gas production capacity, set to come online between 2026 and 2030.
In Kuwait, non-hydrocarbon growth will be mainly driven by major projects, including the construction of a new port and a new airport terminal.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s non-hydrocarbon growth is expected to remain above pre-COVID levels, provided that improved domestic security conditions are sustained, driven by the gradual implementation of several transport and energy projects.
In the UAE, non-hydrocarbon growth will moderate slightly due to the completion of some infrastructure projects; however, it will remain robust, at around 5 percent in 2025.
Death toll in Israeli strikes on Gaza rises to 77 since ceasefire deal, residents say
- Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government
- Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements
DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Israel airstrikes killed at least 77 people in Gaza overnight on Thursday, residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The complex ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US to stop the war that has devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East.
The deal, scheduled to be implemented from Sunday, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by militant group Hamas, which controls the enclave, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
The deal also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the majority of the population has been displaced and is facing acute food shortages, food security experts warned late last year.
Rows of aid trucks were lined up in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish waiting to cross into Gaza, once the border is reopened.
Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government, and a vote was slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements.
“The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
Hamas senior official Izzat el-Reshiq said on Thursday the group is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
Hard-liners in Netanyahu’s government were still hoping to stop the deal, though a majority of ministers were expected to back it.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism Party said in a statement that its condition for remaining in the government would be a return to fighting at the end of the first phase of the deal, in order to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages back. Far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has also threatened to quit the government if the ceasefire is approved.
In Jerusalem, some Israelis marched through the streets carrying mock coffins in protest at the ceasefire, blocking roads and scuffling with police.
Despite the hold-up to the cabinet meeting, political commentators on Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said the latest delay would likely be resolved and that the ceasefire was a done deal.
The White House also downplayed reports of a snag in the ceasefire deal on Thursday. Jonathan Finer, the deputy national security adviser, said in an interview with CNN: “We fully expect the deal to be implemented as described by the president and by the mediators — Egypt and Qatar — yesterday and on the timeline that was described. What we’re doing now is working through details of implementation.”
Calls for faster implementation
For some Palestinians, the deal could not come soon enough.
“We lose homes every hour. We demand for this joy not to go away, the joy that was drawn on our faces — don’t waste it by delaying the implementation of the truce until Sunday,” Gazan man Mahmoud Abu Wardeh said.
The accord requires 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the ceasefire, with 50 carrying fuel. The first phase of the agreement will also see Israel releasing more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including many long-serving inmates.
Israelis may find it hard to see Palestinian militants who were serving life sentences for their involvement in deadly attacks in their country, set free.
But successive surveys have shown broad support among the public for a deal that would see the hostages released, even at what is seen as a heavy price.
“This has to be the only choice that we take in order to continue surviving as a state and as a nation, knowing that we will do anything to save each other,” said Jerusalem resident Chava Treitel.
While people celebrated the pact in Gaza and Israel, Israel’s military conducted more attacks, the civil emergency service and residents said.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 81 people had been killed over the past 24 hours and about 188 injured. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said at least 77 of those were killed since the ceasefire announcement.
The Israeli military is looking into the reports, a military spokesperson said.
Israel secured major gains over Iran and its proxies, mainly Hezbollah, as the Gaza conflict spread. In Gaza, however, Hamas may have been crippled, but without an alternative administration in place, it has been left standing.
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanized Gaza, killed over 46,000 people, and displaced most of the tiny enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East.
With 98 foreign and Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50.
Global reaction to the ceasefire was enthusiastic.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal will begin by the 16th day of phase one, and this stage was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third stage is to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza’s reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
Spain raises flag at Damascus embassy after 12-year closure
- Spain closed the mission in March 2012
- “It is an honor for me to be here in person,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said at the embassy
DAMASCUS: Spain raised its flag at Madrid’s Damascus embassy Thursday, in the presence of its top diplomat more than a decade after suspending activity and as Western countries resume ties following Syrian president Bashar Assad’s ouster.
Spain closed the mission in March 2012, a year after Assad began brutal repression of anti-government protests, triggering more than 13 years of war.
“It is an honor for me to be here in person,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said at the embassy, where the Spanish national anthem was played, an AFP correspondent reported.
“Raising the Spanish flag again is a sign of the hope we have for Syria’s future, of the commitment we convey to the Syrian people for a better future.”
A statement from the foreign ministry ahead of the visit said Albares would meet representatives of Syria’s new administration and of civil society.
The trip comes more than a month after rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad. Top European officials, including foreign ministers from France and Germany, have made a series of visits to meet with the country’s new rulers.
A transitional administration has been appointed until March and HTS, which has roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, has sought to reassure minorities that they will not be harmed and the rule of law will be respected.
Albares told public broadcaster TVE ahead of the visit that “the message that I want to send is a message of support to Syria.”
“But we also have red lines. Syria must be peaceful. Syria must be inclusive, and the rights of all must be respected, including those of women, and ethnic and religious minorities,” he added.
“This will be my first official trip this year,” Albares told TVE, adding he “wanted to start with one of the regions where Spanish foreign policy is most influential and where we work hardest to achieve peace.”
Albares’s trip to Syria followed a visit to neighboring Lebanon on Wednesday, where he announced a 10 million euro ($10.3 million) aid package for the country’s army, nearly two months into a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
