GAZA CITY: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement called on its Islamist rivals Hamas on Saturday to relinquish power in order to safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” Fatah spokesman Monther Al-Hayek said in a message sent to AFP from Gaza.
He called on Hamas to “step aside from governing and fully recognize that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians’ existence” if it remains in power in Gaza.
Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, and subsequent attempts at reconciliation have failed.
The territory has been devastated by an Israeli offensive in retaliation for the attack by Hamas and other Palestinian militants on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamas has said repeatedly it is willing to leave power in Gaza once the war is over but categorically excludes giving up its weapons.
“We are ready to accept any agreement regarding the administration of Gaza (post-war), and are not interested in participating in it,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou said in a statement Saturday.
“What’s important to us is the national consensus,” he added, recalling that Hamas has endorsed an Egyptian proposal for an independent committee of professionals and technocrats to manage Gaza post-war and oversee reconstruction.
Abbas says the committee must report to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, the sole legitimate entity to govern Gaza according to him, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has rejected this.
Following disagreement over the next steps in a January 19 ceasefire in the Gaza war, Israeli resumed air strikes on Tuesday, followed by ground operations the day after.
On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas frees the remaining Israeli hostages seized in the October 7 attack.
Of the 251 hostages taken that day, 58 are still being held, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Nearly 50,000 people in Gaza have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The latest Israeli offensive has caused a new exodus of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza.
“We are exhausted by the cycle of displacement,” Ramadan Houdoud told AFP in a tent camp in Al-Zawayda in the center of the territory, after fleeing from Gaza City.
Displaced woman Umm Khaled lamented the destruction, adding: “There is no water, no food, and no rest.”
“Where can we go? We need a solution. Are there really no more Muslims to help us?” she asked.
Fatah urges Hamas to cede power to safeguard ‘Palestinians’ existence’
https://arab.news/b2qj9
Fatah urges Hamas to cede power to safeguard ‘Palestinians’ existence’
- “Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” Fatah spokesman Monther Al-Hayek said
- He called on Hamas to “step aside from governing and fully recognize that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians’ existence” if it remains in power in Gaza
WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan
- The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency
GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.
