Norwegian minister stresses urgent Gaza needs and two-state solution
Norwegian Minister of International Development Asmund Aukrust, speaking to Al Jazeera, emphasised the critical need for humanitarian aid in Gaza and reiterated Norway's commitment to a two-state solution.
'It is good to have a ceasefire in Gaza, which is important after months of fighting,' Aukrust stated. He highlighted the immense challenges facing the region, particularly the urgent task of clearing rubble caused by extensive bombing.
Aukrust affirmed Norway's readiness to collaborate with all parties committed to achieving a two-state solution.
'Only a two-state solution will allow Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace,' he said, underscoring the necessity of a political resolution to the conflict.
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Middle East Eye
39 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Palestinian prisoner death toll rises as elderly man from Gaza dies in Israeli detention
An elderly man from Gaza has died in Israeli detention, bringing the overall death toll of Palestinian prisoners to at least 71 since 7 October 2023. Though the Israeli army had notified two Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, of his death in recent days, 70-year-old Hussein Abu Habel actually died on 10 January. Forty-five of the 71 Palestinians known to have died in Israeli-run detention centres and prisons since the start of the war on Gaza were from Gaza and their identities were known. In what has been described by the two prisoner advocacy groups as the "bloodiest phase in the history of the prisoner movement" and the "most severe" in detention conditions, the total number of identified Palestinian prisoners to have died since 1967 has risen to 308. "The case of the martyr Abu Habel is added to the record of the Israeli system of brutality, which operates around the clock through a series of organised crimes to kill prisoners and detainees," the prisoner advocacy groups said in a statement. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "These crimes constitute another aspect of the ongoing genocide and an extension of it." Torture, sexual assault, negiligence Abu Habel, who was married and the father of 11 children, was arrested on 12 November. The prisoner groups said they held Israel fully responsible for his death and demanded an international investigation into the deaths of Palestinian detainees. They said that reports on detainees and the circumstances of their deaths have been "limited to the army's narrative", as prison authorities continue to withhold some of the prisoners' bodies and have failed to disclose the cause of death. The statement emphasised that "torture crimes" constituted the "primary cause" of death for most Palestinian detainees killed since the beginning of the war on Gaza, alongside "escalating medical crimes, starvation and rape crimes". The Palestinian Prisoners' Club and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said the situation in Israeli prisons was taking "a more dangerous turn". According to the advocacy groups, Palestinian prisoners continue to be exposed to "systemic crimes", including starvation, torture, medical crimes and negiligence, sexual assaults, and the deliberate placing of them in poor and crowded conditions that lead to serious and contagious diseases. In a press release, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), an NGO established to monitor the use of torture and ill-treatment by Israeli security services against Palestinians under detention, noted a gap of 144 detainees in the state's data. "The fate of these detainees is unknown, and unexplained by state authorities," the statement read. Tal Steiner, the group's executive director, called on Israeli authorities to "provide complete explanations regarding the fate of the 144 missing detainees, and to immediately change the legislation that violates the fundamental rights of detainees. "The disturbing reports of torture in detention facilities and harsh living conditions that have even led to the deaths of many detainees require immediate investigation and fundamental change in the treatment of detainees." Administrative detention and 'unlawful combatants' As of June, there are over 10,400 Palestinians held in Israeli-run prisons, not including those held under military administrative detention. With regards to Palestinians held in military prisons under administrative detention, there are 49 women, over 440 children and 3,562 men, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs. War on Gaza: Israel imprisoned 82-year-old Palestinian woman as 'unlawful combatant' Read More » Administrative detention allows Israel's military to hold prisoners indefinitely, citing alleged secret information, without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. While the period of detention lasts six months, it can be renewed indefinitely. Access to a lawyer varies from case to case, though, and detainees don't know what the charges against them are. An additional 2,214 detainees held by military authorities are from Gaza and have been classified as "unlawful combatants". The majority of people from Gaza held under the unlawful combatant law don't have charges against them either. Steiner said the legislation "enables serious rights violations that are incompatible with democratic values and international law". Released Palestinians from Gaza have spoken of how they were interrogated about whether they supported Hamas, where they lived and other details about their lives - but not presented with a single charge. Since Israel launched a ground invasion of Gaza in late October 2023, its forces have seized hundreds of civilians from their homes or while they were fleeing fighting through "safe corridors". Some have been released after interrogation but many have been taken to undisclosed locations, including mothers separated from their babies.
Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Critical juncture
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam last week declared his government's intentions on the host of difficult problems facing the country. He began with the issue of security. He said Lebanon has achieved 80 per cent of its goals by asserting the Lebanese army's control of the south in accordance with the provisions of the November ceasefire deal with Israel despite daily Israeli violations. While obliged to withdraw completely from Lebanon, the Israeli army has retained what it calls 'strategic posts' several hundred metres within Lebanese territory, arguing they are essential for protecting northern Israeli settlements. While Hizbollah's fighters and arms have withdrawn and Hizbollah arms dumps and posts have been destroyed from the border zone to territory north of the Litani River, Israel continues to target the movement's members wherever they are found and has reportedly killed 150 since the beginning of the ceasefire. This being the case, Hizbollah insists on retaining some weapons. Once Israel stops attacking HIzbollahis, there will be no need for them to bear arms. Last week Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas agreed that Palestinian factions based in the 12 refugee camps in Lebanon must also be disarmed. They said the existence of 'weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state has ended.' They also discussed the 'regularisation' of the existence of 270,000 Palestinians in the country. They are barred from some professions and owing property or businesses and cannot secure public service jobs or access healthcare and social security, Salam told 'The Wall Street Journal,' 'All over the Lebanese territory, the state should have a monopoly on arms. We don't want to put the country onto a civil-war track, but believe me, this is not going to affect our commitment to the need to extend and consolidate the authority of the state.' This will necessitate expanding and army the military to defend the state's sovereignty and territorial integrity and strengthen the domestic police force to impose law and order on a country which has, since independence in 1943, practiced laisser faire across the board. Salam has declared his intention of going on the warpath against endemic corruption and of reforming and restoring public confidence in banks which have contributed heavily to the country's 6-year economic and financial crisis. He said the World Bank and Gulf states have offered Beirut their support in this endeavour. He called for independence of the judiciary and pledged no government interference in the 2000 explosion of a stockpile of amonium nitrate in Beirut port killed 2018,injured 7,000 bs near the port. Investigating judge Tariq Bitar has recently returned to the case and is set to issue an indictment on August 4th, 2025, the fifth anniversary of the blast which shook Lebanon to the core. Salam said discussions have been held with Damascus and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the repatriation of the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. He said that now that the Assads have left power in Syria 'everything is possible.' Talks between Washington and Tehran over restoration of an agreement to limit Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions has created a favourable atmosphere as well as a commitment by these external powers to 'restore Lebanon,' Salam said. When CNN's Becky Anderson asked Salam if Lebanon would normalize relations with Israel, he took a firm line by saying that his country would stick with the Arab peace plan adopted by the 2002 Beirut summit. This called for full Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territory occupied in 1967, including Syria's Golan Heights, the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem. 'We are committed to peace, but a peace based on the two-state solution.' His reply dismisses her suggestion of a 'path to peace' as the requirement for Lebanese relations with Israel. It can be said that Nawaf Salam is qualified to be Lebanon's prime minister at this critical juncture in the country's recent history. He was born in December 1953 into a highly political family deeply committed to Lebanon. His grandfather reformist Selim Salam was elected to the Ottoman parliament in 1912. His uncle Saeb Salam, fought for Lebanon's independence from France and subsequently served four times as prime minister between 1952 and 1973. His cousin Tammam Salam was prime minister between 2014 and 2016. Nawaf Salam's academic achievements are outstanding. He earned a doctorate in political science from France's Sciences Po, a Master of Law from Harvard Law School, and a doctorate in history from the Sorbonne. He practiced law, lectured at distinguished universities, and worked as a legal consultant in France, the US, and Lebanon. From July 2007 to December 2017, he served as Lebanon's UN ambassador. In November 2017, he was elected to the International Court of Justice, becoming the second Lebanese to assume this post. He attracted international attention by presiding over the South African lawsuit against Israel for committing genocide against Gaza. Following the election of army chief Joseph Aoun as president of Lebanon, Salam was nominated by parliament as prime minister and took up the post on January 14th this year. The fifth general to assume the presidency, Aoun pre-empted Salam, his candidate for prime minister, by vowing to battle mafias, halt drug trafficking, tackle corruption and fight sectarianism. He pledged to promote economic, political, and judicial reform. He pormised to end Israel's occupation of Lebanese territory and 'affirm the state's right to a monopoly on the carrying of arms.' Elected at a time of multiple crises in Lebanon, Aoun has a mighty example to emulate. This was the first general to take power, Fuad Chehab, who assumed the presidency after the country's first civil conflict in 1958. He was an incorruptible, autocratic figure who unified the country, launched reforms and social development, and built state institution. During his presidency, There were five prime ministers, including Saeb Salam. Lebanon hopes the duo of Aoun and Nawaf Salam could match some of the achievements of Chehab and his associates. Photo: TNS
Middle East Eye
5 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel opposition leader says Netanyahu arming 'equivalent of Isis' gangs in Gaza
Opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman has accused Israeli forces, under the approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of arming 'crime families' in Gaza. The accusations add weight to the claim that Israel has used Palestinian gangs to disrupt the distribution of aid in the besieged enclave. Lieberman, the head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, is a former finance minister and deputy prime minister. "Israel has provided assault rifles and light weapons to crime families in Gaza, on Netanyahu's orders," Lieberman told Israeli public broadcaster Kan on Thursday. "The weapons are being transferred to criminals and offenders and are being directed at Israel. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'In my opinion, it did not pass cabinet approval. The head of the Shin Bet knows, I'm not sure the chief of staff knows. We're talking about the equivalent of Isis in Gaza,' he added, referencing the Islamic State group. He added that 'no one can guarantee that these weapons will not be directed at Israel. We have no way of monitoring or tracking them.' In response, Netanyahu's office said: 'Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment.' There have been several reports in recent months of Israel allegedly backing, or turning a blind eye to, armed gangs looting aid and food warehouses in Gaza. Rocks, looting, protests: How Israelis are blocking Gaza-bound aid trucks Read More » Al Jazeera Arabic's Anas al-Sharif reported in early May that Israeli forces attacked shopowners and local Gaza security teams who were attempting to protect shops from looting and chaos. Asaad al-Kafarna, a police officer in Gaza, was killed by Israeli forces near a restaurant on 2 May after pursuing armed looters accused of collaborating with Israel's military. In response to such looting by gangs, a number of influential families in Gaza published statements denouncing the scenes. 'These gangs act in alignment with the goals of the occupation,' the Madhoun family wrote at the time. In November, an internal UN memo obtained by the Washington Post revealed that gangs 'may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence' or 'protection' from Israeli troops. One such gang leader, according to the memo, established a 'military-like compound' in an area 'restricted, controlled and patrolled' by Israel's military. Commentators have suggested that by backing criminal gangs and targeting members of Gaza's civil administration, Israel was attempting to create a power vacuum and lawlessness. Massacres of aid seekers A CNN investigation published on Thursday concluded that the Israeli military was behind a deadly shooting of civilians seeking aid near Rafah in southern Gaza over the weekend, which killed more than 30 people. More than a dozen eyewitnesses, including those wounded in the attack, said Israeli troops shot at crowds in volleys of gunfire that occurred sporadically through the early hours of Sunday morning, the investigation said. Trump administration on the defensive after Gaza aid plan spirals into chaos Read More » Multiple videos geolocated by CNN placed the gunfire near a roundabout where hundreds of Palestinians had gathered about half a mile (800 metres) away from the militarised aid site. The Israeli military has denied its troops fired on civilians in or around the centre, and both it and the aid centre's administrator accused Hamas of sowing false rumours. The controversial US-backed initiative to distribute aid, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), said on Thursday it would not hand out any food to starving Palestinians for a second day, saying operations will only restart when maintenance and repair work at its distribution sites are complete. The suspension of the GHF's aid distribution system comes after more than 100 Palestinians were gunned down near its sites in less than a week. Earlier this week, eyewitnesses and local officials told Middle East Eye that Israeli troops opened fire directly on civilians, with many of the fatalities receiving gunshot wounds to their head or chest.
