Pope Leo discusses war in Ukraine with Russian Orthodox Church official
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Arab News
34 minutes ago
- Arab News
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to ‘scale up' number of sites from 4 to 16
LONDON: The US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will 'scale up' its sites in Gaza from four to 16, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has said. In an interview with Fox News, Huckabee said: 'The immediate plan is to scale up the number of sites up to 16 and begin to operate them as much as 24 hours a day.' The GHF was conceived by Israelis, is operated by American contractors on the ground, and receives diplomatic and financial support from the US, The New York Times reported. It currently operates four aid distribution sites, mostly in southern Gaza. Huckabee and Steve Witkoff, the US' special envoy to the Middle East, visited a GHF site in the enclave last week. Huckabee's comments are viewed as a response to mounting criticism of Israel's war and humanitarian strategy for Gaza. Aid groups have warned that the enclave is in the grip of a rapidly worsening hunger crisis, with Palestinians confronting famine levels of food insecurity. The World Food Programme, a UN body, has said that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached 'new and astonishing levels of desperation, with one-third of the population not eating for multiple days in a row.' Observers widely viewed the launch of the GHF as an Israeli attempt to supersede Gaza's existing humanitarian network, which was largely run by the UN. The foundation has been severely criticized by the UN and has faced a boycott, after UN officials said its methods violated humanitarian law. Hundreds of Palestinians seeking food have been shot dead near GHF sites since the foundation began operations in May, health workers in the enclave have said. Israeli forces are stationed close to the sites, and the country's military said its troops had fired 'warning shots' toward crowds of desperate Palestinians. Huckabee said: 'The president has been telling us he wants food into the hands of hungry people, but he wants it in a way that it doesn't get into the hands of Hamas. That's exactly what we did when we stood up GHF.' He added that the foundation coordinated with the Israeli military but was not under its control, and that its results were 'pretty phenomenal.'
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Congressman says US will urge Israel to exit Lebanon if its army secures the country
A US Congress member said Thursday that Washington will push Israel to withdraw from all of southern Lebanon if the Lebanese army asserts full control over the country. 'We will push hard to make sure that there is — and this is something that I will work with the Israelis on — a complete withdrawal in return for the Lebanese Armed Forces showing its ability to secure all Lebanon,' California Republican US Rep. Darrell Issa said. He was speaking in Beirut, where he met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, ahead of a meeting where the Lebanese cabinet was set to discuss disarmament of the group Hezbollah. Issa did not specify whether the US would ask Israel to begin withdrawing its forces from the territory it is occupying in southern Lebanon before or after Hezbollah gives up its arsenal, a point that has been in dispute. The Lebanese government asked the national army on Tuesday to prepare a plan in which only state institutions in the small nation will have weapons by the end of the year, a move that aims to disarm Hezbollah. After Tuesday's cabinet meeting, Hezbollah accused the government of caving to US and Israeli pressure and said it would 'treat this decision as if it does not exist.' Hezbollah officials have said the group will not discuss giving up its remaining arsenal until Israel withdraws from five hills it is occupying inside Lebanon and stops almost daily airstrikes that have killed or wounded hundreds of people, most of them Hezbollah members, since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November with a US-brokered ceasefire. Israel has accused Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its military capabilities and said it is protecting its border. Since the ceasefire, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for one attack fired across the border. Issa, who is of Lebanese origin, said that the US must 'help all the neighbors around understand that it is the exclusive right of the Lebanese Armed Forces to make decisions.' 'If there's something that goes wrong, the Lebanese Armed Forces will be asked to be responsible,' he said.
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Kazakh cleric seeks to start new Orthodox church to rival Russia's
Vorontsov, a former priest at the Moscow-governed Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, was dismissed last year after describing the war in Ukraine as a fratricidal 'sin' on social mediaHe also called for Kazakhstan to 'fence itself off' from RussiaALMATY: A popular Kazakh cleric opposed to Russia's invasion of Ukraine said Thursday he was attempting to start a new church independent of Moscow, after the Russian Orthodox Church defrocked him over his criticism of the row has become another headache for Russia, which has already seen other former Soviet states cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Vorontsov, a former priest at the Moscow-governed Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, was dismissed last year after describing the war in Ukraine as a fratricidal 'sin' on social media. He also called for Kazakhstan to 'fence itself off' from said Thursday he was collecting signatures to start a new church outside of Moscow's orbit which he would send to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the highest governing authority for the Orthodox Church outside of Moscow.'I plan to send this letter next week,' he told a former Soviet republic of around 20 million, is a majority Muslim country but home to a sizeable Orthodox Christian minority — around three million people, most of them ethnic Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan, the country's largest Christian church, is subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church and its pro-Kremlin leader Patriarch Kazakhstan branch of the Russian Orthodox Church said earlier this week that Vorontsov had been dismissed for 'serious canonical crimes.'It accused him of attempting to create an illegal, 'schismatic' church to rival the Moscow-governed one.'Any of his speeches on behalf of the Orthodox Church are illegal. He misleads people, cunningly posing as an Orthodox priest,' it Russian Orthodox Church has itself been in schism with the Patriarchate of Constantinople since 2018 over the latter's decision to grant autonomy to the Orthodox Church of Russia launched its Ukraine invasion, several former Soviet countries — including Lithuania and Estonia — have cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, officially known as the Moscow Russian Orthodox Church last month reminded its subordinate members in Kazakhstan and Belarus to include 'Russian Orthodox Church' or 'Moscow Patriarchate' in their official titles.
