UAE welcomes ceasefire in Suwayda
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) stressed the UAE's unwavering position in support of Syria's stability and sovereignty over all its territory. The Ministry underscored the UAE's solidarity with the Syrian people and its support for all endeavours aimed at fulfilling their aspirations for security, peace, a dignified life, peaceful coexistence, and development.
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Al Etihad
2 hours ago
- Al Etihad
UN warns against Israeli evacuation orders in Deir al Balah
21 July 2025 10:03 NEW YORK (WAM) An Israeli military order for residents and displaced people in Gaza's Deir al Balah area to move south dealt 'another devastating blow' to humanitarian efforts in the war-ravaged territory, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on warned that Sunday's mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military has dealt yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip. The order covers about 5.6 square kilometres of Deir al Balah, spanning four estimates indicated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area at the time the order was issued, including some 30,000 people sheltering in 57 displacement least 1,000 families have fled the area in recent staff are remaining in Deir al Balah, spread across dozens of premises. Their coordinates have been shared with the relevant parties. These locations – as with all civilian sites – must be protected, regardless of displacement newly-designated area includes several humanitarian warehouses, four primary health clinics, four medical points, and critical water infrastructure: the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant, three water wells, one water reservoir, one solid waste dumping site and one wastewater pumping station. Any damage to this infrastructure will have life-threatening statement added, "With this latest order, the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarised zones has risen to 87.8 percent, leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 percent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed." "The new order cuts through Deir al Balah all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, further splintering the Strip. It will limit the ability of the UN and our partners to move safely and effectively within Gaza, choking humanitarian access when it is needed most."
ARN News Center
3 hours ago
- ARN News Center
Israeli fire kills 67 people seeking aid in Gaza, medics say
At least 67 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday as they waited for UN aid trucks, Gaza's health ministry said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people. The ministry said dozens of people were also wounded in the incident in northern Gaza. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed, including 36 on Saturday. Another six people were killed near another aid site in the south, it said. Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza on Sunday to remove what it said was "an immediate threat". It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated and it "certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks". It did not immediately comment on the incident in the south. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that shortly after entering Gaza, a WFP convoy of 25 trucks carrying food aid encountered "massive crowds of hungry civilians" who then came under gunfire. "WFP reiterates that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable," it said in a statement. A Hamas official told Reuters that the group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the enclave and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks underway in Qatar. In total, health authorities said 90 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across the enclave on Sunday. After Israel's military dropped leaflets urging people to evacuate from neighbourhoods in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area. Dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have been sheltering in the Deir al-Balah area. Israel's military said it had not entered the districts subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing "to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area". Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is because they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be alive. Hostage families demanded an explanation from the army. "Can anyone (promise) to us that this decision will not come at the cost of losing our loved ones?" the families said in a statement. Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation. Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food and a collapse in aid deliveries. "We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger," said Gaza's health ministry. The United Nations also said on Sunday that civilians were starving and needed an urgent influx of aid. Pope Leo called for an end to the "barbarity of war" as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza that killed three people on Thursday. Gaza residents said it was becoming impossible to find essential food such as flour. The health ministry said at least 71 children had died of malnutrition during the war, and 60,000 others were suffering from symptoms of malnutrition. Later on Sunday, it said 18 people have died of hunger in the past 24 hours. Food prices have increased well beyond what most of the population of more than two million can afford. Several people who spoke to Reuters via chat apps said they either had one meal or no meal in the past 24 hours. "As a father, I wake up in the early morning to look for food, for even a loaf of bread for my five children, but all in vain," said Ziad, a nurse. "People who didn't die of bombs will die of hunger. We want an end to this war now, a truce, even for two months," he told Reuters. Others said they felt dizzy walking in the streets and that many fainted as they walked. Fathers leave tents to avoid questions by their children about what to eat. UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, demanded Israel allow more aid trucks into Gaza, saying it had enough food for the entire population for over three months which was not allowed in. Israel's military said that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community". Some Palestinians suggested the move on Deir al-Balah might be an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to make more concessions in long-running ceasefire negotiations. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough. The war on Gaza was triggered in October 2023, when Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million and causing a hunger crisis.
Dubai Eye
7 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Calm returns to Syria as fighters pull back
Residents reported calm in Syria's Sweida on Sunday after the government declared that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and the United States stepped up calls for an end to days of fighting. With hundreds of people reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed has marked a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to carry out airstrikes last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call. On Sunday morning, residents reported no sound of gunfire in the city after the interior ministry announced late on Saturday that Bedouin tribal fighters had left. Reuters images showed interior ministry security forces deployed in an area near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. Kenan Azzam, a dentist, described the situation on Sunday morning as "a tense calm" but told Reuters residents were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity. "The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded," he said by phone. Another Sweida resident, Raed Khazaal, said humanitarian aid was urgently needed in the city. "Houses are destroyed ... The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital", he said in a voice message to Reuters from inside Sweida. Tom Barrack, the U.S. envoy for Syria, said "brutal acts by warring factions on the ground undermine the government's authority and disrupt any semblance of order". "All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance. Syria stands at a critical juncture—peace and dialogue must prevail—and prevail now," he wrote on X. The Druze are a small but influential minority group present in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi'ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical. CHECKPOINTS The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus then sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of carrying out widespread violations against the Druze. Residents of the predominantly Druze city have described friends and neighbours being shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and the insignia on them. Sharaa, in a speech on Thursday, promised to protect the rights of Druze, accountability for violations, and also vowed to hold to account those who committed violations against "our Druze people". He has blamed the violence on "outlaw groups". Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and also hit the defense ministry in Damascus last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarisation of a swathe of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida. He reiterated Israel's policy to protect the Druze. The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said that Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days. A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in both the western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered. The source said some tribal groups had already returned to Damascus and northern areas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, has said clashes since last week around Sweida had killed at least 940 people. Reuters could not independently verify the toll.
