Latest News from Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya
23 minutes ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Israel says it killed Mohammed Sinwar, presumed Hamas leader in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said the military had killed Mohammed Sinwar, the presumed leader of Hamas in Gaza and the brother of slain former chief Yahya Sinwar. 'In 600 days of the 'War of Revival,' we have indeed changed the face of the Middle East,' Netanyahu told parliament. 'We drove the terrorists out of our territory, entered the Gaza Strip with force, eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists, eliminated... Mohammed Sinwar.' Israeli media had reported that Sinwar was targeted in Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on May 13. At the time, the Israeli military said it conducted 'a precise struck on Hamas terrorists in a command and control center located in an underground terrorist infrastructure site beneath the European hospital in Khan Younis.' Sinwar's older brother Yahya, accused by Israel of masterminding Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war in Gaza, was killed in the south of the territory in October 2024. Experts say it is likely that Mohammed Sinwar took over as the head of the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, after its leader Mohammed Deif was killed. Following the deaths of several Hamas leaders since October 7, Mohammed Sinwar was considered to be at the heart of decisions on indirect negotiations with Israel, the issue of hostages and the management of Hamas's armed wing. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, among others.
Al Arabiya
23 minutes ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Thousands of starving Gazans storm UN aid warehouse as hunger crisis worsens
Thousands of desperate Palestinians stormed a United Nations warehouse in central Gaza on Wednesday, with the World Food Programme reporting two possible deaths in the tumult as Israel and the UN traded blame over the deepening hunger crisis. The humanitarian situation in Gaza, where aid has finally begun to trickle in after Israel's two-month blockade, is dire following 18 months of devastating war. Food security experts say starvation is looming for one in five people. AFP footage showed crowds of Palestinians breaking into a WFP warehouse in Deir Al-Balah and taking bags of emergency food supplies as gunshots rang out. 'Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP's Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,' WFP said in a statement on X. 'Initial reports indicate two people died and several were injured in the tragic incident,' WFP said, adding that it was still confirming details. Israel accused the United Nations Wednesday of seeking to block Gaza aid distribution, as the global body said it was doing its utmost to facilitate distribution of the limited assistance greenlit by Israel's authorities. The issue of aid has come sharply into focus amid starvation fears and intense criticism of Israel's aid blockade and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US-backed aid group that has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory. Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon told the Security Council that aid was entering Gaza by truck -- under limited authorization by Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing -- and via a 'new distribution mechanism developed in coordination with the US and key international partners.' Danon was referring to the GHF operation, which he accused the UN of 'trying to block,' saying it was 'using threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate in the new humanitarian mechanism.' The UN said 47 people were injured Tuesday when thousands of Palestinians rushed a GHF site. A Palestinian medical source reported at least one death. 600 days Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reiterated the world body's opposition to coordinating with GHF. 'We will not participate in operations that do not meet our humanitarian principles,' Dujarric told AFP. He said the UN was doing all it could to send aid, adding that since last week 800 truckloads were approved by Israel but fewer than 500 made it into Gaza. As the war entered its 600th day Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the offensive had 'changed the face of the Middle East.' He said it had killed tens of thousands of militants including Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas's presumed Gaza leader and the brother of Yahya -- slain mastermind of the October 2023 attack on southern Israel. Israeli media said Sinwar was targeted by strikes in southern Gaza earlier this month. His brother was killed in October 2024. In Washington, US envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism about a possible ceasefire, saying he expected to propose a plan soon. 'I have some very good feelings about getting to a... temporary ceasefire, and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution of that conflict,' he said. But Gazans remained pessimistic. 'Six hundred days have passed and nothing has changed. Death continues, and Israeli bombing does not stop,' said Bassam Daloul, 40. 'Even hoping for a ceasefire feels like a dream and a nightmare.' Elusive ceasefire Israel stepped up its military offensive earlier this month, while mediators push for a still elusive ceasefire. In Tel Aviv, hundreds of people called for a ceasefire, lining roads at 6:29 am -- the exact time the unprecedented October 7 attack began. Relatives of hostages held since that attack also gathered in Tel Aviv. 'I want you to know that when Israel blows up deals, it does so on the heads of the hostages,' said Arbel Yehud, who was freed from Gaza captivity in January. 'Their conditions immediately worsen, food diminishes, pressure increases, and bombings and military actions do not save them, they endanger their lives.' The health ministry in Gaza said Wednesday at least 3,924 people had been killed by Israel in renewed attacks on the territory that resumed on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,084, mostly women and children.
Al Arabiya
41 minutes ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Harvard to hold graduation in shadow of Trump's ‘retribution'
Harvard is due to hold its annual graduation ceremony Thursday as a federal judge considers the legality of punitive measures taken against the university by President Donald Trump that threaten to overshadow festivities. Thursday's commencement comes as Trump piles unprecedented pressure on Harvard, seeking to ban it from having foreign students, shredding its contracts with the federal government, slashing its multi-billion dollar grants, and challenging its tax-free status. Harvard is challenging all of the measures in court. The Ivy League institution has continually drawn Trump's ire while publicly rejecting his administration's repeated demands to give up control of recruitment, curricula and research choices. The government claims Harvard tolerates anti-Semitism and liberal bias. 'Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper,' Trump said Wednesday. Harvard president Alan Garber, who told National Public Radio Tuesday that 'sometimes they don't like what we represent,' may speak to address the ceremony. Garber has acknowledged that Harvard does have issues with anti-Semitism, and has struggled to ensure that a variety of viewpoints can be safely heard on campus. 'What is perplexing is the measures that they have taken to address these (issues) don't even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems,' Garber told NPR. Basketball star and human rights campaigner Kareem Abdul-Jabbar addressed the class of 2025 for Class Day on Wednesday. 'When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard to give up their academic freedom and destroy free speech, Dr. Alan Garber rejected the illegal and immoral pressures the way Rosa Parks declined--' he said to applause. Civil rights icon Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama sparking a boycott that ultimately led to the desegregation of services, spurring on the Civil Rights movement in what is widely seen as a watershed moment. Madeleine Riskin-Kutz, 22, a Franco-American classics and linguistics student at Harvard said some students were planning individual acts of protest against the Trump policies. 'The atmosphere (is) that just continuing on joyfully with the processions and the fanfare is in itself an act of resistance,' she said. Legal fightback Garber has led the fight-back in US academia after Trump targeted several prestigious universities including Columbia which made sweeping concessions to the administration in an effort to restore $400 million of withdrawn federal grants. A federal judge in Boston will on Thursday hear arguments over Trump's effort to exclude Harvard from the main system for sponsoring and hosting foreign students. Judge Allison Burroughs quickly paused the policy which would have ended Harvard's ability to bring students from abroad who currently make up 27 percent of its student body. Retired immigration judge Patricia Sheppard protested outside Harvard Yard Wednesday, sporting a black judicial robe and brandishing a sign reading 'for the rule of law.' 'We have to look at why some of these actions have been filed, and it does not seem to me seemly that a president would engage in certain actions as retribution,' she told AFP. Ahead of the ceremony, members of the Harvard band sporting distinctive crimson blazers and brandishing their instruments filed through the narrow streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts that is home to America's oldest university ahead of the graduation ceremony. A huge stage had been erected and hundreds of chairs laid out in a grassy precinct that was closed off to the public for the occasion. Students braved sunny conditions to wear black academic gowns, touring through Cambridge with photo-taking family members, AFP correspondents saw.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Early voting starts for South Korea election triggered by martial law
Early voting in South Korea's presidential elections began on Thursday, with both main candidates casting ballots in a poll triggered by ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol's ill-fated suspension of civilian rule last year. South Koreans are desperate to draw a line under months of political turmoil sparked by Yoon's declaration of martial law, for which he was impeached. Since then the Asian democracy has been led by a revolving door of lame duck acting presidents as its export-driven economy grapples with trade turmoil abroad and sluggish demand at home. All major polls have placed liberal Lee Jae-myung as the clear frontrunner in the presidential race, with a recent Gallup survey showing 49 percent of respondents viewed him as the best candidate. Trailing behind him is conservative ex-labor minister Kim Moon-soo of the ruling People Power Party—Yoon's former party—at 35 percent. While election day is set for June 3, those who want to vote early can do so on Thursday and Friday. South Koreans have in recent years turned out in growing numbers for early voting, with 37 percent casting their ballots ahead of polling day in the 2022 presidential election. By midday the early voting turnout rate was 8.7 percent, the highest yet for that time in South Korean election history, according to Seoul's National Election Commission. The overseas voter turnout also reached a historic high, with four-fifths of 1.97 million eligible voters casting their ballots. 'Given that this election was held in the wake of an impeachment and a martial law crisis, it naturally reflects the public's strong desire to express their thoughts about democracy in South Korea,' Kang Joo-hyun, a political science professor at Sookmyung Women's University, told AFP. Voting in Seoul on Thursday morning, Lee told reporters: 'There's a saying that a vote is more powerful than a bullet.' 'Even an insurrection can only truly be overcome through the people's participation at the ballot box,' added Lee of the Democratic Party. According to a Gallup poll, more than half of his supporters said they planned to vote early, compared to just 16 percent of Kim's supporters. Kim has said he will cast his vote in Incheon, west of Seoul, with his campaign framing it as 'the beginning of a dramatic turnaround,' a nod to General Douglas MacArthur's landing there during the Korean War. Kim's decision to vote early has surprised many on the right, where conspiracy theories about electoral fraud—particularly during early voting—are rife. The 73-year-old however reassured his supporters that there is 'nothing to worry about.' 'If you hesitate to vote early and end up missing the main election, it would be a major loss,' said Kim on Wednesday. 'Our party will mobilize all its resources to ensure strict monitoring and oversight of early voting,' he said. 'So please don't worry and take part in it,' he said. After early voting, Kim insisted he still has time to win the race. 'We're closing the gap quickly, and at this pace, I'm confident we'll take the lead soon,' he told reporters. Conservative candidate Kim shot to public attention in the aftermath of Yoon's martial law debacle, when he declined to bow in apology to the public for failing to prevent the suspension of civilian rule. In contrast, lawyer-turned-politician Lee played a central role in stopping the push to suspend civilian rule, live-streaming his frantic drive to parliament and his scramble over the perimeter fence as he and other lawmakers raced to vote down the decree. He has since vowed to 'bring insurrection elements to justice' if elected president. But whoever succeeds Yoon will have to grapple with a deepening economic downturn, some of the world's lowest birth rates and a soaring cost of living. He will also have to navigate a mounting superpower standoff between the United States, Seoul's traditional security guarantor, and China, its largest trade partner.
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Air defense units repel three drones over Moscow region: Mayor
Russian air defence units downed three Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow, the city's mayor said early Thursday. Sergei Sobyanin, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said one of the drones hit a dwelling on a major thoroughfare in the south of the city but caused no casualties or serious damage. Russia's military reported downing nearly 300 drones across several Russian regions on Tuesday night. Sobyanin noted that more than two dozen drones were repelled on their way to Moscow.
