Israel orders civilians out of central Gaza ahead of new campaign
Israel orders civilians out of central Gaza ahead of new campaign/node/2608762/middle-east
Israel orders civilians out of central Gaza ahead of new campaign
The military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area should evacuate immediately. (AFP)
Short Url
https://arab.news/y8rdk
Updated 53 min 3 sec ago
AFP
Israel orders civilians out of central Gaza ahead of new campaign
The military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area should evacuate immediately
Updated 53 min 3 sec ago
AFP
GAZA: The Israeli military on Sunday issued an evacuation order for Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, warning of imminent action against Hamas militants in an area “where it has not operated before.”
The military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area should evacuate immediately.
Israel was “expanding its activities” around Deir el-Balah, including “in an area where it has not operated before,” Adraee said, telling Palestinians to “move south toward the Al-Mawasi area” on the Mediterranean coast “for your safety.”
Most of Gaza’s population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which is now in its 22nd month, with repeated Israeli evacuation calls covering large parts of the coastal territory.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in January that more than 80 percent of the Gaza Strip was under unrevoked Israeli evacuation orders.
Families of hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023 said they feared the expansion of the Israeli offensive could harm their loved ones.
In a statement released by a campaign group, they called for Israeli authorities to “urgently explain to Israeli citizens and families what the fighting plan is and how exactly it protects the abductees who are still in Gaza.”
On the ground, Gaza’s civil defense agency told AFP on Sunday that Israeli strikes overnight killed at least seven people in Gaza City and in parts of the territory’s south.
Delegations from Israel and militant group Hamas have spent the last two weeks in indirect talks for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken during in 2023, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Families rallied in Israel’s economic hub of Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump to secure the return of the captives and end the war.
Meanwhile a military statement said Israeli forces had stepped up ground operations in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, killing “dozens of terrorists” and dismantling “hundreds of terrorist infrastructure.”
“Underground terror tunnels” in the area stretching 2.7 kilometers (just over 1.5 miles) some 20 meters underground were located and dismantled, it said.
Israeli’s military offensive on Gaza has killed at least 58,765 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.
Iranians told to use less water as heatwave worsens shortages
Iranian authorities have urged residents to limit water consumption as the country grapples with severe shortages amid an ongoing heatwave, local media said Sunday
Updated 20 July 2025
AFP
TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have urged residents to limit water consumption as the country grapples with severe shortages amid an ongoing heatwave, local media said Sunday.
Water scarcity is a major issue in Iran, particularly in arid provinces in the country’s south, with shortages blamed on mismanagement and overexploitation of underground resources as well as the growing impact of climate change.
On Saturday, the national meteorological service said Iran was experiencing its hottest week of the year so far, with temperatures exceeding 50C in some areas.
“People should conserve water to avoid drops in pressure,” said Tehran city council chair Mehdi Chamran, according to the ISNA news agency.
Authorities across Iran have issued similar appeals in recent days, asking residents in several provinces to limit water usage.
Tehran’s provincial water management company called to reduce usage by “at least 20 percent” to help ease the shortages.
In a statement, it said that “the reservoirs of the dams supplying water to Tehran are currently at their lowest level in a century” following years of steady decline in rainfall.
Javan, a conservative newspaper, reported on Saturday that authorities had reduced water pressure in parts of the capital in a bid to mitigate the crisis, resulting in “water outages lasting between 12 and 18 hours” in some areas.
Egypt uncovers Brotherhood-linked plot to target security and economic facilities: ministry
Egypt’s Interior Ministry said Hasm plotted to push one of its fugitive members to infiltrate the country to target security and economic facilities
Updated 20 July 2025
Arab News
CAIRO: The Egyptian interior ministry on Sunday said it has uncovered a plot by the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood group aiming to target security and economic facilities.
According to a press statement by Egypt’s Interior Ministry, elements who plotted the attacks were linked to the so-called Hasm Movement, which was affiliated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
The ministry said it has information that the militant group was planning to revive their activities in Egypt and commit hostile operations. Hasm plotted to push one of its fugitive members to infiltrate the country via a border state in order to commit “hostile operations targeting security and economic facilities in Egypt,” it added.
The statement said Egypt’s National Security sector was able to identify the Hasm leaders behind the plan. It also reported that some members of Hasm were targeted in a security operation in Cairo’s Boulaq neighborhood.
It said when security forces raided their militant hideout, the suspects began firing randomly at the forces and the area surrounding the building, prompting the forces to deal with them.
The exchange of fire killed two militants and a citizen, who happened to be passing by and had succumbed to his injuries as a result of the random militant gunfire.
A police officer was also injured while trying to rescue the citizen.
The ministry revealed that this coincided with the movement’s latest video on social media, showing its members training in a desert area of a neighboring country, while threatening to carry out terrorist attacks in Egypt.
The group is labelled as a terrorist entity in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
‘No life without water’: settler attacks threaten West Bank communities
Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines of the Ein Samiyah spring
The damage to Ein Samiyah’s water facilities was not an isolated incident
Updated 7 min 38 sec ago
AFP
KAFR MALIK, Palestinian Territories: From his monitoring station on a remote hill in the occupied West Bank, water operator Subhil Olayan keeps watch over a lifeline for Palestinians, the Ein Samiyah spring.
So when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes.
“There is no life without water, of course,” he said, following the attack which temporarily cut off the water supply to nearby villages.
The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for some 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it – making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply.
The attack is one of several recent incidents in which settlers have been accused of damaging, diverting or seizing control of Palestinian water sources.
“The settlers came and the first thing they did was break the pipeline. And when the pipeline is broken, we automatically have to stop pumping” water to nearby villages, some of which exclusively rely on the Ein Samiyah spring.
“The water just goes into the dirt, into the ground,” Olayan said, adding that workers immediately fixed the damage to resume water supply.
Just two days after the latest attack, Israeli settlers – some of them armed – splashed in pools just below the spring, while Olayan monitored water pressure and cameras from a distance.
His software showed normal pressure in the pipes pulling water from the wells and the large pipe carrying water up the hill to his village of Kafr Malik.
But he said maintenance teams dared not venture down to the pumping station out of fear for their safety.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, deadly settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have become commonplace.
Last week, settlers beat a 20-year-old dual US citizen to death in the nearby village of Sinjil, prompting US ambassador Mike Huckabee to urge Israel to “aggressively investigate” the killing.
Issa Qassis, chairman on the board of the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which manages the Ein Samiyah spring, said he viewed the attacks as a tool for Israeli land grabs and annexation.
“When you restrict water supply in certain areas, people simply move where water is available,” he said at a press conference.
“So in a plan to move people to other lands, water is the best and fastest way,” he said.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians and officials have become increasingly vocal in support of annexing the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Most prominent among them is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, who said in November that 2025 would be the year Israel applies its sovereignty over the Palestinian territory.
Qassis accused Israel’s government of supporting settler attacks such as the one on Ein Samiyah.
The Israeli army said that soldiers were not aware of the incident in which pipes were damaged, “and therefore were unable to prevent it.”
The damage to Ein Samiyah’s water facilities was not an isolated incident.
In recent months, settlers in the nearby Jordan Valley took control of the Al-Auja spring by diverting its water from upstream, said Farhan Ghawanmeh, a representative of the Ras Ein Al Auja community.
He said two other springs in the area had also recently been taken over.
In Dura Al-Qaraa, another West Bank village that uses the Ein Samiyah spring as a back-up water source, residents are also concerned about increasingly long droughts and the way Israel regulates their water rights.
“For years now, no one has been planting because the water levels have decreased,” said Rafeaa Qasim, a member of the village council, citing lower rainfall causing the land to be “basically abandoned.”
Qasim said that though water shortages in the village have existed for 30 years, residents’ hands are tied in the face of this challenge.
“We have no options; digging a well is not allowed,” despite the presence of local water springs, he said, pointing to a well project that the UN and World Bank rejected due to Israeli law prohibiting drilling in the area.
The lands chosen for drilling sit in the West Bank’s Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli control.
Israeli NGO B’Tselem reported in 2023 that the legal system led to sharp disparities in water access within the West Bank between Palestinians and Israelis.
Whereas nearly all residents of Israel and Israeli settlements have running water every day, only 36 percent of West Bank Palestinians do, the report said.
In Dura Al-Qaraa, Qasim fears for the future.
“Each year, the water decreases and the crisis grows – it’s not getting better, it’s getting worse.”
Syria interior ministry says Sweida clashes have ‘halted’
Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead
Updated 20 July 2025
AFP
DAMASCUS: Tribal fighters have been evacuated from Syria’s southern city of Sweida and violent clashes have ceased, the country’s interior ministry said late Saturday.
“After intensive efforts by the Ministry of Interior to implement the ceasefire agreement, following the deployment of its forces in the northern and western regions of Sweida Governorate, the city of Sweida was evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods were halted,” interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba said in a post on Telegram.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the Syrian government’s security forces to prevent “jihadists from entering and ”carrying out massacres“ in the conflict-stricken south of the country.
”If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Daesh and any other violent terrorists from entering the area and carrying out massacres,“ Rubio said in a statement posted to X.
Sectarian clashes between armed Bedouin forces and the Druze in the community’s Sweida heartland had drawn in Syria’s Islamist-led government, Israel and other armed tribes.
US-brokered negotiations have sought to avert further Israeli military intervention, with Syrian forces agreeing to withdraw from the region.
“The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria,” Rubio said.
He called for the Syrian government to “hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.”
“Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately,” Rubio added.
Once in control of large swathes of Syria, the Daesh was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition.
Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
The count included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed, according to the Observatory.
The monitor also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin in the toll.
Gaza’s ‘tragic story’ shows ‘unraveling of international law,’ Pakistan’s Ambassador to UN Asim Iftikhar Ahmad tells Arab News/node/2608722/middle-east
NEW YORK CITY: A long-standing advocate of the Palestinian cause, Pakistan is using its presidency of the UN Security Council to help refocus global attention on the crisis in Gaza and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, outlined his country’s vision in a wide-ranging interview with Arab News as the South Asian country assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council
“It’s a tragic story. It is an unraveling of international law, international humanitarian law,” Ahmad said, decrying the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the international community’s failure to pressure Israel to put an end to it.
Reiterating his country’s position at the UN, he said: “We want clear movement in the direction of Palestinian statehood, on the basis of the right to self-determination, on the basis of international legitimacy and UN Security Council resolutions.”
He also highlighted the significance of the upcoming conference on implementing the two-state solution — to be co-chaired by ֱ and France from July 28 to 30 — calling it “another golden opportunity for the international community to come together and to reaffirm that support for the Palestinian cause.”
Pakistani Ambassador to the United Nations Asim Iftikhar Ahmad speaks during a UN Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on June 20, 2025. (AFP)
Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister are expected to attend, offering the country’s full political and diplomatic backing.
In preparation, Ahmad said Pakistan has actively participated in eight preparatory roundtables addressing the political, security, humanitarian and legal dimensions of the two-state solution.
“We have described how we are going to support many of those actions,” he said.
Regarding coordination with ֱ and others involved in ceasefire negotiations, Ahmad noted that while Pakistan is “not directly involved,” it remains in close contact with key stakeholders.
“We hope that this ceasefire should be announced sooner rather than later,” he said.
Asked whether Pakistan would consider normalizing relations with Israel if a Palestinian state were recognized and the violence in Gaza ended, Ahmad was unequivocal.
“There are no indications, unfortunately, from the Israeli side on moving forward with recognition,” he said. “What we are looking at this point of time is Palestinian statehood in the context of the two-state solution.”
A general view shows the United Nations Security Council meeting on the conflict in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at the UN headquarters in New York City on July 16, 2025. (AFP)
Another unresolved conflict concerns the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan.
In May, India launched Operation Sindoor, firing missiles at what it claimed were militant targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, in retaliation for a deadly April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, that killed 26 civilians.
India, which has accused Pakistan of supporting terrorism in Indian-administered Kashmir, said that Pakistan-based insurgents were behind the attack — claims that Islamabad denies.
Pakistan responded to India’s attacks with missile, drone and artillery strikes along the Line of Control and on military installations, in what it called Operation Bunyan-ul-Marsoos, sparking intense cross-border exchanges until a ceasefire was brokered on May 10.
Ahmad linked these events to the broader unresolved status of the region.
“This recurring conflict was the result of Indian unprovoked aggression against Pakistan, which Pakistan had to respond to in accordance with the right to self-defense, in accordance with the UN Charter,” he said.
He welcomed international mediation efforts and reiterated Pakistan’s position. “We want to have this dialog with India. We want to address the issues between us, and in particular the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.”
He restated the legal basis for Pakistan’s claims. “This position derives itself from the resolutions of the UN Security Council on Jammu and Kashmir,” which call for a plebiscite for the Kashmiri people.
However, “that plebiscite has not been held because India has refused to comply.”
Ahmad argued that lasting peace in South Asia is unlikely without resolving this “core issue.”
Turning to the credibility of the Security Council itself, Ahmad was blunt in his critique. “It’s very clear; resolutions are there. The problem is about implementation,” he said, citing both Kashmir and Palestine as long-neglected issues.
He referred to Article 25 of the UN Charter, which affirms that all Security Council resolutions are binding, whether under Chapter VI or Chapter VII.
“There should be a review, an assessment of how the Security Council has been able to implement many of its resolutions,” he said.
He proposed that special envoys or representatives of the secretary-general could help advance implementation. “More important than adopting those resolutions is to have them implemented,” he said.
Ahmad spoke at length about the leadership role Pakistan envisioned at the Security Council — including its commitment to multilateralism and its strategic engagement across UN agencies.
Beyond peace and security, Pakistan remains actively engaged in the UN’s development, humanitarian and environmental work.
“Pakistan, being a developing country, has development challenges. We are particularly impacted by climate change,” said Ahmad, recalling the devastating floods that have repeatedly afflicted the country in recent years.
In this photograph taken on August 4, 2024 people take shelter under a temporary settlement as it rains at an agricultural land in the aftermath of monsoon floods at Johi, Dadu district in Sindh province. (AFP)
He highlighted Pakistan’s leadership in climate diplomacy, emergency response and poverty reduction through collaboration with specialized UN agencies.
“We are among the lead countries who are leading this international discourse on development, on climate change,” he said.
According to Ahmad, Pakistan is active not only in New York, but also across other UN hubs — including Geneva, Rome and Nairobi — contributing to human rights, sustainable development and climate resilience.
On issues from Palestine and Kashmir to Security Council reform, he said, Pakistan is pushing for action grounded in the UN Charter and international law. As Ahmad sees it, the July presidency is an opportunity “to bring that focus back” to the principles on which the UN was founded.
At the heart of this approach is a renewed emphasis on multilateralism — a value Ahmad calls “the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy.”
In an increasingly divided world, he stressed that “the attachment to the UN, the charter, international law, and this ability for the member states to work together through the UN” remains vital.
Pakistan, he said, aims to advance peace and security through constructive cooperation with all member states, both inside and outside the council.
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, in an interview with Arab News. (AN photo)
Reflecting that goal, Pakistan’s signature open debate next week will focus on “how we can better use multilateralism and peaceful settlement of disputes to promote international peace and security.”
The aim, he added, is to “bring that discussion back to the council” and reaffirm the tools provided in the UN Charter — particularly Chapter VI on peaceful dispute resolution, Chapter VIII on regional arrangements, and the secretary-general’s role in preventive diplomacy.
“We want to bring together and reaffirm the commitment of the Security Council to really utilize these tools,” Ahmad said.
Although some expected Pakistan’s signature event to spotlight national concerns, Ahmad clarified that the debate “is not specific to any situation.” Rather, it is intended to promote “a comprehensive approach to conflict prevention, preventive diplomacy,” and “peacefully address disputes.”
“Pakistan does not believe that we are in the Security Council only to promote our own issues or agendas. Our agenda is broad, based on international law,” he said.
Ahmad argued that such a holistic approach is essential to resolving many of the crises currently on the council’s agenda — including Gaza and Kashmir.
