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Two Palestinian families in Jerusalem self-demolish their homes to avoid Israeli fines

Two Palestinian families in Jerusalem self-demolish their homes to avoid Israeli fines
An Israeli military bulldozer demolishes a home at the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, east of Tulkarem, June 23, 2025. (AFP)
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Two Palestinian families in Jerusalem self-demolish their homes to avoid Israeli fines

Two Palestinian families in Jerusalem self-demolish their homes to avoid Israeli fines
  • Israel denies building permits to Palestinians in Jerusalem in most cases, while it carries out planned expansion of Jewish settlements in the city
  • In the case that Israeli authorities carry out the destruction, the families will be required to pay for the cost of the demolition, which could vary and may total hundreds of thousands of Shekels

LONDON: Two Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem have self-demolished their homes to avoid steep financial penalties imposed by the Israeli municipality for building without a permit on Sunday.

Israel denies building permits to Palestinians in Jerusalem in most cases, while it carries out planned expansion of Jewish settlements in the city and the occupied West Bank.

From 1991 to 2018, Israeli authorities approved only 16.5 percent of building permits in Palestinian neighborhoods, while the remaining permits were issued for Israeli neighborhoods in West Jerusalem and settlements, according to the organization Peace Now.

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate said that the Quraan family was forced to demolish their home in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Halawanis also demolished their residential building, comprising six housing units, in Beit Hanina, located north of Jerusalem. As a result, around 30 individuals, including children, have been left without homes.

In the case that Israeli authorities carry out the destruction, the families will be required to pay for the cost of the demolition, which could vary and may total hundreds of thousands of Shekels.

The Jerusalem Governorate said that this is part of an Israeli “systematic policy of displacing” Palestinians from the city.

“Palestinian families in occupied Jerusalem are frequently denied building permits by Israeli authorities, leaving many with no legal option but to build without authorization,” it added.

Human Rights Watch and other groups have criticized Israel’s home demolition policy in Jerusalem as “discriminatory.”

Since Israel attacked Gaza in October 2023, authorities in Jerusalem have demolished 623 houses and other commercial facilities belonging to dozens of Palestinian families.


Sudan’s paramilitaries launch parallel govt, deepening the crisis

Sudan’s paramilitaries launch parallel govt, deepening the crisis
Updated 42 sec ago

Sudan’s paramilitaries launch parallel govt, deepening the crisis

Sudan’s paramilitaries launch parallel govt, deepening the crisis
  • The RSF grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias, mobilized two decades ago by then-President Omar Bashir against populations that identify as Central or East African in Darfur

CAIRO: A paramilitary group and its allies in Sudan said they formed a parallel government in areas under the group’s control, which are located mainly in the western region of Darfur where allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity are being investigated.
The move was likely to deepen the crisis in Sudan, which plunged into chaos when tensions between the country’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, exploded into fighting in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.
The RSF-led Tasis Alliance appointed Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary group, as head of the sovereign council in the new administration. The 15-member council serves as head of the state.
The RSF grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias, mobilized two decades ago by then-President Omar Bashir against populations that identify as Central or East African in Darfur. The Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and 
other atrocities.
In the current war, the RSF has been accused of numerous atrocities. The Biden administration slapped Dagalo with sanctions, saying the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide. The RSF has denied committing genocide.
The alliance spokesman Alaa Al-Din Naqd announced the new administration in a video statement from the Darfur city of Nyala, which is controlled by the RSF and its allied Janjaweed.
Mohammed Hassan Al-Taishi, a civilian politician who was a member of a military-civilian sovereign council that ruled Sudan following the 2019 overthrow of Al-Bashir, was named as prime minister in the RSF-controlled government.

Rebel leader Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, who commands the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) which is active in the southern Kodrofan region, was appointed as Dagalo’s deputy in the council. The SPLM-N is a breakaway faction of the SPLM, the ruling party of neighboring South Sudan.
The announcement came five months after the RSF and its allies signed a charter in February in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, with the aim of establishing a parallel government in RSF-controlled areas.
At the time, many countries, including the US, rejected the RSF efforts and condemned the signing by the paramilitary group and its allies of what they called “transitional constitution” in the Kenya-hosted conference.
The Foreign Ministry of the internationally recognized government in Khartoum condemned the announcement in a statement. It called it a “fake government” and urged the international community to not engage with the RSF-led administration.
The RSF-led move was likely to deepen the division in Sudan. Yasir Arman, a rebel leader, said the move is likely to prolong the conflict and divide Sudan between two rival administrations.

 


Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September, official says

Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September, official says
Updated 27 July 2025

Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September, official says

Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September, official says

DAMASCUS: Syria is expected to hold its first parliamentary election under the new administration in September, the head of the electoral process told state news agency SANA on Sunday.

Voting for the People’s Assembly is expected to take place from September 15 to 20, added the official, Mohammed Taha.

The long and bloody path to Palestinian statehood
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Iraqi police clash with paramilitary fighters who stormed government building

PMF is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces.
PMF is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces.
Updated 27 July 2025

Iraqi police clash with paramilitary fighters who stormed government building

PMF is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces.
  • PMF fighters burst into the building during an administrative meeting, causing panic among staff who alerted police
  • Security sources and three employees at the scene said the fighters had wanted to stop the office’s former director from being replaced

BAGHDAD: A gunbattle erupted in Iraq’s capital on Sunday between police and fighters from a state-sanctioned paramilitary force that includes Iran-backed groups, killing at least one police officer and leading to the arrest of 14 fighters, authorities said.
The clash broke out in Baghdad’s Karkh district after a group of fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) stormed an Agriculture Ministry building as a new director was being sworn in, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd Al-Shaabi, is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran.
According to the Interior Ministry, the PMF fighters burst into the building during an administrative meeting, causing panic among staff who alerted police.
Security sources and three employees at the scene said the fighters had wanted to stop the office’s former director from being replaced.
A statement from the Joint Operations Command, which reports directly to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, confirmed that the detainees were PMF members and had been referred to the judiciary. At least one police officer was killed and nine others were wounded, police and hospital sources said.
Sudani ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the incident, the command said.
The arrested fighters belong to “PMF brigades 45 and 46,” the statement added. Both brigades are affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, according to Iraqi security officials and sources within the PMF.


Jordan and UAE carry out humanitarian airdrops over Gaza as aid efforts intensify

Jordan and UAE carry out humanitarian airdrops over Gaza as aid efforts intensify
Updated 27 July 2025

Jordan and UAE carry out humanitarian airdrops over Gaza as aid efforts intensify

Jordan and UAE carry out humanitarian airdrops over Gaza as aid efforts intensify
  • Royal Jordanian Air Force and UAE Air Force C-130 aircraft joint operation airlifted 25 tons of food and basic necessities into Strip

GAZA: The Jordan Armed Forces and the UAE carried out three humanitarian airdrops on Sunday to deliver vital food and supplies to several areas across the Gaza Strip, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Using Royal Jordanian Air Force and UAE Air Force C-130 aircraft, the joint operation airlifted 25 tons of food and basic necessities amid worsening humanitarian conditions in the war-torn enclave.

The operation forms part of Jordan’s ongoing relief efforts, conducted in coordination with the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation and international partners, to support the Palestinian population and ease the impact of the conflict, JNA added.

The UAE also said on Saturday that it would resume aid drops over Gaza at once, citing the “critical” humanitarian situation in the blockaded territory, where aid groups have warned of mass starvation.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said in a post on X.

“We will ensure essential aid reaches those most in need, whether through land, air or sea. Air drops are resuming once more, immediately.”

Since the outbreak of war, the Jordanian military has completed 127 airdrops, in addition to 267 conducted in cooperation with other nations.

While airdrops offer a rapid way to deliver emergency aid to areas that are otherwise inaccessible, officials stress that ground convoys remain the most effective and prioritized method of delivering humanitarian assistance.

To date, Jordan has sent 181 land convoys into Gaza in coordination with the JHCO, the World Food Programme, and World Central Kitchen. These convoys have delivered a total of 7,932 trucks loaded with aid.


UN aid chief welcomes ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza

UN aid chief welcomes ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza
Updated 27 July 2025

UN aid chief welcomes ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza

UN aid chief welcomes ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza
  • OCHA says UN teams in place to ramp up deliveries into the Palestinian territory ‘as soon as they are allowed to do so’
  • OCHA notes constraints imposed by the Israeli authorities had hampered humanitarians’ ability to respond

GENEVA: The United Nations’ aid chief welcomed Israel’s announcement Sunday of secure land routes into Gaza for humanitarian convoys, and said the UN would try to reach as many starving people as possible.

“Welcome announcement of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow our aid through,” UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X.

“In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window.”

Fletcher’s UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Friday that conditions on the ground in Gaza were “already catastrophic and deteriorating fast.”

“The starvation crisis is deepening,” it said, warning that hunger and malnutrition increase the risk of illnesses, and adding that the consequences can quickly “turn deadly.”

It said that “the trickle of supplies that are making it into the Strip are nowhere near adequate to address the immense needs.”

OCHA said UN teams were in place to ramp up deliveries into the Palestinian territory “as soon as they are allowed to do so.”

“If Israel opens the crossings, lets fuel and equipment in, and allows humanitarian staff to operate safely, the UN will accelerate the delivery of food aid, health services, clean water and waste management, nutrition supplies, and shelter materials,” it said.

OCHA said constraints imposed by the Israeli authorities had hampered humanitarians’ ability to respond.

It said that on Thursday, for example, out of 15 attempts to coordinate humanitarian movements inside Gaza, four were “outright denied,” with another three impeded.

One was postponed, and two others had to be canceled, meaning only five missions went ahead.

On Friday OCHA issued an aid delivery plan in the event of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.