Author: Gulf News Week
The ceasefire brought a silence that revealed Gaza’s deepest wounds – the grief, loss and exhaustion that war had only buried.On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump announced that the United States, working with Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar, had finally reached a ceasefire deal for Gaza. For a moment, it seemed as if Gaza’s long nightmare was coming to an end.But the ceasefire didn’t bring peace; it only shifted the suffering into a quieter, more insidious form, where the real damage from the rubble began to settle into Gaza’s weary soul. Years of relentless shelling had built up fear and heartbreak…
Landmark visit sees nations seeking solutions to border issues, status of Syrian prisoners and fate of Syrian refugees.Syria’s foreign minister has held talks with senior Lebanese government figures in Beirut as the countries seek to reset ties after decades of belligerent relations, borne of involvement in each other’s ruinous civil wars and occupation, accrued during the reign of the al-Assad family.Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Friday that his visit, the first to its neighbour by a senior leader of the fledgling government, demonstrated “a new Syrian approach towards Lebanon” that would “overcome the obstacles of the past”, alluding to…
Journalists have been experiencing a ‘total genocide’ in Gaza, media’s conference on wartime safety for journalists is told.A small tent held up by flimsy tarpaulin stands alone, surrounded by bloodied and tattered blue helmets and vests with the word “PRESS” marked across them. Smashed cellphones, laptops and camcorders, and debris lie scattered around it in what could be a scene from a warzone.But this is not a warzone. It is an installation setting the scene for a two-day conference organised by media, which began on Wednesday to highlight the terrible dangers faced by journalists working in armed conflicts.The installation has been…
Youth want King Mohammed to take lead in tackling corruption after near-nightly protests that have seen three killed.Young Moroccan protesters have taken to the streets again in the hope of persuading King Mohammed VI to fire Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch and deliver long-promised reforms to ailing public services.The leaderless Gen Z 212 collective staged anticorruption protests in Tangiers, Casablanca and in the capital, Rabat, on Thursday in a final display of strength before the king’s address to parliament scheduled for later on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Death toll rises to 3 in Morocco with more protests…
The first phase of a Gaza ceasefire agreement has dramatically reduced Israeli attacks in southern Gaza, where Palestinians are readjusting.Khan Younis, Gaza Strip – For the first time in a long time, Palestinian mother Wiam al-Masri can clearly recognise the cries of her infant son, Samih, who is not yet two months old. His soft wailing rises in the quiet air of al-Mawasi, in southern Khan Younis, hours after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of the peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump to end the Gaza war – largely halting Israeli air and artillery strikes…
Analysts say Trump is the centrepiece of the Gaza ceasefire, but he will likely have to ‘hold Netanyahu’s feet to the fire’ to end war.Washington, DC, United States – In announcing the Gaza ceasefire deal, Hamas praised United States President Donald Trump in one sentence and called on him to compel Israel to live up to its obligations under the agreement in the next.Trump has presented the ceasefire breakthrough, which he called “momentous”, as his own. And both the Palestinians and Israelis have given him credit for the deal.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Palestinians in Gaza worry and…
Negotiations over Hamas’s disarmament may emerge as a key obstacle to securing a permanent end to Israel’s war on Gaza.Israel and Hamas may have agreed to the first phase of a United States-backed ceasefire deal, but contentious differences between the two sides still remain, particularly when it comes to the fate of the Palestinian group’s weapons.Israel has long insisted that Hamas surrender all of its weapons if its two-year war on Gaza is to end, as well as demanding that the group relinquish governance of the Palestinian enclave and dissolve itself as an organisation.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1…
Western leaders now claim credit for ‘peace’, but Gaza’s survival belongs to its people alone.On November 7, 2023, children stood before cameras at al-Shifa Hospital and spoke in English, not their mother tongue, but in the language of those they thought might save them. “We want to live, we want peace, we want to judge the killers of children,” one boy said. “We want medicine, food and education. We want to live as other children live.” Even then, barely a month into the genocide, they had no clean drinking water, no food and no medicine. They begged in the colonisers’…
After two years of war on Gaza, Israelis struggle to believe that the conflict may have finally ended.Across Israeli society, the reaction to the news of a Gaza ceasefire deal has been almost uniform: Joy.In Tel Aviv, the families of those taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023 celebrated on Thursday after the announcement. And a man dressed as United States President Donald Trump – who played a large part in brokering the deal – carried Israeli and US flags and posed for photographs with smiling passersby.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4How Gaza…
Hope battles with distrust as Palestinians in Gaza wait for Israel to implement the ceasefire. Here’s what they said.Deir el-Balah, Gaza – A cautious relief seems to hover over central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah as people stand outside their tents, talking to each other about the ceasefire that is set to come into force after approval by the Israeli cabinet.Some people are celebrating, while others are worrying that this respite will prove brief and incomplete, like past ceasefires that Israel violated.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Map of Gaza shows how Israeli forces will withdraw under ceasefire deallist 2…