Author: Gulf News Week
Baharav-Miara at loggerheads with PM Netanyahu over corruption charges, his ‘judicial coup’, and sacking of Shin Bet chief.The High Court of Israel has issued a temporary order freezing an attempt by the government to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, in the latest instance of the far-right coalition closing ranks.The court’s decision on Monday came immediately after the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously to fire Baharav-Miara, the country’s most senior legal official, who has been leading the prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his corruption trial.Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced the cabinet’s decision and addressed a letter to Baharav-Miara saying…
The Syrian Democratic Forces allege that Damascus-linked factions attacked four of its positions early on Monday.The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have said that armed factions associated with the country’s security forces have attacked some of its positions in the northern province of Aleppo, as efforts by Syria’s fledgling government to unify the nation have been hit on several fronts.In a post on X, the group, which controls much of northeastern Syria, claimed the incident took place early on Monday morning in the Deir Hafer area.The allegation comes just months after the SDF and the Syrian interim government signed a…
What does starvation do to the body? And is famine inevitable in Gaza?Aid agencies say the limited amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza in the last week is unlikely to avert the famine experts have warned about for months.While at first most of the starvation-related deaths were among children and infants, increasingly, older people are succumbing to the hunger that Israel has imposed upon the enclave since March.On Sunday, six more adults died from malnutrition, bringing the number of adults to die from hunger in Gaza to 82 over the last five weeks, when such deaths were first…
A deadly cholera outbreak adds to the misery in a region that has witnessed fighting between the army and the rebels.People in Sudan’s North Darfur region are forced to eat animal fodder to survive as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to lay siege to el-Fasher – the last urban centre in the region under army control.“We are suffering, world. We need humanitarian aid – food and medicine – whether by airdrop or by opening ground routes. We cannot survive in this condition,” Othman Angaro, from a displacement camp in el-Fasher, told media.Angaro described how he and his family rely on…
From war to capitalism, sleep deprivation is taking a toll on humans.When I was a freshman at Columbia University in 1999, the professor of my Literature Humanities course shared some personal information with my class, which was that she slept exactly three hours per night. I forget what prompted the disclosure, though I do recall it was made not to elicit pity but rather as a matter-of-fact explanation of the way things were: sleeping more than three hours a night simply did not allow her sufficient time to simultaneously maintain her professorship and tend to her baby.This, of course, was before the…
The group’s letter says the Israeli army has already achieved its objectives and the release of Israeli captives can be achieved only through a deal.More than 600 former Israeli security chiefs have urged United States President Donald Trump to bring an end to Israel’s war on Gaza as deaths of dozens of Palestinians from Israeli-induced starvation have caused global outrage.The appeal was made in a letter sent to Trump on Sunday. Its signatories include former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon and former deputy Israeli army chief Matan Vilnai. They called for pressure on Prime Minister…
Public anger is growing against looters and exploitative merchants. Their actions are seen as betrayal.On July 17, I was in a market in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza looking for any affordable food item to buy when I saw a crowd of people gather in front of some shops. The people were angry about the exorbitant prices that the shop owners were charging for goods that had clearly been looted from aid convoys.Two weeks later, I was at the same market and witnessed another angry protest. People were chanting, “You thieves!” and cursing the merchants.Having no fear of God, shop…
The warning comes as the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry registers more cases of paralysis due to malnutrition caused by Israeli blockade.The United Nations has warned that all children of Gaza under the age of five are at risk of life-threatening malnourishment, amid growing reports of starvation-related deaths as Israel continues to block aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip.The UN’s World Food Programme said children in this age bracket – around 320,000 in number – have been affected by the collapse of nutrition services and are lacking access to safe water, breast milk substitutes and therapeutic feeding.Paediatrician Seema Jilani told…
Palestinians in the West Bank are unable to mourn 31-year-old Awdah Hathaleen, while the Israeli settler who shot him walks free.More than 60 Palestinian women are staging a hunger strike to demand the release of the body of Palestinian activist and English teacher Awdah Hathaleen, who was shot dead last week in the village of Umm al-Kheir, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.Two women have received medical treatment as a result of the collective action, which started on Thursday.The group is demanding the unconditional release of the body of the 31-year-old community leader who co-directed No Other Land, a…
The investigation was derailed by political interference, but a new government is trying to get justice back on track.When 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020, it ripped through the city, killing more than 218 people. Among them was three-year-old Alexandra Naggear.Five years later, the investigation into who is at fault for the blast has been delayed, and at times derailed, by political interference.“The most important thing for us is not for the decision, but for full justice to happen,” Tracy Naggear, Alexandra’s mother and a key activist advocating for the blast’s victims, told…