Author: Gulf News Week
Athletes train with salvaged equipment in a tent gym in al-Mawasi, desperately trying to maintain their physical strength during man-made famine conditions caused by Israel’s blockade of the Strip.Al-Mawasi, Gaza Strip – Sweat streams down Tareq Abu Youssef’s face as he struggles through his gym workout on makeshift bodybuilding equipment, each movement more laboured than it should be.The 23-year-old Palestinian deliberately keeps his training sessions minimal, a painful reduction from the intensive routines he once loved – but in a territory where nearly everyone is starving, maintaining muscle mass has become an act of survival and resistance.“I have dropped 14…
More than 700 entrepreneurs and acclaimed professionals call for arms embargo, sanctions and scrutiny as Gaza faces darkest days.London, United Kingdom – Hundreds of business leaders in the United Kingdom – including a former adviser to the king and a sustainability consultant descended from Holocaust survivors – are calling on the government to take action against Israel as the crisis in Gaza worsens.As of Thursday morning, 762 people had signed a statement calling on Britain to cease all arms trade with Israel, sanction those accused of violating international law – ostensibly including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he is wanted…
Attacks come as Israeli-induced famine grips the besieged Strip amid calls for Israel to accept a mediated truce.At least 81 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks and forced starvation since dawn as the Israeli military said it had begun the first stages of its planned assault to seize the enclave’s largest urban centre, Gaza City, where close to a million people remain in perilous conditions.Three other Palestinians starved to death in the besieged enclave on Wednesday, bringing the total count of hunger-related deaths to 269, including 112 children.Israeli attacks included a strike on a tent housing displaced…
US, Saudi Arabia, UAE and others urge warring sides to halt fighting and allow aid into Sudan, including famine-struck areas.United States-led mediators have said they are “appalled” by the continuously deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan, where a brutal civil war is raging into its third year, and called for urgent action by the warring parties to protect civilians.The mediators, known as the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) Group, include the US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others.“The ALPS group urgently reiterates that international humanitarian law must be fully respected. This includes the…
Despite reaching Turkiye for treatment, four-year-old Abdullah Abu Zerka died of malnutrition. His younger sister continues fighting on.Istanbul, Turkiye – The fluorescent lights of Adana City Training and Research Hospital cast harsh shadows across Hamed Abu Zerka’s gaunt face as he stands beside his six-month-old daughter’s hospital bed.The 34-year-old’s weathered hands tremble as he adjusts Habiba’s blanket.Abdullah, his four-and-a-half-year-old son, died Tuesday morning in this same room, his small body finally succumbing to the malnutrition that had been slowly consuming him for months as Israel laid siege to Gaza.The family became emblems of the Israel-imposed famine on Gaza’s 2.1 million…
While the confrontation was inevitable, the union’s power has been weakened, analysts say.Tunisia’s General Labour Union (UGTT) is poised to take on President Kais Saied in a protest scheduled for August 21.The union called for a protest against what it says are government attempts to undermine workers’ rights, and the use of intimidation to curb strikes, referring to a three-day UGTT transport strike at the end of July.Since he seized power on July 25, 2021, Saied has radically undermined the role of parliament and political parties while granting himself vastly increased powers through a constitution revised according to his edicts.Yet…
Iran’s FM sceptical about resuming talks with the US, says Iran cannot break ties with UN nuclear watchdog.Iran believes the moment for “effective” nuclear talks with the United States has not yet arrived, its top diplomat has said, adding that Tehran would not completely cut off cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.“In my opinion, we have not yet reached the point of maturity where effective negotiations with the US can take place,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in remarks carried by state media on Wednesday.Tehran suspended negotiations with Washington, which were ostensibly aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, after…
It is not yet known if the man targeted might be ISIL’s supreme leader, Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.A US-led coalition has captured a senior member of the ISIL (ISIS) group in northwest Syria, the SANA state news agency and a war monitor have reported, while another Syrian security source and Syria’s state-owned Al-Ekhbariya said the man targeted was killed as he tried to escape.It was not immediately clear on Wednesday if the man might be ISIL’s supreme leader. Two years ago, ISIL announced that a man called Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was named as its new leader after Turkish authorities…
Italy’s national football team are due to play Israel in two World Cup qualifiers ahead of the 2026 tournament.The Italian Football Coaches’ Association (AIAC) is pushing for Israel to be suspended from international competition over the war on Gaza.Ahead of Italy’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Israel in the next two months, the AIAC says “Israel must stop. Football must also take action.”The AIAC has written a formal letter to the Italian football federation, to be forwarded to European and world football’s governing bodies, calling for Israel to be suspended.“The AIAC Board of Directors unanimously believes that, given the daily…
Location of E1 is significant because it is one of the last geographical links between Bethlehem and Ramallah.Israel has given final approval for a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank that experts say would damage plans for any future territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who announced the plan on August 14, hailed the decision as “historic” and framed the approval as a rebuke to Western countries that announced their plans to recognise a Palestinian state in recent weeks.“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,”…