Category: FOKUS

LONDON — In the tumultuous landscape of the Syrian conflict, one figure has remained persistently prominent: Abu Mohammed Al-Golani. Now, with the fall of the Bashar Assad regime after 13 gruelling years of civil war, he has emerged as kingmaker.

As leader of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group long active in Syria’s northwest, Al-Golani has evolved from a shadowy militant figure with a $10 million bounty on his head into a revolutionary nationalist and widely recognized political actor.

Born Ahmad Hussein Al-Shar’a in 1981 in Idlib, Al-Golani’s journey into militancy began during the 2003 Iraq war, where he joined the insurgency against US forces and fell in with networks associated with Al-Qaeda.

By 2011, as Syria was plunged into civil war, Al-Golani returned to his home country to establish Jabhat Al-Nusra as Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, which quickly gained a reputation for its battlefield prowess and hardline tactics.

A pivotal shift occurred in 2016 when Jabhat Al-Nusra broke ties with Al-Qaeda, rebranding first as Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham and later as HTS. This strategic realignment was designed to more closely integrate the group with the local opposition and distance it from its extremist roots.

“The Syrian opposition has a huge image problem,” Nadim Shehadi, an economist and political adviser who has held positions in academia and think tanks in Europe and the US, told Arab News.

“At one stage it had even lost confidence in itself. It has been described as fundamentalist and associated with Al-Qaeda and Daesh on the one hand and its leadership gave the impression of fragmented and corrupt.

“The regime and its supporters and allies were masters of disinformation and were successful in convincing the world that there was no credible alternative and that after it will come chaos. Russian and Iranian sponsored media played an important role.”

Under Al-Golani’s leadership, HTS aimed to present itself not only as a militant organization but as a legitimate governing entity. In Idlib, which remained under HTS control over the course of the conflict, the group established the Syrian Salvation Government.

This governance structure allowed the group to take on civil administrative roles, providing services and infrastructure repairs, while ensuring some level of order in an area scarred by conflict.

Al-Golani’s public appearances and outreach efforts showcase his ambition to redefine HTS as a nationalist force, engaging with local communities and presenting the group as a viable alternative to both the Assad regime and foreign terrorist organizations.

In 2021, Al-Golani conducted interviews with various media outlets, including Western platforms, aiming to shift perceptions of HTS and express a willingness to engage with broader political processes.

This strategy reflected a calculated attempt to distance his group from operating as a purely extremist entity while emphasizing its commitment to local governance and plurality.

“Al-Golani is trying to change his image with a surprisingly efficient social media campaign focusing on HTS itself as much as on his own personality,” said Shehadi.

“We see them forgiving regime soldiers and releasing prisoners. This is far more effective than one promoting him as a leader or a personality. It would be an emulation of the Assads.

“They are specifically countering rumors about the persecution of minorities. It feels like a professionally run strategic communications campaign. Except for the odd slip here and there.”

Experts view these efforts as indicative of Al-Golani’s understanding that governance and political legitimacy can provide stability and potentially foster reconciliation.

“Al-Golani’s outreach reflects an ambition to redefine HTS as a nationalistic force, seeking to align with local and possibly even regional interests,” said Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House.

Syria’s neighbors are still unsure what to make of Al-Golani. The perspectives of Arab governments concerning HTS are complex and multifaceted, with the spectrum of opinions ranging from staunch opposition to cautious engagement.

Many Arab countries officially condemn extremist groups, especially those with Islamist roots. However, the geopolitical realities often force these nations to engage pragmatically.

Countries such as Turkiye have interacted with HTS, long recognizing its influence over bordering Idlib and its potential role as a counterbalance to both the Assad regime and the Kurdish forces in control of northeast Syria.

However, many remain wary of the group’s true intentions, fearing the emergence of a regime akin to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Is Al-Golani’s pragmatism genuine, and more importantly, is it widely accepted within the ranks of his group?” Ammar Abdulhamid, Syrian-American pro-democracy activist, said in a series of posts on X.

“Can he maintain enough influence to contain radical factions advocating for the imposition of Sharia law or pushing for aggressive campaigns against Israel and Saudi Arabia?”

Israel in particular is acutely aware of the potential threat posed by the collapse of the Assad regime and the emergence of a powerful hostile force on its doorstep.

“With Israel now actively bombing military bases and airports and creating a buffer zone inside Syrian territories, how will Al-Golani respond?” asked Abdulhamid.

“He will likely face pressure from radical groups to take action or at least issue a defiant statement. However, even rhetorical escalation risks inviting further strikes and dragging Syria into a broader conflict it cannot afford.”

He added: “Will Al-Golani eventually pursue peace with Israel, if not now, then at some point in the future?”

There is also the question of how he will handle ongoing crises within Syria itself, such as that playing out between Turkiye and Turkish-backed opposition groups and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which control the Kurdish-majority Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

“How does he plan to handle the Kurdish issue, knowing that Turkish-backed factions are dedicated to fighting the Kurds?” said Abdulhamid. “With battles ongoing and the potential for further escalation, navigating this remains a critical and delicate challenge.”

He added: “These challenges will test Al-Golani’s leadership, his pragmatism, and his ability to balance internal and external pressures.

“They will also shape his vision for Syria’s future. The Syrian people, as well as regional neighbors and the international community, will need clear reassurances on all these fronts.”

Although it is officially classified as a terrorist organization by several nations, HTS will now play a crucial role in the dynamics of the region, complicating the response of Arab states eager to restore some measure of stability to Syria.

“Abu Muhammad Al-Golani remains a figure surrounded by skepticism, even as he attempts to reshape his public image,” Faisal Ibrahim Al-Shammari, a political analyst and commentator, told Arab News.

“While his rhetoric and actions in recent years signal a departure from his extremist beginnings, it is difficult to fully separate his current persona from his well-documented past.

“The skepticism stems from his history with Al-Qaeda and his role in creating Al-Nusra Front, which terrorized Syria during its affiliation with the global terror network. Rebranding as HTS might appear as a strategic pivot, but is it a genuine ideological transformation or simply an act of convenience to appeal to international observers?

“Yet, hope cannot be entirely discounted. Leaders evolve under pressure, and contexts change. If Al-Golani is sincere in his stated commitment to a more inclusive and democratic Syria, this shift would be a remarkable turn. But history warns us against naivety. True change must be proven by sustained action, not just rebranding or tactical concessions.

“The question of trust lingers. Can someone with a history of extremism and violence truly reform? The optimist would say yes, given the right circumstances. The realist, however, must insist on vigilance, demanding not just words but concrete actions that demonstrate a commitment to peace, justice, and inclusion.

“Until then, hope must be tempered with caution, as the stakes for Syria and the region are far too high to afford misplaced trust.”

Abu Mohammad Al-Golani’s journey from militant to political actor illustrates the adaptability required in the complex Syrian context. His efforts to maintain relevance amid a chaotic landscape have hinged on navigating both local dynamics and regional geopolitical interests.

His future, and that of his organization, will depend on the broader regional approach to Syria’s enduring crisis, marked by shifting allegiances, and intricate political calculations.

His legacy will ultimately be shaped by these complex interplays, as regional stakeholders grapple with the implications of HTS’s evolving role in national and regional affairs.

AN, Dec 9, 2024

DAMSYIK – Anggota penyelamat Syria menggeledah sebuah penjara yang sinonim dengan kekejaman terburuk pemerintahan presiden terguling Bashar Assad, ketika orang ramai di ibu negara berpusu-pusu ke dataran tengah pada Isnin untuk meraikan kebebasan negara mereka.

Assad melarikan diri dari Syria ketika militan masuk ke ibu negara, membawa kepada penghujung yang menakjubkan pada Ahad lima dekad pemerintahan kejam oleh klannya ke atas sebuah negara yang dilanda perang paling maut pada abad ini.

Dia menyelia tindakan keras terhadap gerakan demokrasi yang tercetus pada 2011, mencetuskan perang yang membunuh 500,000 orang dan memaksa separuh negara meninggalkan rumah mereka.

Inti sistem pemerintahan yang Assad warisi daripada bapanya Hafez adalah kompleks penjara dan pusat tahanan yang kejam yang digunakan untuk menghapuskan perbezaan pendapat dengan memenjarakan mereka disyaki keluar daripada barisan parti pemerintah Baath.

Pada Isnin, penyelamat dari Syrian White Helmets berkata mereka mencari pintu rahsia atau ruang bawah tanah di penjara Saydnaya, mencari mana-mana tahanan yang mungkin terperangkap.

“Kami sedang berusaha dengan sepenuh tenaga untuk mencapai harapan baharu, dan kami mesti bersedia menghadapi yang terburuk,” kata organisasi itu dalam satu kenyataan.

Aida Taha, berusia 65 tahun, berkata dia “bersiar-siar di jalanan seperti orang gila” untuk mencari abangnya, yang ditahan pada 2012.

Dia berkata dia pergi ke Saydnaya, di mana dia percaya beberapa banduan masih berada di bawah tanah.

“Penjara itu mempunyai tiga atau empat tingkat bawah tanah,” kata Taha.

“Mereka mengatakan bahawa pintu tidak akan terbuka kerana mereka tidak mempunyai kod yang betul.”

“Kami sudah cukup lama ditindas, kami mahu anak-anak kami kembali,” tambahnya.

Walaupun Syria telah berperang selama 13 tahun, kejatuhan kerajaan akhirnya berlaku dalam beberapa hari, dengan serangan kilat dilancarkan oleh Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).

Berakar dari cabang Al-Qaeda di Syria, HTS dilarang oleh kerajaan Barat sebagai kumpulan pengganas.

Walaupun masih belum dapat dilihat bagaimana HTS beroperasi sekarang setelah Assad telah tiada, ia telah berusaha untuk menyederhanakan imejnya dan untuk memastikan ramai minoriti agama Syria bahawa mereka tidak perlu takut.

Di tengah-tengah Damsyik pada Isnin, di sebalik semua ketidakpastian untuk masa depan, kegembiraan itu dapat dirasai.

“Ia tidak dapat digambarkan, kami tidak pernah menyangka mimpi ngeri ini akan berakhir, kami dilahirkan semula,” Rim Ramadan, 49 tahun, seorang penjawat awam di kementerian kewangan, memberitahu AFP.

“Kami takut selama 55 tahun bercakap, walaupun di rumah, kami pernah mengatakan dinding ada telinga,” kata Ramadan, ketika orang ramai membunyikan hon kereta mereka dan pemberontak melepaskan senjata mereka ke udara.

“Kami rasa kami hidup dalam mimpi,” tambahnya.

Semasa serangan dilancarkan pada 27 November, pemberontak merampas bandar demi bandar daripada kawalan Assad, membuka pintu penjara di sepanjang jalan dan membebaskan beribu-ribu orang, kebanyakan mereka ditahan atas tuduhan politik.

Kumpulan media sosial turun dengan rakyat Syria berkongsi imej tahanan yang dilaporkan dibawa keluar dari penjara bawah tanah, dalam usaha kolektif untuk menyatukan semula keluarga dengan orang tersayang mereka, beberapa daripada mereka telah hilang selama bertahun-tahun.

Yang lain, seperti Fadwa Mahmoud, yang suami dan anak lelakinya hilang, menghantar panggilan untuk mendapatkan bantuan mencari saudara mereka yang hilang.

“Di mana kamu, Maher dan Abdel Aziz, sudah tiba masanya untuk saya mendengar berita anda, oh Tuhan, tolonglah kembali, biarkan kegembiraan saya menjadi lengkap,” tulis Fadwa, dirinya bekas tahanan.

Presiden AS Joe Biden berkata Assad harus “bertanggungjawab” ketika dia menyebut kejatuhannya sebagai “peluang bersejarah” untuk rakyat Syria.

“Kejatuhan rejim adalah tindakan asas keadilan,” katanya.

Tetapi dia juga mengingatkan bahawa kumpulan Islamis garis keras dalam pakatan pemberontak yang menang akan menghadapi penelitian.

“Beberapa kumpulan pemberontak yang menumbangkan Assad mempunyai rekod keganasan dan pencabulan hak asasi manusia mereka sendiri,” kata Biden.

Amerika Syarikat (AS) telah mengambil perhatian terhadap kenyataan baru-baru ini oleh pemberontak yang mencadangkan mereka mengamalkan postur lebih sederhana, tetapi Biden berkata: “Kami akan menilai bukan sahaja kata-kata mereka, tetapi tindakan mereka.”

Amnesty International juga menggesa pelaku pencabulan hak untuk menghadapi keadilan, dengan ketuanya Agnes Callamard menggesa pasukan menggulingkan Assad untuk “melepaskan diri daripada keganasan masa lalu.”

“Sebarang peralihan politik mesti memastikan akauntabiliti bagi pelaku pelanggaran serius dan menjamin bahawa mereka yang bertanggungjawab dipertanggungjawabkan,” kata ketua hak PBB Volker Turk pada Isnin.

Bagaimana Assad mungkin menghadapi keadilan masih tidak jelas, terutama selepas Rusia enggan pada Isnin untuk mengesahkan laporan oleh agensi berita Rusia bahawa dia telah melarikan diri ke Moscow.

Kedutaan Syria di Moscow menaikkan bendera pembangkang, dan Kremlin berkata ia akan membincangkan status pangkalannya di Syria dengan pihak berkuasa baharu.

Rusia memainkan peranan penting dalam mengekalkan kuasa Assad, campur tangan secara langsung dalam perang bermula pada 2015 dan menyediakan perlindungan udara kepada tentera di darat ketika ia berusaha untuk menumpaskan pemberontakan.

Iran, satu lagi sekutu utama Assad, berkata ia menjangkakan hubungan “mesra” dengan Syria akan diteruskan, dengan menteri luarnya berkata presiden yang digulingkan itu “tidak pernah meminta” bantuan Tehran menentang serangan militan.

Turkiye, dari segi sejarah penyokong pembangkang, menyeru kerajaan baharu yang “inklusif” di Syria, ketika situasi yang tidak dapat diramalkan mula mereda.

“Ia bukan hanya rejim Assad yang jatuh, ia juga persoalan tentang apa yang menggantikannya?” kata Aron Lund, pakar di badan pemikir Century International.

Walaupun perang Syria bermula dengan tindakan keras terhadap protes demokrasi akar umbi, ia berubah dari semasa ke semasa dan menarik kumpulan jihad dan kuasa asing yang menyokong pihak lawan.

Israel, yang bersempadan dengan Syria, menghantar tentera ke zon penampan selepas kejatuhan Assad, dalam apa yang digambarkan oleh Menteri Luar Gideon Saar sebagai “langkah terhad dan sementara.”

Saar juga berkata negaranya telah menyerang “senjata kimia” di Syria, “agar ia tidak jatuh ke tangan pelampau.”

Di utara Syria, serangan dron Turki di kawasan yang dikuasai Kurdish membunuh 11 orang awam, enam daripadanya kanak-kanak, menurut pemantau perang Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

AN-AFP, 9 Dis 2024

GENEVA – Hampir 200 orang terbunuh dalam keganasan hujung minggu yang kejam di ibu negara Haiti, kata Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) pada Isnin, dengan laporan bahawa seorang ketua kumpulan mendalangi penyembelihan pengamal voodoo.

Pembunuhan itu diawasi oleh “ketua geng yang berkuasa” yakin bahawa penyakit anaknya disebabkan oleh penganut agama itu, menurut pertubuhan awam Jawatankuasa Keamanan dan Pembangunan (CPD).

“Dia memutuskan untuk menghukum dengan kejam semua orang tua dan pengamal voodoo yang, dalam khayalannya, akan mampu menghantar jampi buruk kepada anaknya,” kata satu kenyataan daripada kumpulan berpangkalan di Haiti itu.

“Askar kumpulan itu bertanggungjawab untuk mengenal pasti mangsa di rumah mereka untuk membawa mereka ke kubu ketua untuk dihukum bunuh,” tambahnya.

Pesuruhjaya hak PBB Volker Turk berkata pada hujung minggu bahawa “sekurang-kurangnya 184 orang terbunuh dalam keganasan didalangi oleh ketua geng kuat di ibu kota Haiti.”

“Pembunuhan terbaharu ini menjadikan jumlah kematian tahun ini saja di Haiti kepada 5,000 orang,” katanya kepada pemberita di Geneva.

Kedua-dua, CPD dan PBB berkata pembunuhan beramai-ramai berlaku di kawasan kejiranan pantai barat ibu kota Cite Soleil.

Haiti mengalami ketidakstabilan selama beberapa dekad tetapi keadaan bertambah buruk pada Februari apabila kumpulan bersenjata melancarkan serangan terkoordinasi di ibu negara Port-au-Prince untuk menggulingkan perdana menteri ketika itu Ariel Henry.

Geng kini menguasai 80 peratus bandar dan walaupun misi sokongan polis diketuai Kenya, disokong oleh AS dan PBB, keganasan terus meningkat.

CPD berkata kebanyakan mangsa keganasan yang dilakukan pada Jumaat dan Sabtu berusia lebih 60 tahun, tetapi beberapa orang muda yang cuba menyelamatkan orang lain turut menjadi mangsa.

“Sumber yang boleh dipercayai dalam komuniti melaporkan bahawa lebih daripada seratus orang telah dibunuh beramai-ramai, mayat mereka dicacatkan dan dibakar di jalanan,” kata satu kenyataan.

Lebih 700,000 orang kehilangan tempat tinggal di Haiti, separuh daripada mereka kanak-kanak, menurut angka Oktober dari Pertubuhan Antarabangsa untuk Migrasi PBB.

Voodoo dibawa ke Haiti oleh hamba Afrika dan merupakan budaya utama negara itu. Ia diharamkan semasa pemerintahan kolonial Perancis dan hanya diiktiraf sebagai agama rasmi oleh kerajaan pada tahun 2003.

Walaupun ia menggabungkan unsur kepercayaan agama lain, termasuk Katolik, voodoo telah diserang secara sejarah oleh agama lain.

AN-AFP

DAMSYIK – Seperti kebanyakan orang lain di ibu negara Syria Damsyik, pelajar Shadi memilih untuk tinggal di rumah supaya dia dapat mengikuti rentak peristiwa sejak militan melancarkan serangan mengejut minggu lalu.

“Saya tidak berhasrat untuk keluar dan semua orang memilih untuk tinggal di dalam untuk mengikuti berita yang dikelilingi oleh orang tersayang mereka,” kata Shadi, yang tidak mahu memberikan nama penuhnya.

Ketika militan telah menawan bandar demi bandar secara berturut-turut, ramai rakyat Syria dilanda ketidaktentuan, bimbang kebangkitan hari-hari terburuk perang saudara Syria yang melanda kini dalam tahun ke-14.

“Kami tidak faham apa-apa lagi. Hanya dalam masa satu minggu, liku-liku itu begitu luar biasa sehingga tidak dapat difahami,” kata pemuda itu.

“Kebimbangan itu menular tetapi kami perlu bertenang,” katanya, tidak pernah mengalihkan pandangannya dari isyarat pada telefon bimbitnya.

Militan Syria, diketuai kumpulan militan Islamis Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), melancarkan serangan mengejut pada 27 November, menyapu dari kubu kuat mereka di barat laut untuk menawan kawasan utara dan tengah Syria termasuk bandar utama Aleppo dan Hama.

Tentera kerajaan telah melancarkan serangan balas yang bertujuan untuk menangkis militan tetapi dengan kos melonggarkan cengkaman mereka di bahagian lain negara, terutama timur di mana tentera diketuai Kurdish telah mengambil alih.

“Setiap kali khabar angin tersebar, orang ramai bergegas membeli pelbagai produk, roti, beras, gula dan bahan pencuci,” kata Amine, 56, yang mengusahakan kedai runcit di kejiranan Sheikh Saad di ibu negara.

“Hari ini, saya membeli dua kali daripada pemborong saya untuk memenuhi permintaan.”

Serangan itu telah menyebabkan harga makanan melonjak sebanyak 30 peratus di Damsyik, menurut penduduk.

Pound Syria didagangkan pada paras terendah sepanjang masa 19,000 kepada dolar, turun daripada 15,000 sebelum militan melancarkan serangan mereka pada Rabu minggu lalu.

Langkah keselamatan – sudah ketat sebelum serangan – telah dipertingkatkan, dengan carian kereta tambahan, terutama pada kenderaan yang datang dari luar ibu negara, menurut penduduk.

Kebimbangan semakin didorong oleh penyebaran maklumat salah dan khabar angin.

Kementerian pertahanan Syria telah mengecam video “rekaan”, termasuk letupan di ibu pejabat kakitangan am, menyeru rakyat supaya tidak menjadi mangsa “pembohongan” yang “bertujuan untuk menimbulkan kekacauan dan panik dalam kalangan orang awam.”

Di kawasan kejiranan Bab Sharqi yang biasanya meriah, restoran dan kafe hampir lengang pada waktu petang, malah ada yang tutup awal kerana ketiadaan pelanggan.

Universiti Damsyik telah menangguhkan peperiksaan akhir penggal dan persekutuan bola sepak Syria telah menangguhkan perlawanan sehingga diberitahu kelak.

Agensi berita negara SANA melaporkan bahawa pada solat Jumaat, imam menyeru umat beriman “jangan panik… dan berdiri sebagai satu di belakang Tentera Arab Syria untuk mempertahankan tanah air.”

Georgina, 32, berkata dia telah “mendengar banyak khabar angin.”

“Saya pergi ke Damsyik Lama dan melihat keadaan biasa,” katanya, sambil menambah bahawa “semua orang memerhatikan berita itu.”

Sementara itu, beberapa stesen radio telah beralih daripada pelbagai program kepada segmen berita tanpa henti.

Di televisyen negara, program menjadi tuan rumah penganalisis dan saksi di lapangan, termasuk yang menafikan “khabar angin” kehilangan wilayah baru kepada militan yang sedang mara.

AN-AFP

GAZA — Berdepan dengan kekurangan makanan utama selepas hampir 14 bulan perang, rakyat Palestin menggambarkan hari yang panjang memburu tepung dan roti di Semenanjung Gaza dilanda konflik.

Setiap pagi orang ramai berkumpul di luar beberapa kedai roti yang dibuka di wilayah Palestin, ketika orang ramai berusaha untuk mendapatkan sekantong roti di tempat pengedaran.

Sejak meletusnya perang di Gaza tahun lalu, badan amal dan pertubuhan bantuan antarabangsa telah berulang kali memberi amaran tentang tahap krisis kelaparan bagi hampir dua juta orang.

Penilaian disokong Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) bulan lalu memberi amaran tentang kebuluran yang melanda di utara Semenanjung Gaza di tengah-tengah bantuan makanan yang hampir terhenti selepas Israel melancarkan serangan di kawasan itu.

Barangan keperluan seperti air, hasil segar dan ubat-ubatan juga terhad.

Penduduk Gaza di seluruh wilayah telah memberitahu AFP dalam beberapa bulan kebelakangan ini bagaimana mereka bangun pada waktu fajar hanya untuk memastikan mereka boleh mendapatkan sedikit tepung atau roti, dengan ketersediaan semasa mencecah paras terendah sepanjang masa.

Di bandar selatan Khan Yunis, jurugambar AFP melihat berpuluh-puluh orang di tempat pengedaran, badan bertindih antara satu sama lain.

Di atas kepala masing-masing, semua orang cuba menghulurkan tangan sejauh mungkin untuk meraih roti bulat.

Seorang kanak-kanak kecil, mukanya dipenuhi air mata, memerah duit syiling di antara jari-jarinya ketika dia melalui kerumunan orang dewasa.

“Saya berjalan kira-kira lapan kilometer (lima batu) untuk mendapatkan roti,” kata Hatem Kullab, seorang pelarian Palestin yang tinggal di kawasan kejiranan khemah sementara, kepada AFP.

Ia adalah di tengah-tengah salah satu daripada kerumunan ini bahawa dua wanita dan seorang kanak-kanak telah mati dipijak dalam rempuhan di sebuah kedai roti di bandar Gaza tengah Deir el-Balah pada Jumaat.

“Bagi mendapatkan sebuku roti, anda memerlukan lapan hingga 10 jam sehari penuh,” kata abang kepada salah seorang wanita yang terbunuh, menggambarkan pengalaman pahit kakaknya ketika dia cuba mendapatkan roti untuk memberi makan kepada 10 ahli keluarga.

“Penderitaan yang dilalui kakak saya dialami oleh semua rakyat Palestin,” kata Jameel Fayyad kepada AFP, mengkritik apa yang disifatkannya sebagai pengurusan kedai roti yang lemah.

Kemarahan Fayyad sebahagian besarnya ditujukan kepada Israel, tetapi dia juga menyalahkan Program Makanan Sedunia (WFP) dan “peniaga yang ingin membuat wang di belakang orang.”

Penduduk Palestin dari Semenanjung Gaza memberitahu wartawan AFP bahawa adalah amat sukar untuk mencari beg tepung seberat 50 kilogram (110 paun) yang akan bertahan beberapa minggu sebelum perang.

“Tiada tepung, tiada makanan, tiada sayur-sayuran di pasar,” kata Nasser Al-Shawa, 56, yang seperti kebanyakan penduduk, terpaksa meninggalkan rumahnya kerana pengeboman dan tinggal bersama anak-anak dan cucunya di tengah Gaza.

Shawa, yang kini tinggal di rumah rakannya di Deir el-Balah, berkata beg seberat 50 kilogram berharga antara 500 dan 700 shekel ($137 dan $192). Sebelum perang, harganya sekitar 100 shekel.

Di Gaza di mana lebih separuh daripada bangunan telah musnah, pengeluaran hampir terhenti. Kilang tepung, gudang menyimpan tepung dan kedai roti industri tidak dapat berfungsi kerana ia telah rosak teruk akibat serangan.

Bantuan kemanusiaan semakin mengalir tetapi kumpulan bantuan telah berulang kali menyelar banyak kekangan dikenakan ke atas mereka oleh Israel, yang dinafikan negara itu.

Dalam tamparan terbaharu, agensi PBB yang menyokong pelarian Palestin (UNRWA) mengumumkan pada Ahad ia menghentikan penghantaran bantuan ke Gaza melalui titik lintasan utama dengan Israel.

UNRWA berkata penghantaran telah menjadi mustahil, sebahagiannya disebabkan oleh rompakan oleh kumpulan samseng.

Bagi Layla Hamad, yang tinggal di dalam khemah bersama suami dan tujuh anaknya di Al-Mawasi di selatan Gaza, keputusan UNRWA adalah “seperti peluru di kepala.”

Dia berkata keluarganya kerap menerima “kuantiti kecil” tepung daripada UNRWA.

“Setiap hari, saya fikir kita tidak akan bertahan, sama ada kerana kita akan dibunuh oleh pengeboman Israel atau kelaparan,” katanya. “Tiada pilihan ketiga.”

Majoriti syarikat swasta yang dimiliki Israel pada masa lalu membenarkan membawa masuk makanan ke Gaza berkata mereka tidak lagi mampu berbuat demikian.

Peperangan di Gaza meletus selepas serangan Hamas pada 7 Oktober 2023, ke atas Israel selatan, yang mengakibatkan kematian 1,208 orang, kebanyakannya orang awam, menurut pengiraan AFP berdasarkan data rasmi.

Kempen ketenteraan balas dendam Israel di Gaza telah membunuh sekurang-kurangnya 44,502 kematian, juga kebanyakan orang awam, menurut data daripada kementerian kesihatan Gaza dikendalikan Hamas yang dianggap PBB boleh dipercayai.

AN-AFP

KIBBUTZ MALKIYA, Israel — Dean Sweetland melemparkan pandangannya ke atas jalan sunyi dalam komuniti Israel Kibbutz Malkiya.

Terletak di atas bukit menghadap sempadan dengan Lubnan, pekan itu kebanyakannya kosong selepas ditinggalkan setahun lalu.

Pusat jagaan kanak-kanak ditutup. Rumah-rumah tidak terawat. Sebahagian daripada landskap menjadi pucat akibat kebakaran dicetuskan oleh roket Hizbullah yang jatuh.

Walaupun selepas gencatan senjata Israel-Hizbullah yang lemah direka untuk membenarkan orang Israel kembali ke utara, suasana di sini jauh dari meraikannya.

“Gencatan senjata adalah sampah,” kata Sweetland, seorang tukang kebun dan anggota skuad keselamatan awam kibbutz.

“Adakah anda mengharapkan saya menghubungi rakan-rakan saya dan berkata, ‘Semua keluarga harus pulang?’ Tidak.”

Di seberang sempadan, orang awam Lubnan telah menyekat jalan dalam tergesa-gesa untuk pulang ke rumah di selatan negara itu, tetapi kebanyakan penduduk di utara Israel memenuhi gencatan senjata dengan rasa curiga dan bimbang.

“Hizbullah masih boleh kembali ke sempadan, dan siapa yang akan melindungi kita apabila mereka melakukannya?” Sweetland bertanya.

Kerajaan Israel berusaha menghidupkan kembali kawasan utara negara itu, terutama barisan masyarakat yang berbatasan langsung dengan Lubnan yang telah memainkan peranan utama dalam mengintai sempadan Israel.

Tetapi ketakutan terhadap Hizbullah, kekurangan kepercayaan terhadap pasukan pengaman Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) yang dipertanggungjawabkan untuk menyokong gencatan senjata, kemarahan yang mendalam terhadap kerajaan dan keinginan sesetengah orang Israel untuk terus membina semula kehidupan mereka di tempat lain menghalang ramai daripada kembali serta-merta.

Apabila gencatan senjata berkuat kuasa, kira-kira 45,000 warga Israel telah berpindah dari utara.

Mereka meninggalkan rumah mereka selepas Hizbullah mula melepaskan tembakan rentas sempadan pada 8 Oktober 2023, sebagai solidariti dengan sekutunya Hamas di Gaza.

Itu mencetuskan lebih setahun berbalas tembakan rentas sempadan, dengan perkampungan Lubnan di selatan dan komuniti Israel berhadapan dengan sempadan menanggung kesakitan.

Semasa fasa awal gencatan senjata selama 60 hari, Hizbullah sepatutnya menghapuskan kehadiran bersenjatanya dari kumpulan luas di selatan Lubnan di mana tentera mengatakan kumpulan militan itu telah menggali masuk selama bertahun-tahun dengan mengumpulkan senjata dan menubuhkan tapak pelancaran roket dan infrastruktur lain.

Di bawah gencatan senjata, pasukan pengaman PBB yang dikenali sebagai UNIFIL dan kehadiran tentera Lubnan yang dipertingkatkan sepatutnya memastikan Hizbullah tidak kembali.

Ramai penduduk di utara Israel ragu-ragu bahawa keamanan akan berlaku.

Sarah Gould, yang mengosongkan Kibbutz Malkiya pada permulaan perang dengan tiga anaknya, berkata Hizbullah melepaskan tembakan ke arah masyarakat hingga dan setelah minit gencatan senjata berkuat kuasa awal Rabu.

“Jadi untuk kerajaan memberitahu saya bahawa Hizbullah telah dineutralkan,” katanya, “ia adalah satu pembohongan yang sempurna.”

Penduduk bimbang keselamatan mereka di utara jauh

Di Gaza, di mana Israel sedang meneruskan peperangan yang telah membunuh lebih 44,000 rakyat Palestin, matlamat Israel ialah penghapusan Hamas.

Tetapi di Lubnan, matlamat Israel terhad untuk menolak Hizbullah dari sempadan supaya penduduk utara boleh pulang ke rumah.

Pengkritik Israel berkata kerajaan sepatutnya terus berjuang untuk melumpuhkan Hizbullah secara terang-terangan atau membersihkan kawasan sempadan, yang menempatkan ratusan ribu warga Lubnan.

“Saya tidak akan mula mempertimbangkan untuk pulang sehingga saya tahu ada zon mati untuk beberapa kilometer merentasi sempadan,” kata Gould yang berusia 46 tahun.

Sesetengah rakyat Israel yang berwaspada berpusu-pusu pulang Khamis dan Jumaat ke kawasan yang lebih jauh dari sempadan.

Tetapi komuniti seperti Kibbutz Manara, terletak di sebidang tanah kecil antara Lubnan dan Syria, kekal sebagai bandar hantu.

Orna Weinberg, 58, yang dilahirkan dan dibesarkan di Manara, berkata masih terlalu awal untuk memberitahu sama ada gencatan senjata itu akan melindungi masyarakat.

Terletak di atas semua kampung sempadan yang lain, Manara secara unik terdedah kepada tembakan Hizbullah sepanjang perang. Tiga perempat daripada strukturnya telah rosak.

Di dapur umum dan dewan makan kibbutz, alang siling telah runtuh. Papan lantai yang tercabut ditutup dengan abu daripada kebakaran yang turut meragut sebahagian besar kawasan tanaman kibbutz.

Serpihan roket banyak. Batang tubuh peragawati, umpan yang berpakaian hijau tentera, tergeletak di atas tanah.

Weinberg cuba tinggal di Manara semasa perang, tetapi selepas serpihan anti-kereta kebal merosakkan rumahnya, askar menyuruhnya pergi.

Pada Khamis, dia berjalan di sepanjang jalannya, yang menghadap terus ke kedudukan UNIFIL yang memisahkan kibbutz dari barisan perkampungan Lubnan yang telah musnah akibat pengeboman dan perobohan Israel.

Weinberg berkata UNIFIL tidak menghalang pembentukan Hizbullah pada masa lalu, “jadi mengapa mereka boleh melakukannya sekarang?”

“Gencatan senjata di sini hanya memberi peluang kepada Hizbullah untuk membina semula kuasa mereka dan kembali ke tempat yang mereka dihalau,” katanya.

Gencatan senjata itu kelihatan rapuh.

Wartawan Associated Press (AP) mendengar letupan tembakan sporadis, kemungkinan tentera Israel melepaskan tembakan ke arah rakyat Lubnan yang cuba memasuki bandar.

Tentera Israel berkata ia menghalang sementara orang awam Lubnan daripada pulang ke rumah ke barisan pekan yang paling hampir dengan sempadan, sehingga tentera Lubnan boleh ditempatkan di sana.

Walaupun dalam komuniti yang kurang dianiaya, tiada siapa yang pulang ke rumah

Walaupun suasana di sepanjang sempadan tegang, Malkiya menunjukkan tanda-tanda keamanan.

Dengan roket Hizbullah dihentikan, sesetengah penduduk kembali sebentar ke kibbutz untuk melihat sekeliling dengan berhati-hati.

Pada pemandangan yang menghadap ke sempadan, di mana serpihan besar perkampungan Lubnan dapat dilihat, sekumpulan kira-kira 30 askar berkumpul. Beberapa hari lalu, mereka membuat sasaran mudah untuk tembakan Hizbullah.

Malkiya mengalami lebih sedikit kerosakan berbanding Manara. Namun, penduduk berkata mereka tidak akan pulang segera.
Selama setahun perpindahan, ramai yang telah memulakan semula kehidupan mereka di tempat lain, dan idea untuk kembali ke bandar barisan hadapan di sempadan adalah menakutkan.

Di Lubnan, di mana pengeboman dan serangan darat Israel menghalau kira-kira 1.2 juta orang dari rumah mereka, sebahagian daripada pelarian bersesak-sesak ke sekolah-sekolah yang bertukar tempat perlindungan atau tidur di jalanan.

Di Israel, kerajaan membayar hotel untuk mangsa yang dipindahkan dan membantu menempatkan kanak-kanak di sekolah baharu.

Gould meramalkan penduduk akan kembali ke kibbutz hanya apabila subsidi kerajaan untuk penginapan mereka kering – “bukan kerana mereka mahu, tetapi kerana mereka merasakan mereka tidak mampu mengusahakan alternatif.”

“Ia bukan sekadar isu keselamatan,” kata Gould.
“Kami telah menghabiskan lebih daripada setahun membina semula kehidupan kami di mana sahaja kami mendarat. Ini adalah persoalan untuk mengumpulkannya dan berpindah ke tempat lain, di suatu tempat yang secara teknikalnya adalah rumah lama kami tetapi bukan rumah. Tiada apa yang terasa sama.”

Tidak jelas sama ada sekolah di komuniti sempadan akan mempunyai cukup pelajar untuk dibuka semula, kata Gould, dan anak-anaknya sudah mendaftar di tempat lain.

Dia seronok tinggal lebih jauh dari sempadan, jauh dari zon perang terbuka.

Terdapat juga perasaan mendalam bahawa masyarakat telah ditinggalkan oleh kerajaan, kata Sweetland.

Sweetland ialah salah seorang daripada kira-kira 25 sukarelawan keselamatan awam yang tinggal sepanjang perang, mengharungi tembakan roket yang berterusan untuk memastikan kibbutz itu tetap bertahan. Mereka membaiki rumah yang rosak, memadamkan kebakaran dan membantu menggantikan penjana kibbutz apabila ia dibawa keluar oleh kebakaran Hizbullah. Mereka bersendirian, tanpa anggota bomba atau polis bersedia mengambil risiko untuk datang, katanya.

“Kami tidak mendapat sebarang bantuan selama berbulan-bulan dan berbulan-bulan, dan kami merayu, ‘tolong bantu kami.’”

Sweetland berkata dia akan terus mengawasi laluan sunyi masyarakat yang dahulunya bersemangat dengan harapan jiran-jirannya akan berasa selamat untuk kembali. Tetapi dia meramalkan ia akan mengambil masa berbulan-bulan.

Weinberg berharap untuk kembali ke Manara secepat mungkin. Pada Khamis, dia ternampak bekas jiran yang hendak pergi selepas memeriksa kerosakan di rumahnya.

Weinberg menggenggam tangannya melalui tingkap kereta, bertanya khabarnya. Wanita itu meringis dan mula menangis. Tangan mereka berpisah apabila kereta itu perlahan-lahan meluncur keluar melalui pintu pagar dan memandu pergi.

AN-AP

PORT SUDAN – Ketua kemanusiaan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) membangkitkan kebimbangan pada Isnin mengenai “wabak keganasan seksual” terhadap wanita di Sudan yang dilanda perang, berkata dunia “mesti melakukan yang lebih baik.”

“Saya berasa malu kerana kami tidak dapat melindungi anda, dan saya berasa malu kepada rakan-rakan saya kerana apa yang mereka telah lakukan,”
Tom Fletcher, yang mengetuai Pejabat Penyelarasan Hal Ehwal Kemanusiaan PBB (OCHA), berkata pada lawatan pertamanya ke Port Sudan.

Bandar Laut Merah telah menjadi ibu kota de facto Sudan sejak April 2023, apabila Khartoum diselubungi oleh peperangan antara tentera biasa dan paramilitari Pasukan Sokongan Pantas (RSF).

Perang itu telah meragut puluhan ribu nyawa, menyebabkan lebih 11 juta orang kehilangan tempat tinggal dan mencipta apa yang dikatakan PBB sebagai krisis kemanusiaan paling teruk dalam ingatan baru-baru ini.

Hampir 26 juta orang – kira-kira separuh penduduk – menghadapi ancaman kebuluran besar-besaran, ketika kedua-dua pihak yang berperang telah dituduh menggunakan kelaparan sebagai senjata perang.

Semasa lawatannya, Fletcher bertemu ketua tentera Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan dan membincangkan usaha untuk “meningkatkan penyampaian bantuan merentasi sempadan dan merentasi garis konflik.”

Pekerja bantuan dan agensi kemanusiaan berkata kerajaan Burhan yang bersekutu dengan tentera telah menguatkuasakan halangan birokrasi yang teruk kepada kerja mereka.

Pada satu acara di sekolah Port Sudan untuk menandakan Hari Antarabangsa untuk Penghapusan Keganasan Terhadap Wanita, Fletcher berkata dunia “mesti melakukan yang lebih baik” bagi wanita Sudan, yang telah terdedah kepada keganasan seksual yang sistematik.

Misi mencari fakta antarabangsa PBB yang bebas untuk Sudan bulan lalu mendokumentasikan keganasan seksual yang semakin meningkat, termasuk “rogol, eksploitasi seksual dan penculikan untuk tujuan seksual serta dakwaan perkahwinan paksa dan pemerdagangan manusia.”

“Skala besar keganasan seksual yang kami telah dokumentasikan di Sudan adalah mengejutkan,” kata Mohamed Chande Othman, pengerusi misi mencari fakta.

“Situasi yang dihadapi oleh orang awam yang terdedah, khususnya wanita dan gadis dari semua peringkat umur, amat membimbangkan dan memerlukan perhatian segera,” tambahnya.

AN-AFP, 25 Nov 2024

KABUL — Dengan musim menuai safron sedang berlangsung di Afghanistan, peniaga tempatan menjangkakan hasil yang lebih baik berbanding tahun-tahun sebelumnya, mencetuskan harapan bahawa eksport tanaman berharga itu, yang dikenali tempatan sebagai “emas merah,” akan membantu meningkatkan ekonomi negara yang terjejas.

Afghanistan ialah pengeluar safron kedua terbesar di dunia, selepas Iran.

Pada Jun, Institut Rasa Antarabangsa berpangkalan di Belgium menamakan safron Afghan sebagai yang terbaik di dunia bagi tahun kesembilan berturut-turut.

Safron adalah rempah yang paling mahal di dunia, dijual sekitar $2,000 sekilogram. Eksportnya menyediakan mata wang asing kritikal kepada Afghanistan, di mana sekatan dikenakan AS telah menjejaskan ekonomi dengan teruk sejak Taliban mengambil alih pada 2021.

Dengan hasil safron tahun ini dijangka melebihi 50 tan – kira-kira dua kali ganda daripada musim 2023 dan 2022 – kerajaan dan Kesatuan Safron Kebangsaan Afghanistan sedang berusaha untuk meningkatkan eksport.

“Tuaian safron tahun ini bagus. Dalam tempoh sembilan bulan pertama (tahun 2024), Afghanistan mengeksport sekitar 46 tan safron ke negara yang berbeza,” kata jurucakap Kementerian Perindustrian dan Perdagangan Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada kepada Arab News (AN).

“Di mana-mana peniaga kami ingin mengeksport safron, kami menyokong mereka melalui koridor udara dan memudahkan penyertaan peniaga Afghanistan dalam pameran nasional dan antarabangsa.”

Dikenali telah ditanam selama sekurang-kurangnya 2,000 tahun, safron sangat sesuai dengan iklim kering Afghanistan, terutama di Herat, di mana 90 peratus safron Afghanistan dihasilkan.

Kebanyakan perdagangan safron juga berpusat di wilayah itu, yang hujung minggu lalu merasmikan Pusat Dagangan Safron Antarabangsanya bagi memudahkan eksport.

“Pusat baharu itu telah ditubuhkan mengikut piawaian global dan akan membawa syarikat pemprosesan dan perdagangan utama ke satu tempat, menyediakan satu tempat untuk petani memperdagangkan produk mereka dalam keadaan terbaik,” Mohammad Ibrahim Adil, ketua Kesatuan Safron Kebangsaan Afghanistan, memberitahu AN.

Pasaran eksport utama kesatuan itu ialah India, di mana safron adalah bahan biasa dalam makanan, diikuti oleh GCC (negara teluk) — terutama Arab Saudi dan UAE.

“Eksport safron membawa mata wang asing yang sangat diperlukan ke Afghanistan, menyumbang dengan ketara kepada penstabilan kitaran kewangan di negara itu,” kata Qudratullah Rahmati, timbalan ketua kesatuan safron.

Kesatuan itu menganggarkan safron menyumbang kira-kira $100 juta kepada ekonomi Afghanistan setahun.

Kira-kira 95 peratus pekerja dalam industri safron adalah wanita, menurut kesatuan itu.

“Pengeluaran safron menyokong banyak keluarga, terutama wanita, semasa fasa penuaian dan pemprosesan melalui peluang pekerjaan jangka pendek dan panjang. Terdapat sekitar 80-85 syarikat safron berdaftar di Herat. Yang kecil menggaji empat hingga lima orang manakala yang lebih besar mempunyai sehingga 80 kakitangan tetap,” jelas Rahmati.

Menuai safron adalah kerja yang sukar dan memakan masa. Bunga-bunga itu dipetik sendiri, dan stigma oren kecilnya dipisahkan untuk dikeringkan. Kira-kira 440,000 stigma diperlukan untuk menghasilkan satu kilogram rempah wangi.

Musim menuai biasanya bermula pada Oktober atau November dan berlangsung hanya beberapa minggu.

AN

WASHINGTON — Kanak-kanak membentuk hampir 40 peratus daripada lebih 3.4 juta penduduk Myanmar yang kehilangan tempat tinggal akibat perang saudara dan cuaca ekstrem didorong oleh perubahan iklim, kata agensi PBB untuk kanak-kanak pada Khamis.

Myanmar telah bergolak sejak tentera menggulingkan kerajaan dipilih Aung San Suu Kyi pada 2021 dan melancarkan tindakan keras yang mencetuskan pemberontakan bersenjata menentang pemerintahan junta.

Negara Asia Tenggara itu turut dilanda Taufan Yagi pada September, mencetuskan banjir besar yang mengorbankan lebih 400 orang dan memaksa ratusan ribu orang meninggalkan rumah mereka.

“Krisis kemanusiaan di Myanmar mencapai titik perubahan kritikal, dengan konflik yang meningkat dan kejutan iklim meletakkan kanak-kanak dan keluarga pada risiko yang tidak pernah berlaku sebelum ini,” kata timbalan pengarah eksekutif UNICEF Ted Chaiban dalam satu kenyataan pada Khamis.

“Lebih 3.4 juta orang telah kehilangan tempat tinggal di seluruh negara, hampir 40 peratus daripadanya adalah kanak-kanak.”

Junta sedang memerangi penentangan bersenjata yang meluas terhadap rampasan kuasa 2021, dan askarnya telah dituduh melakukan amuk berdarah dan menggunakan serangan udara dan artileri untuk menghukum masyarakat awam.

Pertempuran itu, serta kejadian iklim yang teruk seperti Taufan Yagi, telah memberi “impak yang dahsyat” kepada kanak-kanak, kata Chaiban, menyebabkan mereka kehilangan tempat tinggal, terdedah kepada keganasan serta terputus daripada penjagaan kesihatan dan pendidikan.

Dia berkata tujuh kanak-kanak dan dua orang awam lain terbunuh pada 15 November dalam serangan yang melanda kawasan gereja Kachin di mana kanak-kanak bermain bola sepak.

Negeri Kachin utara Myanmar adalah tanah air Tentera Kemerdekaan Kachin (KIA), salah satu daripada pelbagai kumpulan bersenjata etnik minoriti yang memegang wilayah di utara dan sedang memerangi junta.

Sekurang-kurangnya 650 kanak-kanak telah terbunuh atau cedera dalam keganasan di negara itu tahun ini.

Kanak-kanak bawah umur juga membentuk kira-kira satu pertiga daripada lebih 1,000 orang awam yang terkorban akibat periuk api dan sisa-sisa letupan perang, menurut Chaiban.

“Peningkatan penggunaan senjata maut di kawasan awam, termasuk serangan udara dan periuk api yang melanda rumah, hospital, dan sekolah, telah mengehadkan dengan teruk ruang selamat yang sudah terhad untuk kanak-kanak, merampas hak mereka untuk keselamatan,” katanya.

Sebelas orang terbunuh minggu lalu apabila sebuah kedai teh di Myanmar terkena serangan udara tentera di bandar Naungcho di utara negeri Shan, kata kumpulan bersenjata etnik tempatan.

AN-AFP

KABUL — Checking imported books, removing texts from libraries and distributing lists of banned titles — Taliban authorities are working to remove “un-Islamic” and anti-government literature from circulation.

The efforts are led by a commission established under the Ministry of Information and Culture soon after the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia.

In October, the ministry announced the commission had identified 400 books “that conflicted with Islamic and Afghan values, most of which have been collected from the markets.”

The department in charge of publishing has distributed copies of the Qur’an and other Islamic texts to replace seized books, the ministry statement said.

The ministry has not provided figures for the number of removed books, but two sources, a publisher in Kabul and a government employee, said texts had been collected in the first year of Taliban rule and again in recent months.

“There is a lot of censorship. It is very difficult to work, and fear has spread everywhere,” the Kabul publisher told AFP.

Books were also restricted under the previous foreign-backed government ousted by the Taliban, when there was “a lot of corruption, pressures and other issues,” he said.

But “there was no fear, one could say whatever he or she wanted to say,” he added.
“Whether or not we could make any change, we could raise our voices.”

AFP received a list of five of the banned titles from an information ministry official.

It includes “Jesus the Son of Man” by renowned Lebanese-American author Khalil Gibran, for containing “blasphemous expressions,” and the “counterculture” novel “Twilight of the Eastern Gods” by Albanian author Ismail Kadare.

“Afghanistan and the Region: A West Asian Perspective” by Mirwais Balkhi, an education minister under the former government, was also banned for “negative propaganda.”

During the Taliban’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001, there were comparatively few publishing houses and booksellers in Kabul, the country having already been wracked by decades of war.

Today, thousands of books are imported each week alone from neighboring Iran — which shares the Persian language with Afghanistan — through the Islam Qala border crossing in western Herat province.

Taliban authorities rifled through boxes of a shipment at a customs warehouse in Herat city last week.

One man flipped through a thick English-language title, as another, wearing a camouflage uniform with a man’s image on the shoulder patch, searched for pictures of people and animals in the books.

“We have not banned books from any specific country or person, but we study the books and we block those that are contradictory to religion, sharia or the government, or if they have photos of living things,” said Mohammad Sediq Khademi, an official with the Herat department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV).

“Any books that are against religion, faith, sect, sharia… we will not allow them,” the 38-year-old told AFP, adding the evaluations of imported books started some three months ago.

Images of living things — barred under some interpretations of Islam — are restricted according to a recent “vice and virtue” law that codifies rules imposed since the Taliban returned to power, but the regulations have been unevenly enforced.

Importers have been advised of which books to avoid, and when books are deemed unsuitable, they are given the option of returning them and getting their money back, Khademi said.

“But if they can’t, we don’t have any other option but to seize them,” he added.

“Once, we had 28 cartons of books that were rejected.”

Authorities have not gone from shop to shop checking for banned books, an official with the provincial information department and a Herat bookseller said, asking not to be named.

However, some books have been removed from Herat libraries and Kabul bookstores, a bookseller told AFP, also asking for anonymity, including “The History of Jihadi Groups in Afghanistan” by Afghan author Yaqub Mashauf.

Books bearing images of living things can still be found in Herat shops.

In Kabul and Takhar — a northern province where booksellers said they had received the list of 400 banned books — disallowed titles remained on some shelves.

Many non-Afghan works were banned, one seller said, “so they look at the author, whose name is there, and they are mostly banned” if they’re foreign.

His bookshop still carried translations of Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “The Gambler” and fantasy novel “Daughter of the Moon Goddess” by Sue Lynn Tan.

But he was keen to sell them “very cheap” now, to clear them from his stock.

AN-AFP

DEIR AL-BALAH — Kekurangan tepung dan penutupan kedai roti utama di tengah Gaza memburukkan lagi keadaan kemanusiaan yang sudah teruk, ketika keluarga Palestin bergelut untuk mendapatkan makanan yang mencukupi.

Orang ramai menunggu dengan sedih dalam kesejukan di luar Kedai Roti Zadna yang tertutup di Deir Al-Balah pada Isnin.

Antaranya ialah Umm Shadi, seorang wanita pelarian dari Kota Gaza, yang memberitahu The Associated Press (AP), tiada roti yang tinggal kerana kekurangan tepung – satu beg yang berharga sehingga 400 shekel ($107) di pasaran, katanya, jika ada boleh didapati.

“Siapakah yang boleh membeli sebungkus tepung dengan harga 400 shekel?” dia bertanya.

Nora Muhanna, seorang lagi wanita kehilangan tempat tinggal dari Kota Gaza, berkata dia pergi dengan tangan kosong selepas menunggu lima atau enam jam untuk satu beg roti untuk anak-anaknya.

“Dari awal, tidak ada barang, dan jika ada, tidak ada wang,” katanya.

Hampir semua kira-kira 2.3 juta penduduk Gaza kini bergantung kepada bantuan antarabangsa untuk kelangsungan hidup, dan doktor serta kumpulan bantuan mengatakan kekurangan zat makanan berleluasa.

Pakar keselamatan makanan berkata kebuluran mungkin sudah berlaku di utara Gaza yang dilanda teruk.

Kumpulan bantuan menuduh tentera Israel menghalang malah menyekat penghantaran di Gaza.

Sementara itu, berpuluh-puluh orang beratur di Deir Al-Balah untuk mendapatkan bahagian sup lentil dan sedikit roti di dapur amal sementara.

Refat Abed, seorang pelarian dari Kota Gaza, tidak lagi tahu bagaimana dia mampu membeli makanan.

“Di mana saya boleh mendapatkan wang?” dia bertanya.

“Adakah saya merayu? Jika bukan kerana Allah dan sedekah, saya dan anak-anak saya akan kelaparan.”

AN-AP

KFEIR — On a mountain slope in south Lebanon, agricultural worker Assaad Al-Taqi is busy picking olives, undeterred by the roar of Israeli warplanes overhead.

This year, he is collecting the harvest against the backdrop of the raging Israel-Hezbollah war.

He works in the village of Kfeir, just a few kilometers (miles) from where Israeli bombardment has devastated much of south Lebanon since Israel escalated its campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in September.

“But I’m not afraid of the shelling,” Taqi said, as he and other workers hit the tree branches with sticks, sending showers of olives tumbling down into jute bags.

“Our presence here is an act of defiance,” the 51-year-old said, but also noting that the olive “is the tree of peace.”

Kfeir is nine kilometers (six miles) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in the mixed Christian and Druze district of Hasbaya, which has largely been spared the violence that has wracked nearby Hezbollah strongholds.

But even Hasbaya’s relative tranquillity was shattered last month when three journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on a complex where they were sleeping.

Israel and Hezbollah had previously exchanged cross-border fire for almost a year over the Gaza conflict.

The workers in Kfeir rest in the shade of the olive trees, some 900 meters (3,000 feet) above sea level on the slopes of Mount Hermon, which overlooks an area where Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli-held territory meet.

They have been toiling in relative peace since dawn, interrupted only by sonic booms from Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier and the sight of smoke rising on the horizon from strikes on a south Lebanon border village.

Hassna Hammad, 48, who was among those picking olives, said the agricultural work was her livelihood.

“We aren’t afraid, we’re used to it,” she said of the war.

But “we are afraid for our brothers impacted by the conflict,” she added, referring to the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced by the fighting.

Elsewhere in south Lebanon, olive trees are bulging with fruit that nobody will pick, after villagers fled Israeli bombardment and the subsequent ground operation that began on September 30.

A World Bank report this month said that “the disruption of the olive harvest caused by bombing and displacement is expected to lead to $58 million in losses” in Lebanon.

It said 12 percent of olive groves in the conflict-affected areas it assessed had been destroyed.

Normally, the olive-picking season is highly anticipated in Lebanon, and some people return each year to their native villages and fields just for the harvest.

“Not everyone has the courage to come” this time, said Salim Kassab, who owns a traditional press where villagers bring their olives to extract the oil.

“Many people are absent… They sent workers to replace them,” said Kassab, 50.
“There is fear of the war of course,” he said, adding that he had come alone this year, without his wife and children.

Kassab said that before the conflict, he used to travel to the southern cities of Nabatiyeh and Sidon if he needed to fix his machines, but such trips are near impossible now because of the danger.

The World Bank report estimated that 12 months of agriculture sector losses have cost Lebanon $1.1 billion, in a country already going through a gruelling five-year economic crisis before the fighting erupted.

Areas near the southern border have sustained “the most significant damage and losses,” the report said.

It cited “the burning and abandonment of large areas of agricultural land” in both south and east Lebanon, “along with lost harvests due to the displacement of farmers.”

Elsewhere in Kfeir, Inaam Abu Rizk, 77, and her husband were busy washing olives they plan to either press for oil or jar to be served throughout the winter.

Abu Rizk has taken part in the olive harvest for decades, part of a tradition handed down the generations, and said that despite the war, this year was no different.

“Of course we’re afraid… there is the sound of planes and bombing,” she said.

But “we love the olive month — we are farmers and the land is our work.”

AN-AFP

JUBA — Hampir 60 peratus penduduk Sudan Selatan akan mengalami masalah ketakamanan makanan akut tahun depan, dengan lebih dua juta kanak-kanak berisiko kekurangan zat makanan, data daripada kajian disokong Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) memberi amaran pada Isnin.

Negara termuda di dunia itu adalah antara yang termiskin di dunia dan sedang bergelut dengan banjir terburuk dalam beberapa dekad serta kemasukan besar pelarian yang melarikan diri dari perang di Sudan ke utara.

Semakan Klasifikasi Fasa Keselamatan Makanan Bersepadu (IPC) terbaru menganggarkan 57 peratus penduduk akan mengalami masalah ketakselamatan makanan akut mulai April.

PBB mentakrifkan ketidakamanan makanan akut sebagai apabila “ketidakupayaan seseorang untuk mengambil makanan yang mencukupi meletakkan nyawa atau mata pencarian mereka dalam bahaya serta-merta.”

Hampir 7.7 juta orang akan dikelaskan sebagai akut tidak selamat makanan, menurut IPC, peningkatan daripada 7.1 juta orang pada musim kurus sebelumnya.

“Tahun demi tahun kita melihat kelaparan mencapai beberapa tahap tertinggi yang pernah kita lihat di Sudan Selatan,” kata Mary-Ellen McGroarty dari Program Makanan Sedunia (WFP) PBB di Sudan Selatan.

“Apabila kita melihat kawasan yang mempunyai tahap ketidakamanan makanan yang paling tinggi, jelas bahawa keputusasaan – konflik dan krisis iklim – adalah pemacu utama,” katanya.

Lebih daripada 85 peratus orang yang pulang melarikan diri dari perang di Sudan akan menjadi sangat tidak selamat makanan dari musim kurus berikutnya pada April.

Data itu juga mendapati bahawa 2.1 juta kanak-kanak berisiko kekurangan zat makanan, ditambah lagi dengan kekurangan air minuman dan sanitasi yang selamat.

“Masalah pemakanan adalah hasil akhir daripada beberapa siri krisis,” kata Hamida Lasseko, wakil UNICEF di Sudan Selatan, sambil menambah agensi itu “amat bimbang” bahawa jumlah itu akan meningkat jika bantuan tidak ditingkatkan.

Pada Oktober, Bank Dunia memberi amaran banjir yang meluas “memburukkan keadaan kemanusiaan yang sudah kritikal.”

Agensi kemanusiaan PBB, OCHA, berkata awal bulan ini bahawa 1.4 juta orang telah terjejas oleh banjir, yang telah menyebabkan hampir 380,000 orang kehilangan tempat tinggal.

Sejak mencapai kemerdekaan daripada Sudan pada 2011, negara termuda di dunia itu terus dibelenggu oleh ketidakstabilan kronik, keganasan dan genangan ekonomi serta bencana iklim seperti kemarau dan banjir.

Negara itu juga menghadapi satu lagi tempoh lumpuh politik selepas presidensi menangguhkan pilihan raya selama dua tahun hingga Disember 2026, menjengkelkan rakan antarabangsa.

Sudan Selatan mempunyai sumber minyak yang banyak tetapi sumber pendapatan penting telah musnah pada Februari apabila saluran paip eksport rosak di negara jiran, Sudan yang dilanda perang.

AN-AFP

ADRE, Chad — Crossing into Chad, the 27-year-old thought she’d left the horrors of Sudan’s war behind: the bodies she ran over while fleeing, the screams of girls being raped, the disappearance of her husband when gunmen attacked. But now she says she has faced more suffering — being forced as a refugee to have sex to get by.

She cradled her 7-week-old son, who she asserted was the child of an aid worker who promised her money in exchange for sex.

“The children were crying. We ran out of food,” she said of her four other children.
“He abused my situation.”
She and other women who spoke to The Associated Press requested anonymity because they feared retribution.

Some Sudanese women and girls assert that men, including those meant to protect them such as humanitarian workers and local security forces, have sexually exploited them in Chad’s displacement sites, offering money, easier access to assistance and jobs. Such sexual exploitation in Chad is a crime.

Hundreds of thousands of people, most of them women, have streamed into Chad to escape Sudan’s civil war, which has killed over 20,000 people. Aid groups struggle to support them in growing displacement sites.

Three women spoke with the AP in the town of Adre near the Sudanese border.

A Sudanese psychologist shared the accounts of seven other women and girls who either refused to speak directly with a reporter or were no longer in touch with her. The AP could not confirm their accounts.

Daral-Salam Omar, the psychologist, said all the seven told her they went along with the offers of benefits in exchange for sex out of necessity.

Some sought her help because they became pregnant and couldn’t seek an abortion at a clinic for fear of being shunned by their community, she said.

“They were psychologically destroyed. Imagine a woman getting pregnant without a husband amid this situation,” Omar said.

Sexual exploitation during large humanitarian crises is not uncommon, especially in displacement sites.

Aid groups have long struggled to combat the issue. They cite a lack of reporting by women, not enough funds to respond and a focus on first providing basic necessities.

The UN refugee agency said it doesn’t publish data on cases, citing the confidentiality and safety of victims.

People seeking protection should never have to make choices driven by survival, experts said.

Nidhi Kapur, who works on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse in emergency contexts, said exploitation represents a deep failure by the aid community.

Yewande Odia, the United Nations Population’s Fund representative in Chad, said sexual exploitation is a serious violation.

UN agencies said displacement camps have “safe spaces” where women can gather, along with awareness sessions, a free hotline and feedback boxes to report abuse anonymously.

Yet many of the Sudanese women said they weren’t aware of the hotline, and some said using the boxes would draw unwanted attention.

The Sudanese woman with the newborn said she was afraid to report the aid worker for fear he’d turn her in to police.

She said she approached the aid worker, a Sudanese man, after searching for jobs to buy basic necessities like soap. She asked him for money. He said he’d give her cash but only in exchange for sex.

They slept together for months, she said, and he paid the equivalent of about $12 each time. After she had the baby, he gave her a one-time payment of approximately $65 but denied it was his, she said.

The man was a Sudanese laborer for Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, she said.

Two other Sudanese women said Chadian men working at MSF sites— one wearing MSF clothing — solicited them after they applied for work with the organization.

The men took their phone numbers and repeatedly called, saying they’d give them jobs for sex. Both women said they refused.

Christopher Lockyear, MSF’s secretary general, said the organization was not aware of the allegations and wanted to investigate.
“Asking for money or sex in exchange for access to care or a job is a clear violation of our behavioral commitments,” he said.

MSF would not say how many such cases had been reported among Sudanese refugees in Chad. Last year, out of 714 complaints made about MSF staff behavior where it works globally, 264 were confirmed to be cases of abuse or inappropriate behavior including sexual exploitation, abuse of power and bullying, Lockyear said.

Lockyear said MSF is creating a pool of investigators at the global level to enhance its ability to pursue allegations.

One woman told the AP that a man with another aid group also exploited her, but she was unable to identify the organization.

Omar, the psychologist, said several of the women told her they were exploited by aid workers, local and international. She gave no evidence to back up the claims.

Another woman, one of the two who alleged they were approached after seeking work with MSF, said she also refused a local policeman who approached her and promised an extra food ration card if she went to his house.

Ali Mahamat Sebey, the head official for Adre, said police are not allowed inside the camps and asserted that allegations against them of exploitation were false. With the growing influx of people, however, it’s hard to protect everyone, he said.

The women said they just want to feel safe, adding that access to jobs would lessen their vulnerability.

After most of her family was killed or abducted in Sudan’s Darfur region last year, one 19-year-old sought refuge in Chad. She didn’t have enough money to support the nieces and nephews in her care. She got a job at a restaurant in the camp but when she asked her Sudanese boss for a raise, he agreed on the condition of sex.

The money he paid was more than six times her salary. But when she got pregnant with his child, the man fled, she asserted. She rubbed her growing belly.

“If we had enough, we wouldn’t have to go out and lose our dignity,” she said.

AN-AP

HONG KONG — In a series of war games in the seas and skies around Taiwan last month, China deployed some of its newest strike aircraft, warships and missile forces.
However, one of the most menacing weapons used in the drills: an updated version of a bomber that first flew in the early years of the Cold War.

Like America, which still relies on upgraded versions of the B-52, a bomber from the same era, China has successfully modernized its jet-powered H-6 to carry on flying deep into the 21st Century.

These bombers were shown on China’s state-controlled media taking off for missions designed to intimidate Taiwan as part of the war-game drills. Dubbed Joint-Sword 2024B by China’s military, the maneuvers were a “stern warning” to people on Taiwan seeking independence, the Chinese military said.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported that 153 Chinese military aircraft, 14 naval vessels and 12 other ships were detected around the island over a 25-hour period after the start of the exercise on Oct. 14.

The ministry also reported that 111 of the aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

Taiwan’s defense ministry told Reuters that “three groups of three H-6 aircraft” had been detected operating in the island’s air space during China’s military exercise.

Two of the groups “conducted simulated attack drills,” the ministry said.

China’s defense ministry didn’t respond to questions for this story.

Some modernized versions of China’s H-6 bomber are now capable of launching ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads while others can carry multiple long-range anti-ship and land attack missiles, according to defense analysts and Pentagon reports on the Chinese military.

Some versions can be refueled in flight, allowing them to fly from bases on the Chinese mainland and strike at targets deep into the Western Pacific, where the U.S. has large bases on Guam and elsewhere.

Asked about the military drills, Taiwan’s defense ministry said the island was using “joint intelligence surveillance to keep track of the communist military’s movements around Taiwan,” while also dispatching “air, sea and missile forces to respond as appropriate to ensure national defense and security.”

Major Pete Nguyen, a Pentagon spokesperson, said the U.S. was “prepared to respond to any threat and protect the homeland.” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “has often said that he does not believe conflict with the PRC is imminent nor inevitable,” Nguyen said in response to questions.

Beijing says that Taiwan is part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control. The leaders of democratically governed Taiwan reject these sovereignty claims.

China’s military capabilities are in the spotlight as tensions with the U.S. remain high with Donald Trump returning to office.

In a display of its growing military prowess, China put its J-35A stealth fighter on display at the Zhuhai air show this week.

SERIOUS THREAT

Unlike America, which stopped building the B-52 in 1962, China has continued to make the twin-engine H-6 at a plant in central China.
However, H-6 production may have recently slowed or been halted, according to Thomas Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submarine officer and an expert on China’s military. He estimates the Chinese air force now has about 230 of these bombers.

The H-6 is derived from the Tupolev Tu-16 bomber, which the Soviet Union introduced into service in the early 1950s and was given the NATO code name Badger.

China began building these aircraft under license in the late 1950s, according to experts on the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military.

The Taiwanese and Japanese militaries have reported that H-6 bombers have been frequently deployed on flights near their airspace in recent years.

They are also sent on flights over the South China Sea where Beijing claims sovereignty over extensive areas of disputed territory.

In a conflict, these bombers would pose a serious threat to ships and targets on land, according to U.S. and Taiwanese military experts.

Shugart said that Chinese military doctrine for island landing campaigns, such as an invasion of Taiwan, calls for strikes against headquarters, communications facilities, logistics centers and other key targets, along with attacks on airfields, ports and ships at sea. “I would expect H-6s to be involved in all of these sorts of operations,” he said.

These attacks would likely be coordinated with missile strikes, possibly without warning, that would soften air defenses and crater runways to trap aircraft on the ground, Shugart added.
He said these aircraft could then be hit with cruise missiles launched from H-6 bombers.

China’s official media in mid-September provided some insight into the role the H-6 might play in a clash off the Chinese coast.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of one of these bombers flying in an exercise with fighters and a long-range WZ-7 surveillance drone. The drone penetrated the air defenses of a potential adversary, identified a target and relayed this information to the H-6, according to the footage. The bomber was shown launching an anti-ship missile.

Beijing says that Taiwan is part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control. The leaders of democratically governed Taiwan reject these sovereignty claims.

China’s military capabilities are in the spotlight as tensions with the U.S. remain high with Donald Trump returning to office.

In a display of its growing military prowess, China put its J-35A stealth fighter on display at the Zhuhai air show this week.

SERIOUS THREAT

Unlike America, which stopped building the B-52 in 1962, China has continued to make the twin-engine H-6 at a plant in central China.
However, H-6 production may have recently slowed or been halted, according to Thomas Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submarine officer and an expert on China’s military. He estimates the Chinese air force now has about 230 of these bombers.

The H-6 is derived from the Tupolev Tu-16 bomber, which the Soviet Union introduced into service in the early 1950s and was given the NATO code name Badger.

China began building these aircraft under license in the late 1950s, according to experts on the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military.

The Taiwanese and Japanese militaries have reported that H-6 bombers have been frequently deployed on flights near their airspace in recent years.

They are also sent on flights over the South China Sea where Beijing claims sovereignty over extensive areas of disputed territory.

In a conflict, these bombers would pose a serious threat to ships and targets on land, according to U.S. and Taiwanese military experts.

Shugart said that Chinese military doctrine for island landing campaigns, such as an invasion of Taiwan, calls for strikes against headquarters, communications facilities, logistics centers and other key targets, along with attacks on airfields, ports and ships at sea. “I would expect H-6s to be involved in all of these sorts of operations,” he said.

These attacks would likely be coordinated with missile strikes, possibly without warning, that would soften air defenses and crater runways to trap aircraft on the ground, Shugart added.

He said these aircraft could then be hit with cruise missiles launched from H-6 bombers.

China’s official media in mid-September provided some insight into the role the H-6 might play in a clash off the Chinese coast.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of one of these bombers flying in an exercise with fighters and a long-range WZ-7 surveillance drone.

The drone penetrated the air defenses of a potential adversary, identified a target and relayed this information to the H-6, according to the footage.

The bomber was shown launching an anti-ship missile.

REUTERS

GAZA — Itimad al-Qanou, a Palestinian mother struggling to feed her seven children, feels abandoned by everyone.

She sometimes feels that death is the best way to end her family’s suffering after a year of war that has turned Gaza into a bombed-out wasteland gripped by hunger.

“Let them drop a nuclear bomb and end it. We don’t want this life we’re living; we are dying slowly. Have mercy on us. Look at these children,” said the mother of three boys and four girls aged between eight and 18.

Children in their town of Deir al-Balah crowd at a charity site with empty pots, desperate for nourishment.
Aid workers distribute lentil soup from a pot. But it is never enough to stave off hunger and ease widespread panic.

Qanou says her family faces the Israeli airstrikes that have killed tens of thousands of people and flattened much of Gaza on the one side, and hunger on the other.

“No one is looking at us, no one cares about us. I ask the Arab countries to stand with us, at least to open the borders so food and supplies can reach our children,” she said.

“They are all liars; they are lying to the people. The United States is standing with Israel against us, they are all united against us.”

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed through the Erez crossing into northern Gaza on Monday.

The United States will decide this week on whether Israel has made progress toward improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and how Washington will respond.

FAMINE IMMINENT

Global food security experts said there is a “strong likelihood” that famine is imminent in parts of northern Gaza as Israel pursues a military offensive against Hamas militants there.

In response to the famine warning, the head of the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that deals with Palestinian civilian affairs, on Sunday published a list of Israel’s humanitarian efforts over the past six months. It detailed plans for supporting Gaza residents as winter approaches.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon last month told the United Nations Security Council more than one million tons of aid had been delivered during the past year and he accused Hamas of hijacking the assistance. Hamas denies such allegations.

Aside from the hunger, Gazans say they have no place to go that is safe after repeated evacuations left them living in tent encampments until they need to move again to escape more strikes.

Some say their plight is even worse than the 1948 “Nakba” or Catastrophe when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were dispossessed of their homes in the war at the birth of the state of Israel.

“Conditions were better than what we face now. Now, we have no security, and no place,” said displaced Gazan Mohamed Abou Qaraa.

REUTERS

LONDON — At least 64 attacks targeting schools were reported in the Gaza Strip last month, averaging nearly two incidents per day, according to data from UNICEF and its partners released on Saturday.

The strikes in October led to an estimated 128 deaths, many of whom were children, the report added.

These schools, which often double as shelters for displaced families and children fleeing violence, have seen 226 attacks since the conflict began on Oct. 7 last year. Over one million children have been displaced in the past 14 months, facing unimaginable hardship and trauma, UNICEF said.

Schools should never be on the frontlines of war, and children should never be indiscriminately attacked while seeking shelter,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

“The horrors we are seeing in Gaza are setting a dark precedent for humanity, one where children are hit with bombs at record numbers while looking for safety inside classrooms. Trauma and loss have become their daily norm.”

Nearly half of the attacks in October – 25 in total – were concentrated in northern Gaza, an area experiencing relentless bombardment, widespread displacement, and limited humanitarian aid.

Many of these schools also serve as critical malnutrition treatment points, providing essential services to those in need.

International Humanitarian Law designates schools as protected spaces. However, since the renewed hostilities in October 2023, more than 95 percent of Gaza’s schools have been partially or completely destroyed. UNICEF reports that 87 percent will need extensive reconstruction before they can be used again.

The plight of children in Gaza underscores the urgent need for adherence to international laws protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, particularly in conflict zones where the most vulnerable bear the brunt of violence and devastation, UNICEF added.

AN, Nov 9, 2024

JERUSALEM — With virtually no food allowed into the northernmost part of Gaza for the past month, tens of thousands of Palestinians under Israeli siege are rationing their last lentils and flour to survive.

As bombardment pounds around them, some say they risk their lives by venturing out in search of cans of food in the rubble of destroyed homes.

Thousands have staggered out of the area, hungry and thin, into Gaza City, where they find the situation a little better.

One hospital reports seeing thousands of children suffering from malnutrition.

A nutritionist said she treated a pregnant woman wasting away at just 40 kilograms (88 pounds).

“We are being starved to force us to leave our homes,” said Mohammed Arqouq, whose family of eight is determined to stay in the north, weathering Israel’s siege. “We will die here in our homes.”

Medical workers warn that hunger is spiraling to dire proportions under a monthlong siege on northern Gaza by the Israeli military, which has been waging a fierce campaign since the beginning of October.

The military has severed the area with checkpoints, ordering residents to leave.

Many Palestinians fear Israel aims to depopulate the north long term.

On Friday, experts from a panel that monitors food security said famine is imminent in the north or may already be happening.

The growing desperation comes as the deadline approaches next week for a 30-day request the administration of President Joe Biden gave Israel: raise the level of humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on US military funding.

The US says Israel must allow a minimum of 350 trucks a day carrying food and other supplies. Israel has fallen far short.

In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, according to figures from Israel’s military agency overseeing aid entry, known as COGAT. In the first week of November, the average was 81 a day.

The UN puts the number even lower — 37 trucks daily since the beginning of October.

It says Israeli military operations and general lawlessness often prevent it from collecting supplies, leaving hundreds of truckloads stranded at the border.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel had made some progress by announcing the opening of a new crossing into central Gaza and approving new delivery routes.

But he said Israel must do more.

“It’s not just sufficient to open new roads if more humanitarian assistance isn’t going through those roads,” he said.

Israeli forces have been hammering the towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabaliya refugee camp.

Witnesses report intense fighting between troops and militants.

A trickle of food has reached Gaza City.

However, as of Thursday, nothing entered the towns farther north for 30 days, even as an estimated 70,000 people remain there, said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, speaking from Gaza City.

The government acknowledged in late October that it hadn’t allowed aid into Jabaliya because of military “operational constraints” in response to a petition by Israeli human rights groups.

On Saturday, COGAT said it allowed 11 trucks of food and supplies into Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya. But Alia Zaki, a spokeswoman for the WFP, said Israeli troops at a checkpoint forced the convoy to unload the food before it could reach shelters in Beit Hanoun.

It was not clear what then happened to the supplies.

Palestinians in the north described a desperate daily struggle to find food, water, and safety as strike-level buildings, sometimes killing whole families.

Arqouq said he goes out at night to search bombed-out buildings: “Sometimes you find a half-empty package of flour, canned food, and lentils.”

He said his family relies on help from others sheltering at a Jabaliya school, but their food is also running low.

“We are like dogs and cats searching for their food in the rubble,” said Um Saber, a widow.

She said she and her six children had to flee a school-turned-shelter in Beit Lahiya when Israel struck it.

Now they live in her father-in-law’s home, stretching meager supplies of lentils and pasta with 40 others, mostly women and children.

Ahmed Abu Awda, a 28-year-old father of three living with 25 relatives in a Jabaliya house, said they have a daily meal of lentils with bread, rationing to ensure children eat.

“Sometimes we don’t eat at all,” he said.

Lubna, a 38-year-old mother of five, left food behind when fleeing as strikes and drone fire pummeled the street in Jabaliya.
“We got out by a miracle,” she said from Beit Lahiya, where they’re staying.

Her husband scavenged flour from destroyed homes after Israeli forces withdrew around nearby Kamal Adwan hospital, she said. It’s moldy, she said, so they sift it first.
Her young daughter, Selina, is visibly gaunt and bony, Lubna said.

The offensive has raised fears among Palestinians that Israel seeks to empty northern Gaza and hold it long-term under a surrender-or-starve plan proposed by former generals.

Witnesses report Israeli troops going building to building, forcing people to leave toward Gaza City.

On Thursday, the Israeli military ordered new evacuations from several Gaza City neighborhoods, raising the possibility of a ground assault there.

The UN said some 14,000 displaced Palestinians were sheltering there.

Food and supplies are also stretched for the several hundred thousand people in Gaza City.

Much of the city has been flattened by months of Israeli bombardment and shelling.

Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutrition specialist at Gaza City’s Patient Friend Benevolent Hospital, said she sees 350 cases of moderate to severe acute malnutrition daily, most from the north and also from Gaza City.

“The bone of their chest is showing, the eyes are protruding,” she said, and many have trouble concentrating.

“You repeat something several times so they can understand what we are saying.”

She cited a 32-year-old woman shedding weight in her third month of pregnancy — when they put her on the scale, she weighed only 40 kg.

“We are suffering, facing the ghost of famine hovering over Gaza,” Soboh said.

Even before the siege in the north, the Patient Friend hospital saw a flood of children suffering from malnutrition — more than 4,780 in September compared with 1,100 in July, said Dr. Ahmad Eskiek, who oversees hospital operations.

Soboh said staff get calls from Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya pleading for help: “What can we do? We have nothing.”

She had worked at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north but fled with her family to Gaza City. Now, they stay with 22 people in her uncle’s two-bedroom apartment.

On Thursday, she had had a morsel of bread for breakfast and later a meal of yellow lentils.

As winter rains near, new arrivals set up tents wherever they can.

Some 1,500 people are in a UN school already heavily damaged in strikes that “could collapse at any moment,” UNRWA spokesperson Wateridge said.

With toilets destroyed, people try to set aside a classroom corner to use, leaving waste “streaming down the walls of the school,” she said.

She said that others in Gaza City move into the rubble of buildings, draping tarps between layers of collapsed concrete.

“It’s like the carcass of a city,” she said.

AN-AP, Nov 9, 2024

GENEVA — The UN condemned on Friday the staggering number of civilians killed in Israel’s war in Gaza, with women and children comprising nearly 70 percent of the thousands of fatalities it had managed to verify.

In a fresh report, the United Nations human rights office detailed the “horrific reality” that has unfolded for civilians in both Gaza and Israel since Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.

It detailed a vast array of violations of international law, warning that many could amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even “genocide.”

“The report shows how civilians in Gaza have borne the brunt of the attacks, including through the initial ‘complete siege’ of Gaza by Israeli forces,” the UN said.

It also pointed to “the Israeli government’s continuing unlawful failures to allow, facilitate and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and repeated mass displacement.”

“This conduct by Israeli forces has caused unprecedented levels of killings, death, injury, starvation, illness and disease,” it continued.

“Palestinian armed groups have also conducted hostilities in ways that have likely contributed to harm to civilians.”

The report took on the contentious issue of the proportion of civilians figuring among the now nearly 43,500 people killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian territory.

Due to a lack of access, UN agencies have since the beginning of the Gaza war relied on death tolls provided by the authorities in Hamas-run Gaza.

This has sparked accusations from Israel of “parroting… Hamas’s propaganda messages” but the UN has repeatedly said the figures are reliable.

Youngest victim aged one day

The rights office said it had now managed to verify 8,119 of the more than 34,500 people reportedly killed during the first six months of the war in Gaza, finding “close to 70 percent to be children and women.”

This, it said, indicated “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality.”

Of the verified fatalities, 3,588 of them were children and 2,036 were women, the report said.

“We do believe this is representative of the breakdown of total fatalities — similar proportion to what Gaza authorities have,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told AFP.

“Our monitoring indicates that this unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

“Tragically, these documented patterns of violations continue unabated, over one year after the start of the war.”

His office found that about 80 percent of all the verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing, and that close to 90 percent had died in incidents that killed five or more people.

The main victims of Israeli strikes on residential buildings, it said, were children between the ages of five and nine, with the youngest victim a one-day-old boy and the oldest a 97-year-old woman.

The report said that the large proportion of verified deaths in residential buildings could be partially explained by the rights office’s “verification methodology, which requires at least three independent sources.”

It also pointed to continuing “challenges in collecting and verifying information of killings in other circumstances.”

Gaza authorities have long said that women and children made up a significant majority of those killed in the war, but with lacking access for full UN verification, the issue has remained highly contentious.

Israel has insisted that its operations in Gaza are targeting militants.

But Friday’s report stressed that the verified deaths largely mirrored the demographic makeup of the population at large in Gaza, rather than the known demographic of combatants.

This, it said, clearly “raises concerns regarding compliance with the principle of distinction and reflect an apparent failure to take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.”

AN-AFP