logo
Spain to evacuate 13 ill children from Gaza for treatment

Spain to evacuate 13 ill children from Gaza for treatment

Al Arabiya3 days ago
A Spanish military plane will fly 13 ailing children from war-torn Gaza and their families from Jordan to Spain for hospital treatment, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Wednesday.
An A400 military transport aircraft is being fitted with medical equipment and is scheduled to depart later Wednesday for Amman to bring them to Spain 'so they can be treated,' she said.
Spain has repeatedly taken in sick children since the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza sparked by Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel.
The country's leftist government has been among the most vocal critics in the European Union of Israel's ongoing military campaign in the densely populated, narrow coastal strip.
'The situation in Gaza is absolutely terrible. The level of cruelty shown by (Benjamin) Netanyahu is absolutely unacceptable, and I believe the international community must respond,' Robles said, referring to Israel's prime minister.
Earlier this week, the Spanish government said it would airdrop 12 tons of food into Gaza as the threat of famine stalks the Palestinian territory after 21 months of war.
A similar airdrop of 26 tons took place in March 2024.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas into Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
In response, Israel launched an offensive that has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the territory's health ministry.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Italy to begin Gaza air drops: foreign minister
Italy to begin Gaza air drops: foreign minister

Al Arabiya

time2 hours ago

  • Al Arabiya

Italy to begin Gaza air drops: foreign minister

Italy said Friday it would begin air drops over Gaza, which UN-backed experts say is slipping into famine — the latest European country to do so. 'I have given the green light to a mission involving Army and Air Force assets for the transport and airdrop of basic necessities to civilians in Gaza, who have been severely affected by the ongoing conflict,' Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a statement. Italy's air force will work with Jordan's military to air drop special containers containing essential goods, he said. The first drops could come on August 9, he added. Spain on Friday said it had air-dropped 12 tonnes of food into Gaza, joining Britain and France, which have partnered with Middle Eastern nations to deliver sorely needed humanitarian supplies by air to the Palestinian enclave.

Israel intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen
Israel intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen

Al Arabiya

time2 hours ago

  • Al Arabiya

Israel intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Friday, which the Iran-backed Houthi militia said it had launched. 'Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted,' the Israeli military said. The Houthi militia targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport 'using a 'Palestine 2' hypersonic ballistic missile,' their military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement. The Yemeni group has launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Israel since their Palestinian ally Hamas's October 2023 attack triggered the Gaza war. The Houthis, who say they are acting in support of the Palestinians, paused their attacks during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza that ended in March, but resumed them after Israel relaunched major operations. Israel has carried out several retaliatory strikes in Yemen, targeting Houthi-held ports and the airport in the rebel-controlled capital, Sanaa.

EU court rules against Italy on Albania migrant camps scheme
EU court rules against Italy on Albania migrant camps scheme

Arab News

time7 hours ago

  • Arab News

EU court rules against Italy on Albania migrant camps scheme

ROME/BRUSSELS: Europe's top court on Friday questioned the legitimacy of Italy's 'safe countries' list, which is used to send migrants to Albania and fast-track their asylum claims, in a fresh blow to a key plank of the government's migration policy. Conservative Giorgia Meloni's office, in a statement, called the court ruling 'surprising' and said it 'weakens policies to combat mass illegal immigration and defend national borders.' Dario Belluccio, a lawyer who represented one of the Bangladeshi asylum-seekers in the specific case brought before the European Court of Justice, said the Albanian migrant camps scheme had effectively been killed off. The detention facilities Italy set up in Albania have been empty for months, due to judicial obstacles. 'It will not be possible to continue with what the Italian government had envisioned before this decision ... Technically, it seems to me that the government's approach has been completely dismantled,' he told Reuters. Meloni had presented the offshoring of asylum-seekers to camps built in Albania as a cornerstone of her tough approach to immigration, and other European countries had looked to the idea as a possible model. However, the scheme stumbled on legal opposition almost as soon as it was launched last year, with Italian courts ordering the return to Italy of migrants picked up at sea and taken to Albania, citing issues with EU law. In a long-awaited judgment, the Luxembourg-based ECJ ruled that Italy is authorized to fast-track asylum rejections for nationals from countries on a 'safe' list — a principle at the heart of the Albania scheme. It also stated that Italy is free to decide which countries are 'safe,' but warned that such a designation should meet strict legal standards and allow applicants and courts to access and challenge the supporting evidence. In its statement, the ECJ said a Rome court had turned to EU judges, citing the impossibility of accessing such information and thus preventing it from 'challenging and reviewing the lawfulness of such a presumption of safety.' The ECJ also stated that a country may not be classified as 'safe' if it fails to provide adequate protection to its entire population, effectively agreeing with Italian judges who had raised this issue last year. Meloni's office complained that the EU judgment effectively allows national judges to dictate policy on migration, 'further reducing the already limited' capacity of parliament and government to take decisions on the matter. 'This is a development that should concern everybody,' it said. The case raised before the ECJ involved two Bangladeshi nationals who were rescued at sea by Italian authorities and taken to Albania, where their asylum claims were rejected based on Italy's classification of Bangladesh as a 'safe' country. The detention facilities Italy set up in Albania have been empty for months, due to judicial obstacles. Last week, a report found that their construction cost was seven times more than that of an equivalent center in Italy. Though the Albanian scheme is stuck in legal limbo, Italy's overall effort to curb undocumented migration by sea has been more successful. There have been 36,557 such migrant arrivals to date, slightly up from the same period in 2024, but far below the 89,165 recorded over the same time span in 2023.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store