Latest news with #Saudi-Israeli
Express Tribune
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
At least 95 killed in Gaza as Israel escalates Rafah demolitions
An explosion in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border on July 13, 2025. — Reuters Listen to article At least 95 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past 24 hours, as attacks intensified across the Gaza Strip and demolitions surged in Rafah, where Israel is advancing a plan to forcibly relocate hundreds of thousands of residents. According to an investigation by Al Jazeera's Sanad unit, demolition operations in southern Gaza's Rafah Governorate have sharply escalated in recent months as part of the controversial relocation effort. Satellite imagery reviewed by Sanad and data from the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) show the number of destroyed buildings in Rafah rose from 15,800 on April 4 to 28,600 by July 4 — a surge of 12,800 demolitions in three months. The demolition spike aligns with Israel's expanded military push into Rafah, launched in late March, and a defence ministry plan to transfer 600,000 residents into areas critics have likened to 'concentration camps,' with possible expansion to the entire population of Gaza. A view shows beams of light in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border on July 13, 2025. — Reuters Read: New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy Ceasefire talks US President Donald Trump said that discussions are ongoing over the conflict in Gaza and expressed hope for progress in the coming week, despite stalled ceasefire talks in Doha. A view shows beams of light in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border on July 13, 2025. — Reuters 'Gaza — we are talking and hopefully we're going to get that straightened out over the next week,' Trump told reporters, reiterating comments he made on July 4. Gaza — we are talking and hopefully we're going to get that straightened out over the next week US President I Meanwhile, The New York Times on Sunday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dismissal of its report claiming he extended the Gaza war to retain political power, stating his office 'does not refute the facts'. Read more: At least 60 Palestinians killed, 180 wounded in Israeli strikes today Smoke rises following an explosion in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border on July 13, 2025. — Reuters The investigation, published Friday, drew on over 110 interviews and internal documents, alleging Netanyahu delayed a ceasefire and blocked a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal to appease far-right allies and maintain his coalition. In a statement, Netanyahu's office called the report a 'rehash of long discredited claims'. In response, a Times spokesperson defended the reporting, saying it 'shows in detail how prolonging the Gaza war helped Mr Netanyahu to stay in power'.
Al-Ahram Weekly
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Arab states wary of Israel - World - Al-Ahram Weekly
Israel's war on Iran has underscored the Arab view of Israel as an aggressive source of instability in the region Twenty months of intense Israeli militarism in the region surging recently to take in Iran have left the Arab states wary of the strategic dangers and chaos that come with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 'remaking of the Middle East' and what it could mean for them. It is no secret that after Israel's decapitation of Hizbullah's leadership in Lebanon last October, the consensus within both official and intellectual Arab political circles was that Iran would be next. When Israel attacked Iran eight months later in the middle of diplomatic exchanges between Tehran and Washington, the Arab states were left to grapple with the entangled political and strategic reverberations of strikes that could have important effects on their national interests. On one level, the Arab states condemned in the 'strongest terms' the 'blatant' aggression against 'brotherly' Iran, in the words of Saudi Arabia and the UAE's respective statements on 13 June. Egypt's similarly alarmed condemnation slammed Israel's attack as 'unjustified' and warned of 'unprecedented repercussions' on the security and stability of the Middle East. Privately, hushed conversations within Arab intellectual circles saw elevated levels of anxiety, canvassing the region for Israel's 'next' target. This time it was not a single country, unlocking a level of paranoia rooted in the violent events of the past 20 months. Who's-next lists included Lebanon, Turkey, Algeria, and even Egypt, mostly in that order. Contrary to the strongly worded official statements of frustration with Israel's unprovoked aggression against Iran, a Western narrative proclaiming private Arab state support for both the attack on Tehran and regime change prevailed in the mainstream US media and in statements by US officials. In the same vein US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told the Israeli newspaper the Jerusalem Post this week that the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites have 'dramatically' improved the chances of a Saudi-Israeli normalisation deal. While normalisation and its benefits were never off the table for Riyadh despite the continued war on Gaza, Israel's expansionist policy and unchecked regional militarism echoing Netanyahu's ambitions for a leadership role in the Middle East are now posing new challenges to its Arab neighbours. For the Gulf and other Arab states whose normalization policies with Israel served their political interests and enhanced relations with Washington, the prospect of Israeli regional hegemony is cause for new found concern. 'Israel has been betting on very risky moves in the past year and a half concerning its typical adversaries, mostly non state actors, which paid off so they thought they could continue the job with Iran,' Badr Al-Saif a history professor at Kuwait University and non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. Netanyahu's project to establish an Israeli led regional order 'is something that we do not want or project in the Gulf region,' he said in an interview. Iran has been a difficult neighbour, Al-Saif argued, but it is not in the Gulf's national interest to see Israeli or US instigated regime change next door. 'This is destabilizing for to us. We have issues with both Israel and Iran but it we're going to rank them, Israel is a much worse adversary.' In the Saudi owned newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Abdelmoneim Said, a member of the Egyptian senate and informed political analyst, published an article titled 'No Israeli leadership in the Middle East.' Said argued that despite Israel's military perceived victories on several fronts since October 2023, it is in no position to impose regional hegemony. And yet, he told Al-Ahram Weekly, Israel's regional militarism 'worries' Arab states. While Arab-Iranian relations were shaped by a defensive policy approach in the past, the decades-old rivalry thawed in 2023 after Tehran and Riyadh restored diplomatic ties. The UAE followed months later, while Egypt slowly progressed in its détente with Iran, which peaked earlier this month with an official visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to Cairo where he met Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. The visit marked a significant departure from Cairo's strained relations with Tehran after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 severed ties with Egypt because of its Peace Treaty with Israel. According to official press releases on both sides, Araghchi's visit to Cairo addressed ways of developing bilateral ties as well as regional issues including Israel's genocide in Gaza. Observers say that the Egyptian-Iranian entente is driven by national security concerns born out of the shifting regional dynamics since October 2023. In addition to breaking Iran's proxy Hizbullah in Lebanon and decapitating Hamas's entire leadership in Gaza, Israel's militarism expanded to Syria after the fall of Hafez Al-Assad regime, Iran's ally, in December 2024. 'Israel practically occupies one third of Syria now' as a security buffer zone, said Gameel Matar, a prominent political analyst and former Egyptian diplomat. In south Lebanon, Israeli forces continue to occupy dozens of villages and border areas since November 2024, despite a ceasefire agreement with Hizbullah. For centuries, Syria has been of strategic importance for Egypt's national security beyond its northeastern border. Israel's occupation of swaths of Syrian territories since Assad's fall, as well as its destruction of Syrian defence capabilities and navy has been a major concern for Egypt, he added. 'A weak Syria impacts Egypt strategically,' Matar said in an interview. While Arab states mended ties with Iran, US and Israeli aspirations for a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel since the 2020 Abraham Accords stalled. The UAE and Bahrain signed the Accords and were later joined by Sudan and Morocco during US President Donald Trump's first term in office, ushering in, in his words, the 'dawn of a new Middle East.' While offering nothing to Saudi Arabia in terms of progress on the Palestinian question and the two-state solution diplomatic track in exchange for normalisation, Israel and the former US Biden Administration failed to fulfill with the deal. As Israel's war on Gaza since October 2023 has expanded to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and most recently Iran, Netanyahu repeatedly proclaimed he was changing the Middle East. His decades old advocacy to attack Iran which was deterred by previous US administrations only to be fulfilled by Trump, has left Arab allies, including Gulf states increasingly wary of unleashed Israeli militarism in the region. To think that Gulf states are going to 'upend many years of hard work and rapprochement with Iran to allow an untested, unclear, American intervention is certainly not supported, publicly and privately,' Al-Saif of Kuwait University, said. Nor did Gulf states privately support the war on Iran, he continued. Such discourse may have been legible many years ago, but it is certainly not in the calculus of the Arabs and their foreign policies right now. Prospects of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran announced by Trump on Tuesday have had little impact on the reverberations of the aggression. Observers say that with little indication that the war was targeting Iran's nuclear programme, Israel's real motives could range from regime change in the Islamic Republic to Netanyahu's efforts to avert domestic challenges at home by starting wars and prolonging the genocide in Gaza. The 'who's next' state of mind in Arab intellectual circles thus captures Israel's emergence as a major destabilising force in the region, unlike anything that Iran has instigated since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, observers say. Alaa al-Hadidi, a former Egyptian Ambassador to Turkey and Russia, is aware of the intensity of Israel's militarism that sparked the 'who's next' debate. 'I consider it to be chatter,' he said. 'But the fact that the Arab intelligentsia is having conversations about it, that it's a given, even for a moment, is the real problem,' he Al-Ahram Weekly. As long as Netanyahu seeks apparently endless wars to keep his far-right Government Coalition in office, Israel's aggression could last for a long time, he said. 'No one expected the war that started in October 2023 to last for 20 months, but it has. His next target doesn't have to be a state. It could be Iraq's Shiite Hashd al-Sha'abi [Popular Mobilisation Forces] or the Houthis in Yemen. There is a long list,' he added. But even with American support, the nature of a new Middle East under Israeli dominance has proved to be far more complex, al-Hadidi said. A weak Iran does not necessarily tip the regional balance of power in Israel's favour. 'The instability that a massively weakened Iran could cause in the region would effectively avert Israeli dominance,' he said. In Egypt, which has the largest population in the Arab world at 109 million, popular support for Iran's retaliation to Israel's aggression in scenes that many have hailed as unprecedented in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict was felt in the sympathetic tone that both state-run and independent media outlets and social media have used to describe Iran. 'Egyptians are in awe of Iran's retaliation,' said Matar. 'This cannot be underestimated.' Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Gulf Insider
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Trump Pressed Netanyahu To 'Permanently End Gaza War'
Israeli media has revealed that in a Monday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump told the Israeli leader that he must permanently end the war in Gaza. Trump is said to have conveyed that the conflict should end 'the sooner the better'; however, there's been no indication that Trump is willing to use the major leverage he has of cutting off US military aid to enforce this. The Israeli military is heavily reliant on American weapons for the war's execution, as well as maintaining readiness against other regional threats like the Houthis out of Yemen or Hezbollah in Lebanon. The phone call reportedly involved Trump conveying that bringing an end to Gaza operations would help him in nuclear negotiations with Iran, as well as achieving Saudi-Israeli normalization based on the Abraham Accords. These negotiations have been growing tougher, specifically over the question of if the Iranians can maintain any uranium enrichment at all. In reference to reporting in Israel's Kan public broadcaster and Channel 12 , 'Trump also ruled out an attack on Iran as the White House seeks to rein in Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, according to the reports.' While admitting this week that the Iranians have become 'much more aggressive' in negotiations which have taken place in Oman and Rome, Trump's latest statements have been a little less directly threatening in terms of the 'bomb Tehran' 'option'. For example, here's how Trump responded to a NY Post question on the subject: 'Well, if they don't make a deal, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon,' Trump answered. 'If they do make a deal, they're not going have a nuclear weapon, too, you know? But they're not going a have a new nuclear weapon, so it's not going to matter from that standpoint. 'But it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying, it's so much nicer to do it. But I don't think I see the same level of enthusiasm for them to make a deal. I think they would make a mistake, but we'll see. I guess time will tell.' Given the phone call with Netanyahu, it seems the president increasingly sees a Gaza truce deal as crucial to achieving broader stabilization in terms of US interests in the region. There's also this interesting information via The Times of Israel: Trump reportedly told Netanyahu that the so-called 'Witkoff framework,' which would pause the war for some 60 days in exchange for about half of the hostages held by Hamas, will not suffice. Meanwhile in Gaza the high death toll continues, amid a controversial plan for a US aid group to oversee humanitarian relieve. Al Jazeera is reporting Wednesday that at least 61 Palestinians, including 39 aid seekers, have been killed by Israeli forces across parts of the Gaza Strip since dawn. Most Israeli captives still in Hamas' hands are feared dead, but there's widespread acknowledgement that possibly a dozen or more are still alive. Victims' family members in Israel have been pressing the government to achieve another prisoner swap. Also read: Trump Frustrated As Iran 'Much More Aggressive' In Nuclear Negotiations
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Saudi foreign minister to make rare visit to West Bank, Palestinians say, as anger over Gaza grows
Saudi Arabia will send its top diplomat to the West Bank this weekend, Palestinian officials said, in what would be the highest-level Saudi visit to the area since it was occupied by Israel in 1967. Hussein Al-Sheikh, vice president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), told CNN that an Arab ministerial delegation led by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan will arrive in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The visit would come as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman pushes for international recognition of Palestinian statehood as the war in Gaza drags on and as prospects of Saudi-Israeli normalization grow more distant. Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mazen Ghoneim told Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya that the Saudi foreign minister would be joined by the top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan and 'other countries.' 'The ministerial visit… is considered a clear message. The Palestinian cause is a central issue to Arabs and Muslims,' Ghoneim said. An Israeli source familiar with the matter told CNN that Israeli authorities were notified of the visit. CNN has reached out to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Qatar for comment. Shaul Arieli, the head of T-Politography, a think tank which studies the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said it would be the first such high-level delegation to visit the occupied West Bank since Israel seized the territory in 1967. He told CNN the visit would be 'unprecedented' and underscores a rise in Saudi support for the Palestinian Authority that emerged after the start of the war in Gaza. 'It's a dramatic change,' Arieli said. The Saudis have made clear since the conflict began that 'they support the two-state solution according to '67 borders, they support the establishment of the capital of a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, and they are ready tosupport the budget of the Palestinian Authority.' CNN understands that Saudi Arabia is frustrated at Israel's refusal to end the war in Gaza and is exerting intense diplomatic efforts to convince Western states to recognize Palestinian statehood, including the United States. The kingdom is confident that France will be among the states that will do so in June. Riyadh is also working to prop up the Palestinian Authority as it sees no viable alternative to its role as the political representative of the Palestinian people. In June, Saudi Arabia is expected to co-chair with France a high-level conference in New York for a two-state solution, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state beside Israel. Speaking in Singapore on Friday, Macron said the eventual recognition of a Palestinian state, was 'not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.' 'What we are building over the coming weeks is obviously a political response to the crisis (in Gaza). And yes, it's a necessity. Because today, over and above the current humanitarian tragedy, it is the very possibility of a Palestinian state that is being questioned.' he said. He warned that Israel has 'hours or days' to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza or face 'tougher' European stance. Riyadh appointed a non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories in 2023, weeks before Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel that left 1,200 people dead and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. The ambassador, Nayef Al Sudairi visited the West Bank in September 2023 to present his credentials to Abbas in what was the highest-level official Saudi visit in decades at the time. Historically, two Saudi kings have visited Jerusalem, including King Saud in 1954, and King Faisal in 1966. CNN's Tamar Michaelis, Eyad Kourdi, Angus Watson and Martin Goillandeau contributed to this report.
CNN
30-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Saudi foreign minister to make rare visit to West Bank, Palestinians say, as anger over Gaza grows
Saudi Arabia will send its top diplomat to the West Bank this weekend, Palestinian officials said, in what would be the highest-level Saudi visit to the area since it was occupied by Israel in 1967. Hussein Al-Sheikh, vice president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), told CNN that an Arab ministerial delegation led by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan will arrive in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The visit would come as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman pushes for international recognition of Palestinian statehood as the war in Gaza drags on and as prospects of Saudi-Israeli normalization grow more distant. Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mazen Ghoneim told Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya that the Saudi foreign minister would be joined by the top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan and 'other countries.' 'The ministerial visit… is considered a clear message. The Palestinian cause is a central issue to Arabs and Muslims,' Ghoneim said. An Israeli source familiar with the matter told CNN that Israeli authorities were notified of the visit. CNN has reached out to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Qatar for comment. Shaul Arieli, the head of T-Politography, a think tank which studies the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said it would be the first such high-level delegation to visit the occupied West Bank since Israel seized the territory in 1967. He told CNN the visit would be 'unprecedented' and underscores a rise in Saudi support for the Palestinian Authority that emerged after the start of the war in Gaza. 'It's a dramatic change,' Arieli said. The Saudis have made clear since the conflict began that 'they support the two-state solution according to '67 borders, they support the establishment of the capital of a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, and they are ready tosupport the budget of the Palestinian Authority.' CNN understands that Saudi Arabia is frustrated at Israel's refusal to end the war in Gaza and is exerting intense diplomatic efforts to convince Western states to recognize Palestinian statehood, including the United States. The kingdom is confident that France will be among the states that will do so in June. Riyadh is also working to prop up the Palestinian Authority as it sees no viable alternative to its role as the political representative of the Palestinian people. In June, Saudi Arabia is expected to co-chair with France a high-level conference in New York for a two-state solution, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state beside Israel. Speaking in Singapore on Friday, Macron said the eventual recognition of a Palestinian state, was 'not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.' 'What we are building over the coming weeks is obviously a political response to the crisis (in Gaza). And yes, it's a necessity. Because today, over and above the current humanitarian tragedy, it is the very possibility of a Palestinian state that is being questioned.' he said. He warned that Israel has 'hours or days' to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza or face 'tougher' European stance. Riyadh appointed a non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories in 2023, weeks before Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel that left 1,200 people dead and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. The ambassador, Nayef Al Sudairi visited the West Bank in September 2023 to present his credentials to Abbas in what was the highest-level official Saudi visit in decades at the time. Historically, two Saudi kings have visited Jerusalem, including King Saud in 1954, and King Faisal in 1966. CNN's Tamar Michaelis, Eyad Kourdi, Angus Watson and Martin Goillandeau contributed to this report.
