King of Jordan discusses Gaza, regional development with Italian president, PM

Update King of Jordan discusses Gaza, regional development with Italian president, PM
King Abdullah II of Jordan and Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome, March 17, 2025. (Petra)
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Updated 2 min 38 sec ago
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King of Jordan discusses Gaza, regional development with Italian president, PM

King of Jordan discusses Gaza, regional development with Italian president, PM
  • King Abdullah highlighted Italy’s vital role in Gaza’s humanitarian assistance and airlift efforts
  • He warned about escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank and violations of holy sites in Jerusalem

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome on Monday to discuss regional developments.

King Abdullah stressed the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and highlighted Italy’s vital role in humanitarian assistance and airlift efforts carried out by Jordan, Petra reported.

He affirmed that Jordan supports the reconstruction of Gaza without the displacement of its residents and warned about the escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank and violations of holy sites in Jerusalem.

During the meeting attended by Qais Abu Daieh, the Jordanian ambassador to Rome, and Alaa Batayneh, the director of King Abdullah’s office, Mattarella and the Jordanian monarch reviewed their countries’ friendly relations.

The king also met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Monday, during which he stressed that a two-state solution was essential for regional stability.

Discussions with Meloni covered Jordan-Italy cooperation, Syria’s stability, and Lebanon’s security.

Meloni reaffirmed Italy’s support for Jordan’s role in promoting peace in the Middle East. The meeting was also attended by Batayneh.


Palestinian detainees ministry warns of virus outbreak in Israeli Megiddo Prison

Palestinian detainees ministry warns of virus outbreak in Israeli Megiddo Prison
Updated 11 min 13 sec ago
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Palestinian detainees ministry warns of virus outbreak in Israeli Megiddo Prison

Palestinian detainees ministry warns of virus outbreak in Israeli Megiddo Prison
  • 90 percent of prisoners have suffered from diarrhea and vomiting in the past 10 days
  • Ministry accuses Israel Prison Service of medical negligence for not providing adequate treatment

LONDON: The Palestinian Authority warned on Monday of a virus outbreak among Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that could severely affect their health and well-being.

The PA’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported that prisoners in Megiddo Prison in northern Israel have been suffering from diarrhea and vomiting in the past 10 days. It reported that nearly 90 percent of the prisoners experienced these issues, and some lost consciousness due to the severity of the illness, particularly among the elderly.

The ministry accused the Israel Prison Service of medical negligence for not providing adequate treatment. Megiddo Prison is the second-largest Israeli prison, following the notorious Negev Desert Prison.

Since October 2023, the ministry has recorded the deaths of 53 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, with the most recent being Moataz Abu Zneid from Dura, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

By the end of December, Israel had detained 9,619 Palestinians, including 2,216 from the Gaza Strip. However, Tel Aviv released around 600 Palestinians in a ceasefire and captive exchange deal with Hamas in early 2025.


EU vows 2.5 bn euros to help Syrians after Assad ouster

EU High Representative and Vice-President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (C)
EU High Representative and Vice-President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (C)
Updated 11 min 32 sec ago
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EU vows 2.5 bn euros to help Syrians after Assad ouster

EU High Representative and Vice-President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (C)
  • For the first time, the Syrian authorities were represented at the annual conference in Brussels
  • Outbreak of deadly violence this month has rocked confidence in the new authorities

BRUSSELS: The EU led the way on pledging aid for Syria on Monday at a donor drive in Brussels — but the call for funding to help the war-torn country after Bashar Assad’s ouster risked falling short of last year as US support dries up.
Western and regional powers are desperate to steer Syria onto the road to stability after 14 years of civil war that have sent millions of refugees over its borders.
For the first time, the Syrian authorities were represented at the annual conference in Brussels — with interim foreign minister Assaad Al-Shibani attending.
But an outbreak of deadly violence this month — the worst since Assad was toppled in December — has rocked confidence in the new authorities.
European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels was stepping up its commitment for this year and next to almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) to help those in Syria and neighboring countries.
“Syrians need greater support, whether they are still abroad, or they decide to go home,” she told the Brussels conference.
The vow from Brussels came on top of significant contributions from individual countries, including some $330 million from Germany and $210 million from Britain.
Last year’s donor drive raised 7.5 billion euros in grants and loans to help the people of Syria. The overall total for this year will be announced later Monday.
Efforts to top that level this time around look set to be hit by US President Donald Trump’s axing of Washington’s foreign aid budget.
Up until now, the United States has been the single biggest individual donor to fund humanitarian efforts in Syria, according to the United Nations.
Syria’s new rulers have been clamouring for assistance to help the country’s recovery.
The EU has eased sanctions on key sectors of the economy, but along with other powers it insists the authorities must make good on promises for an inclusive transition.
“We do appreciate the major measures taken by the European Union, such as the lifting or suspending of the sanctions,” Shibani said.
“However, these measures did not live up so far to our expectations. We want further measures in order to help us secure our recovery.”
There have been positive moves from Damascus, including Sharaa signing a constitutional declaration laying out a five-year transitional period, and rights for women and freedom of expression.
But hopes were shaken by the violence on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, which a war monitor said saw security forces kill nearly 1,500 civilians, most of them members of the Alawite minority to which the Assad family belongs.
Shibani insisted that the new authorities would bring to justice “anyone who perpetrated any crime, whose hands are stained with blood.”
“We believe in the true sense of citizenship, the citizenship of every single citizen of Syria, regardless of their ethnicity or religion,” he said.
The EU has held its annual donor drive for Syria for the past eight years but it mainly focused on supporting refugees in neighboring countries and avoided any contacts with the Assad regime.
Syria’s needs are massive as swathes of the country lie in ruins and the economy has been ravaged by years of international isolation after Assad’s 2011 crackdown on opposition sparked the civil war.
The country still faces a dire humanitarian situation, with an estimated 16.7 million people in need of assistance.
“It would be a mistake to disinvest from Syria now,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“Humanitarian aid remains a lifeline that millions of Syrians depend on. Severing it now would only deepen their suffering and prolong the country’s recovery,” she said.
The United Nations says that, at current growth rates, Syria would need more than 50 years to get back to its economic level before the outbreak of the war.


Israel strikes kill five people in Gaza, local medics say

Relatives gather near the bodies of 3 Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli drone strike east of Bureij camp.
Relatives gather near the bodies of 3 Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli drone strike east of Bureij camp.
Updated 37 min 19 sec ago
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Israel strikes kill five people in Gaza, local medics say

Relatives gather near the bodies of 3 Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli drone strike east of Bureij camp.
  • Israeli air strike killed three Palestinian men in Gaza on Monday as they tried to gather firewood
  • Later on Monday, medics said an Israeli air strike killed a father and his son inside a school sheltering displaced families

CAIRO: An Israeli air strike killed three Palestinian men in Gaza on Monday as they tried to gather firewood, medics said, with no sign of progress in renewed talks on sustaining a ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In the latest bloodshed to underline the fragility of the Gaza war’s three-stage truce, the three, all from the same family, had left their homes in central Gaza to collect the wood for cooking.
That has become a daily task for many Gazans as Israel has continued to ban fuel, food, and medical goods from entering Gaza for over two weeks, residents said.
The Israeli military said in a statement it struck “terrorists” operating near their forces and attempting to plant a bomb.
At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah, relatives rushed to pay farewell to the three white-shrouded bodies.
“They were targeted — and when their cousins and others in the area came to rescue them, the drone targeted them with bombs,” said Jabr Abou Hajjeer, the father of one of the victims.
Later on Monday, medics said an Israeli air strike killed a father and his son inside a school sheltering displaced families in Bureij camp, near the site of the earlier strikes, raising the day’s death toll to five.
The Israeli military said the strike hit two people who were attempting to plant a bomb in the ground near where forces operated in Bureij.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said Israel’s “violations” could “undermine all efforts for de-escalation.”
He put the number of Palestinians killed since the January ceasefire at 150.
Israel’s military says it has repeatedly thwarted attempts by Palestinians to plant bombs or otherwise threaten their forces.
Israel’s suspension of goods entering Gaza for 16 days has increased pressure on Gaza’s 2.3 million people, most of whom have been made homeless by the war. The suspension, which Israel said was aimed at pressuring Hamas in ceasefire talks, applies to food, medicine, and fuel imports.

Bakeries closed
Several bakeries have recently closed and food prices are rising, while the electricity cut could deprive people of clean water.
Israel wants to extend the first phase of the ceasefire mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, a proposal backed by US envoy Steve Witkoff. Hamas says it will resume freeing hostages only under the second phase that was due to begin on March 2.
Israel and Hamas have been holding successive talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua said on Monday that while his group was complying with the terms of the truce, Israel “seeks to foil the agreement and impose new conditions.”
On Friday, Hamas said it had agreed to release American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander and four bodies of the hostages if Israel agreed to begin talks immediately on implementing the second phase of the agreement. Israel accused Hamas of waging “psychological warfare” on hostage families.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said negotiators had been instructed to be ready to continue talks based on the mediators’ response to a US proposal for the release of 11 out of 59 living hostages still held, and half of the dead captives.
Gaza’s latest war began when Hamas led a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, displaced most of the population and reduced much of the territory to rubble. 


Syrian troops exchange fire with Lebanese army, armed groups in northeast Lebanon

Syrian troops sit atop a military vehicle as they head toward Syrian-Lebanese border following clashes with Lebanese soldiers.
Syrian troops sit atop a military vehicle as they head toward Syrian-Lebanese border following clashes with Lebanese soldiers.
Updated 52 min 24 sec ago
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Syrian troops exchange fire with Lebanese army, armed groups in northeast Lebanon

Syrian troops sit atop a military vehicle as they head toward Syrian-Lebanese border following clashes with Lebanese soldiers.
  • Lebanese source said 3 Syrian soldiers had crossed into Lebanese territory first and were killed by armed members of a tribe in northeastern Lebanon
  • In retaliation for their deaths, Syrian troops shelled Lebanese border towns overnight

BEIRUT: Syrian troops exchanged fire with Lebanese soldiers and armed groups in northeast Lebanon overnight and into Monday in a new round of clashes along the border.
The mountainous frontier has been a flashpoint in the three months since militants toppled Syria’s Bashar Assad, an ally of Tehran and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and installed their own institutions and army.
Late on Sunday, Syria’s defense ministry accused Hezbollah of crossing into Syrian territory and kidnapping and killing three members of Syria’s new army.
Hezbollah denied any involvement. A Lebanese security source told Reuters the three Syrian soldiers had crossed into Lebanese territory first and were killed by armed members of a tribe in northeastern Lebanon who feared their town was under attack.
In retaliation for their deaths, Syrian troops shelled Lebanese border towns overnight, according to the Syrian defense ministry and the Lebanese army.
A Lebanese child was killed during the clashes while six people were injured, according to a statement by the Lebanese government on Monday. Residents of the town of Al-Qasr, less than one kilometer from the border, told Reuters they fled further inland to escape the bombardment.
The Lebanese government said it had ordered relevant ministers to coordinate stricter controls on the border with Syrian authorities.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he ordered the army to respond to sources of fire from northern and eastern borders with Syria, according to a statement by his office. Aoun said the state would not allow clashes along the border to continue.
Lebanon’s army said in a statement on Monday that it had handed over the bodies of the three killed Syrians to Syrian authorities, and that it had responded to fire from Syrian territory and sent reinforcements to the border area.
Syria’s army sent a convoy of troops and several tanks to the frontier on Monday, according to a Reuters reporter along the border. Syrian troops fired into the air as they moved through towns on the way to the border.
“Large military reinforcements were brought in to reinforce positions along the Syrian-Lebanese border and prevent any breaches in the coming days,” said Maher Ziwani, the head of a Syrian army division deploying to the border. 


UNRWA chief confident he is on ‘right side of history’

UNRWA chief confident he is on ‘right side of history’
Updated 17 March 2025
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UNRWA chief confident he is on ‘right side of history’

UNRWA chief confident he is on ‘right side of history’
  • UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini acknowledges that it has been “stressful” leading the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees, but says he is confident he is “on the right side of history“

GENEVA: UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini acknowledges that it has been “stressful” leading the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees, but says he is confident he is “on the right side of history.”
The 61-year-old head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has, along with his organization, withstood a barrage of criticism and accusations from Israel since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel and the devastating war in Gaza that followed.
“Of course it is stressful. No one could really be prepared for something like this,” Lazzarini told AFP in a recent interview.
It has been rough from the start.
The softly-spoken Swiss father of four began his tenure in 2020 under Covid lockdown, as UNRWA was reeling after the United States — traditionally its largest donor — dramatically slashed its contribution during President Donald Trump’s first term.
But that was nothing compared to what was to come.
“October 7 basically ... destroyed the last protection dikes that UNRWA might have had,” he said, lamenting the “arsenal” it unleashed “to try to discredit the agency, attack the agency, get rid of the agency.”
Relations between Israel and UNRWA, which supports nearly six million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, have long been strained, but they have fallen off a cliff in the past year and a half.
Israel’s allegation that some UNRWA staff took part in the October 7 attack spurred a string of nations early last year to at least temporarily halt their backing for the already cash-strapped agency.
Lazzarini warned of “the real risk of the agency collapsing and imploding.”
Serving as the “backbone” of the aid operation in Gaza, UNRWA should have funding until June, he said.
“I have no visibility” beyond that, added Lazzarini, speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the FIFDH human rights film festival in Geneva where a film about UNRWA was featured.
Funding gaps are not the only problem the agency faces.
Amid accusations that UNRWA was “infested with Hamas terror activity,” Israel in January took the unprecedented step of severing ties with the UN agency and banning it from operating on Israeli soil.
While UNRWA can still operate in Gaza and the West Bank, it has been barred from contact with Israeli officials, making it difficult to coordinate the safe delivery of aid in the Palestinian territories.
No aid is meanwhile going into Gaza, since Israel halted deliveries to the Strip amid a deadlock over a fragile ceasefire.
“This decision threatens the life and survival of civilians in Gaza,” Lazzarini warned.


He also described the situation in the West Bank, where Israel has for weeks been carrying out a major offensive, “deeply, deeply troubling.”
While uncertain how things would evolve, he said the threat of an Israeli annexation of the West Bank was hanging like “a Damocles sword over the head of the Palestinians (and) the international community.”
Israel has said that UNRWA can be replaced by other UN agencies or NGOs.
But Lazzarini argued that while other organizations could handle distributing humanitarian aid, they could not replace UNRWA’s delivery of “government-like services” such as education and health care.
Without UNRWA, “we would definitely sacrifice a generation of kids, who would be deprived from proper education,” he warned.
Education should also be a top priority for Israel, he insisted.
“If you deprive 100,000 girls and boys in Gaza (of an) education, and if they have no future, and if their school is just despair and living in the rubble, I would say we are just sowing the seeds for more extremism.”
Israel has for years accused UNRWA schools teaching anti-Semitism and a hatred of Israel.
Lazzarini decried “an extraordinary war of disinformation” against the agency.
Lazzarini, who himself has been the target of virulent attacks, acknowledged that “certainly I don’t read everything and don’t listen to everything.”
“Otherwise you wouldn’t sleep anymore.”
He added: “If I didn’t feel that I am still on the right side of history, I don’t think I would continue to carry on.”
But, he said, “I have been given a voice, and obviously I need to use this voice.”
“That is the minimum we owe to the Palestinian refugees who are pretty voiceless.”