Region

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — The Hamas Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday that it executed five Palestinians, including two for "collaboration" with Israel.

The executions for collaboration are the first carried out in the Palestinian coastal enclave for more than five years.

"On Sunday morning, the death sentence was carried out against two condemned over collaboration with the occupation [Israel], and three others in criminal cases," Hamas said in a statement.

It added that the defendants had previously been given "their full rights to defend themselves".

Hamas's interior ministry provided the initials and years of birth of the five executed Palestinians, but did not give their full names.

The two executed over "collaboration" with Israel were two men born in 1978 and 1968.

The older of the two was a resident of Khan Younis in the south of the blockaded Gaza Strip. He was convicted of supplying Israel in 1991 with "information on men of the resistance, their residence... and the location of rocket launchpads", Hamas said.

The second was condemned for supplying Israel in 2001 with intelligence “that led to the targeting and martyrdom of citizens” by Israeli forces, the statement added.

The three others executed had been convicted of murder, the statement said.

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, described the executions as “abhorrent”.

“Death as government-sanctioned punishment is a barbaric practice that has no place in the modern world,” he wrote on Twitter.

First executions in years 

Gaza’s Palestinian Centre for Human Rights meanwhile said the executions were “in violation of Palestine’s international obligations”.

The centre said it “demands the authorities in the Gaza Strip do not use the death penalty, and replace it with life imprisonment with hard labour”.

Hamas has in recent years sentenced numerous people to death for “collaboration” with Israel, but the executions announced Sunday are the first carried out since May 2017.

Three Palestinians, Ashraf Abu Leila, Hisham Al Aloul and Abdallah Al Nashar, were executed then over their involvement in assassinating a Hamas military leader.

The men were publicly executed, with hundreds of people allowed to watch the sentences being carried out.

They had been arrested just weeks earlier over the killing of Mazen Faqha, who was allegedly shot dead on behalf of Israel.

While Hamas keeps the death penalty on the statute books, Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank have not carried out such a sentence in recent years.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, seated in the West Bank city of Ramallah, has signed up to the United Nations’ treaty opposing the death penalty.

Abbas’s Fateh movement and Hamas have been divided since 2007, following the outbreak of fighting between the Palestinian factions.

The Palestinian Authority operates in the West Bank, home to nearly three million Palestinians who live alongside 475,000 Israeli settlers.

Hamas, meanwhile, rules over 2.3 million Palestinians who have lived under a crippling Israeli-led blockade for 15 years.

BAGHDAD — Staff at Iraq's parliament returned to work Sunday for the first time since powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's supporters stormed the legislature in late July, an assembly official said.

The development came as speaker Mohammed Al Halbusi suggested an agenda for an upcoming national dialogue session following an 11-month political paralysis that sparked deadly clashes in Baghdad last week.

"All parliament staff have returned to work," following orders issued on Saturday night, the parliament official told AFP, on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

"Operations in parliament had been suspended since protesters stormed the legislature's building," he said.

The protesters had staged a sit-in outside the assembly for weeks after initially storming it to demand fresh elections and the dissolution of parliament.

They pulled out last Tuesday at Sadr's orders following nearly 24 hours of violence pitting them against the army and Iran-backed factions that left more than 30 Sadr supporters dead.

The battles that started when Sadr supporters stormed the government palace in the capital's fortified Green Zone marked one of the deadliest episodes of street violence in the country in nearly three years.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, Halbusi suggested an agenda for a second national dialogue session, following a previous round that was held on August 17.

The dialogue sessions are part of a bid to end a political stalemate that has left Iraq without a new government, prime minister or president since elections last October.

The first session was boycotted by Sadr representatives.

Halbusi did not set a timeframe for the upcoming talks but said they should "set a date for early parliamentary elections" and discuss the election of a new president and formation of a government.

It was not immediately clear who would attend the talks.

BAGHDAD — Hundreds of Iraqis angered by a months-long political crisis protested in the capital Baghdad on Friday, days after deadly clashes between rival Shiite groups sparked fears of widespread unrest.

Brandishing banners and Iraqi flags, the non-partisan protesters streamed into west Baghdad's Al Nusoor square, demanding a complete political overhaul, according to footage carried by state media.

The mobilisation followed nearly 11 months of paralysis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president, with Shiite factions disagreeing on forming a coalition since elections last October.

Demonstrators shouted the Arab Spring slogan: "The people want the fall of the regime."

Others carried banners and sang slogans deploring interference by neighbouring Iran, according to videos and images circulating on social media networks.

“Iran will not rule anymore,” they said.

The peaceful demonstrators were supporters of an anti-government protest movement that erupted in October 2019 but has since died down.

Their rallies in Baghdad are not rare but Friday’s relatively large turnout came after Iraq’s political crisis deepened.

Clashes between supporters of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and rival Iran-backed factions earlier this week turned the Green Zone, home to government buildings and embassies, into a battlefield.

Thirty Sadr supporters were killed in nearly 24 hours of clashes that erupted on Monday after his supporters stormed the government headquarters.

The violence moved to the country’s south on Thursday where overnight clashes between Sadr-affiliated fighters and the rival Iran-backed Asaib Ahl Al Haq force left four militants dead.

Two members of Sadr’s Saraya Al Salam force were among those killed.

The oil-rich country has been ravaged by decades of conflict and endemic corruption.

It is blighted by ailing infrastructure, power cuts and crumbling public services, and now faces water shortages as drought ravages swathes of the country.

Despite Iraq’s oil wealth, many citizens are mired in poverty, and some 35 per cent of young people are unemployed, according to the United Nations.

BASRA — Four militants were killed overnight after an ambush in the southern Iraqi city of Basra sparked clashes between rival Shiite factions, a security source said Thursday, days after deadly clashes in the capital.

Two members of Saraya Al Salam, an armed faction linked to powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, were killed when their vehicle came under fire from the Asaib Ahl Al Haq force, which lost two fighters in the ensuing gun battle, the source said.

Security forces deployed to quell the fighting, and Basra's governor Assad Al-Eidani said on Thursday morning that the situation in the city was now "safe and under control".

The exchange of fire triggered panic only days after clashes between Sadr supporters and rival Iran-backed factions turned Baghdad's highly secure Green Zone into a battlefield.

Thirty Sadr supporters were killed in nearly 24 hours of clashes that erupted on Monday after they stormed the government headquarters in the Green Zone, which houses state institutions and foreign embassies.

The attack in Basra drew strong condemnation from Sadr representative Mohammed Saleh Al Iraqi, who lashed out at Qais Al Khazali, head of the Asaib Ahl Al Haq force.

The force is part of a pro-Iran ex-paramilitary network now integrated into the country's security forces.

"I warn you, Qais! If you do not restrain your insolent militias and if you do not absolve yourself of the murderers and criminals that are affiliated to you... you too are insolent," he said in a statement on Twitter.

Khazali called on his supporters to shut Asaib offices and ignore “insults” against him to avoid an escalation.

“I ask our brothers in Asaib Ahl Al Haq to close all offices of the movement immediately and until further notice,” he said on Twitter.

“If they want to burn them, let them, and don’t give it any further thought.”

Later Thursday, hundreds of mourners gathered at a funeral procession for the slain Saraya Al Salam fighters, as tensions in Basra remained high.

The caskets, painted with the Iraqi flag, were carried through the city centre as mourners chanted prayers and slogans in support of Sadr.

Since elections in October last year, Iraqi politics has been paralysed due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a coalition, leaving the country without a new government, prime minister or president.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — The Security Council on Wednesday renewed the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon for one year, and asked it to continue providing logistical support for the Lebanese armed forces for another six months.

The peacekeeping force, known by its acronym UNIFIL, has been in Lebanon since 1978. Composed of nearly 10,000 soldiers, it is deployed in the south of the country as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically in a state of war.

At the request of the Lebanese authorities, the Security Council decided to extend its mandate until August 2023, expressing concern about "violations" of the ceasefire that ended fighting between Hizbollah and Israel in 2006 that were detailed in a report by the UN secretary general.

The resolution adopted unanimously by the 15 members stresses in particular "the risk that violations of the cessation of hostilities could lead to a new conflict that none of the parties or the region can afford".

In his report to the Council, Antonio Guterres noted that while the "underlying drivers of the conflict have not dramatically changed since 2006, UNIFIL does face new challenges in the conduct of its operations", including restrictions on its freedom of movement.

At a time when the country is facing a deep economic crisis, he also points out that all state institutions "are overstretched by the financial conditions".

That means the Lebanese army and other security forces are "especially critical for the country's stability and require renewed political and material support", he wrote.

The Security Council asked UNIFIL to support Lebanese armed forces for the first time last year.

This provision to provide non-lethal equipment such as food, fuel, medicine, and logistical support was renewed for six months, until February 28, 2023.

But the resolution stressed that the support was "temporary" and "should not be considered as a precedent... nor a long term solution".

BAGHDAD — A months-long political crisis in Iraq showed little sign of abating Wednesday despite a fresh push for negotiations after nearly 24 hours of deadly violence between rival Shiite factions ended.

Baghdad's highly-secured Green Zone returned to normality after 30 people were killed and 570 wounded in the clashes pitting supporters of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr against pro-Iran factions.

Since elections in October 2021, political deadlock has left Iraq without a new government, prime minister or president, due to disagreement over the formation of a coalition.

The tensions escalated sharply on Monday when Sadr loyalists stormed the government palace inside the Green Zone following their leader's announcement that he was quitting politics.

But Sadr's supporters trickled out of the Green Zone in a steady stream on Tuesday afternoon when he appealed for them to withdraw within the hour.

A nationwide curfew was lifted, before shops reopened and infamous traffic jams returned to Baghdad’s streets on Wednesday as the government announced the resumption of school exams postponed by the unrest.

But the hurdles obstructing a solution to Iraq’s political crisis remained firmly in place, with rival powers refusing to budge on their demands.

Early elections, less than a year after the last polls, and the dissolution of parliament have been a key demand of Sadr.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh said late Tuesday that snap elections could provide “an exit from the stifling crisis”.

Under the constitution, parliament can only be dissolved by a majority vote, which can take place at the request of a third of lawmakers, or by the prime minster in agreement with the president.

Sadr’s rivals in the pro-Iran Coordination Framework want a new head of government to be appointed before any new elections are held.

On Tuesday, they called for the swift formation of a new government, “to prevent a recurrence of the strife” that paralysed Baghdad this week.

The Framework urged parliament and other state institutions to “return to exercising their constitutional functions and carry out their duties towards citizens”.

The statement drew the ire of a senior aid of Sadr, Saleh Mohammad Al Iraqi, who said it overlooked the rightful demands of protesters killed in the Green Zone who want parliament dissolved.

“Iran should reign in its Iraqi camels, or else there will be little room left for regret,” he said Wednesday, referring to the Coordination Framework.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi, meanwhile, threatened to resign unless the paralysis ends.

“If they want to continue to stir up chaos, conflict, discord and rivalry... I will take the moral and patriotic step and vacate my post,” he said.

‘More protests’ 

Iraqi political analyst Sajad Jiyad said a return to violence was possible in the absence of a longer term solution.

“The biggest loser is the state, standing idly by while two powerful armed parties continue to struggle for control,” he said.

“Unless a proper solution is reached, more protests and violence are possible.”

Falah Al Barzanji, a 63-year-old activist, said he believed the calm would be short-lived.

“Today life has returned to normal, but the fire is still burning under the ashes,” he told AFP.

“The Iraqi parliament must be dissolved and a reformist government must be installed.”

Pope Francis, who visited Iraq last year, said he was “following with concern the violent events that have taken place in Baghdad”.

“Dialogue and fraternity are the best way to face the current difficulties.”

Sadr, a longtime player in the war-torn country’s political scene, though he himself has never directly been in government, announced he was quitting politics two days after he said “all parties” including his own should give up government positions to help overcome the deadlock.

Sadr’s bloc emerged from the October election as the biggest in the legislature, with 73 seats, but short of a majority.

Since then Iraq has been paralysed due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a coalition.

In June, Sadr’s lawmakers quit in a bid to break the logjam, which led to the Coordination Framework becoming the largest.

Sadr’s supporters had for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq’s parliament, after storming the legislature’s interior on July 30, demanding fresh elections be held.

NABLUS  — Doctors in the occupied West Bank are struggling to save Palestinians from permanent disability after being shot by Israeli occupation forces.

At Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, a teenager with bandaged legs was carried up the stairs by another boy.

He had been shot below the knee by Israeli forces in Balata, a refugee camp on the edge of the city.

The 16-year-old, whose mother soon arrived in the emergency room, was the latest Palestinian to be hit by Israeli gunfire in the northern West Bank.

"There is a lot of pressure on the hospital, as a result of the various injuries and the large amount of injuries," said Dr Fouad Nafaa, head of Rafidia's surgical department.

On a single day in August, medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) treated 69 patients with gunshot wounds in Nablus after an army raid.

Nablus militant Ibrahim Al Nabulsi was one of four people killed in that raid on August 9.

Many of the wounded were taken to Rafidia, where Nafaa said the team has been receiving "very difficult" cases lately.

Emergency 'day and night' 

"In terms of the type of weapons used and ammunition used, and in terms of the places they are shot, for example the head, the neck, the abdomen and the chest, the injuries were more serious," said Nafaa.

In Jenin, the director of Ibn Sina Hospital said the scale of casualties is "increasing dramatically".

“It’s not easy to deal with many casualties at the same time,” said Jani Abu Joukha.

“But we handle [it]... the staff are experts.”

He described critical days with some 15 casualties arriving within 15 minutes of one another at the hospital.

Since April, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been supporting training for medics dealing with mass casualty incidents in the West Bank.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories, said sudden emergencies put “immense strain on the already fragile health system”.

At least 1,380 Palestinians have been shot across the West Bank since the start of last year, according to data from the UN and PRCS.

More than 40 per cent of them were in Nablus and Jenin governorates.

Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh of Al Jazeera was shot dead north of Jenin in May while covering an Israeli raid.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, hospitals are understaffed across all departments due to a chronic funding shortfall.

Maria Al Aqra, the ministry’s head of international cooperation, said flare-ups of violence prompt doctors to delay routine operations.

“We live in [a state of] emergency, day and night,” she said.

“Our staff do our best, and some of them work three shifts” during emergencies, Aqra added.

The dangers do not end once the guns fall silent, as patients’ wounds can become infected.

Dr Jamal Abu Alkebash, an orthopaedic specialist at Rafidia, said some also risk paralysis after being shot through an artery or a nerve.

“We face a big problem with these injuries. It’s the type of bullets used, explosive bullets,” said Alkebash.

“We try to help the patient. However, the wounded end up paralysed, or amputees, disabled or with a number of fractures of various kinds,” he explained.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi supporters of powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr began withdrawing Tuesday from Baghdad's Green Zone after he demanded fighting end between rival Shiite forces and the army that left 23 dead and hundreds wounded.

The violence that erupted on Monday pitched Sadr loyalists against Shiite factions backed by neighbouring Iran, with the sides exchanging gunfire across barricades — violence the United Nations warned risked tipping the war-ravaged country deeper into chaos.

Moments after Sadr's speech was broadcast live on television, his supporters were seen beginning to leave the Green Zone, and minutes after that, the army lifted a nation-wide curfew.

Sadr, a grey-bearded preacher with millions of devoted followers, gave followers "60 minutes" to withdraw after which he would threatened to "disavow" those who remained.

“I apologise to the Iraqi people, the only ones affected by the events,” Sadr, who once led a militia against American and Iraqi government forces after the 2003 US-led overthrow of  president Saddam Hussein,  told reporters from his base in the central Iraqi city of Najaf.

Tensions have soared in Iraq amid a political crisis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president for months.

They escalated sharply after Sadr’s supporters on Monday afternoon stormed the government palace inside the high-security Green Zone following their leader’s announcement that he was quitting politics.

‘Dangerous escalation’ 

Overnight, shelling targeted the Green Zone that houses government buildings and diplomatic missions, amid angry protests after Sadr’s surprised many by announcing his “definitive retirement”.

Clashes continued on Tuesday morning, with the rattle of automatic gunfire and heavier explosions of rocket-propelled grenades, as Sadr’s supporters and the army and men of the Hashed Al Shaabi, former Tehran-backed paramilitaries integrated into the Iraqi forces.

The UN mission in Iraq warned of “an extremely dangerous escalation” and called on all sides to “refrain from acts that could lead to an unstoppable chain of events”.

“The very survival of the state is at stake,” it warned.

On Tuesday morning, medics said 23 Sadr supporters had been killed and some 380 others injured, some with bullet wounds and others suffering tear gas inhalation.

A mass funeral was held Tuesday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf for some of the protesters killed in Baghdad.

Witnesses said earlier that Sadr loyalists and supporters of a rival Shiite bloc, the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, had exchanged fire.

The Framework condemned an “attack on state institutions”, urging the Sadrists to engage in dialogue.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi said “security or military forces, or armed men” were prohibited from opening fire on protesters.

‘Disturbing’ 

The United States also urged calm amid the “disturbing” reports, while France called on “the parties to exercise the utmost restraint”.

Shortly after Sadr made his announcement to step down, his followers burst into the Republican Palace in Baghdad, where Cabinet meetings are usually held.

Sadr, a longtime player in the war-torn country’s political scene, though he himself has never directly been in government, announced he was quitting politics two days after he said “all parties” including his own should give up government positions in order to help resolve the political crisis.

His bloc emerged from last year’s election as the biggest in the legislature, with 73 seats, but short of a majority.

In June, his lawmakers quit in a bid to break the logjam, which led to the Coordination Framework becoming the largest bloc.

Iraq has been mired in political deadlock since legislative elections in October last year due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a coalition.

Sadr’s supporters have for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq’s parliament, after storming the legislature’s interior on July 30, demanding fresh elections be held.

The Coordination Framework wants a new head of government to be appointed before any new polls are held.