Region

CAIRO — Arab leaders called Tuesday to unify Palestinian ranks under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, a move that could sideline Islamist militant group Hamas which is not a member.

A final statement of the Arab League summit in Cairo, seen by AFP, welcomed "the Palestinian decision to form a Gaza administration committee under the umbrella of the Palestinian government, made up of competent individuals from the [Gaza] Strip for a transitional period in parallel with working to enable the national [Palestinian] Authority to return to" the war-battered territory, ruled by Hamas since 2007.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said Tuesday that Arab leaders endorsed his country's plan for the reconstruction and development of war-torn Gaza.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority would reassume control over the Gaza Strip under a post-war plan announced by Arab leaders.

Abbas said in his opening remarks at an Arab League summit in Cairo that his administration could assume "its duties in the Gaza Strip through its governmental institutions, and a working committee has been formed for this purpose".

Syria's interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa was in Cairo Tuesday for the Arab League summit on Gaza, his first such meeting since ousting longtime ruler Bashar Al Assad nearly three months ago.

Sharaa arrived "to attend the extraordinary Arab summit in Cairo on developments on the Palestinian issue", state news agency SANA reported.

The Syrian presidency published images of Sharaa meeting with senior officials including United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Abbas and European Union chief Antonio Costa on the sidelines of the summit.

CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said Tuesday that Arab leaders endorsed his country's plan for the reconstruction and development of war-torn Gaza at a Cairo summit of the Arab League.

"It has been endorsed," Sisi told the closing session of the summit, which had aimed to adopt a plan for Gaza reconstruction without the displacement of Palestinians, an alternative to what US President Donald Trump had proposed.

President Mahmoud Abbas said his Palestinian Authority was ready to reassume control over Gaza, as Arab leaders in Cairo on Tuesday hammered out a plan for rebuilding the devastated territory to counter a widely condemned proposal by US President Donald Trump.

The prospect of the PA governing Gaza was far from certain, however, with Israel having ruled out any future role for the body, and Trump having closed the Palestine Liberation Organization liaison office in Washington during his first term while stepping up support for Israel.

Shortly after returning to power in January, Trump triggered global outrage by suggesting the United States "take over" the Gaza Strip and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East.“

Tuesday's Arab League summit in Cairo aimed to offer an alternative to that vision, a day after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Trump plan "visionary and innovative".

In his opening remarks on Tuesday, Al Sisi said his country's plan for Gaza would ensure Palestinians "remain on their land", but was careful not to criticise Trump.

Calling for "a serious and effective political process that leads to a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause", he added: "I am confident that President Trump is capable of doing that."

Sisi said that under the Egyptian plan, Gaza would be run by a committee of Palestinian technocrats, "paving the way for the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Strip".

Abbas, also addressing the summit, said a working committee had been formed to prepare for the PA resuming its role in Gaza and taking up security "responsibilities after restructuring and unifying its cadres present in the Gaza Strip.”

The PA had previously governed Gaza before losing power there in 2007 to Islamist militant group Hamas -- whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked the latest war in the territory.

Draft plan

Palestinians, Arab states and many European governments have rejected Trump's proposal for US control of Gaza, opposing any efforts to expel its people.

Trump has recently appeared to soften his stance, saying he was "not forcing" the plan, which experts have said could violate international law.

A draft version of the Egyptian plan seen by AFP lays out a five-year roadmap with a price tag of $53 billion -- about the same amount the United Nations estimated Gaza's reconstruction would cost.

A proposed early recovery phase, expected to last six months and cost $3 billion, would focus on clearing unexploded ordnance and debris, and providing temporary housing, according to the draft.

That would be followed by a $20 billion initial reconstruction stage running until 2027 and focusing on rebuilding essential infrastructure and permanent housing.

The next stage of reconstruction, extending to 2030 at an estimated cost of $30 billion, aims to build more housing, infrastructure, and industrial and commercial facilities.

The plan proposes an internationally supervised trust fund to ensure efficient and sustainable financing, as well as transparency and oversight.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, who was also in Cairo on Tuesday, gave his strong endorsement to "the Arab-led initiative" to rebuild Gaza, adding the UN was prepared to "fully cooperate".

Ceasefire impasse

Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has left the territory largely in ruins and created a dire humanitarian crisis that.

A fragile ceasefire since January saw an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, before Israel on Sunday announced it was blocking any deliveries.

"We look forward to an effective Arab role that ends the humanitarian tragedy... and thwarts the [Israeli] occupation's plans to displace" Palestinians, Hamas said in a statement as the Cairo summit was convening.

The talks are taking place as Israel and Hamas find themselves at an impasse over the future of the ceasefire.

The truce's first phase ended at the weekend, after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

While Israel said it backed an extension of the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.

Israel announced on Sunday that it was halting "all entry of goods and supplies" into Gaza, and that Hamas would face "other consequences" if it did not accept the truce extension.

Hours before the summit opened Tuesday, Israel's top diplomat Gideon Saar said it demanded the "total demilitarisation of Gaza" and Hamas's removal in order to proceed to the second phase of the ceasefire deal.

Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri rejected the demand, telling AFP: "The resistance's weapons are a red line for Hamas and all resistance factions."

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel said on Sunday it was suspending the entry of aid into Gaza, where both Israel and Palestinian sources reported Israeli military strikes as Hamas alleged a "coup" against a six-week old truce.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported at least four killed and six wounded in Israeli attacks.

As the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire drew to a close with negotiations inconclusive, Israel early Sunday approved a truce extension it said US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff proposed.

The extension would cover the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Hamas has repeatedly rejected an extension, instead favouring a transition to the truce deal's second phase.

As outlined by former US president Joe Biden, the second phase would bring a permanent end to the war that began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel.

The truce's first phase saw an increase of aid into the territory, where the war destroyed or damaged most of Gaza's buildings, displaced almost the entire population, and triggered widespread hunger, according to the United Nations.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had "decided that, from this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be suspended".

It said there would be "consequences" for Hamas if it did not accept the temporary truce extension.

A 'forever' truce 

On a sandy street in Gaza City, Mays Abu Amer, 21, expressed hope the ceasefire can continue "for a longer period of time and forever as well. Because we have so much destruction, we need a lot of time for reconstruction".

Hamas said the "decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the [ceasefire] agreement".

Gaza's civil defence agency reported "artillery shelling and gunfire from Israeli tanks" east of Khan Yunis city in southern Gaza. The Israeli army said it was "unaware of any artillery shelling in this area".

The Palestine Red Crescent, however, reported one person killed in an Israeli drone strike in the area, and one more killed in another town nearby.

The military said it had conducted an air strike in northern Gaza targeting suspects it said had "planted an explosive device" near its troops.

Including the deaths on Sunday, Gaza's health ministry has recorded 116 people killed by Israel's military since the ceasefire took effect on January 19, substantially reducing violence.

Mediator Egypt, the Red Cross and the UN have all appealed for the truce to be maintained.

"There is no alternative to the faithful and full implementation by all parties of what was signed last January," Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said. He called for the European Union to exert pressure on the parties "especially the Israeli" side.

Following the announcement of the aid suspension, AFP images showed trucks loaded with goods lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to Gaza.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose party is crucial to keeping Netanyahu's government in power, welcomed the decision to suspend aid.

According to Israel, the truce extension would see half of the hostages still in Gaza freed on the day the deal came into effect, with the rest to be released at the end if an agreement was reached on a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem later said Israel "bears responsibility for the consequences of its decision on the people of the Strip and the fate of its prisoners".

Its allied militant group, Islamic Jihad, accused Israel of "sabotaging" the ceasefire.

Of the 251 captives taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

'Return all of them' 

On Sunday, Israeli mourners who turned out to farewell Shlomo Mansour, 85, whose body had been held in Gaza, said more should be done to get the remaining captives home.

"Return all of them immediately and then think about what to do," said Vardit Roiter. Mansour's was among four bodies that militants handed over on Thursday under the truce's first phase.

They were among a total of eight bodies and 25 living hostages Hamas handed over under the initial phase, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.

The aid suspension comes as Palestinians in Gaza, alongside much of the Muslim world, mark the second day of the holy month of Ramadan, during which the faithful observe a dawn-to-dusk fast.

In November, a UN-backed assessment found "a strong likelihood that famine is imminent" within northern Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday called such warnings "a lie during all this war."

Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, while Israel's retaliation in Gaza killed more than 48,300 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides show.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel's top military supplier, on Saturday said he signed a declaration "to expedite" delivery of about $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.

Abu Mohammed Al Basyuni, 56, had a message for America: "Enough bias towards one party," he said among debris in Gaza City.

"As a people, we have the right to life and the right to coexist. Animals have rights. What about humans?"

TUNIS — A highly anticipated trial of several prominent Tunisian opposition figures accused of plotting against state security is set to start Tuesday, with critics and rights groups denouncing it as unfair and politically motivated.

The case has named around 40 high-profile defendants -- including former diplomats, politicians, lawyers and media figures -- some of whom have been outspoken critics of President Kais Saied.

Many were detained following a flurry of arrests in February 2023, after Saied dubbed them "terrorists".

The group faces charges of "plotting against the state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group", according to lawyers, which could entail hefty sentences.

They include politician Jawhar Ben Mbarek, a former senior figure in the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party Abdelhamid Jelassi, and Issam Chebbi, a founder of the opposition National Salvation Front (FSN) coalition -- all staunch critics of Saied.

Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy following the Arab Spring.

But in 2021, he staged a sweeping power grab, and human rights groups have since warned of a rollback on freedoms.

'Judicial madness' 

The long-awaited case has also charged activists Khayam Turki and Chaima Issa, businessman Kamel Eltaief, and Bochra Belhaj Hmida, a former member of parliament and human rights activist now living in France.

French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy was also named among the accused, as a number of them are suspected of getting in contact with foreign parties and diplomats.

Addressing the public in a letter from his cell, Ben Mbarek said the case aimed at "the methodical elimination of critical voices" and he denounced "judicial harassment".

Ben Mbarek was one of the founders of the FSN, which remains the main opposition coalition to Saied.

His sister Dalila Msaddek, a lawyer who is part of the defence committee, told AFP the charges were "based on false testimony".

The defence committee has said that judicial authorities decided to hold the trial remotely, without the presence of the detained defendants.

Their relatives and rights groups said the move was not fair, calling for all the defendants to stand before the judge.

"It's one of the conditions for a fair trial," said Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, head of the FSN and himself named in the case.

Riadh Chaibi, a former Ennahdha official, said the case had "no reasoning".

"This is a case where the witnesses are secret, the evidence is secret and they want the trial to be secret too," he told reporters in the capital Tunis.

Also a member of Ennahdha, lawyer Samir Dilou called it "judicial madness".

'Arbitrary detentions' 

Ben Mbarek's father, leftist activist Ezzeddine Hazgui, told AFP he felt "bitter" about voting for Saied in 2019.

His son, too, "had fought like a devil" to get Saied elected, according to Msaddek.

She said while several people prosecuted in the case are in custody, some remain free pending trial and others have fled abroad.

Other critics of Saied have been detained and charged in different cases, including under a law combatting "false news".

In early February, Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi, 83, was sentenced to 22 years in prison -- also for plotting against state security, though in a separate case.

The United Nations urged Tunisian authorities last month to bring "an end to the pattern of arrests, arbitrary detentions and imprisonment of dozens of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, activists and politicians".

Tunisia's Foreign Ministry expressed "astonishment" over the UN's "inaccuracies and criticisms".

It insisted the cases cited by the UN involved "public law crimes unrelated to political, party or media activities, or the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression".

"Tunisia can give lessons to those who think they are in a position to make statements," it added.

DAMASCUS — Syria's interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa announced on Sunday the formation of a committee to draft a constitutional declaration for the country's transition after the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad.

The new authorities are focused on rebuilding Syria and its institutions after Assad's removal on December 8, ending more than half a century of his family's iron-fisted rule and 13 years of devastating war.

The presidency announced "the formation of a committee of experts", including one woman, tasked with drafting "the constitutional declaration that regulates the transitional phase" in Syria.

The seven-member committee would "submit its proposals to the president", it said in a statement, without specifying a timeframe.

In late January, Sharaa, leader of Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) which spearheaded Assad's overthrow, was appointed interim president for an unspecified period.

Syria's new authorities have repealed the Assad-era constitution, and Sharaa has said rewriting it could take up to three years.

In late January, Sharaa promised a "constitutional declaration" to serve as a "legal reference" during the country's transitional period.

Sunday's announcement came "based on the Syrian people's aspirations in building their state based on the rule of law, and building on the outcomes of the Syrian national dialogue conference", said the presidency.

It also came "with the aim of preparing the legal framework regulating the transitional phase", it added.

A national dialogue conference held this week in Damascus set out a path for the new Syria.

Members 

The committee includes Abdul Hamid Al Awak, who holds a doctorate in constitutional law and lectures at a university in Turkey, and Yasser Al Huwaish, who was appointed this year as dean of Damascus university's law faculty.

It also includes Bahia Mardini -- the sole woman -- a journalist with a doctorate in law who has been living in Britain, and Ismail Al Khalfan, who holds a doctorate in law specialising in international law, and who this year was appointed law faculty dean at Aleppo university.

Another committee member, Mohammed Reda Jalkhi, holds a doctorate in law specialising in international law from Idlib University, where he graduated in 2023.

The final statement of this week's dialogue conference called for "a constitutional committee to prepare a draft permanent constitution for the country that achieves balance between authorities, sets the values of justice, freedom and equality, and establishes a state of law a institutions".

Syria's conflict broke out in 2011 after Assad brutally repressed anti-government protests.

It spiralled into a complex conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions more domestically and abroad and battered the economy, infrastructure and industry.

In December, a caretaker government was appointed to steer the country until March 1, when a new government was due to be formed.

JERUSALEM — Israel endorsed a proposal on Sunday to temporarily extend the truce in Gaza as a bridging measure after the first phase of its ceasefire with Hamas drew to a close.

The first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas was set to expire over the weekend without any certainty as to the second phase, which is hoped to bring a more permanent end to the Gaza war.

Negotiations have so far been inconclusive, with the fate of hostages still held in Gaza and the lives of more than two million Palestinians hanging in the balance.

The extension, which according to the Israeli prime minister's office was put forward by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, would last through Ramadan, due to end late March, and Passover in mid-April.

According to the Israeli statement, the extension would see half of the hostages still in Gaza released on the day the deal comes into effect, with the rest to be released at the end if agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas has previously rejected the idea of an extension in favour of moving on to phase two. 

"The only way to achieve stability in the region and the return of the prisoners is to complete the implementation of the agreement... starting with the implementation of the second phase," Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawisaid in a statement given to AFP on Sunday.

The standoff over how to proceed with the truce process comes as world leaders and international organisation urge against any resumption of fighting, which after 15 months devastated Gaza, displaced almost the entire population of the coastal strip and sparked a hunger crisis.

United Nations head Antonio Guterres warned against a "catastrophic" return to war and said a "permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages are essential to preventing escalation and averting more devastating consequences for civilians".

Meanwhile Washington announced late Saturday it was boosting its military aid to Israel.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was using "emergency authorities to expedite the delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance," noting that a partial arms embargo imposed under former president Joe Biden had been reversed.

Israeli officials engaged in ceasefire negotiations with Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators in Cairo last week. But by early Saturday there was no sign of consensus as Muslims in Gaza marked the first day of Ramadan with coloured lights brightening war-damaged neighbourhoods. 

A senior Hamas official told AFP the Palestinian militant group was prepared to release all remaining hostages in a single swap during the second phase.

"Hamas will not be happy to drag on phase one, but it doesn't really have the capacity to force Israel to go on to phase two," Max Rodenbeck, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, told AFP.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel announced Sunday that it was suspending the entry of supplies into Gaza, and threatened "consequences" for Hamas if it did not accept a proposal for a temporary extension of the truce in the Palestinian territory.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided that, from this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be suspended," his office said in a statement.

"Israel will not accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages. If Hamas persists with its refusal, there will be other consequences," the statement added.

Hamas slammed the move, calling it a "war crime" and saying it violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides, the first 42-day phase of which just drew to a close.

A proposed extension of the first phase, which according to Netanyahu's office was put forward by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, would last through Ramadan and end at Passover in mid-April.

According to the Israeli statement, the extension would see half of the hostages still in Gaza freed on the day the deal came into effect, with the rest to be released at the end if an agreement was reached on a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that Netanyahu's "decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the [ceasefire] agreement".

The Palestinian group has consistently favoured a transition to the second phase of the ceasefire, which would see the release of all remaining hostages and a more permanent end to the fighting in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Following the announcement from Netanyahu's office, his spokesman Omer Dostri wrote on X: "No trucks entered Gaza this morning, nor will they at this stage."

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose party is crucial to keeping Netanyahu's government in power, welcomed the decision to suspend aid.

Stopping aid "until Hamas is destroyed or completely surrenders and all our hostages are freed is an important step in the right direction", he said on Telegram, calling for a renewed fight "until total victory" against Hamas.

"We have remained in government to ensure this," he added.

Hamas called on "mediators and the international community to pressure" Israel to "put an end to these punitive, immoral measures against more than two million people in the Gaza Strip".

More than 15 months of war created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with the UN repeatedly warning the territory was on the brink of famine before the ceasefire allowed a surge of aid to enter.