22/08/2025

FRIDAY | AUG 22, 2025

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UN chief urges immediate ceasefire

TOKYO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres yesterday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City. “It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza,” that was necessary “to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause,” Guterres said in Japan where he is attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Israel, which has called up tens of thousands of army reservists, is pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza’s biggest urban centre despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians. Israel holds about 75% of the Gaza Strip. Israel hammered Gaza City and its outskirts on Wednesday night, residents said yesterday. “We are not waiting. We have begun the preliminary action and IDF (army) troops are already holding the outskirts of Gaza City,” the Israeli military said in a statement. Israel’s plans to expand the fighting and take control of Gaza City have sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition. Ahead of the offensive, the Israeli military said the call-up of the reservists would begin early next month. Gaza City residents described relentless bombardments. Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said air strikes and artillery fire targeted areas to the northwest and southeast of Gaza City. Late yesterday, the Israeli military detailed a range of operations across the Gaza Strip in recent weeks. It said the manoeuvres and strikes “created the conditions” for the military to intensify pressure on Hamas and lay the groundwork for the next stages of the campaign. As Israel tightened its grip on the outskirts of Gaza City, meditators WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, as Washington ramped up its pressure on the war tribunal over its targeting of Israeli leaders and a past decision to investigate US officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the court “a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare” against the United States and Israel. The move drew ire from France TEL AVIV: Israel approved a major settlement project on Wednesday in an area of the occupied West Bank that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state. Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 sq km parcel known as E1 just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years amid international opposition. The latest announcement also drew condemnation, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying the

who must obtain permits from authorities to travel through checkpoints to cross into east Jerusalem or Israel. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy also rejected the plans, saying it would “divide a Palestinian state in two (and) mark a flagrant breach of international law”. Jordan’s King Abdullah II denounced the project as well, adding that “the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace”. – AFP CHILDREN COULD DIE’ GENEVA: UN Palestinian refugee agency head Philippe Lazzarini voiced concern that children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza would die if emergency provisions are not immediately put in place. He said data showed a six-fold increase in the number of children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza City since March. “We have a population that is extremely weak that will be confronted with a new major military operation. Many will simply not have the strength to undergo a new displacement. If there is no crisis plan, then they (the children suffering from malnutrition) will certainly be condemned,” he told a Geneva press club meeting. – Reuters NETANYAHU STEPS UP ATTACK ON ALBANESE SYDNEY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up attacks on Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese over his government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, saying Albanese’s political record had been damaged forever. “I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed ... ,” he told Sky News in an interview. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry in letters to both leaders urged them to discuss differences through diplomacy rather than public posturing. “We write to express our deep dismay and concern at the recent war of words,” the letters said. “If things need to be said publicly, they should be said using measured and seemly language befitting national leaders. Australia and Israel are mature democracies and their governments need to act accordingly.” – Reuters SENATORS PUSH FOR PRESS ACCESS WASHINGTON: A group of 17 US Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday calling for the United States to press Israel to grant access and protection to journalists in Gaza. The letter comes one week after an Israeli strike killed a group of Palestinian journalists in the besieged territory. “The United States must make it clear to Israel that banning and censoring media organisations and targeting or threatening members of the press is unacceptable and must stop,” the Democratic senators said in a statement. The letter to Rubio, a staunch supporter of Israel, said: “We urge you to press the Israeli government to protect journalists in Gaza and allow international media to access the territory.” – AFP ’MALNOURISHED

BR I E F S

The remaining hostages would be released in a second phase alongside talks for a wider settlement. Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have overseen several rounds of shuttle diplomacy. Qatar said the latest proposal was “almost identical” to an earlier version approved by Israel, while Cairo said on Monday that “the ball is now in its (Israel’s) court”. – AFP/Reuters

o Israel continues to pound Gaza City

exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Of the 251 captives kidnapped in October 2023, 49 are still in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Sources from Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad told AFP this week that the latest ceasefire proposal calls for the release of 10 hostages and 18 bodies from Gaza.

continued to wait for an official Israeli reaction to their latest ceasefire proposal that Hamas accepted earlier this week. Israel and Hamas have held a string of indirect negotiations throughout the nearly two-year conflict, paving the way for a pair of short ceasefires during which Israeli hostages were freed in

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

US sanctions target ICC judges, prosecutors

the administration took the unprecedented step of slapping sanctions on four ICC judges. The escalation will likely impede the functioning of the court and the prosecutor’s office as they deal with major cases, including war crime allegations against Russia. ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defence chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. – Reuters

cases linked to Israel and the United States. “United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC’s politicisation, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach,” Rubio said. “I urge countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to resist the claims of this bankrupt institution.” The second round of sanctions comes less than three months after

and the United Nations. Paris urged Washington to withdraw the sanctions, while the ICC said it deplored the designations, calling them “a flagrant attack” against the independence of an impartial judicial institution. Washington designated Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, and Kimberly Prost of Canada, according to the US Treasury and State Department. All officials have been involved in settlement would effectively cleave the West Bank in two and pose an “existential threat” to a contiguous Palestinian state. Last week, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed plans to build around 3,400 homes on the ultra-sensitive tract of land, which lies between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. “I am pleased to announce that just a short while ago, the civil administration approved the planning for the construction of the E1

Tel Aviv approves West Bank settlement project

ground, and fragments its geographic and demographic unity,” the PA’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It added the move would entrench “division of the occupied West Bank into isolated areas and cantons that are disconnected from one another, turning them into something akin to real prisons, where movement is only possible through Israeli checkpoints and under the terror of armed settler militias”. Israel heavily restricts the movement of West Bank Palestinians,

neighbourhood,” the mayor of Maale Adumim, Guy Yifrach, said in a statement on Wednesday. All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) slammed the latest move. “This undermines the chances of implementing the two-state solution, establishing a Palestinian state on the