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Afghanistan
More Than 6 Million Afghan Migrants Have Returned Home in Three Years, UN-Habitat Says
2026-08-28
[KhaamaPress] More than 6 million Afghan migrants colonists have returned to Afghanistan over the past three years, and many more continue to return, the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) said on Thursday.

In a post on X, UN-Habitat said the large-scale return of Afghan migrants colonists has increased the need for housing and basic services across the country.

The agency described adequate shelter as the first step toward ensuring a life of dignity for returnees and called for greater support to help communities accommodate the growing number of people returning to Afghanistan.

The statement comes as Afghanistan continues to receive thousands of returning migrants colonists, particularly from neighboring countries, amid ongoing deportations and voluntary returns.

The latest warning follows a separate update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which said displaced people, returnees and communities affected by natural disasters face an urgent need for safe shelter.

OCHA said humanitarian agencies are facing a severe funding shortfall for shelter assistance. According to the UN agency, the shelter response has received only a small portion of the $160 million requested, leaving a funding gap of $153 million.

The funding shortage has limited the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide emergency shelter, repair damaged homes and support families returning to areas with limited infrastructure.

UN agencies have repeatedly warned that Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs remain among the world’s largest, with millions of people requiring assistance following years of conflict, economic hardship and recurring natural disasters.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza death notices show some so-called health workers were operating for terror groups
2026-07-28
[IsraelTimes] Times of Israel review of Hamas and Islamic Jihad announcements finds that at least 18 of those identified as doctors, nurses and hospital employees in Gaza were also combatants

On September 8, 2025, about a month before fighting in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
halted, Mohammed Akram al-Kafarna was killed in an Israeli strike.

Following his death, the Paleostinian Nurses and Midwives Syndicate mourned al-Kafarna as the Gaza head of the medical association.

The International Council of Nurses, a Geneva-based body that calls itself "the global voice of nursing," wrote in a condolence letter that it was "deeply saddened by the death of Dr. Mohammed Akram al-Kafarna, one of the leaders of the Paleostinian nursing profession in Gaza."

He was "among the hundreds of nurses and healthcare workers who have tragically bit the dust during the conflict," the ICN added, according to a copy of the letter published on Facebook.

But al-Kafarna was no Florence Nightingale. According to Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
, alongside his medical work, al-Kafarna was also a fighter in the Nidal Nasser Battalion in Beit Hanoun, part of its Northern Gaza Brigade.

In a picture published by Hamas, al-Kafarna is seen in full military gear, holding a loaded rifle.

His name is one of scores published by Hamas and its fellow Gazook terror group, Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, in recent months, belatedly identifying their many fighters killed during the two years of war sparked by the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.

Among the names are not only those previously identified as journalists and athletes, but also healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and hospital employees.

The revelations that these figures had dual roles that made them legitimate military targets have cast doubt on claims that the Israel Defense Forces aimed their firepower at innocent civilians, including those in key roles that are supposed to afford them special protections.

At least 18 Gazooks killed during the war who were reported to be healthcare workers — including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other employees of Gaza hospitals or the Hamas-run Health Ministry — have since also appeared in lists published by Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad identifying them as members of the groups.

The names of the 18 were first compiled by independent researcher Salo Aizenberg, and confirmed by The Times of Israel.

Despite the admissions, groups tracking those killed in the two years of fighting continue to list the figures as healthcare workers. On the ICN’s website, the statement condemning al-Kafarna’s death remains available, as does its assertion that his killing constituted a violation of international law.

The role of healthcare amid the fighting in Gaza has been among the most sensitive touchpoints, with Israel accused of targeting hospitals and first responders throughout the war. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is run by the Hamas terror group that has been the de facto ruler of the Strip since 2007, 1,141 health workers are among the approximately 70,000 people killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Rights groups, citing the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, claim that the number of health workers killed is over 1,500.

Gaza Health Ministry tallies of war dead, which have never differentiated between civilians and combatants, are considered suspect by Israel given Hamas’s role in administering health and rescue services in the Strip. During the war, Israel regularly accused Hamas of using hospitals and other medical facilities as bases for military operations, often in tunnels dug below hospital buildings.

The IDF has released photographs, operational footage, and interrogation material that it says demonstrate Hamas’s use of hospitals to hide weapons, control centers, barracks, and even hostages.

The army has said its activities around hospitals, which left some facilities closed or only partially operational, sought to protect civilians and patients from harm within a complex combat environment, though rights groups have challenged those claims and continue to accuse Israel of decimating the Strip’s health services as part of a genocidal campaign.

Israel has also defended arrests of hospital directors and other health workers accused of collaborating with Hamas, such as Kamal Adwan hospital head Hussam Abu Safiya, whom the IDF says served as a colonel in Hamas’s armed wing.

BAD MEDICINE
Throughout the war, Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad, the two main fighting forces in Gaza, refrained from identifying rank-and-file operatives killed in the fighting, but, in recent months, both have begun publishing names in online obituaries, with hundreds of names published so far.

A previous Times of Israel review of published names revealed that several figures identified as journalists were actually terror operatives.

Earlier this month, the Israeli military provided details on 12 soccer players killed in the Gaza Strip during the war who it said have been identified as terror operatives, slamming their international portrayal as innocent athletes. Seven of the 12, including one who was a FIFA referee, were acknowledged as members by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Hamas continues to release new names daily, while Islamic Jihad publishes additional lists every few weeks.

Among those claimed by the terror groups are several figures previously identified as nurses, such as Ahmad Adel Abu al-Hilal, who served as a team commander in the Central Information Unit of Islamic Jihad’s Rafah Brigade.

When he was killed in Gaza on May 25, 2025, Paleostinian media outlets, including the Paleostinian Authority’s official television station, reported that he worked as a nurse at the European Hospital in southern Khan Younis, publishing a photograph of him wearing nursing scrubs.

Islamic Jihad also named Ayman Suleiman Abu Tir, who was killed in Gaza on June 26, 2025, as a commander in its Central Operations Unit.

The Gaza Nurses Syndicate’s Facebook page identified Abu Tir as a nurse at Nasser Hospital.

A database run by a website called Genocide in Gaza, which documents Gaza residents killed during the war, identifies him as head of the clinical nutrition department at Nasser Hospital.

Genocide in Gaza describes itself on its website as an independent legal team that collects information and documents what it describes as "acts of genocide and massacres committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip" since October 7, 2023.

It could not be reached for comment.

Jaber Abd al-Hamid Mohammadin was presented by Gaza’s Health Ministry on Facebook as a nurse who was killed while working in the intensive care unit at Rantisi Children’s Hospital in northern Gaza.

According to reports on social media, he was killed on December 13, 2024. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
there are no known reports of an IDF ground operation at the hospital at that time, and the military’s main operation there took place in late 2023.

Paleostinian Islamic Jihad has since identified Mohammadin as a commander in its military manufacturing unit.

Six healthcare workers whose names later appeared on Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad lists of members killed during the war are included in a 2024 report published by Healthcare Workers Watch, a Paleostinian group documenting healthcare workers killed in Gaza and detained by Israel.

According to its website, it compiles information by monitoring social media and cross-checking it against data from Gaza’s Health Ministry, hospitals, professional associations, and local media outlets.

Healthcare Workers Watch did not respond to The Times of Israel’s request for comment on whether it intends to update its report or issue a clarification.

Among those listed by the group is Ibrahim Abd al-Raouf al-Farra, who appears in the report as a nurse.

According to another database of those killed in the war maintained by the Institute for Paleostine Studies, al-Farra worked as a clinical instructor at a nursing faculty, as a nurse at a private clinic, and at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. A picture of him posted on Facebook in 2021 shows him wearing a lab coat with the logo of a Khan Younis youth center.

Hamas, however, has listed al-Farra as one of its operatives. According to the group, he served in the Osama bin Zaid Battalion of the Khan Younis Brigade and was killed on October 20, 2023.

The Beirut-based Institute for Paleostine Studies, an independent research institute, operates a database titled, "Documenting the Targeting and Destruction of the Health Sector in the Gaza Strip." According to the project’s website, its purpose is to provide "accurate and detailed information" on what it describes as "Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s healthcare sector during the genocidal war."

The Institute for Paleostine Studies could not be reached for comment.

Healthcare Workers Watch also lists Ahmad Mohammed Hassan Balousha as a nurse killed in the war. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry’s Facebook page, he worked in the ministry’s organ transplantation unit.

Paleostinian Islamic Jihad, however, identified him as a commander in the military judiciary unit of its Northern Brigade.

Najm al-Din Nasser Abu al-Jabin was also identified as a nurse killed by Israel. According to Hamas, he served in the Fawzi Abu al-Qara Battalion of the group’s Northern Brigade and was killed on October 27, 2023.

According to reports from Gaza, Salem Jumaa Shirab was killed on March 2, 2024. About a year after his death, Gaza’s Health Ministry Nursing Administration wrote on Facebook that he had worked as a nurse at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and was killed while working at an Emirati field hospital in Rafah.

He has since been named by Islamic Jihad as a member of its military medical department in the Khan Younis Brigade.

Mohammed Darram Abu al-Harbid is listed in the Healthcare Workers Watch database as a physiotherapist or occupational therapist killed during the war. In Facebook posts published before October 7 by a Gaza charity operating a physiotherapy center in Beit Hanoun, he is described as a specialist in the field.

However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
he was subsequently identified by Islamic Jihad as a member of its air defense unit in the Northern Brigade of its military wing.

Healthcare Workers Watch and the Genocide in Gaza database list Haitham Mohammed Hammad as either a nurse or a Health Ministry employee.

An obituary from Islamic Jihad gives him a third role: cell commander in the military medical department of its Northern Brigade.

DOCTORS WITH GUNS
On June 25, 2024, Médecins Sans Frontières announced the death of Fadi Jihad al-Wadiya, a 33-year-old physiotherapist and father of three who had joined the organization in 2018.

The statement expressed outrage over his death, saying he was killed while riding a bike near an MSF clinic, "on his way to provide medical care to others who had been injured."

A day later, after Israel accused al-Wadiya of being a member of Islamic Jihad, MSF responded that it "has no indication that this is true."

"There is no justification for this; it is unacceptable," the group fumed.

Then in February of this year, Islamic Jihad identified al-Wadiya as a member of the organization, describing him as an assistant in its military manufacturing unit.

MSF has since appended a note to its posts about al-Wadiya stating that it "had no information indicating that Fadi al-Wadiya was involved in any military activity before he was killed by Israeli forces."

"If the Israeli authorities had any credible information about Fadi’s involvement in military activities, they never shared it with MSF — prior to his killing or when we reached out immediately after he was killed to ask for clarifications around the circumstances of his death," the group added. "We would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity. Any employee who engages in military activity would pose a danger to our staff and patients."

Al-Wadiya continues to be listed by MSF as one of its employees killed during the war, on an "In Memoriam" page.

Not all of the healthcare-related personnel identified by Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad worked in clinical roles. Some were employed in supporting positions within Gaza’s healthcare system.

Ahmad Faiz al-Dalu appears on a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad list as a team commander in the Training Department of the Central Operations Unit in the Gaza City Brigade.

The exact date of his death is unclear. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
in July 2025, Gazook media reported that his body had been recovered and identified him as a medical laboratory technician at Kamal Adwan Hospital. Paleostinian media published a photograph showing him wearing the hospital’s uniform.

Several other individuals identified by Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad as members of their organizations are listed in various databases as employees of Gaza’s Health Ministry in administrative positions.

Raed Abd al-Hamid Khdeir served as a cell commander in Paleostinian Islamic Jihad’s Khan Younis Brigade. The Institute for Paleostine Studies database identifies him as an administrative employee at Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Tamer Mohammed al-Hamidi appears on a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad list as a cell commander responsible for armaments in the organization’s Central Brigade.

According to an online database maintained by a group calling itself the Shireen Observatory, which documents Paleostinians from Gaza and the West Bank killed by Israeli forces, al-Hamidi worked in an administrative position at al-Aqsa Hospital, apparently referring to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

Shireen Observatory could not be reached for comment.

The Institute for Paleostine Studies also identifies al-Hamidi as an administrative employee at Gaza’s Health Ministry.

On June 22 of this year, amid a ceasefire that took effect in October, Maysara Salah Nassar was killed while traveling in a civilian vehicle struck by Israel, according to reports from Gaza.

According to the Genocide in Gaza database, Nassar was a paramedic. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
Islamic Jihad published a notice identifying him as a cell commander in the military medical department of the organization’s Rafah Brigade.

Two of the figures flagged by Aizenburg were not included in any of the databases, but were identified as health workers by their places of work.

After Munther Faiz al-Sharafa was killed in July 2025, a Gaza City clinic identified him as an employee, without specifying what his role was. al-Sharafa subsequently appeared on a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad list as a cell commander in the Financial Management Unit of the Gaza City Brigade.

Abd al-Latif Adel Abu Tabiya was killed that same month, along with his infant daughter and several family members, according to reports from Gaza.

On his Facebook profile, Abu Tabiya identified himself as an employee of the European Hospital in Khan Younis, though without specifying his role there.

The hospital compound was bombed by Israel in May 2025, after being evacuated, in strikes that killed then-Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, who Israel said had been hiding in terror tunnels beneath the site.

Though it is unknown whether he had any connection to the military activities taking place at the hospital, Abu Tabiya was later identified by Islamic Jihad as a team commander in the Eastern Battalion of the Khan Younis Brigade.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza rebuild priced at $71 billion, with most homes and nearly all businesses destroyed
2026-05-07
More numbers at the link.
[IsraelTimes] First comprehensive report since ceasefire, compiled by World Bank, UN and EU, finds war caused over $35 billion of direct damage and over $22 billion more of economic losses

Rebuilding Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
to its prewar state will cost upwards of $71 billion over five years, according to a recent report by the World Bank, United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
and European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, the first such assessment of the damage caused to the enclave afteran October ceasefire halted two years of war there.

The sweeping report, which is more highly detailed than previous assessments conducted during the war, found that the war caused $35.2 billion in physical damage, and it put economic losses — including lost income, displacement-induced costs and more — at an estimated at $22.7 billion.

The total is some $5 billion higher than the last Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, or RDNA, reported by the World Bank, UN and EU as of October 2024.

Reconstruction in the Strip is largely at a standstill due to the lack of progress toward phase two of the US peace plan, which envisioned the ceasefire reached on October 9, 2025, leading to a transition that will end the Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
terror group’s rule of the Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces continues to hold over 50 percent of the enclave’s territory, and has refused to allow most heavy equipment into the part of the Strip outside of its control — where nearly all Gazooks now live — without Hamas first disarming under the plan.

"Economically, the situation in Gaza has not changed since the ceasefire until now," said Saif al-Din Odeh, an economist based in Gaza who previously worked for the Paleostinian Monetary Authority, on the stagnation in the Strip over the past six months.

The study, published April 20, outlines a three-phase reconstruction plan aimed not only at restoring prewar conditions but also at improving governance and service delivery, starting with a focus on food assistance, temporary housing, temporary learning spaces, and field hospitals over the first year and a half. It envisions large-scale rebuilding of housing, healthcare, and education systems over the next 18 months, followed by a two-year process centered on modernization of housing, the health system and education.

The conclusions are based on data collected over the course of the war and since, including satellite-based data collection, social media analysis, Gaza-based engineers, cost assessors and "on-the-ground sources" such as UN agencies, Gaza-based government ministries, humanitarian actors, and civil society organizations. The report’s authors assessed damage estimates based on prewar conditions, but they calculated reconstruction costs that incorporate elements of optimization, improved efficiency and sustainability.

Reconstructing housing is estimated to cost over $16 billion, while rebuilding the agriculture and food system sectors, along with commercial and industrial activity, is estimated to cost another $19.5 billion.

Another $19 billion will be needed to get the health and education systems back on their feet and build out social protections. Infrastructure recovery is estimated at nearly $10 billion more.

According to the report, the housing sector sustained the heaviest damage, with more than 1.2 million Gazooks, roughly 60% of the population, losing their homes amid massive bombardment over two years of war that — unlike earlier, more limited rounds between Hamas and Israel — also targeted high-rise buildings and densely populated urban areas.

"The recent conflict has generated catastrophic destruction of the housing stock," the report noted, tallying the damage to residences at approximately $18 billion, just over half the total cost of physical damage in Gaza.

According to the analysis, 371,888 housing units, representing over three-quarters of Gaza’s housing stock, were directly affected during the war, nearly 85% of which were completely destroyed.

Thanks to efficiencies, the report estimated that rebuilding the housing sector will cost $16.21 billion, which makes it the largest single recovery line item.

Little of that building has begun yet. A March report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) found that some 1.7 million Gazooks are still living in "displacement sites" — tent encampments and temporary structures — and are unable to return to their homes, either because they were destroyed or because they are located in areas of eastern Gaza that remain under IDF control under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.

"The situation of the displaced is the same as it was [during the war]," said Odeh. "Most people are living in tents because their homes were destroyed."

Some main roads have begun to be cleared in joint projects between local authorities and the International Committee of the Red Thingy, Odeh said.

Social media footage has also shown debris removal efforts in recent months by humanitarian organizations from Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
, Egypt, and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
Still, clearance efforts remain minimal. "When you’re talking about the rubble of a 15-story building, it’s not simple [to clear] — it takes time and heavy machinery, which is in limited supply," he said. "So they open three or four meters just to allow vehicles to pass, and push the rubble to the center of the road to keep traffic moving."

It is unclear who will pay to rebuild the Strip.

The US in February announced that $17 billion had been pledged for emergency relief and the reconstruction of Gaza through the Washington-led Board of Peace, which is tasked with overseeing the postwar management of Gaza.

This included pledges of $10 billion from the US and roughly $1 billion each from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
and Kuwait.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
only a tiny fraction of these pledges has been transferred to the Board of Peace as of early May, several officials familiar with the matter have told The Times of Israel. The Board of Peace has adamantly denied funding problems.

Similarly substantial pledges were issued by countries to help rebuild Gaza after previous wars with Israel, which also went largely undelivered, and the Board of Peace now faces the added challenge of international attention shifting away from Gaza just weeks after the February donor conference. Gulf countries that offered the most money were some of the hardest hit during the US-Israel war against Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and may choose to shift their financial priorities accordingly.

In a blurb issued alongside the report, the United Nations and the European Union — though not the World Bank — stressed that "recovery and reconstruction efforts should be Paleostinian-led," and that the process should actively support the transfer of governance to the Paleostinian Authority in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2803, which endorsed Trump’s Gaza plan, and advance "a durable political settlement based on the two-state solution."

Under Trump’s plan, a technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza operating under the Board of Peace is supposed to take over running the Strip. However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
the panel has yet to enter the Strip, and control of the enclave remains divided between Israel and Hamas.

On Monday, the Board of Peace’s lead envoy for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov was in Israel for talks with brass hats after meeting with Hamas in Cairo, Army Radio reported.

Mladenov was expected to ask for Israel to lift some restrictions on the entry of humanitarian items into Gaza, and to limit its military operations, according to the report.

Mladenov has been holding talks with Hamas leaders for weeks on disarming, but the group has largely bucked the demands to give up all of its weapons.

Instead, the terror group submitted a counter-offer to the Board of Peace, insisting that the issue of its weapons only be addressed as part of a framework culminating in the establishment of a Paleostinian state.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israeli Druze leader says Syrian community remains ‘besieged’ months after clashes
2026-02-21
[IsraelTimes] Sheikh Muafak Tarif says over 120,000 still displaced, 300 held captive following clashes that erupted with government and Bedouin tribal forces in Sweida last year

Seven months after deadly festivities between Syria’s Druze minority and government‑backed forces, the spiritual leader of Druze in neighboring Israel said members of the community across the border remained in peril.

"They’re still besieged — completely encircled. They aren’t allowed to bring in any humanitarian aid, including the aid we’re trying to deliver," Sheikh Muafak Tarif told AFP in an interview this week.

The holy man spoke in Julis, a quiet Druze village in northern Israel, where the community has set up an "emergency room" to coordinate aid efforts for Druze in Syria.

Israeli and Druze flags hang on the walls of the room, alongside posters in Hebrew and Arabic calling for an end to the killing of Syrian Druze.

The Druze are followers of an esoteric religion that split from Shiite Islam centuries ago. Its adherents are spread across parts of Syria, Israel and Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
Clashes erupted last July in southern Syria between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes. The Syrian authorities said their forces intervened to stop the festivities, but witnesses and monitors accused them of siding with the Bedouin. Israel bombed Syria during the violence, saying it was acting to defend the minority group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor of unclear funding, said the fighting left more than 2,000 people dead, including 789 Druze civilians who were "summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel."

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that some 187,000 people were displaced by the violence.

"There are still more than 120,000 people displaced from their homes," Sheikh Tarif said. "Thirty‑eight villages have been captured, and residents aren’t allowed to return. There are more than 300 captives, including children and women."
Reports at the time had them taken as war booty and some sold into slavery, like the Chibok girls in Nigeria, well beyond Syria’s borders.
AFP was unable to verify those claims.

Although a ceasefire was reached in July, access to Sweida remains difficult. Residents accuse the government of imposing a blockade on the province, which Damascus denies. Several aid convoys have entered since then.

"Why not let them return to their villages? We’re in the depths of winter and that is a mountainous area. It’s very cold," Tarif said.

With Syria’s government and Kurdish-led forces agreeing last month to integrate Kurdish fighters and civil institutions into state structures, Sweida is the last major area outside Damascus’s control.

Tarif said the community did not need government security forces in the region.

"The Druze have forces capable of defending themselves and maintaining order," he said, referring to Syrian government forces as jihadists and "Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
members."

Many in Syria remain wary of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, given that the jihadist group he led started as an al-Qaeda affiliate, and many of its former members are in the government he established after toppling Syria’s long-time ruler, Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
, in December 2024.

Israel’s leaders have repeatedly referenced Sharaa’s jihadist past in calling for the West not to legitimize him.

Nevertheless, Israel and Syria, which have no official diplomatic ties, have held several rounds of direct talks in recent months.

Following negotiations in January, and under US pressure, both sides agreed to set up an intelligence‑sharing mechanism as they apparently moved toward a security agreement.

One issue under discussion is the possibility of Syrian Druze working in Israel.

Sheikh Tarif said "that is something we have heard" and added that he wished any Syrian could come to work as a day laborer "because the [economic] situation in Syria is very difficult."

He also called for Druze across the Middle East to be able to visit their religious sites in neighboring countries, "just as our Christian and Moslem brothers visit their holy places" in states with which they may not have diplomatic relations.

"The Druze also deserve to access and pray at our holy sites in Syria and Lebanon and for them to come visit our holy places" in Israel, he said.

Around 150,000 Druze live in Israel, most of whom hold Israeli citizenship and serve in the IDF. However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
the majority of the roughly 23,000 Druze living in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the Six-Day War of June 1967, do not hold Israeli citizenship and still see themselves as Syrian nationals. They maintain close links with communities in Syria, where some 700,000 Druze live.
Related:
Druze 02/19/2026 Islamic State Claimed Attacks Against the New Syrian Government
Druze 02/15/2026 Syrian FM: Security talks with Israel are focused on buffer zone, not Golan Heights
Druze 02/13/2026 Follow-up:withdrawal of US forces from the Al-Tanf base

Related:
Sweida: 2026-02-15 Syrian FM: Security talks with Israel are focused on buffer zone, not Golan Heights
Sweida: 2026-02-10 Syrian security officer arrested over killing of civilians in Druze-majority Sweida
Sweida: 2026-01-14 Syrian army intensifies attacks on SDF-held areas
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
UN agency begins clearing huge Gaza City waste dump as health risks mount
2026-02-12
Whatever happened to their famously overflowing poo pond?
[IsraelTimes] Solid‑waste mound, estimated at 300,000 cubic meters that formed during war, to be moved to new temporary site south of city that meets environmental standards

The United Nations Development Program began clearing a huge wartime garbage dump on Wednesday that has swallowed one of Gaza City’s oldest commercial districts and is an environmental and health risk.

Alessandro Mrakic, head of the UNDP Gaza Office, said work had started to remove the solid‑waste mound that has overtaken the once-busy Fras Market in the Palestinian enclave’s main city.

He put the volume of the dump at more than 300,000 cubic meters (390,000 cubic yards) and 13 meters (14 yards) high.

It formed after municipal crews were blocked from reaching Gaza’s main landfill in the Juhr al‑Dik area — adjacent to the border with Israel — when the Gaza war began in October 2023 with the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel through the border.
The Gazans started the war. Living in garbage is one result.
The area in Juhr al-Dik is now under full Israeli control.

Over the next six months, UNDP plans to transfer the waste to a new temporary site prepared in the Abu Jarad area south of Gaza City and built to meet environmental standards.

The site covers 75,000 square meters and will also accommodate daily collection, Mrakic said in a statement sent to Reuters. The project is funded by the Humanitarian Fund and the European Union’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

A Gaza poo pond history — from 2007, after PM Ariel Sharon pulled everyone out:
Sewage flood kills 4 in Gaza Strip

[SeattleTimes] The earthen wall of a sewage pond in the northern Gaza Strip ruptured Tuesday, flooding a nearby village and killing at least four Palestinians, providing a tragic illustration of Gaza’s crumbling public works after years of neglect and recently curtailed foreign aid to the government.

The dead in the village of Umm Nasser included a 70-year-old woman, a teenage girl, a 5-year-old boy, and 2-year-old Jamal Abu Safra, whose mother watched him sink beneath the foul brown water as she struggled to remain afloat.

“I can’t swim and I started swallowing sewage,” said Amal Abu Safra, 30, who held her youngest son aloft for several minutes before she lost the strength to do so. “I wanted to go under instead of him. But then he disappeared.”

As the sewage spill began, children were playing in the streets, drawing a furious response from the village’s roughly 5,000 residents, most of them impoverished Bedouins.

U.N. officials said about 250 people are homeless, and rescue workers are moving villagers from the low-lying areas around the ponds to higher ground near the former Israeli settlements.

A January 2004 report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs declared the sewage ponds an “environmental emergency.”

The ponds and adjacent treatment plant were designed to serve 50,000 people in the Beit Lahiya area, the report said, but the region’s population had grown to 190,000. At the time, 110 acres had already been flooded by the sewage overflow.

After nearly four decades in Gaza, the Israeli government withdrew its soldiers and evacuated its settlements — the northern bloc of which stood just above Umm Nasser — in September 2005.

Israel recently argued in domestic court that it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip, a designation that under international law holds the Jewish state responsible for the welfare of Gaza’s 1.4 million Palestinians.

Israel declined to seek a change in Gaza’s legal status with the United Nations after its departure from the coastal territory, when it pulled out thousands of Jewish settlers and shut down its military government.

The Palestinian Authority has since been hampered financially after most foreign donors cut off aid to the government in the wake of the January 2006 election of Hamas, an armed Islamic movement. Aid officials said plans to build a larger waste-treatment facility had been held up for years by perpetual fighting in the area between Israel and Palestinians and donor concerns about political instability. However, construction did not appear to have been affected by international sanctions.

Gaza City Mayor Majid Abu Ramadan, who leads a council of Gaza municipalities, blamed the collapse on lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, accusing residents of stealing the dirt and selling it to building companies for $70 a truckload. Umm Nasser is about 300 yards from the border with Israel, in an area where Palestinians have frequently launched rockets into Israel and Israeli artillery and aircraft have fired back. The situation worsened after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier last June in a border raid, and Israel responded by invading northern Gaza.
That’d be Gilad Shalit, who Hamas finally gave up for 1,027 miscellaneous terrorists in 2011.
Related:
Poo pond 03/05/2025 Aiming to stymie Trump’s ‘Riviera’ vision, Arab leaders endorse $53 billion Gaza plan
Poo pond 02/15/2025 Arab countries scramble to offer Trump an alternate proposal for post-war Gaza
Poo pond 01/11/2024 Al Jazeera 'journalists' in Gaza were terrorists: IDF presents evidence

Link


Arabia
Houthi harassment forcing [UN] World Food Program to shut in north Yemen, officials say
2026-01-30
[IsraelTimes] UN agency had suspended operations in August, and 365 staff will be laid off by March, sources report, citing terror group’s arrests of workers and funding shortages

Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
descended into a devastating civil war in 2014, when the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s pushed from their northern stronghold of Saada province and seized the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government out and to the south, and eventually into exile.

The Houthis now control most of the country’s north, including Sanaa, while the internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, rules the south. Most Yemenis live under Houthi rule.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted UN agencies as part of a crackdown on alleged Israeli espionage rings since the start of the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, which began with the Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
-led October 7, 2023, attack, forcibly entering and occupying UN premises in Sanaa and elsewhere. That war was halted in a ceasefire that took effect in October 2025.

Sixty-nine UN staff have been detained altogether, the official said, with the world body having strongly rejected allegations of spying.

Over the last few years, the Houthis have also detained workers for nongovernmental and civil society groups, and staff of diplomatic missions. They have claimed, without offering evidence, that detained UN staff and employees of other organizations and embassies are spies, which the UN has denied.

The crackdown severely restricted humanitarian operations in the Houthi-held areas, which account for around 70 percent of humanitarian needs in the country, according to the UN.

Ramesh Rajasingham, who directs humanitarian operations in Yemen, told the UN Security Council earlier this month that more than 18 million people in Yemen could face acute food insecurity in the coming month, with tens of thousands at risk of slipping into "catastrophic hunger" and facing famine-like conditions.

The global aid sector is grappling with a sharp drop in funding, with key donor countries, led by the United States, slashing their contributions.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said humanitarian operations in Yemen in 2025 were just 25% funded. The gap, OCHA said in a January 4 report, forced UN agencies and aid groups to scale back life-saving services across all sectors, particularly health and protection programs.

This left "millions of people without essential care and exposed to heightened risks," the agency said.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
U.S. Allocates $2 Billion to UN, Afghanistan Excluded from Aid
2025-12-31
[KhaamaPress] The United States announced $2 billion in humanitarian aid for the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
, but Afghanistan will not be included due to political interference concerns.

The United States has announced $2 billion in humanitarian aid for the United Nations, though Afghanistan and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
will not be included in the assistance.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
said on Monday that the new funding model aims to share the burden of UN humanitarian programs with other developed nations.
Oh?
Officials described the amount as a fraction of past U.S. contributions, but still significant enough to maintain America’s position as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.

Afghanistan and Yemen, both facing severe humanitarian crises, were excluded due to political interventions in aid distribution, according to U.S. authorities.

American officials cited Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
interference in Afghanistan and Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
control in Yemen as the main reasons for withholding assistance from these countries.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) annually requests funding to support millions of vulnerable populations affected by conflict, natural disasters, and food insecurity.

Historically, the U.S. has been the largest contributor to global humanitarian efforts, though President Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
’s administration reduced foreign aid and pressed the UN to downsize or eliminate programs.

The $2 billion allocation represents the first phase of U.S. support for the current UN humanitarian appeal, signaling continued engagement despite political and operational challenges.

Experts say excluding Afghanistan and Yemen highlights the growing impact of political interference on international aid and raises concerns about the effectiveness of humanitarian responses in conflict zones.
The Daily Caller adds:
Under the agreement, U.S. funds will be placed into a centralized pool managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), rather than distributed directly to individual agencies. Previously, the UN funded hundreds of individual, project-based grants that often overlapped and offered little flexibility to redirect resources as conditions changed, according to the State Department.

The restructuring will eliminate duplicative funding and allow greater prioritization of lifesaving work, Lewin told reporters. The U.S. will direct an initial $2 billion to target 17 countries, including Haiti, Syria, Ukraine and the Congo.

The initial $2 billion commitment represents a pullback from previous years, when U.S. humanitarian support for UN-backed programs reached as high as $17 billion annually, according to UN data. Lewin, however, disputed characterizations of the pledge as a massive cut, saying it does not reflect the full level of funding for the year and is intended to serve as the foundation of a broader funding push.

“Before you dismiss it by looking at some chart, $2 billion … means millions of people are gonna get life-saving support,” Lewin said, challenging other nations to beat the U.S. contribution.

The UN aims to raise more than $20 billion globally for humanitarian work in 2026 by targeting additional donor countries and the private sector, said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, who will oversee the distribution of the funds.

“We did get too reliant on the U.S. as easily our largest donor for many, many years. And it’s important we continue that work to broaden the base,” Fletcher said.

The State Department said UN agencies must reduce bureaucratic overhead, eliminate unnecessary duplication, and address ideological drift, under a new standard of “adapt, shrink, or die.”

“‘Adapt or die’ is pretty strong,” Fletcher said, but noted that UN agencies are already adjusting to the Trump administration’s focus on efficiency and accountability.

Fletcher pointed to the broader “Humanitarian Reset” initiative, which he said has clarified what qualifies as lifesaving work and stripped away layers of inefficiency and bureaucratic inertia.

“If the choice is adapt or die, I choose adapt,” Fletcher said, adding that he believes the changes will ultimately save more lives.

Over time, the State Department expects all U.S. funding for UN humanitarian work to be channeled through the OCHA-managed fund.

“This humanitarian reset at the United Nations should deliver more aid with fewer tax dollars — providing more focused, results-driven assistance aligned with U.S foreign policy,” said U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Walz.

Lewin also said the effort aligns with the Trump administration’s broader emphasis on peace and conflict prevention, rather than solely on humanitarian response.

“It’s incalculable the human suffering that’s prevented through the hard work of diplomacy that President Trump is doing to prevent armed conflict,” Lewin said. “Those costs have ballooned in recent years because the Biden administration sat by and let all of these wars and conflicts fester and get worse. And they said, you know, we’ll throw some humanitarian aid at the problem.”

“No one wants to be living in a [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] camp because they’ve been displaced by conflict. So, the best thing that we can do to decrease costs — and President Trump recognized this, and that’s why he’s the president of peace — is by ending armed conflict,” Lewin said.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
How DRC conflict became business for international rights watchdogs
2025-12-23
by Emma Mukasa

[GreatLakesEye] A day after the fall of Uvira to the AFC/M23 rebellion, on December 09, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than 74 civilians had been killed, 83 wounded, and thousands had crossed borders into Burundi and Rwanda following clashes between Congolese forces and the rebels since December 2. The source of this information was Radio Okapi.

From New York, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists that civilians in South Kivu were facing emergency levels of food insecurity after the UN World Food Programme suspended food assistance. He said civilians “are sharing the last of their food with displaced people.”

Haq warned that the DRC Humanitarian Response Plan was only 22 percent funded, “leaving a gap of nearly $2 billion.” He added that in Burundi, less than $33 million had been mobilized against a requirement of almost $77 million to support new arrivals.

Hundreds of miles away from Uvira, within a single day, the so-called humanitarian actors had precise figures on deaths, injuries, displacement, and the exact amount of money required. How can such detailed numbers be produced with no individual having set foot in areas under rebel control?

Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) issued a joint statement from their headquarters on December 12 describing a devastating situation. They claimed that “even before the fall of Uvira, violence had continued to increase, causing the displacement of 5.7 million people, 90% of whom are in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri.”

However, in Goma, Bukavu, and other territories controlled by AFC/M23, daily life tells a different story. Schools have resumed after interruptions, hospitals are functioning, roads are being built, and businesses continue to operate. Yet international “rights watchdogs” release alarming updates with striking regularity, reports of massacres, mass rape, and displacement figures running into the millions.

To the outside world, these reports are presented as moral advocacy for suffering civilians. In reality, they increasingly resemble a business model rather than a neutral effort to document facts because their survival depends on visibility, media attention, and how relevant donors consider their findings. Yet, these reports shape global media narratives and diplomatic pressure.

More at the link
Related:
Uvira: 2025-12-22 120 soldiers and police officers may be sentenced to death for cowardice and desertion
Uvira: 2025-12-20 Congo River Alliance (AFC/M23) declares a unilateral ceasefire
Uvira: 2025-12-19 Good Morning
Link


Africa Subsaharan
DR Congo coaltion has launched sustained heavy shelling of regions to the north of Kamanyola following Trump peace deal
2025-12-06

Text:

DR Congo coaltion has launched sustained heavy shelling of regions to the north of Kamanyola, particularly Kaziba. It is loud and happening every few minutes. Smoke at different locations can be seen from Bugarama, Rwanda side. A telecom tower has been destroyed by air bombing at 7h17.

Congo fighting flares within hours of Trump's peace deal ceremony

[Reuters] Fighting raged in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
on Friday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
hosted Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Washington to sign new deals aimed at ending years of conflict in a region rich in minerals.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Paul Kagame on Thursday reaffirmed commitments to a U.S.-brokered deal reached in June to stabilise the vast country and open the way for more Western mining investment.

"We're settling a war that's been going on for decades," said Trump, whose administration has intervened in a string of conflicts around the world to burnish his credentials as a peacemaker and advance U.S. business interests.

FIERCE FIGHTING CONTINUES ON THE GROUND
On the ground, however, fierce fighting continued, with the warring sides blaming one another.

The Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebel group, which seized the two largest cities in eastern Congo this year and is not bound by the Washington agreement, said forces loyal to the government were conducting widespread attacks.

The M23 said bombs fired from Burundi for more than three days had struck villages in North and South Kivu, killing women and kiddies, wounding civilians and destroying homes, schools and health centres. It accused Burundi, an ally of Congo, of coordinating Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s using drones and heavy artillery.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results...
Congo's army said it was not targeting civilians but that festivities were continuing and Rwandan forces were carrying out strikes.

It said it had neutralised an enemy drone that entered Congolese airspace from Bugarama in Rwanda, and accused M23 fighters of repeatedly violating a ceasefire.

M23 said 23 people had been killed and several others injured while a Congolese army spokesperson said 11 civilians had been killed during fighting.

Analysts say U.S. diplomacy paused an escalation of fighting in eastern Congo but failed to resolve core issues, with neither Congo nor Rwanda fulfilling pledges made in June.

Videos shared online showed dozens of displaced families fleeing on foot with their belongings and livestock near the town of Luvungi in eastern Congo. Rooters was not immediately able to authenticate them.

CIVILIANS CAUGHT UP IN CONFLICT
"Numerous homes have been destroyed, and women as well as children have tragically bit the dust," wrote Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for AFC/M23.

Forces loyal to the Congolese government "continued their relentless attacks on densely populated areas of North Kivu and South Kivu, using fighter jets, drones and heavy artillery", he wrote on X.

A Congo army spokesperson confirmed to Rooters that festivities were taking place along the Kaziba-Katogota-Rurambo axis in South Kivu province.

Reagan Mbuyi Kalonji, army spokesperson for South Kivu, said the Congolese army had only targeted fighters in the hills above Kaziba and Rurambo.

"There is population displacement in Luvungi due to Rwandan Defence Force bombardment. They are bombing blindly," he said.

Rwanda's army and government could not immediately be reached for comment.

A senior AFC/M23 official said rebel forces had retaken the town of Luberika and shot down a Congolese army drone. Requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media, he said the war was continuing, irrespective of the agreement signed in Washington.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, since December 2, intense fighting has resulted in civilian deaths, injuries and displacement.

Clashes and roadblocks have made evacuations impossible, preventing an unknown number of maimed civilians from reaching medical facilities for treatment, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF on Friday said it was alarmed by festivities on December 3 and 4 in South Kivu that hit three schools and another site near a school, reportedly killing at least seven children and injuring others.

"In 2025, fighting has intensified to levels not seen in years, and children, as always, are bearing the brunt," its statement said, urging a halt to attacks on education facilities.

Related:
Kamanyola: 2017-09-17 DR Congo forces kill at least 36 Burundi refugees
Link


Arabia
Houthis raid UN compound in Yemen, all staff reportedly safe
2025-10-19
[IsraelTimes] The Iranian-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels raided a UN facility in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s capital, Sanaa, a UN official says. All staff are reported to be safe.
What about the farm animals??
Jean Alam, a front man for the UN resident coordinator for Yemen, says Houthi security forces entered the UN compound in Sanaa earlier today.

He tells The News Agency that Dare Not be Named there were 15 UN international staff members in the facility at the time of the raid, and that "according to latest information all staff in the compound are safe and accounted for and have contacted their families."

The rebels raided UN offices in Sanaa on August 31 and detained 19 employees, according to the UN. They later released the deputy director of the UNICEF office in the country.

"The United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
is taking all necessary measures and is in contact with the relevant authorities and counterparts to ensure the safety and security of all personnel and property," Alam says.

Another UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
to discuss the raid, says the building is operated by the UN.

The employees belong to multiple UN agencies, including the World Food Program, UNICEF and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says the official.

On Thursday, the rebels’ leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi accused the UN in a speech of working against the group.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Doctors Without Borders ‘outraged’ after 15th staffer killed in Gaza, 900,000 left Gaza City
2025-10-06
98% probability the staffers were also on the Hamas payroll. 95% probability that they were fighting for Hamas when the IDF killed him.
[IsraelTimes] Military looking into incident, says target of strike was Hamas operative; four said killed while seeking aid in southern Gaza, at least 8 killed in Gaza City strike

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) voiced sorrow and outrage following the death of a colleague in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
on Sunday, as Israeli strikes continued to pound into the enclave, even as negotiators prepared to discuss US President Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
’s plan to end the war in the Paleostinian enclave.

Abed El Hameed Qaradaya, 43, succumbed to shrapnel injuries sustained on Thursday, amid an attack that killed MSF colleague Omar Hayek and injured several others, the organization said.

MSF said the attack was carried out by Israeli forces. It said its staff were waiting for a bus to the charity’s field hospital at the time, and were all wearing MSF vests.

In response to a query by the Times of Israel, the IDF said the strike on October 2 targeted a Hamas
..always the voice of sweet reason...
operative in central Gaza.

"Reports were received of a local Paleostinian employee of an international organization who was killed, along with several local employees who were maimed," the military said, adding that "the details of the incident are under investigation."

The IDF said that it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, while stressing that Hamas "embeds itself in the civilian population and exploits it as a human shield for terror purposes."

El Hameed is the 15th MSF staff member killed in the nearly two-year-long conflict, and the third in less than 20 days.

"His loss is immense and has a tragic impact on his loved ones, MSF and the health system in Gaza," the Geneva-based NGO said in a statement.

"For 18 years, Abed El Hameed was a cornerstone of MSF’s physiotherapy department in Gaza. He was a unique and invaluable specialist in both physiotherapy and occupational therapy."

MSF said he innovated and adapted tools, and was the driving force behind opening a 3D physiotherapy department.

"We are profoundly grieved and outraged by the loss of our colleagues — a stark reminder of the pattern of complete disregard for civilian lives and human dignity," it said.

In June 2024, after another MSF staffer, Fadi al-Wadiya, was killed in an IDF strike, the military said he was an Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
operative involved in developing the terror group’s missiles. MSF denied the accusation, then the IDF published a photograph of Wadiya in a PIJ uniform.

Also on Sunday, the IDF published footage showing weapons that it said were left behind by Hamas operatives in a kindergarten and a school in Gaza City.

"Last week, IDF troops identified Hamas bully boyz fleeing a kindergarten in al-Shati, Gaza City. The troops later found an bomb and an AK-47 rifle inside the kindergarten," the military said on its English-language X account.

In a separate post, the IDF’s international media front man, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, posted a picture of uniforms, military equipment, and a Hamas flag in a classroom, saying: "These weapons were discovered in a school in Gaza a few days ago, a place meant for learning, not terror."

Both educational facilities likely have not been active during the war.



The IDF has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilian sites — including schools, mosques, and hospitals — for terror, and has published extensive footage showing how the terror group dug tunnels and set up weapon depots in such facilities.

The IDF has also made use of schools in Gaza as temporary encampments for troops during the war.

Planes and tanks pounded areas across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, despite the IDF having moved to purely defensive operations a day earlier.

The military was ordered to halt offensive operations in Gaza City on Saturday amid Trump’s push to bring about an end to the war in the enclave, and so shifted to defensive operations only, acting against those it deemed to pose a threat to troops.

In total, local health authorities said at least 19 people were killed across the Strip on Sunday.

Four of those killed were shot dead near an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel’s military said it was not involved.

At least eight others were killed in multiple strikes in Gaza City, according to Shifa hospital, which received the casualties. A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media said the strikes were against Hamas militants who were a threat to troops.

The toll could not be independently verified.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 67,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 471. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

IDF says 900,000 estimated to have left Gaza City
[IsraelTimes] Gaza City has nearly completely emptied of Palestinians, according to fresh IDF estimates.

Per the military’s assessments, some 900,000 of the estimated 1 million Palestinians who were residing in Gaza City ahead of the IDF’s major offensive have evacuated to the Strip’s south.

Civilians were instructed last month to evacuate all areas of Gaza City and head to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.

The rate of Palestinians leaving the area has risen in the past weeks, as the IDF advanced deeper into Gaza City, according to Israeli figures.

However, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on October 2 that it was “estimated that hundreds of thousands of people remain in Gaza city and North Gaza governorate.”

Facebook REEL: Hamas MP boasts, using women and children for human shield.
Related:
Doctors Without Borders: 2025-10-03 Israeli strikes kill 52 in Gaza, including aid worker today
Doctors Without Borders: 2025-09-28 At least 58 Paleostinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since morning, 780,000 fled Gaza City
Doctors Without Borders: 2025-09-12 Hamas government docs detail terror group’s use of Gaza hospitals, medical facilities
Link


International-UN-NGOs
Fighting injustice and Europe's defeat: What Lavrov spoke about at the UN
2025-09-29
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Gevorg Mirzayan

[REGNUM] On September 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the UN General Assembly and then answered questions from journalists. In his speech, the minister touched on a wide range of issues, from Iran to Venezuela.

Despite the importance and interest of the topics raised, three were perhaps the most resonant: the "fixing" of the UN, Donald Trump's words, and the burial of the European mind.

Once upon a time, at the dawn of the organization's existence, it was assumed that the five permanent members of the Security Council—the USSR, China, the USA, France, and Germany—would work together to establish order and maintain peace and security. But now we see that Western countries not only fail to maintain global stability, but actually undermine it in every way.

"The widespread, gross violations of the principle of sovereign equality of states undermine the very faith in justice, leading to crises and conflicts. The root of the problems is the incessant attempts to divide the world into 'us' and 'them,' 'democracies' and 'autocracies,' 'blooming gardens' and 'jungles,' 'those at the table' and 'those on the menu.' Between a select few, who are allowed to have it all, and the rest, who are somehow obligated to serve the interests of the 'golden billion,'" explains Sergey Lavrov.

This isn't just a banal attempt to throw stones in a glass house. It's about the fact that for Western states, global destabilization is a kind of tinderbox, a side effect of their deliberate strategy.

"The main leitmotif of Lavrov's speech is that the main threat to international security is the policies of the West, which is trying to maintain or restore its hegemony," Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, explained to Regnum news agency.

For this reason, the West is entering into confrontation with Russia, pursuing neo-colonial policies in the world – and also hindering UN reform.

The West resists bringing the structure of the organization (including the Security Council) into line with current realities and thus prevents the solution of one of the two key problems of the organization – its lack of representativeness.

"The Security Council is underrepresented in the modern world, which leads to its weakening, marginalization, and demilitarization," says Dmitry Suslov. After all, in order to make legitimate decisions on matters of war and peace, the Security Council must reflect the balance of power in the world.

“But this is not happening, because in the Council we see France and Great Britain, which are currently secondary countries, and we do not see giants like India and Brazil,” continues Dmitry Suslov.

There are also no Muslim countries (regardless of who currently holds power in the UK) or African countries. Therefore, expanding the permanent membership to include the Global South would solve the problem of representation.

"Our UN Secretary-General is a citizen of a NATO member country, the Director of the Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding is a citizen of a NATO member country, the Director of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations is a citizen of a NATO member country, the Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which deals with operations around the world and is a very influential structure, is a citizen of a NATO member country (specifically, Britain), and the Director of the Department of Security, which is also important for the organization of the work of the entire UN system, is also a citizen of a NATO member country," Sergey Lavrov reminds.

And he proposes to “democratize” the Security Council by expanding the representation of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“We support the applications of Brazil and India for permanent membership in the Council while simultaneously correcting historical injustices against Africa within the parameters agreed upon by the countries of the continent themselves,” he said.

Yes, this won't immediately solve the problem of the UN's ineffectiveness. However, in the long term, expansion to include responsible and influential "southern" players committed to compromise solutions (and Brazil and India are precisely such players, unlike the far more hardline Iran or Turkey) will make Security Council conflicts far more costly and ineffective for the West. This will therefore encourage it to seek compromises where they can be found.

No less interesting was the part of Sergey Lavrov's speech that dealt with Donald Trump. In recent days, the American president has issued a series of harsh statements against Russia: he called it a "paper tiger" and nearly echoed Obama's "torn-apart economy" sentiment. He also complained of his disappointment with Vladimir Putin's unwillingness to accommodate Ukraine's wishes and threatened sanctions.

Sergey Lavrov dismissed Trump's words not as truth, but as emotionalism. "Every country, and especially every leader, has its own style of conducting affairs on the international stage, as well as at home," the minister stated.

He also expressed his attitude towards the American president’s statements as something that should have been said after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky : “In diplomacy, as you know, and above all in public diplomacy, much can be said based on the specifics of the moment.”

And all because Russia, first of all, looks not at words, but at actions. "Trump's toughening rhetoric in no way leads to a toughening of US policy. Their involvement in the Ukrainian conflict remains at the same level as before," says Dmitry Suslov.

In other words, Washington continues to sell weapons to Kyiv, neither increasing nor decreasing the volume of these sales. It maintains sanctions against Russia, neither strengthening nor weakening them.

According to Sergey Lavrov, Russia appreciates the fact that the Donald Trump administration proposed from the very beginning to resume dialogue between the countries, and does not see any deviation by the United States from its course of conducting an open, honest dialogue with the Russian Federation.

Moscow has no intention of playing the emotional diplomacy that Zelensky and his Western accomplices are trying to force upon it. "Knowing Trump's character, it's clear that if we start picking on and reacting harshly to his every tweet, to his not entirely adequate and respectful words, it will only anger him," says Dmitry Suslov. He'll anger himself—and perhaps move from words to action, which is exactly what Europe, along with the Kyiv regime, wants.

Moscow supports the American commitment to pragmatism. "In the current US administration's approach, we see a desire not only to facilitate the search for realistic solutions to the Ukrainian crisis, but also a desire to develop pragmatic cooperation without taking an ideological stance," says Sergey Lavrov. Russia sees dialogue with the pragmatic United States as a way to end the current conflict.

"Lavrov made it clear that Russia still views the Trump administration as a preferential interlocutor on Ukraine, while it views Europe as a proponent of war, trying to derail a political and diplomatic settlement," says Dmitry Suslov.

And Europe is now doing everything it can to prove the correctness of Russia's position. It's doing so through its irresponsible, incendiary behavior in Ukraine, as well as within the framework of Russian-European relations.

"A number of politicians who have found themselves in power in Brussels and some EU and NATO capitals are seriously beginning to discuss World War III as a plausible scenario. These figures are undermining any efforts to find a fair balance of interests among all members of the international community, attempting to impose their unilateral approaches on others, grossly violating the key statutory requirement—respect for the sovereign equality of states," says Sergey Lavrov.

And he states that neither Kyiv nor its European sponsors seem to understand the urgency of the situation or are willing to negotiate fairly.

It's understandable why they're not being addressed. After all, while Trump views the war in Ukraine as foreign, inherited from the Joe Biden administration (as he reminds us in nearly every speech on Ukraine), European leaders view it as their own. And defeat in it will also be their own.

"Neither Kiev nor the Europeans are prepared to negotiate fairly, because they understand that any such agreement, based on respect for Russian interests and objective reality, would be a colossal political defeat for them, which could simply sweep the current European elites into the dustbin of history," says Dmitry Suslov.

The electorate and their own businesses simply will not forgive them for the economic, social, diplomatic, and even sacrifices that were made on the altar of a lost war.

Moreover, the project of European integration itself could be consigned to the scrap heap along with the elites. Even before the CBO, many national politicians criticized the situation in which crucial governance instruments and powers were handed over to ineffective and unelected Brussels officials, and defeat in the war would only prove the Eurosceptics right.

This is precisely why Europe is so determined to keep its cool—doing everything it can to keep the war going. It's hoping for some miracle—a "black swan" that will somehow turn the situation at the front to its advantage.

And in this hope, it is taking increasingly unacceptable steps that increasingly equate defeat in the war with the collapse of the European Union as such.

For example, to ensure the continued survival of the Kyiv regime, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposes using 140 billion euros from the main body of frozen Russian assets to finance it in 2025.

"In the hope that Russia will be exhausted and, after the war, will accept less favorable terms," ​​Dmitry Suslov explains Berlin's logic. In other words, to put it simply, it will forgive this theft.

Europe is also fueled by the hope that eventually the US will be drawn into the war. Sooner or later, it will have to somehow repay those 140 billion. Not to mention that countries in the Global South will think twice before investing their sovereign wealth in the European economy.

If, of course, by the end of the Second World War there is anything left there at all that would be worth investing in.

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