AFP Asia Business

Demonstrators took to the streets across Israel Sunday calling for an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release hostages still held by militants, as the military prepares a new offensive.The protests come more than a week after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to capture Gaza City, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory.The war was triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, during which 251 were taken hostage.Forty-nine captives remain in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostage Square — which has long been a focal point for protests throughout the war.Demonstrators also blocked several roads in the city, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where demonstrators set tires on fire and caused traffic jams, according to local media footage.Protest organisers and the main campaign group representing the families of hostages also called for a general strike on Sunday.”I think it’s time to end the war. It’s time to release all of the hostages. And it’s time to help Israel recover and move towards a more stable Middle East,” said Doron Wilfand, a 54-year-old tour guide, at a rally in Jerusalem.However, some government members who oppose any deal with Hamas slammed the demonstrations.Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried “a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas”.He argued that public pressure to secure a deal effectively “buries the hostages in tunnels and seeks to push the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future”.APTFV footage showed protesters at a rally in Beeri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas attack, and Israeli media reported protests in numerous locations across the country.Israeli plans to expand the war into Gaza City and nearby refugee camps have sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition.UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, Israeli troops shot dead at least 13 Palestinians on Saturday as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites.Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,897 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable.

The US government said Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans after a far-right influencer with the ear of President Donald Trump complained that wounded Palestinians had been allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States.The announcement came one day after a series of furious social media posts by Laura Loomer, who is known for promoting racist conspiracy theories and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job.”All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days,” the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X.In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were “pro-HAMAS… affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar,” without providing evidence.Loomer’s target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children — as well as their caregivers and siblings — arrive safely in the US for medical treatment.It was “the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US,” the charity said on its website.- ‘Dangerous and inhumane’ -“Truly unacceptable,” Loomer wrote in another X post. “Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas.””Qatar transported these GAZANS into the US via @qatarairways,” she said. Qatar is “literally flooding our country with jihadis,” she added.Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were “also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the US.”Republican Congressman Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some US policy. “Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura,” Fine wrote on X.The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a US-based charity, called on the Trump administration to “reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision.”Over the last 30 years the charity has evacuated thousands of Palestinian children to the US for medical care, it said a statement.”Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza.”Though Loomer holds no official position, she wields significant power, and is reported to have successfully pushed for the dismissal of several senior US security officials she deemed disloyal to Trump.In July, Loomer took aim at a job offer made to a highly qualified Biden-era official for a prestigious position at the West Point military academy. The Pentagon rescinded the offer one day later.Trump also fired the head of the highly sensitive National Security Agency, Timothy Haugh, and his deputy Wendy Noble in April at the apparent urging of Loomer, after she met with the president at the White House.”No other content creator or journalist has gotten as many Biden holdovers fired from the Trump admin!” Loomer posted on X Saturday.

Tens of thousands of Libyans voted in local elections on Saturday in areas controlled by the Tripoli government but opposition from a rival administration in the east prevented the polls going ahead elsewhere.The elections were seen as a test of democracy in a nation still plagued by division and instability after years of unrest following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) praised organisers for the conduct of Saturday’s elections but criticised the eastern administration, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, for its “violation” of the rights of voters in areas under its control.Polling took place in around 50 municipalities, including the capital.”Voting today in Tripoli is crucial for me because it makes me feel useful,” said Sami el-Tajuri, a 62-year-old architect, adding that his three children are voting for the first time.”It’s frustrating to see that I can have my say in who will represent me but so many other Libyans, especially in the east, cannot.”Since Kadhafi’s overthrow, Libya has been split between the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and its eastern rival, backed by Haftar.Elections were initially scheduled in 63 municipalities — 41 in the west, 13 in the east and nine in the south.But the High National Election Commission (HNEC) suspended elections in 11 municipalities, mostly in Haftar-controlled areas, due to “irregularities”, including unexplained halts in voter card distribution.The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) commended the HNEC for its “steadfast commitment to ensure credible electoral operations amidst significant operational and security challenges”.It said it regretted the decision of the eastern-based government to block the elections in areas under its control.”This is a violation of political rights of the Libyan citizens,” the UN mission said.  Turnout in the municipalities where elections were held reached 71 percent with 161,684 votes cast, according to provisional figures, the HNEC said.On Saturday, the commission announced the postponement to August 23 of elections in seven more municipalities, mostly in the west, including four in the Zawiyah area, as well as Surman and Sabratha.The delays followed Friday arson attacks that destroyed electoral materials in Zawiyah and Sahel al-Gharbi.And on Tuesday, the electoral body said a group of armed men attacked its headquarters in Zliten, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Tripoli.”These attacks, on the eve of polling day, threaten the conduct of the ongoing municipal elections and the broader democratic aspirations of the Libyan people,” UNSMIL said.A heavy police presence was deployed outside polling stations on Saturday.In some municipalities, residents were voting in a local election for the first time since 2014.For Tripoli resident Esraa Abdelmomen, 36, a mother of three, the elections were “very important” because they determine who will manage government-allocated funds.After Kadhafi’s overthrow, Libya held its first freely contested elections in 2012 for the 200 members of the General National Congress.That was followed by nationwide municipal elections in 2013 and legislative polls in June 2014, which were marred by renewed violence and very low turnout.

Hundreds of thousands of Libyans were voting Saturday in municipal elections held under tight security after incidents at several polling stations forced delays.The elections are seen as a test of democracy in a nation still plagued by division and instability after years of unrest following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.Polling took place in around 50 municipalities, including the capital Tripoli.A heavy police presence was deployed by the Tripoli-based unity government.”Voting today in Tripoli is crucial for me because it makes me feel useful,” said Sami el-Tajuri, a 62-year-old architect, adding that his three children are voting for the first time.”It’s frustrating to see that I can have my say in who will represent me but so many other Libyans, especially in the east, cannot”.Since Kadhafi’s overthrow, Libya has been split between the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and its eastern rival, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.Elections were initially scheduled in 63 municipalities — 41 in the west, 13 in the east and nine in the south.But the High National Election Commission (HNEC) suspended elections in 11 municipalities, mostly in Haftar-controlled areas, due to “irregularities”, including unexplained halts in voter card distribution.On Saturday, the commission announced the postponement to August 23 of elections in seven more municipalities, mostly in the west, including four in the Zawiyah area, as well as Surman and Sabratha.The delays followed Friday arson attacks that destroyed electoral materials in Zawiyah and Sahel al-Gharbi.And on Tuesday, the electoral body said a group of armed men attacked its headquarters in Zliten, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Tripoli.It made no mention of any casualties, although the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said there were some injuries.”These attacks, on the eve of polling day, threaten the conduct of the ongoing municipal elections and the broader democratic aspirations of the Libyan people,” UNSMIL said.”Such criminal acts represent another grave assault on the electoral process and a blatant attempt to disenfranchise citizens, undermine their right to choose their representatives, and obstruct the democratic process,” the mission added.For Tripoli resident Esraa Abdelmomen, 36, a mother of three, the municipal elections were “very important” because they determine who would manage government-allocated funds.After Kadhafi’s overthrow, Libya held its first freely contested elections in 2012 for the 200 members of the General National Congress.That was followed by nationwide municipal elections in 2013 and legislative polls in June 2014, which were marred by renewed violence and very low turnout.In some western municipalities, residents are voting in a local election for the first time since 2014.