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Thousands of Afghans protested across the country on Friday against the Israeli bombardment in Gaza, responding to a nationwide call by the Taliban authorities.Large crowds gathered in several cities after Friday prayers waving Palestinian flags and burning pictures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”We are out in support with Gaza. And to show the world that Gaza is not alone, we are standing with them. Wherever Muslims are oppressed, we strongly defend them and condemn it,” said 28-year-old Jannat, who goes by one name, in the capital Kabul.Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in Gaza in March, ending a six-week truce.Israel has in recent days partially eased a total aid blockade on the Palestinian territory that it imposed on March 2.The blockade led to severe shortages of food and medicine with the United Nations warning that “100 percent” of Gazans are at risk of famine. Taliban Prime Minister Hassan Akhund condemned on Friday Israel’s actions in Gaza, labelling them a “genocide” and expressing growing concern over the escalating violence against Palestinian civilians. “The situation continues to deteriorate daily, in blatant violation of fundamental humanitarian principles,” he said in a statement.   The Taliban government, which is not internationally recognised, has long maintained vocal support for the Palestinian cause and regularly condemns Israeli actions in the occupied territories.

Saudi Arabia is ramping up a crackdown on unregistered worshippers at next week’s hajj pilgrimage, a year after hundreds perished in scorching conditions.Regular raids, drone surveillance and a barrage of text alerts are aimed at rooting out unauthorised visitors hoping to mingle among the crowds in and around the holy city of Mecca.The simple message, “No hajj without a permit”, is being blared out in a relentless campaign promoted nationwide at shopping centres, on billboards and across media platforms.Last year, 1,301 pilgrims, most of them unregistered and lacking access to air-conditioned tents and buses, died as temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius (125.2 degrees Fahrenheit).”Since the end of last season, we realised the biggest challenge is preventing unauthorised pilgrims from undermining the success of the hajj season,” said one official helping organise the hajj, requesting anonymity. The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be completed by all Muslims with the means at least once.Yet official permits are allocated to countries through a quota system and distributed to individuals via a lottery.Even for those who can obtain them, the steep costs make the irregular route — which costs thousands of dollars less — more attractive.Saudi officials said 83 percent of those who died last year did not have official hajj permits. Temperatures of up to 44C (111F) are forecast next week. – ‘Unprecedented’ security -To seek out unregistered pilgrims, Saudi authorities have rolled out a new fleet of drones to monitor entrances into Mecca.Security forces have also raided hundreds of apartments in search of people hiding out in the area.An Egyptian engineer living in Mecca, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his building was raided multiple times in recent weeks.”Police officers in uniform came to my home twice and asked to see my and my wife’s residency permits,” he told AFP.”Almost everywhere, we’re being asked to show residency or work permits in Mecca. The security presence is unprecedented.”The problem of illicit pilgrims has become acute since Saudi Arabia loosened visa restrictions in line with economic reforms, trying to attract more tourism and business.Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have used family and tourist visas, instead of the designated hajj visa, to enter the country each year.- Fines and bans -Saudi Arabia is now trying to cut off the problem at source, restricting multiple-entry visas for citizens of several countries since January. Family and tourist visas were also barred to nationals of more than 10 countries, including Egypt, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Jordan.Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi affairs at the University of Birmingham, said officials previously focused on “deterring people but not stopping them” from coming before hajj.”Saudi authorities have seen that once these people are inside the kingdom, stopping them from physically entering Mecca is a difficult task even if a huge number of security officials are deployed,” he added. For the past month, entry into Mecca has been restricted to individuals with work and residency permits.Many people in Mecca have been forced to send their wives and children, who lack the proper visas, out of the city.Pilgrims coming for umrah — similar rites that can be performed year-round — have also been required to leave.Meanwhile, fines for an illicit hajj have doubled to 20,000 Saudi riyals ($5,333), with violators facing a 10-year ban from the country.Those found to be harbouring and helping unauthorised pilgrims can be fined up to 100,000 riyals ($26,666).”All of this is aimed at ensuring that Mecca is reserved exclusively for authorised pilgrims during the Hajj season,” the official added. Residents of Mecca told AFP that the crowds there have noticeably thinned compared to previous years.However, officials said on Tuesday that more than a million pilgrims had already arrived in Saudi Arabia for the hajj.Last year’s hajj deaths were a high-profile example of the havoc wrought by heat in 2024, which the Copernicus Climate Change Service said was the hottest year ever recorded.While the pilgrimage, which follows a lunar calendar, will eventually shift to the cooler winter season, relief will be temporary.A 2019 study published by the journal Geophysical Research Letters said because of climate change and the timing of the hajj, heat stress for pilgrims will exceed the “extreme danger threshold” from 2047 to 2052, and 2079 to 2086. 

The UN warned Friday that the entire population of Gaza was at risk of famine, as an Israeli far-right minister urged the use of “full force” against Hamas.Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in Gaza in March following a short-lived truce.Israel recently intensified its offensive in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas, drawing global condemnation over the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza.Recent AFPTV footage has shown chaotic scenes as large crowds of Palestinians desperate for food rushed to a limited number of aid distribution centres to pick up supplies. “Gaza is the hungriest place on earth,” Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said on Friday.”It’s the only defined area — a country or defined territory within a country — where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred percent of the population at risk of famine.”- Limited aid -Laerke said 900 UN aid trucks had been authorised by Israel to enter so far, but only 600 had been offloaded on the Gaza side of the border, and an even smaller number had been picked up there due to security considerations.Laerke described the “limited number of truckloads” as “drip-feeding food”.Adding to the international pressure, French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that European countries should “harden the collective position” against Israel if it did not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.Action was needed “in the next few hours and days”, he added.The White House announced Thursday that Israel had “signed off” on a new ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, but the Palestinian militant group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands, while stopping short of rejecting it outright. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Telegram post Friday, said that “after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again — there are no more excuses”.”The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end,” he added. “It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.”Gaza’s civil defence agency told AFP that at least 22 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Friday, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the north.Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed.”These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes. The house was destroyed due to the indiscriminate bombardment,” said neighbour Mahmud al-Ghaf, describing “children in pieces”.”Stop the war!” said Mahmud Nasr, who lost relatives. “We do not want anything from you, just stop the war.”The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Jabalia strike, but said separately that the air force had “struck dozens of targets throughout the Gaza Strip” over the past day.- Truce proposal -The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff had “submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed”.Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal.Hamas sources said last week that the group had accepted a US-backed deal, but on Thursday political bureau member Bassem Naim said the new version meant “the continuation of killing and famine… and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war”.”Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,” he added.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that discussions were “continuing” with the militants.Naim on Friday reiterated that a review was ongoing, while a source close to Hamas said one of the group’s main concerns was the lack of American guarantees that talks towards a permanent ceasefire would continue.According to two sources close to the negotiations, the new proposal involves a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days, and the release of five living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the first week, followed by a second exchange the next week.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.As of Thursday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed major operations on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians. Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.