Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemned Israel&#39;s recognition of Somaliland as &quot;political aggression&quot; and called on Muslim-majority nations to intensify efforts on resolving the Kashmir and Palestine issues, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tahir Andrabi, said Thursday. Briefing reporters on the week&#39;s diplomatic activities, Andrabi said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar led Pakistan&#39;s <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/oic-adopts-resolutions-condemning-israel-backing-somalia-and-palestine" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">condemnation&nbsp;</a>at the 22nd Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah. <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 640px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2011687834445603239&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F3489%2F&sessionId=2f6394d1ab89f25036544551f8bb6f578a0aa860&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" data-tweet-id="2011687834445603239"></iframe></div></div> Dar &quot;strongly condemned the illegal and unlawful <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/somalia-calls-israeli-fm-visit-to-somaliland-an-incursion" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">recognition by Israel</a> of the Somaliland region, as well as subsequent unwarranted and highly provocative visits of Israeli officials to the territory,&quot; the spokesman said. The foreign minister called such acts &quot;political aggression and a direct assault on Somalia&#39;s internationally recognized borders, setting a perilous precedent and threatening peace and security in the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea region, and beyond,&quot; Andrabi said. Kashmir, Palestine positions At the conference, Dar &quot;rejected any proposal for dislocation of the Palestinian people&quot; and reaffirmed Pakistan&#39;s commitment to &quot;an independent, contiguous, and sovereign state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders with [Jerusalem]&nbsp;as its capital,&quot; the spokesman said. The foreign minister &quot;urged the OIC to step up its efforts towards the realization of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.&quot; Presidential Bahrain visit At the weekly briefing, the spokesperson said that President Asif Ali Zardari is on an official visit to Bahrain. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has awarded President Zardari the Sheikh Isa Award during talks at Qudaibiya Palace in Manama. Earlier, the president received a guard of honor and discussed trade and investment, defense cooperation, support for Pakistan&#39;s expatriate community, and regional and global issues.&nbsp; The spokesman said that the visit &quot;seeks to reinforce Pakistan&#39;s long-standing cooperation with the brotherly Gulf nation, while expanding opportunities for collaboration in trade and economic partnerships, defense and security, and people-to-people ties.&quot; Qatar, regional diplomacy Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone with Qatar&#39;s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, about recent developments in the Middle East.&nbsp; Sharif &quot;appreciated Qatar&#39;s constructive and proactive role in promoting peace, dialogue, and mediation across the region,&quot; the spokesman said.&nbsp; Both leaders agreed to remain in close contact. Jeddah consulate opening Foreign Minister Dar also inaugurated a new building for Pakistan&#39;s Consulate General in Jeddah, raising the Pakistani flag and planting a tree on the premises.&nbsp;The new facility will serve 1.8 million Pakistanis in western Saudi Arabia and &quot;improve service delivery for the Pakistani community there,&quot; the spokesman said. Bilateral meetings Dar held meetings in Jeddah with foreign ministers from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia&#39;s deputy foreign minister and the OIC secretary general, Andrabi said. The spokesman said Dar spoke by phone this week with foreign ministers from Uzbekistan, Iran, and Myanmar to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues. He also spoke with Indonesia&#39;s investment minister about strengthening economic partnerships.

Foreign Affairs

In the weekly briefing, the foreign office spokesperson said Pakistan condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, and called on Muslim-majority nations to intensify efforts on resolving the Kashmir and Palestine issues.

Pakistan condemns Israeli recognition of Somaliland, presses OIC on Kashmir

GAZA CITY: Gaza&#39;s civil defense agency said Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children, despite a ceasefire that has largely halted the fighting. Four people, including three children, were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza, agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP. In the north of the Gaza Strip, an 11-year-old girl was killed near the Jabalia refugee camp, and a strike on a school killed one person, while a drone near Khan Yunis in the south killed a man, the agency added. Two more Gazans, including a child, were killed in other attacks, reported the agency, which operates under Hamas authority. When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the reports. Later on, Thursday evening, four more people were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in an eastern area of Gaza City, Bassal said, adding that rescue work to search for several people who were missing had begun. &quot;The death toll has risen to 13 as a result of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since this morning in a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement,&quot; Bassal said. Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said a projectile was launched &quot;from the area of Gaza City toward the State of Israel&quot; but that it fell within the Gaza Strip. &quot;Shortly after, the (military) precisely struck the launch point,&quot; it said in a statement. Since Oct. 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent ceasefire violations. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told AFP that the strikes in Gaza on Thursday &quot;confirm the Israeli occupation&#39;s renunciation of its commitment to the ceasefire.&quot; Israeli forces have killed at least 425 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza&#39;s health ministry. At least 21 people were killed on Nov. 22 in Israeli strikes, making it one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect. The Israeli military said Palestinian fighters have killed three of its soldiers during the same period.

Middle East

Israeli forces have killed at least 425 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect; Hamas spokesperson says strikes in Gaza 'confirm the Israeli occupation's renunciation of its commitment to the ceasefire.'

Gaza civil defense says Israeli attacks kill 13, including 5 children

GAZA CITY: As 2025 draws to a close, Palestinians in Gaza are marking the new year not with celebration, but with exhaustion, grief and a fragile hope that their &quot;endless nightmare&quot; might finally end.&nbsp;For residents of the battered territory, daily life is a struggle for survival.&nbsp;Much of Gaza&#39;s infrastructure lies in ruins, electricity remains scarce and hundreds of thousands of people live in makeshift tents after being repeatedly displaced by the two years of fighting that began with Hamas&#39;s attack on Israel in October 2023.&nbsp;&quot;We in the Gaza Strip are living in an endless nightmare,&quot; said Hanaa Abu Amra, a displaced woman in her thirties living in Gaza City.&nbsp;&quot;We hope that this nightmare will end in 2026 ...The least we can ask for is a normal life-- to see electricity restored, the streets return to normal and to walk without tents lining the roads,&quot; she said.&nbsp;Across Gaza, a territory of more than two million people, scenes of hardship are commonplace.&nbsp;Children queue with plastic containers to collect water, while rows of tents stretch across streets and open spaces, sheltering families who have lost their homes.&nbsp;What were once bustling neighbourhoods now bear the scars of bombardment, with daily activity reduced to the bare essentials.&nbsp;For many, the end of the year is a moment to mourn as much as to hope.&nbsp;In Gaza City, a teenager painted &quot;2026&quot; on his tent, while an AFP journalist observed a local artist sculpting the same in sand in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza.&nbsp;The outgoing year brought relentless loss and fear, said Shireen Al-Kayali.&nbsp;&quot;We bid farewell to 2025 with deep sorrow and grief,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;We lost a lot of people and our possessions. We lived a difficult and harsh life, displaced from one city to another, under bombardment and in terror.&quot;&nbsp;Hope for 2026&nbsp;Her experience reflects that of countless Gazans who have been forced to flee repeatedly, often with little warning, taking with them only what they could carry.&nbsp;Entire families have been uprooted, livelihoods destroyed, and communities fragmented as the war dragged on for two years.&nbsp;Despite the devastation, some residents cling to the belief that the new year might bring an end to the fighting and a chance to rebuild.&nbsp;For many Gazans, hope has become an act of resilience, particularly after the truce that came into effect on October 10 and has largely halted the fighting.&nbsp;&quot;We still hope for a better life in the new year, and I call on the free world to help our oppressed people so we can regain our lives,&quot; said Khaled Abdel Majid, 50, who lives in a tent in Jabalia camp.&nbsp;Faten al-Hindawi hoped the truce would finally end the war.&nbsp;&quot;We will bid farewell to 2025, leaving behind its pain, and we hope that 2026 will be a year of hope, prayer, determination and success stories.&quot;&nbsp;Such hopes are shared widely across Gaza, even as conditions on the ground remain dire.&nbsp;Humanitarian agencies have warned that shortages of food, clean water and medical supplies persist, while winter conditions are worsening life in overcrowded displacement camps.&nbsp;Amid the rubble and the tents, many Gazans say their aspirations are modest: safety, stability and dignity.&nbsp;&quot;I hope the reconstruction of Gaza begins in 2026. Gaza was beautiful, and we hope it returns to being beautiful again.&quot;

As 2025 ends, Gazans face exhaustion and loss after years of war, displacement and destruction, but many hold onto fragile hope that 2026 will bring peace, basic services, rebuilding and a chance to live normal lives again.

Hoping for better year ahead, Gazans bid farewell to 2025 nightmare

JERUSALEM: Israel warned on Tuesday that it would suspend from January several aid organizations operating in Gaza for failing to provide details about their Palestinian staff, accusing two Doctors Without Borders employees of links to militant groups. The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said in a statement the move was part of Israel&#39;s decision to &quot;strengthen and update&quot; regulations governing the activities of international NGOs in the Palestinian territory. &quot;Humanitarian organizations that fail to meet security and transparency requirements will have their licenses suspended,&quot; the ministry said. It added that organizations that &quot;failed to cooperate and refused to submit a list of their Palestinian employees in order to rule out any links to terrorism&quot; had received formal notice that their licenses would be revoked as of January 1. The organizations concerned &mdash; whose names were not disclosed &mdash; were ordered to cease all activities by March 1. The ministry said the groups were given 10 months to provide the requested information, but &quot;nonetheless failed to comply with the requirements.&quot; The ministry told AFP earlier this month that as of November 25, approximately 100 registration requests had been submitted and &quot;only 14 organization requests have been rejected.&quot; &quot;The remainder have been approved or are currently under review,&quot; it added. In its statement on Tuesday, the ministry alleged after an investigation that the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) had employed two individuals with links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, respectively. &quot;Despite repeated requests, the organization did not provide full disclosure regarding the identities and roles of these individuals,&quot; the statement added. When contacted, MSF said it &quot;would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity&quot; as they would &quot;pose a danger to our staff and our patients.&quot; The charity added that it &quot;continues to engage and discuss with Israeli authorities,&quot; and that it has &quot;not yet received a decision on re-registration.&quot; The ministry said its latest measures would not affect the delivery of aid to Gaza. &quot;Only a limited number of organizations &mdash; less than 15% &mdash; were found to be in violation of the regulatory framework,&quot; it said. Several NGOs have told AFP the new rules will have a major impact on aid distribution in Gaza. Humanitarian organizations say that the amount of aid entering Gaza remains inadequate. While the October 10 ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 trucks per day, only 100 to 300 are carrying humanitarian aid, according to NGOs and the United Nations. COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said last week that on average, 4,200 aid trucks enter Gaza weekly, which corresponds to around 600 daily.

Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism says move part of Israel's decision to "strengthen and update" regulations governing the activities of international NGOs in the Palestinian territory.

Israel warns will suspend several aid groups operating in Gaza

PALM BEACH:&nbsp;US President Donald Trump warned Iran of fresh strikes and said Hamas would have &quot;hell to pay&quot; if it fails to disarm in Gaza, as he presented a united front with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Speaking at a news conference with Netanyahu in Florida, Trump threatened to &quot;eradicate&quot; any attempt by Tehran to rebuild its nuclear program or ballistic missile arsenal following US and Israeli strikes earlier this year. Trump also downplayed reports of tensions with Netanyahu over the second stage of the fragile Gaza ceasefire, saying that Israel had &quot;lived up&quot; to its commitments and that the onus was on Palestinian fighter group Hamas. &quot;If they don&#39;t disarm as they agreed to do, then there will be hell to pay for them,&quot; Trump told reporters at his lavish Mar-a-Lago resort. &quot;They have to disarm in a fairly short period of time.&quot; Hamas&#39;s armed wing reiterated earlier on Monday that it would not surrender its weapons. A top political adviser to Iran&#39;s supreme leader on Monday said any aggression against his country would be met with an &quot;immediate harsh response.&quot; &quot;Iran&#39;s #Missile_Capability and defense are not containable or permission-based. Any aggression will face an immediate #Harsh_Response beyond its planners&#39; imagination,&quot; Ali Shamkhani wrote on X. &#39;Productive&#39; meeting&nbsp;Netanyahu said his meeting with Trump had been &quot;very productive&quot; and announced that Israel was awarding the US leader its highest civilian honor &mdash; the first time it has gone to a non-Israeli citizen. Trump, the self-proclaimed &quot;president of peace,&quot; has been keen to move on to the next phase of the Gaza truce, which would see a Palestinian technocratic government installed and the deployment of an international stabilization force. While some White House officials fear Netanyahu is slow-walking the process, Trump said he had &quot;very little difference&quot; with the Israeli premier and was &quot;not concerned about anything that Israel&#39;s doing.&quot; During their fifth meeting in the United States since Trump&#39;s return to power this year, Netanyahu also appeared to have steered the US leader toward focusing on Israel&#39;s concerns about Iran. Israeli officials and media have expressed concern in recent months that Iran is rebuilding its ballistic missile arsenal after it came under attack during the 12-day war with Israel in June. Trump said Iran &quot;may be behaving badly&quot; and was looking at new nuclear sites to replace those targeted by US strikes during the same conflict, as well as restoring its missiles. &quot;I hope they&#39;re not trying to build up again because if they are, we&#39;re going have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup,&quot; Trump said, adding that the US response &quot;may be more powerful than the last time.&quot; But Trump said he believed Iran was still interested in a deal with Washington on its nuclear and missile programs. Tehran denies that it is seeking nuclear weapons. Focus on Gaza&nbsp;Trump and Netanyahu&#39;s talks also focused on other regional tension points, including Syria and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. Trump said he hoped Netanyahu could &quot;get along&quot; with Syria&#39;s new president, a former rebel commander who toppled long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad a year ago, despite a series of Israeli strikes along their border. Netanyahu&#39;s visit caps a frantic few days of international diplomacy in Palm Beach, where Trump hosted Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday for talks on ending Russia&#39;s invasion. The Gaza ceasefire in October is one of the major achievements of Trump&#39;s first year back in power, and Washington and regional mediators have hoped to keep their foot on the gas. The Axios news site said Trump seeks to make announcements as soon as January on an interim government and an international force. But Trump gave few details beyond saying that he hoped &quot;reconstruction&quot; could begin soon in the Palestinian territory, devastated by Israeli attacks in response to Hamas&#39;s October 7, 2023, attacks. The disarmament of Hamas, however, continued to be a sticking point, with its armed wing again saying that it would not surrender its arms. &quot;Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation remains,&quot; the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a video message.

Americas

Trump is reportedly keen to announce as soon as January a Palestinian technocratic government to replace Hamas's rule in Gaza, and the deployment of an international stabilization force; Netanyahu says meeting with Trump had been "very productive," awards US leader Israel's highest civilian honor — the first time it goes to a non-Israeli citizen.



Trump warns Hamas, Iran after Netanyahu talks

MADRID: Spain&#39;s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday called on the international community to &quot;raise its voice&quot; to prevent the plight of Palestinians from being forgotten, during a meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. PM Sanchez also repeated Madrid&#39;s support for a two-state solution, describing it as &quot;the only possible solution&quot; to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He stressed that the recent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza must be real and not &quot;fictitious,&rdquo; and insisted that attacks on civilians must end. &quot;The year 2025 has been terrible for the Palestinian people,&quot; the Socialist prime minister said as he stood alongside Abbas in Madrid. &quot;Genuine peace must be based on justice. Those responsible for this genocide will be held accountable, sooner or later.&quot; Abbas thanked Spain for recognizing the State of Palestine in May 2024 and praised Madrid&#39;s leadership in building an international coalition to expand recognition.&nbsp; He also called for an end to violence in Gaza and the West Bank. Spain, where support for the Palestinian cause is strong, has been one of Europe&#39;s most vocal critics of Israel&#39;s military offensive in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, that started the war.

Europe

PM Sanchez repeats Madrid's support for two-state solution, describes it as "the only possible solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Articles tagged with "Israel Palestine conflict"

Pakistan condemns Israeli recognition of Somaliland, presses OIC on Kashmir

Gaza civil defense says Israeli attacks kill 13, including 5 children

Hoping for better year ahead, Gazans bid farewell to 2025 nightmare

Israel warns will suspend several aid groups operating in Gaza

Trump warns Hamas, Iran after Netanyahu talks

Spain PM urges world to 'raise its voice' for Palestinians