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Top Catholic cleric says Gaza humanitarian situation ‘morally unacceptable’

Top Catholic cleric says Gaza humanitarian situation ‘morally unacceptable’
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, during a morning mass at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City on July 20, 2025. (AFP)
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Top Catholic cleric says Gaza humanitarian situation ‘morally unacceptable’

Top Catholic cleric says Gaza humanitarian situation ‘morally unacceptable’
  • ‘We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal’

JERUSALEM: The Roman Catholic church’s most senior cleric in the Holy Land said Tuesday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “morally unacceptable,” after visiting the war-torn Palestinian territory.

“We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal,” Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told a news conference. “It’s morally unacceptable and unjustified,” he added.


Kurdish farmers return to mountains in peace as PKK tensions calm

Kurdish farmers return to mountains in peace as PKK tensions calm
Updated 22 July 2025

Kurdish farmers return to mountains in peace as PKK tensions calm

Kurdish farmers return to mountains in peace as PKK tensions calm
  • The conflict has caused 50,000 deaths among civilians and 2,000 among soldiers
  • The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was formed in 1978 by Ankara University students

TURKIYE: Deep in the mountains of Turkiye’s southeastern Hakkari province, bordering Iran and Iraq, Kurdish livestock owners and farmers have gradually returned with their animals after decades of armed conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish army.

“We’ve been coming here for a long time. Thirty years ago we used to come and go, but then we couldn’t come. Now we just started to come again and to bring our animals as we want,” said 57-year-old Selahattin Irinc, speaking Kurdish, while gently pressing his hand on a sheep’s neck to keep it from moving during shearing.

On July 11 a symbolic weapons destruction ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics – part of a broader effort to end one of the region’s longest-running conflicts.

The PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkiye and much of the international community, was formed in 1978 by Ankara University students, with the ultimate goal of achieving the Kurds’ liberation. It took up arms in 1984.

The conflict has caused 50,000 deaths among civilians and 2,000 among soldiers, according to Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Alongside with several other men and women, Irinc practices animal husbandry in the grassy highlands at the foot of the Cilo Mountains and its Resko peak, which stands as the second-highest in the country with an altitude of 4,137 meters (13,572 feet).

A place of scenic beauty, with waterfalls, glacial lakes and trekking routes, Cilo has gradually opened its roads over the past few years to shepherds and tourists alike as the armed conflict with PKK died down on the backdrop of peace negotiations.

But the picturesque mountains had long been the scene of heavy fighting between the Turkish army and PKK fighters who took advantage of the rough terrain to hide and strike. It left the Kurdish farmers often at odds with the army.

“In the past we always had problems with the Turkish soldiers. They accused us of helping PKK fighters by feeding them things like milk and meat from our herd,” another Kurdish livestock owner, who asked not to be named, said, rejecting such claims.

“Now it’s calmer,” he added.

Although the peace process brought more openness and ease to the region, tensions did not vanish overnight.

Checkpoints remain present around the city of Hakkari, and also to the main access point to the trekking path leading to Cilo glacier, a major tourist attraction.

“Life is quite good and it’s very beautiful here. Tourists come and stay in the mountains for one or two days with their tents, food, water and so on,” said farmer Mahir Irinc.

But the mountains are a hard, demanding environment for those making a living in their imposing shadow, and the 37-year-old thinks his generation might be the last to do animal husbandry far away from the city.

“I don’t think a new generation will come after us. We will be happy if it does, but the young people nowadays don’t want to raise animals, they just do whatever job is easier,” he lamented.

An open truck carrying more than a dozen Kurdish women made its way to another farm in the heart of the mountains, where sheep waited to be fed and milked.

The livestock graze at the foot of the mountains for three to four months, while the weather is warm, before being brought back to the village.

“We all work here. Mothers, sisters, our whole family. Normally I’m preparing for university, but today I was forced to come because my mother is sick,” explained 22-year-old Hicran Denis.

“I told my mother: don’t do this anymore, because it’s so tiring. But when you live in a village, livestock is the only work. There’s nothing else,” she said.


Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack targeting Israeli airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack targeting Israeli airport
Updated 22 July 2025

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack targeting Israeli airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack targeting Israeli airport
  • Interception comes a day after Israel carried out air strikes on its Houthi-held port of Hodeida

JERUSALEM/SANAA: Houthis said they targeted Israel’s main airport Tuesday for the second time since Israel struck Yemen's Hodeidah port a day earlier, with the Israeli army reporting it had intercepted the missile.
The Houthis targeted Ben Gurion International Airport “using a ‘Palestine 2’ hypersonic ballistic missile,” according to military spokesman Yarya Saree, who had hours earlier claimed a similar attack.

The Israeli army said Tuesday it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, a day after Israel carried out air strikes on its Houthi-held port of Hodeida.

“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF,” the Israeli military reported on Telegram.


WHO says Israeli military attacked staff residence in Gaza

WHO says Israeli military attacked staff residence in Gaza
Updated 22 July 2025

WHO says Israeli military attacked staff residence in Gaza

WHO says Israeli military attacked staff residence in Gaza
  • Airstrikes caused a fire and extensive damage, and endangered WHO staff and their families, including children
  • WHO stated it will remain in Deir Al-Balah and expand its operations despite the attacks

The World Health Organization said the Israeli military attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah on Monday, compromising its operations in Gaza.

The United Nations agency said the WHO staff residence was attacked three times, with airstrikes causing a fire and extensive damage, and endangering staff and their families, including children.

Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes hostages may be held. Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said.

“Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot, and screened at gunpoint,” WHO said.

Two WHO staff and two family members were detained, it said in a post on X, adding that three were later released, while one staff member remained in detention.

“WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Deir Al-Balah is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west or south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of the militant group Hamas.

WHO said its main warehouse, located within an evacuation zone, was damaged on Sunday due to an attack that triggered explosions and a fire inside.

WHO stated it will remain in Deir Al-Balah and expand its operations despite the attacks.

Britain and more than 20 other countries called on Monday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and criticized the Israeli government’s aid delivery model after hundreds of Palestinians were killed near sites distributing food.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed over 59,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population, and caused a humanitarian crisis.

The World Health Organization describes the health sector in Gaza as being “on its knees,” with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent mass casualty influxes.


Once a beacon of hope, Tunisia’s civil society struggles to survive

Once a beacon of hope, Tunisia’s civil society struggles to survive
Updated 22 July 2025

Once a beacon of hope, Tunisia’s civil society struggles to survive

Once a beacon of hope, Tunisia’s civil society struggles to survive
  • The Tunisian General Labour Union, which won the 2015 Nobel peace prize with other civil society groups and could once bring tens of thousands onto the streets, has been sapped by the arrests of junior officials on corruption charges

TUNIS: In May 2024, Tunisian activist Cherifa Riahi was arrested just two months after giving birth, accused of harboring illegal migrants. Over a year later, she is still in prison without charge.
Rights groups see Riahi’s case as a symbol of accelerating repression of civil society under President Kais Saied, who dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree.
The crackdown marks a significant turnaround for Tunisia, where civil society groups flourished in the wake of the 2011 uprising that unseated President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, inspired other Arab Spring uprisings, and helped shape a democratic transition.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Activists subject to detentions, threats

• Groups report asset freezes and raids

• President accuses them of serving foreign agendas

As head of a refugee support group, Riahi had been helping sub-Saharan asylum seekers and other migrants find housing and access medicine and food. Her family says she did nothing wrong.
The forced separation from her daughter and young son has been traumatic.
“The girl doesn’t recognize her mother at all,” Riahi’s mother Farida, who is now caring for her grandchild, told Reuters at their family home in La Marsa near the capital, Tunis.
“They took her while she was breastfeeding. We didn’t even have time to understand what was happening.”
Since Saied’s power grab, at least a dozen civil society figures like Riahi have been detained on allegations activists denounce as fabricated, according to rights groups and lawyers. At least 10 civil society groups have had their assets frozen and offices raided, they say.
The Tunisian General Labour Union, which won the 2015 Nobel peace prize with other civil society groups and could once bring tens of thousands onto the streets, has been sapped by the arrests of junior officials on corruption charges.
The Tunisian government’s media office did not respond to calls and written questions seeking comment about Riahi’s case and those of other activists and civil society groups.
Saied, 67, has accused civil society groups of “serving foreign agendas” and undermining national unity.
He has said he will not be a dictator and that freedom and democracy will be preserved, but that he will not allow chaos or interference through foreign funding or organizations that represent a “tool of treason.”
Activists warn that some of Tunisia’s last surviving democratic gains are at risk as the judiciary, media and parliament have all come under tighter executive control and most opposition party leaders are in prison.
“The attack on civil society organizations is not an isolated incident,” said Romdhane Ben Amor of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, an independent advocacy group.
“It comes within the context of the authorities’ plan to close civic space and to end the democratic openness achieved by Tunisians after January 14, 2011.”

’SEEN AS ENEMIES’
In Tunis, the offices of I Watch, an anti-corruption watchdog founded after the 2011 revolution, used to bustle with dozens of employees, volunteers and journalists.
These days, only three employees work on-site. Dozens work remotely, some fearing raids or arrests.
Wajdi Belloumi, I Watch’s president, said its bank transfers have been hindered and official investigations into the group are piling up. Hotels have stopped renting spaces for the group’s events, citing vague instructions from authorities, Belloumi said.
Last year, the electoral commission refused for the first time to allow I Watch to monitor elections due to suspicions of foreign funding.
“We’re seen as enemies now,” Belloumi told Reuters. “Many volunteers are afraid. Whistle-blowers have gone quiet. The pressure is everywhere — legal, financial, even personal.”
Ben Amor said he had received anonymous threats and started looking over his shoulder in public spaces.
“People start saying, ‘This man must be gotten rid of’,” he said, referring to comments sent in private messages, or “’your son studies at that school, your daughter studies at that school ... I saw you on that street’.”
Foreign governments that once championed Tunisia’s democratic transition now prioritize curbing migration and short-term stability, rights groups say.
Ben Amor said he believed he had been targeted particularly after speaking out against Saied’s recent anti-migrant rhetoric.
In 2023, the same year Tunisia signed a pact with the European Union aimed at stemming migration across the Mediterranean, Saied said illegal immigration was part of a “conspiracy” to alter Tunisia’s demographics.
Since then, authorities have dismantled tents and carried out forced deportations — the campaign amid which Riahi was detained.
Though the space for civil society groups is shrinking by the day, Belloumi said he remains committed.
“We chose this path — transparency, justice, accountability,” he said. “And we’re not walking away.” 


Morocco’s central bank explores digital currency cross-border payments

Morocco’s central bank explores digital currency cross-border payments
Updated 22 July 2025

Morocco’s central bank explores digital currency cross-border payments

Morocco’s central bank explores digital currency cross-border payments
  • The bank has been working with the IMF and the World Bank to assess the payment system impacts of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), Jouahri told a conference in Rabat

RABAT: Morocco’s central bank was exploring the use of its own digital currency for peer-to-peer and cross border payments, bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said on Monday.
A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is controlled by the central bank, in contrast to cryptocurrencies that are usually decentralized.
Cryptocurrencies have been banned in Morocco since 2017, but the public continues to use them underground, circumventing restrictions.
The bank has been working with the IMF and the World Bank to assess the payment system impacts of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), Jouahri told a conference in Rabat.
The Moroccan central bank, together with its Egyptian peer and the World Bank, was also exploring the use of the CBDC for cross-border transfers, he said. A draft law on crypto assets is currently under review by the finance ministry before entering the adoption process, Jouahri said last month.