Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
The US must put pressure on Israel to stop the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, or the region will “explode”, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Tuesday.
Israel is facing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, as the country prepares for a ground operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are trapped close to the border with Egypt.
“It is vital that the US orders Israel to stop these policies, otherwise the Middle East will explode in an unprecedented way,” Mr Aboul Gheit said during the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
Rafah has become the last refuge for about half of Gaza's population, who have fled towards the Egyptian border as the conflict rages. Many live in makeshift camps where they face outbreaks of hepatitis and diarrhoea, as well as a scarcity of food and water, the UN said.
“The mentality to displace Palestinians and leave the Gaza Strip empty for Israelis to take over leaves a confrontation for the next 100 years,” Mr Aboul Gheit said.
He said Israel had “become a threat to the continuation of the agreements signed with it, especially with Jordan and Egypt”.
The Jordanian and Egyptian governments have both publicly denounced any plans to displace Palestinians into their territory. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi and King Abdullah II “affirmed that any attempt at the expulsion to Jordan or Egypt is rejected” during a meeting in response to the outbreak of the war. Mr El Sisi, whose government controls the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, has said the war must not be resolved “at the expense of others” and rejected any suggestion that Gazans could be relocated across the border into Sinai.
Speaking alongside Mr Aboul Gheit at the summit was Jasem Al Budaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Co-operation Council, who said the region relied on Washington to communicate with Israel on ways to end the war.
“There is no doubt that we rely on the US to use its communications and relations with the Israelis to end this barbaric Israeli war,” Mr Al Budaiwi said. “The US has great interests with Israel and we hope this picture can be clarified, which can be reflected in the region.”
Israel is not “seeing the future as their anger has blinded them”, Mr Al Budaiwi warned.
GCC member states hope “all partners of Israel can use their international responsibility to impose their solutions on Israel”, he said.
Mr Aboul Gheit added that the West “has been very unsupportive and unjust towards Palestine”.
Washington is one of Israel's staunchest allies and the administration of US President Joe Biden has repeatedly voiced its support for Israel's military operation and refused to support international resolutions calling for a ceasefire.
However, as Israel continues to press on with its war, Washington has said that the civilian death toll is too high and sent US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on repeated trips to the region to push for de-escalation and a long-term resolution to the conflict.
Mr Al Budaiwi said talks were the only way to end the crisis that has killed more than 28,400 Palestinians in about four months.
The war began after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people. Militants took about 250 Israelis hostage and at least 130 are still held in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
Israel retaliated by launching a full ground and air military operation on the enclave that has now entered its fifth month.
BRAZIL%20SQUAD
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
South Africa's T20 squad
Duminy (c), Behardien, Dala, De Villiers, Hendricks, Jonker, Klaasen (wkt), Miller, Morris, Paterson, Phangiso, Phehlukwayo, Shamsi, Smuts.
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Levante v Real Mallorca (12am)
Leganes v Barcelona (4pm)
Real Betis v Valencia (7pm)
Granada v Atletico Madrid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Real Madrid v Real Sociedad (12am)
Espanyol v Getafe (3pm)
Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao (5pm)
Eibar v Alaves (7pm)
Villarreal v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Real Valladolid v Sevilla (12am)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The figures behind the event
1) More than 300 in-house cleaning crew
2) 165 staff assigned to sanitise public areas throughout the show
3) 1,000 social distancing stickers
4) 809 hand sanitiser dispensers placed throughout the venue
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Company Profile
Founder: Omar Onsi
Launched: 2018
Employees: 35
Financing stage: Seed round ($12 million)
Investors: B&Y, Phoenician Funds, M1 Group, Shorooq Partners
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Naga
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Apple%20Mac%20through%20the%20years
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RESULT
Australia 3 (0) Honduras 1 (0)
Australia: Jedinak (53', 72' pen, 85' pen)
Honduras: Elis (90 4)