Category World News

After eight months in Israeli custody, Mahmoud Abu Foul could not see his mother’s face.

Abu Foul, a 28-year-old man from northern Gaza, was detained in Israeli detention facilities after being taken into custody from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in late December. He claims guards tortured and beat him so severely that he lost his sight.

As part of a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that has resulted in the release of nearly 2, 000 Palestinian detainees from Israeli detention centers, many of whom showed obvious signs of abuse, he was released this week.

Abu Foul, who had already lost a leg in a bombing in Israel in 2015, claimed that he was subjected to constant torture while imprisoned. Abu Foul endured numerous beatings and torture at Sde Teiman prison, which other detainees refer to as “the prison that breaks men.”

He was unconscious when guards struck him on the head with such force. He claimed that when he recovered consciousness, he realized that he had lost sight.

He said, “I kept asking for medical care, but all they gave me was one type of eye drops,” adding, “it didn’t work.” No one seemed to care, despite the fact that “my eyes were constantly tearing, with discharge and pain.”

He attempted a hunger strike to demand medical attention, but the prison authorities did not follow his demands.

Abu Foul anxiously waited for his family when he was finally released and transferred to Nasser Hospital. He feared the worst because he had been informed that northern Gaza was devastated. Then his mother arrived.

He said, “I tightly hugged her when I heard her voice.” Even though I couldn’t see her, hearing her was worth it.

Abu Foul is seeking medical assistance while currently residing in a tent close to ruins and is still receiving eye treatment.

His account is in line with growing body of evidence of systematic abuse in Israeli prisons. Many of the Palestinians who were released this week came out of hiding. During detention, a prisoner lost nearly half of his body fat.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights found that torture was practiced in all Israeli prisons, not just at notorious locations like Sde Teiman, based on testimony from 100 former detainees who were detained between October 2023 and 2024.

Without the assistance of judges, attorneys, or family members, all were imprisoned incommunicado.

At least 100 Palestinians’ bodies that were taken into custody have been returned by Israel. Some of the corpses had signs of abuse, according to medical sources who told Al Jazeera, and some had suggested executions.

According to Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, “They did not die naturally; they were executed while restrained.”

Since October 2023, according to the UN, at least 75 Palestinian prisoners have perished in Israeli prisons.

Last year, Israeli rights organization B’Tselem described the prison system as a “network of torture camps” where detainees are subject to sexual abuse, denied food and medical care, and are repeatedly abused.

According to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), an Israeli rights organization documenting torture, Israeli authorities have indicted only two people for each of their hundreds of reported abuse cases since October 2023.

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel founder Dr. Ruchama Marton claims her decades-long campaign has failed to stop the practice in Israel. In reality, she told Haaretz, “Maybe people didn’t deny it any more, but it eventually became standard.”

The prison service’s administrator, far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has defended the harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners and said that “the time has come for the terrorists to spend in camps and be patient with them.”

Marwan Barghouti, a well-known Palestinian political leader and detainee, has also been filmed making fun of Ben-Gvir.

According to witnesses who witnessed Barghouti being brutalized by guards last month, Barghouti’s son earlier this week expressed concern for his father’s safety in an Israeli prison.

Arab Barghouti claimed that because his father is a unified figure among Palestinians, Israel was targeting him in an interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday.

The family informed media this week that they had received testimony from Palestinian detainees detained as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Barghouti was allegedly beaten by guards in mid-September while transferring between two Israeli prisons.

In Israel’s prisons, approximately 9, 000 Palestinian prisoners are still imprisoned, many of whom have never gone through a proper legal process. Israel has refuted claims of systematic abuse, but it hasn’t provided proof to refute those claims.

After President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on nations that supported the plan, members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) voted to postpone a vote to support it.

Even though members of the London-based IMO, a United Nations body, had already approved the Net Zero Framework (NZF) in April, the vote on Friday delayed plans to regulate the shipping industry’s contributions to climate change by at least 12 months.

The International Maritime Organization is voting in London this week to pass a global carbon tax, which was President Trump’s decision to officially delay adoption until late in the year.

He warned nations to vote against the proposed Global Green New Scam Tax and warned that “the United States will NOT support it”.

Additionally, Washington threatened to impose sanctions, restrictions on visas, and port charges on nations that supported the agreement.

About 63 IMO members who had voted for the plan in April were expected to continue supporting emissions reductions ahead of the meeting in London, and others were expected to join the initiative to officially approve the framework.

Delegates in London instead voted on a hastily put resolution to postpone the proceeding following Trump’s social media threat, which received 57 to 49 votes.

The IMO, which consists of 176 member nations, is responsible for ensuring international shipping’s safety and security and preventing high-sea pollution.

Trump has focused on changing Washington’s position on climate change since taking office in January, deregulating fossil fuel use, reducing funding for clean energy projects, and promising businesses to “drill, baby drill”

A chance gone by

The decisions on Friday were “a missed opportunity for member states to place the shipping sector on a clear, credible path to net zero emissions,” according to UN spokesman Antonio Guterres.

More than 80% of the world’s fleet, or the International Chamber of Shipping, expressed disappointment as well.

Secretary-General of the Chamber, Thomas Kazakos, stated in a statement that “industrie needs clarity to be able to make the investments necessary to decarbonize the maritime sector.”

Still deeply committed, but disappointed! https://t.co/7P192kAvCx

The decision to postpone the vote by 12 months was “unacceptable given the urgency we face in light of accelerating climate change,” according to Vanuatu’s climate change minister Ralph Regenvanu.

However, Regenvanu continued, “We know that we have international law on our side and that we will fight for our people and the planet.”

China, Brazil, Brazil, Britain, and several other IMO members had reiterated their support before Friday’s decision.

Russia and Saudi Arabia were two of the nations who opposed the measures.

After discussions had lasted into the early hours of Friday, a Russian delegate addressed the plenary as “chaos.”

Among the nations that voted to postpone its introduction this week were Argentina and Singapore, two of which had previously voted in favor of the framework in April.

The Net Zero Framework (NZF) would have been the first global carbon-pricing system, giving ships a $ 380 per metric tonne on every extra tonne of CO2-equivalent they emit while rewarding vessels that use alternatives to reduce their emissions.

The IMO’s goal of reducing net emissions from international shipping by 20% by 2030 and by 2050 is outlined in the framework plan.

Shipping and the safety of seafarers are already being affected by climate change, including by altering ocean currents and increasing storm frequency.

At least 10 people have died in Pakistan’s air attacks inside Afghanistan, according to Afghan officials, breaking a ceasefire that had brought two days of affluent period of relative calm to the border.

Nearly a week of bloody border clashes that left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead on both sides were put on hold as a result of the 48-hour truce.

A senior Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported to the AFP news agency that Pakistan had violated the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika province late on Friday. “Afghanistan will retaliate.”

A provincial hospital official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said that two children were among the dead and that 12 others had been hurt in the attacks.

An Afghan government spokesman said Afghan government representatives would hold peace talks in Doha on Saturday following the attacks.

According to a statement from Zabihullah Mujahid, “as promised, negotiations with the Pakistani side will take place today in Doha.”

Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, the minister of defense, led a high-ranking Afghan delegation that has since left for Doha, he claimed.

Meanwhile, General Asim Malik, the intelligence chief, and Defense Minister Khawaja Asif are scheduled to visit Doha on Saturday for talks with the Afghan Taliban, according to Pakistani state TV.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board announced earlier on Saturday that five other people were killed in the most recent air strikes, along with five others, in a “cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime,” and that seven others were hurt.

When the cricketers returned home after playing a friendly cricket match in Sharana, the capital of Paktika province, the ACB claimed in a post on social media on Saturday that they were “targeted during a gathering.”

The ACB said, “This is a terrible loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family.”

Additionally, it stated that it would not participate in the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Pakistan, which is scheduled for the following month.

A senior security official in Pakistan claimed that Afghani forces had “conducted precision aerial strikes” on the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local rival of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP), in Pakistan.

Seven Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas district, according to Islamabad, which the same organization had been a part of.

The tensions are fueled by security concerns, which Kabul refutes by accusing Afghanistan of house armed groups led by the Pakistan Taliban, known as TTP, on its soil.

The Taliban’s foreign minister made an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s long-distance rival, just as the violence had escalated dramatically since last Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The Taliban then launched an offensive along Pakistan’s southern border, prompting Islamabad to declare that it would launch a strong own response.

Islamabad stated the ceasefire would last 48 hours when it first broke out at 13:00 GMT on Wednesday, but Kabul claimed it would continue until Pakistan violated it.

On the Afghan side of the border, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission, 37 people were killed and 425 were hurt, urging both parties to put an end to hostilities.

On Thursday, hundreds of people in Spin Boldak, the site of bloody battles, paid tribute to the victims of the brutal fighting.

Nematullah, 42, told AFP that “people have varying feelings.” They worry that the conflict will return, but they continue to live in their homes and conduct business.

However, residents earlier on Friday described normalcy scenes.

Nani, a 35-year-old woman, told AFP, “Everything is fine, everything is open.”