WASHINGTON: The first commercial trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war erupted more than two months ago, joining UN-led deliveries, the United States said Monday.
It is “a critical step toward improving the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza that we see not just humanitarian aid delivered, but also commercial goods that can be sold in stores and markets,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Miller said that the first private trucks entered Saturday and more came through on Monday.
CAIRO: Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has swept to a third, six-year term as Egypt’s president, winning 89.6 percent of votes, the National Election Authority announced on Monday.
The election took place as Egypt struggles with a slow-burning economic crisis and tries to manage the risk of spillover from the war in Gaza, which borders Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Some voters said the eruption of conflict in Gaza had encouraged them to vote for El-Sisi, who has long presented himself as a bulwark of stability in a volatile region.
BAGHDAD: Voting began in Iraq on Monday in the first elections for provincial councils in a decade, with the ruling Shiite Muslim alliance likely to extend its grip on power amid a boycott by populist cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, its main political rival.
The election sets the stage for parliamentary elections scheduled for 2025, which will determine the balance of power in a nation where groups with ties to Iran have made political gains in recent years.