Turkish drone kills PKK member in northern Iraq

LONDON: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his country’s rejection of plans to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

In a letter to the Chinese leader on Thursday, Abbas commended Beijing’s call for the international community to stop the violence in the Middle East and reach a just resolution to the Palestinian issue.

Abbas said that the PA is confident in China’s support for Palestinian and Arab “efforts to consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza, stop the current Israeli aggression on the cities and camps of the West Bank, accelerate the reconstruction of Gaza, reconnect it to the West Bank, move toward implementing the two-state solution, end the Israeli occupation and embody the independent, geographically integrated state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, so that we can live with all the peoples of the region in security, peace and stability,” according to Wafa agency.

Since early February, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that the US will take over Gaza and that its Palestinian inhabitants should be relocated from the enclave to other countries, including Egypt and Jordan, which have both rejected the proposal.

The PA labeled Trump’s plan — which was welcomed by the Israeli government and settler leaders — as ethnic cleansing. Arab and some European countries, including France, also denounced the US idea and called for reconstruction in Gaza without displacing its residents.

SANAA: The Houthis on Thursday threatened to launch new attacks if the United States and Israel go ahead with plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza.
“We will take action by firing missiles and drones and launching maritime attacks if the United States and Israel implement their plan to displace” Palestinians from Gaza, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said in a televised speech.
US President Donald Trump’s plan to move Gaza’s inhabitants and redevelop the territory has been widely condemned in the Arab world.
The Houthis have launched scores of attacks on Israeli targets and Red Sea shipping during the Israel-Hamas war.
“I call on the armed forces to be ready to take military action in the event that the criminal Trump carries out his threat,” Houthi said on the militia’s Al-Masirah TV station.