UNRWA’s work continues despite ban

CAIRO: Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie has told shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk there are signs of stability returning to the Red Sea, and urged the company to take that into account when planning sea routes, according to a statement from the SCA.

The statement said Rabie made the comments at a meeting with the CEO of the Danish container shipping group and other senior executives but did not say when the meeting took place.
“We seek to take into account the positive indicators observed in the Red Sea region when planning maritime schedules in the coming period,” Rabie was quoted as saying.
Several major global shipping companies have suspended Red Sea voyages and rerouted vessels around southern Africa to avoid potential attacks from Houthis.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said in December the disruption had cost Egypt around $7 billion in revenues from the Suez Canal in 2024.
Last week, Maersk said it would continue to divert vessels away from the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and toward the southern tip of Africa despite the Houthis announcing they would curb their attacks on ships.
Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships since November 2023 and sunk two vessels, seized another, and killed at least four seafarers.
Meanwhile, the volume of goods moving through Spanish ports rose by 6 percent in 2024 after they became the first point of call in Europe for many companies sending their goods around southern Africa.
The state port agency said Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and Barcelona saw 13 percent and 9 percent increases in volumes of merchandise, bulk liquids, and dry bulk last year.
“The situation has caused some specific peak moments of extra activity, to which Spanish ports have adapted,” the agency said, adding it expected higher port traffic to continue as instability in the Red Sea persists.
“Carriers will want to be assured there is an outlook for long-term safe passage before returning to the Red Sea to avoid further massive disruption if the situation deteriorates and they are forced to divert around Cape of Good Hope once again,” said Emily Stausboll, a senior shipping analyst at freight platform Xeneta.
The traffic of goods moved in containers through Spain’s ports rose by 11 percent last year, while Spanish ports also recorded an increase in vessels bunkering to prepare for longer routes, the agency said.
In 2023, the ports saw a 4.5 percent decline in container traffic.
According to two executives in the local fashion industry, some Spanish retailers shipped more goods by air to meet demand because of the additional two weeks required to ship goods to Europe via southern Africa.

JABALIA, Gaza: The rats and dogs scavenging amid the ruins of her neighborhood in northern Gaza make Manal Al-Harsh’s return to her wrecked home even more miserable.
Despite the respite from Israeli bombardments that a ceasefire has brought, she still fears for her family’s security. They have trouble sleeping at night.
Even trying to find her children’s clothes amid the rubble of their house in Jabalia is a forlorn task.
Al-Harsh, 36, has erected a makeshift tent from salvaged blankets to provide shelter for her and her children.
“We are staying here, but we are afraid of rats and everything around us. There are dogs. There is no place to settle. We have children. It is difficult,” Harsh, 36, said as she stepped cautiously over the debris.
She said she had returned from the south of the Palestinian enclave when the ceasefire took effect but found her house destroyed.
Much of the rest of Gaza City also lies in ruins after 15 months of fighting and waves of Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages that left it a shell of the bustling urban center it was before the war.
“We are practically sleeping here, but we don’t sleep. We are afraid someone might come upon us. We are sleeping and scared,” she said.
“I want to retrieve some clothes for the children to wear. We came with nothing. Life here is expensive, and there is no money to buy anything.”
Many of those returning, often laden with what personal possessions they still have after months of being moved around as the battlegrounds shifted, had trekked 20 km (12 miles) or more along the coastal highway north.
Like many displaced Palestinians, Al-Harsh faces uncertainty as she tries to salvage what remains. She had managed to pick some clothes from the rubble but they were in a sorry state.
“It’s all torn. Nothing is good. As much as we do, as much as we retrieve, it is all stones,” she said.
“Death is better,” Al-Harsh said, her voice heavy with despair.