About 70 fighters of a group calling itself the Province of Sinaisimultaneously attacked several targets in the area on Wednesday, the sources said. At least 22 of the fighters were killed and three of their vehicles were destroyed, the sources added.Egypt’s air force deployed fighter jets to the region to assist the army in the ongoing battle, Al Jazeera has learned.There were also reports that Israel has closed down its shared border crossings with Egypt. Sources told Al Jazeera that all Egyptian security forces at two checkpoints at Sheikh Zuweid were killed.The mortuary in El-Arish received at least 35 bodies, Egyptian security sources said, adding that at least 11 soldiers were among the dead. However, local media reports suggested the death toll of the attacks could be much higher. The Egyptian daily Al Ahram reported that there had been no official death toll because ambulances had trouble reaching the injured and killed for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
The arrests reportedly took place over the past few months and include senior Hamas members and former prisoners held by Israel. The people arrested included Ranem Tufik Tzalah Salameh, 49, a senior Hamas official in Nablus and Ahmed Tufik Yusef Tzalhah, 42, who was said to be responsible for communication with Hamas officials abroad. The suspects also included six men who were reportedly placed in charge of Hamas operations in separate villages outside Nablus.Hamas dismissed the accusations against its members, saying Israel was just trying to sabotage its
relationship with other Arab powers. Shin Bet said the detainees would be indicted in an Israeli military court soon. There was no information on how the Hamas suspects might plead in court. Hamas has been the democratically-elected ruler of the Palestinian territory of Gaza since 2007.Until recently, Hamas took part in the Palestinian unity government formed in 2014 that involved various Palestinian factions, including the West Bank’s rulers Fatah. The government disbanded earlier this month after it emerged that Hamas had held separate indirect talks with Israel.
The video says they are being shot in revenge for the recent beheading of three Jaysh al-Islam fighters. The Saudi-backed group also accuses IS of being allied to Syria’s government. Eighteen months of fierce fighting between IS and rebel groups, who have denounced the jihadists’ brutal tactics and mistreatment of civilian opposition supporters, have left thousands dead.Led by the former imprisoned Salafist activist Zahran Alloush, Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam) has been battling IS in the Ghouta agricultural belt around Damascus. The 20-minute video published on Jaysh al-Islam’s website on Tuesday mimics those produced by IS to announce the killing of government soldiers and Western hostages.It includes similarly sectarian language, with IS members accused of betraying their fellow Sunni Muslims and allying themselves with “enemy Shia” and “Nusayris”, a derogatory term for the heterodox Alawite sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.
It comes after another abuse scandal involving French soldiers. A leaked UN report claimed 16 French peacekeepers abused children in the Central African Republic. “This is an army that confronts [such accusations] head on,” the army’s chief of staff, General Jean-Pierre Bosser told AFP news agency.French military police are travelling to the country to investigate, alongside the local police. The French army has come under criticism for being slow to react to previous child abuse claims in Central African Republic. There have been a number of s*x scandals involving UN peacekeepers recently, with one UN report saying the peacekeepers regularly barter goods for s*x with people.About 3,000 French soldiers are stationed in five countries in the region – Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Niger as well as Burkina Faso – in an anti-terrorism operation and the UN currently has about 125,000 peacekeepers deployed in a number of countries around the world.
The donation “will be allocated according to a well-devised plan throughout the coming years”, he said, but stressed there was no time limit for the donation to be spent. Alwaleed said he would head a board of trustees tasked with spending the funds, adding the pledge would still be used after his death “for humanitarian projects and initiatives”.At a press conference, he said his pledge was modelled on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the US. In addition to media investments, Kingdom Holding has interests ranging from the Euro Disney theme park to Four Seasons hotels and Citigroup.He is constructing a tower in the Red Sea city of Jeddah which is to rise more than one kilometre to be the world’s tallest building. Earlier this year, Alwaleed opened a pan-Arab news channel in Bahrain but authorities there shut the station after less than 24 hours on air and a new home is being sought.
