Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects of forming a new coalition government after an indecisive election were further complicated on Thursday by a far-right refusal of any prospective parliamentary partnership with an Islamist party.

Partial tallies from Tuesday’s ballot showed Netanyahu’s conservative Likud and ideologically kindred factions short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset - raising the possibility he would seek some sort of accommodation with the United Arab List.

CAIRO, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a matter of presence that impacts the life of millions of Egyptians, the presidency office said in a statement.

"I confirm the necessity of reaching as soon as possible a legally binding deal that organizes the process of filling and operating the GERD," Sisi said in a meeting with the visiting Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye.

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on Tuesday renewed its call on Saudi Arabia to release Palestinian prisoners inside its jails after the grave deterioration of their health conditions.

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: Bahrain was the first-ever Arab state to not vote for the UNHRC motion condemning Israeli violations against Palestinians in the occupied territories, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Wednesday.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Al-Mayadeen TV channel naming Bahrain as the Arab country that did not vote, as it did not attend the voting session.

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned on Wednesday that he should be commissioned to form a new government or go for a fifth election, Israeli media reported.

Unofficial election results conducted by Israeli mass media and exit polls show that Netanyahu's Likud party has 30 seats, making it the largest bloc.

24 Mar 2021; MEMO: Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Dubai's deputy ruler and for decades one of the most influential figures in international horseracing, has died, Reuters reported Dubai's ruler saying today.

Sheikh Hamdan, 75, was the brother of Dubai's current ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. He had been unwell for months and had surgery abroad in October.

24 Mar 2021; MEMO: Gunmen assassinated Wednesday a commander of the Haftar militia in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, local media reported, Anadolu reports.

A spokesman for the special forces of Haftar militia in a tweet confirmed the death of Mahmoud Al-Werfalli​​​​​, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) — A skyscraper-sized cargo ship wedged across Egypt’s Suez Canal further imperiled global shipping Thursday as at least 150 other vessels needing to pass through the crucial waterway idled waiting for the obstruction to clear, authorities said.

23 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, recently released from US incarceration over espionage for Israel, narrated for the first time his arrest conditions in the US.

In an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom scheduled to be published on Friday, Pollard said the US "stabbed Israel in the back" as it withheld intelligence information from it.

23 Mar 2021; MEMO: Yemen's Houthi group said Monday that it targeted Saudi Arabia's Abha International Airport with a drone attack, Anadolu Agency reported.

"This afternoon, the Air Force [of the group] carried out an attack operation on Abha International Airport with Qasef-2K drone, and the strike was accurate," the group's spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement.

He went on to assert that the group's operation "will continue as long as the aggression and siege continue."