Libya’s chief prosecutor vows to ‘put on trial’ those responsible for Derna dam neglect
The chief prosecutor of Libya’s eastern government has said he will prosecute those responsible for the neglect of two dams in Derna as the city struggles to cope with the thousands of corpses washing up or decaying under rubble.
It comes as the World Health Organisation and other aid agencies urged Libyan authorities to stop burying victims of last Sunday’s flooding in mass graves.
The organisation said such burials could bring long-term mental distress to families or cause health risks if located near the water.
According to a UN report, more than 1,000 people have been buried in mass graves since Libya, a nation divided by a decade of conflict and political chaos, was hit on Sunday by torrential rain that caused two dams to burst.
According to the Libyan Red Crescent, there were 11,300 flooding deaths in Derna as of Thursday.
Another 10,100 people were reported missing, though there was little hope many of them would be found alive, the aid group said.
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Bodies “are littering the streets, washing back up on shore and buried under collapsed buildings and debris,” said Bilal Sablouh, regional forensics manager for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“In just two hours, one of my colleagues counted over 200 bodies on the beach near Derna,” he said.
Divers are also searching the waters off the Mediterranean coastal city.
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Libya: Almost a quarter ‘dead or missing’
Libya chief prosecutor Al Siddiq Al Sou said on Friday evening that the public prosecutor’s office had summoned the dam’s administration and the authority responsible for water resources.
He said the investigations are focusing on the funds allocated for the maintenance of the two dams, stressing that the office has reports that cracks could be seen in them before the flooding.
“I reassure the citizens that whoever made a mistake, neglected, the prosecution will certainly take firm measures, file a criminal case against him, and put him on trial,” he said.
Entire buildings had been moved by the floodwater
Men pray between digging
The number of deaths may also increase again due to the spread of waterborne diseases and moving explosives that were swept up when the two dams collapsed and sent a wall of water gushing through the city, officials warned.
Ibrahim al Arabi, health minister in Libya’s Tripoli-based western government, said he was certain groundwater was polluted with water mixed up with corpses, dead animals, refuse and chemical substances.
“We urge people not to approach the wells in Derna,” he said.
Libyan authorities have limited access to the flooded coastal city of Derna to dig through the mud and hollowed-out buildings for the more than 10,000 people still missing.
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The disaster has brought some rare unity to oil-rich Libya after years of civil war between rival governments in the country’s east and west that are backed by various militia forces and international patrons.
But the opposing governments have struggled to respond to the crisis, and recovery efforts have been hampered by confusion, difficulty getting aid to the hardest-hit areas, and the destruction of Derna’s infrastructure, including several bridges.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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