Newly released correspondence published as part of the Epstein Files shows convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein exchanging messages in the days after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.

The messages, published on Friday evening among a wider cache of documents amounting to three million, include exchanges between Epstein and a man called Anas Al Rashid.

Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018, and US intelligence later concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation.

By 12 October, the case had erupted into an international crisis, fuelling global outrage over the brutal killing of the Middle East Eye contributor and Washington Post columnist.

In a message dated 12 October 2018, Al Rashid described the killing as “ugly .. very ugly”.

Epstein replied: “smells like something bigger to me. I wouldnt be surprised if MBZ set him up,” referring to the United Arab Emirates’ ruler, Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ). Al Rashid responded: “mmmmmm”.

When Epstein pressed for more detail, Al Rashid wrote that it was “difficult to tell [the] leaks are done in a very smart way and .. fast.. very fast” and warned the crisis had become a public relations battle, adding: “It is a media war now. I think saudis are loosing Trump if they dont start defending. Best defense is the truth even if ugly, in my opinion.”

In another follow-up email included in the files, Epstein said a “secondary source” told him that one participant in the operation recorded a video on a phone before the device was hacked and the footage obtained.

The correspondence does not identify who hacked the phone.

On 13 October 2018, Epstein raised further questions in another exchange, discussing whether Khashoggi could be branded a “terrorist” and floated the possibility of a “failed covert operation” or an “entrapment trap”, repeatedly invoking Mohammed bin Zayed’s name.

That same night, the documents show Epstein receiving a message from an acquaintance whose name is redacted, saying Mohammed bin Zayed had requested an “urgent” meeting, with departure planned for the next morning.

Separately, an FBI memo released on Friday evening said Epstein worked with US and Israeli intelligence. “Epstein was close to the former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, and trained as a spy under him,” the memo adds.

Jan 31 (Reuters) – Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met with top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in Tehran and reviewed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Saturday in a statement.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher; Writing by Enas Alashray; editing by Diane Craft)

Jan 31 (Reuters) – Iraq’s alliance of Shi’ite political blocs, the Coordination Framework, reaffirmed on Saturday its support for former premier Nouri al-Maliki to lead the next government, despite a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that Washington would no longer help Iraq if Maliki returned to power.

The bloc, which holds a majority in parliament, picked Maliki, Iraq’s first elected prime minister after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, as its nominee for the post following an election.

“The choice of the prime minister is a purely Iraqi constitutional matter and should proceed without foreign interference,” the Coordination Framework said in a statement, adding that it seeks balanced relations with international partners based on mutual respect.

Trump’s threats are the starkest example yet of the Republican president’s campaign to curb Iran-linked groups’ influence in Iraq, which has long walked a tightrope between its two closest allies, Washington and Tehran.

(Reporting by Muayad Hameed; Writing by Enas Alashray; Editing by Diane Craft)

A declassified FBI memo from the Epstein files, released on Friday, includes incendiary allegations about US President Donald Trump.

The memo says that Trump was “compromised by Israel”, that convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein worked with Israeli intelligence, and that a Jewish religious group calling itself Chabad-Lubavitch sought to hijack his first term in office.

The memo, written in 2020, formed part of an FBI investigation into domestic or foreign influence over the US electoral process. It draws on information from a confidential human source (CHS) and appears among a vast trove of Epstein-related files released by the US Justice Department.

“CHS advised Chabad is doing everything they can to co-opt the Trump presidency,” the memo states regarding his first term. 

Chabad-Lubavitch, a hardline religious Jewish sect founded in Russia, has grown to an estimated 90,000 members. Its messianic, ultra-Orthodox ideology has repeatedly been linked to hardline settler colonial politics in Palestine.

The memo also cites Berel Lazar, a Chabad member and the former chief rabbi of Russia, describing him as a close adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Chabad is basically state-sanctioned Judaism. It is used by Putin to keep tabs on all the Russo-Jewish oligarchs,” the FBI memo adds.

It identifies Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a supporter of the group and a key force within Trump’s inner circle.

“On the day Trump was elected President, Ivanka Trump and Jared [Kushner] were at the gravesite of Rabbi Schneersom [sic] who was the most powerful Rabbi in the Chabad network,” the memo states.

The source goes further, saying: “Trump has been compromised by Israel. And Kushner is the real brains behind his organization and his Presidency.”

The memo also says Epstein worked with US and foreign intelligence. “CHS became convinced Epstein was a co-opted Mossad Agent,” it says, pointing to prior FBI reporting.

“Epstein was close to the former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, and trained as a spy under him,” the memo adds.

Epstein and Barak had a decade-long relationship. Barak, who was also a senior Israeli military intelligence figure earlier in his career, visited Epstein’s New York town house more than 30 times between 2013 and 2017. 

In one email exchange, Epstein wrote to Barak: “you should make clear that i dont work for mossad. :)” Barak replied: “You or I?” Epstein responded: “that I dont :)”

The document links those claims to Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, describing an alleged conversation involving his lawyer, pro-Israeli academic Alan Derschowitz, and then-federal prosecutor Alex Acosta, who was told Epstein “belonged to intelligence.”

Smartphones manufactured in Egypt have seen noticeable price increases in recent weeks, rising by an estimated 5 percent to 15 percent, according to the Mobile Phone Traders Division of the Giza Chamber of Commerce.

The increase affects several popular brands assembled locally and comes at a time when demand in the mobile phone market remains subdued. Some companies, including Oppo and Honor, have already adjusted their prices upward, while distributors expect other brands to follow in the coming period. Retailers say the changes are being felt across different price segments, limiting options for consumers who were already cautious about spending.

The latest increases followed a government decision to end a customs exemption that previously allowed Egyptians returning from abroad to bring in one mobile phone for personal use without paying duties. Now, if you’ve purchased a phone abroad, you only get 90 days of being able to use it in Egypt before you have to pay Customs. So, the government was encouraging people to buy local phones which have now increased in price.

Mohamed El-Haddad, head of the Mobile Phone Traders Division, criticized the increases, describing them as excessive under current market conditions. He argued that some manufacturers are taking advantage of the situation despite benefiting from government incentives aimed at supporting local production. El-Haddad also questioned the price differences between locally assembled phones and imported alternatives.

He called on the government to reconsider the classification of smartphones as luxury goods, noting that this designation increases taxes and customs-related costs, which are ultimately reflected in retail prices. He said that smartphones are essential, particularly as Egypt’s education system increasingly relies on digital platforms and mobile access. According to El-Haddad, removing smartphones from this category could help ease price pressures.

Traders have also urged authorities to strengthen oversight of pricing practices. Calls have been made for closer coordination between the Competition Protection Authority, the Consumer Protection Agency, and chambers of commerce to ensure fair competition and prevent unjustified price increases.

Meanwhile, the government continues to promote local manufacturing through the “Egypt Makes Electronics” initiative. Egypt produced around 10 million mobile phones in 2025 and aims to increase output to 15 million units in 2026, as part of broader efforts to expand domestic electronics production.

Jan 31 (Reuters) – An explosion occurred at Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, Iranian media reported, without giving a cause for the blast.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that social media reports alleging that a Revolutionary Guard navy commander was targeted in the explosion were “completely false”.

Iranian media said the blast was being investigated but gave no further information. Iranian authorities could not immediately be contacted for comment.

The port of Bandar Abbas lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.

The reported explosion comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington after Iranian authorities quelled the biggest protests to convulse the country in three years, and also amid ongoing Western concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The nationwide protests erupted in December over economic hardship and posed one of the toughest challenges to the country’s clerical rulers.

At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests, including 500 members of the security forces, an Iranian official told Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday an “armada” was heading toward Iran. Multiple sources said on Friday that Trump was weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused U.S., Israeli and European leaders of exploiting Iran’s economic problems, inciting unrest and providing people with the means to “tear the nation apart”.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Gareth Jones)

As night fell on 30 January, a tense sense of dread settled over Iranians at home and abroad, with rumours of an imminent US military strike taking hold across Iran.

“I kept waiting for it to hit. I couldn’t sleep until morning. I was waking up and straining to hear any sound of explosions. Let’s see what happens tonight,” Milad*, a 43-year-old engineer living in the capital Tehran, said about that night.

Shohreh, a 68-year-old woman, goes to a park near her home in east Tehran every morning for group exercise. When she returned home on the morning of 31 January, she said, “Today, all my friends were saying that it would hit tonight.”

Shohreh, who opposes a foreign attack on Iran, said people seemed to be losing their minds.

“They think that if the US strikes, everything will be fine,” she said. “Because of the killings committed by the Islamic Republic, people are becoming desperate. They no longer know what is in their interest and what is against them.”

For the past week, as Washington has once again beaten the drum of war against Iran, the prospect of conflict has become a real and present fear for Iranians.

The movement of a large US military fleet to the Middle East has not only triggered a new multibillion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia and Israel; for Iranians, it has brought confusion, psychological pressure, and fear of a disastrous future.

Iranians are still in shock following the establishment’s bloody crackdown on protests that erupted on 28 December in Tehran’s bazaar over the economic crisis and quickly spread to cities across the country.

According to government sources, 3,117 people, mostly security forces, were killed in the crackdown. However, human rights groups outside Iran believe the number is much higher, with some putting it at more than 6,500 people, the majority of them civilians. No international fact-finding mission has yet been established to verify the figures.

‘Seal the windows’

Arzoo, a 32-year-old government employee opposed to the establishment, described a quiet anxiety among people. Many avoid talking about the deadliest aspects of war, which are all too familiar after last summer’s brutal war with Israel, and try to stay calm. But everyone is waiting for the first explosion.

“My neighbour across the street, in the building where I live, has sealed his windows,” Arzoo told Middle East Eye.

“He said, ‘Seal the windows. When they bomb, there will be no difference between the regime and the opposition.'”

Beneath the fragile calm that Iranian society clings to, perhaps as a way to manage its own mental strain, lurks a persistent question: what to do when war begins?

Social media, which became accessible again after a three-week internet blackout during the crackdown on protests, is now filled with advice on how to survive missile attacks and bombs.

The list of precautions is long: stock enough food and water for 10 days; keep a first-aid kit within reach; place identification and essential documents in a bag for quick evacuation; keep emergency exits clear; move to open spaces at the sound of an explosion; lie on the ground next to a wall. Dozens of similar tips circulate on Persian-language platforms.

The sources of much of this advice are unclear. It is also unknown whether the same bots active during the June Israeli-US strikes – promoting Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Shah – are behind it. Whoever is behind these posts has an evident impact.

Arzoo said she has seen the messages and has stored “10 bottles of drinking water and a few cans of food at home, just in case”.

Amin, a 75-year-old retiree with kidney disease, said he bought a three-month supply of medication last week and is keeping it at home.

‘Seal the windows. When they bomb, there will be no difference between the regime and the opposition’
– Arzoo, 32

“Some of this advice may be media manipulation,” he said, “but I bought my essentials anyway, out of caution. No one knows what will happen tomorrow.”

Amin, who lived through the eight-year Iran-Iraq war and last year’s 12-day war, said he is deeply saddened to see his country on the brink of another war.

A leftist activist who has opposed the theocratic rulers since the 1979 revolution, he said: “This regime executed my closest comrades after the revolution and is now killing our children. I have no sympathy for it. But I also hate war. War will destroy everything left for us.”

These fears and preparations are not limited to those inside Iran. They are shared by the Iranian diaspora, estimated at around four million people. Many fear another nationwide internet blackout, like those during the 12-day war and last month’s crackdown, that would disconnect them from their loved ones.

They also fear for the lives of their families.

Fatemeh, who lives in Finland with her husband and son, worries about her elderly parents in Tehran. During the war with Israel, her parents could not leave the city because they had no access to transportation. 

“I asked my parents to leave Tehran before a new war started,” Fatemeh said. “They answered they wouldn’t go anywhere. They said they had nowhere to go, which is true. That’s why I asked a close friend to visit them and buy basic supplies and medicines during these days.”

‘A fool like Donald Trump’

Across Iran, cities remain calm, at least for now.

There are no long lines at gas stations. Shops are open. People are going to work as usual. Early in the morning, schoolchildren wait outside their homes for the school bus.

Still, the sense of alarm is widespread.

‘Our lives and our deaths have become entertainment. A game for others’
– Soroush, 27

Soroush, a 27-year-old student, moved with his family to a city in northern Iran during the war to escape Israeli missiles. He said while the panic of that period is no longer visible, the fear of another war runs through everyday conversations.

“The vibe is not like the collective panic of the 12-day war,” he said. “It feels like people are mentally prepared. Before the Israeli attack, we had no idea what war would look like. Now we have an image in front of us. We know what we will face.”

Soroush feels that the lives of Iranians have turned into a game for the country’s leaders and for Western powers. He points to the betting website Polymarket, where many have bet thousands of dollars on a US strike on the night of 31 January. 

“Our lives and our deaths have become entertainment,” he said. “A game for others.”

Saba, 41, spoke of her fear for the future of her eight-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. She also described her frustration with the government’s repression, the self-interest of opposition figures abroad, and the US warmongering.

“What a miserable people we are,” she said. “Our rulers massacre people in the streets. Reza Pahlavi has become the face of our opposition abroad. And our enemy is a fool like Donald Trump.”

*Names have been changed for security reasons.

 

Truth is a form of resistance. It may not be a weapon in the literal sense, but it is powerful enough to protect you, enough to ground you when faced with injustice, or with external narratives that attempt to distort, misjudge, or erase what is real.

When that truth is tied to who you are and where you come from, it becomes even more potent. It becomes a means of survival, a way to confront misinformation and to reveal what injustice works so hard to conceal: the lived reality of events as they unfolded on the ground.

In today’s world, marked by geopolitical strain and the rapid circulation of misinformation, truth and injustice are inseparable. Each relies on the other to be understood. Injustice can be exposed through truth, and truth is most complete when it reveals discomfort, harm, and inequality. Not all truth is meant to be palatable; often, its purpose is to illuminate what has been deliberately kept in the dark.

Yet how can truth and justice come together in a way that strengthens both? How can truth be honored while also confronting the injustices that shape our world? And how can individuals meaningfully contribute to this work, even from within their own spaces?

These questions sit at the core of Zeina Dowidar’s work. As co-founder of Hekayyatna (Our Story), a London-based community organisation, Dowidar seeks to create spaces where people are invited to sit with the inherited pain of their histories, and to consider how that pain can be transformed into intention, and how grief can be redirected toward action.

Recently, at Ibraaz, a cultural platform dedicated to art, ideas, and voices from the global South, Dowidar organized an event centered on the question, “Are reparations possible in a world still stealing?” 

The conversation invited participants to reflect on the injustices unfolding around us today, and to rethink what it means to be responsible global citizens, ones who give back to their communities, their countries, and the identities they carry.

In an interview with Egyptian Streets, Dowidar reflects on the essence of the event, revisiting its conversations as if reliving them, and passing that knowledge forward so a wider audience can better understand the connection between truth and injustice, and how that responsibility can be carried by future generations.

Q: To start, can you tell us why you created Hekayyatna and how it connects to you on a personal level?

I started Hekayyatna with my co-founder, Al Shaibani, in the summer of 2023. At the time, we were both working as producers on audio documentaries. Storytelling has always been at the heart of what we do, and we genuinely love telling stories, researching them deeply, and thinking about how they move people.

But, very often, we’d spend six months researching and producing a story, put it out into the world, and then… silence. 

You publish it, you’re incredibly passionate about it, you’ve poured so much time and care into it, and then you’re left wondering, is anyone listening?

We wanted to find a way to bring these stories to life, not just to tell them, but to open them up. To get people engaged, talking, questioning, and thinking together. That impulse is what led to the creation of Hekayyatna.

Hekayyatna began as a community organization, built around a series of core events we call ‘Hekayyatna Asks’. Each event is anchored by one big, guiding question. That question might be something like: How do archives shape our personal identities? What does justice really mean? How do we restore lost or stolen heritage? Or, in some cases, are reparations even possible in a world that is still actively stealing?

Rather than offering fixed answers, each event becomes a shared inquiry. We come in with stories we’ve uncovered, research we’ve done, and histories that demand attention, and then we explore them together with the audience. The space is designed as a collective conversation, blending discussion, reflection, and participatory activities.

At its core, Hekayyatna is about exchange. The goal is that every time you attend an event, you learn something new, meet someone new, and try something new. That’s the heart of what we do.

Q: And for this particular event, ‘Are Reparations Possible in a World Still Stealing?’ It feels especially resonant given the moment we’re living in. Why was this the right topic to explore now? What made this question feel urgent at this particular moment?

Two years ago, we opened our year with an event titled Can We Find Justice? in January 2024. At the time, it was only two or three months into the genocide in Gaza, and many of us were grappling with the terrifying possibility that we live in a world that simply does not care about justice. 

We wanted to look outward, to learn from experiences across different contexts, and ask what happens after conflict supposedly ends. How is justice pursued? What does it actually look like in practice? And what are the good, the bad, and the deeply uncomfortable realities that come with it?

Two years on, it feels like the world is unraveling even further. Rather than moving toward repair, things seem to be deteriorating. In this context, the language of reparations has become increasingly prominent. We hear it everywhere: reparations as financial compensation for colonialism, reparations as the return of stolen artifacts from museums, and reparations in countless forms. 

Yet, what’s often missing is a critical examination of what reparations truly mean, what they look like in practice, who they actually benefit, and whether they deliver the kind of justice that victims on the ground are asking for.

As my co-founder and I began researching this theme, we found ourselves wrestling with a more fundamental question: can reparations even work as they are currently imagined? Or is the existing framework itself broken? How do we demand reparations for colonial violence in a place like Sudan, for example, when foreign powers are still actively invested in its destruction today?

This led us to interrogate the broader colonial-capitalist system we continue to live within. Are reparations genuinely a tool for the oppressed? Or have they become a mechanism for perpetrators, a way to absolve themselves, to pay a debt, close the file, and move on without being held accountable for ongoing harm?

Q: Were there any particularly striking points or remarks that stood out to you during the event?

There was a wide range of responses from the audience. At the event, I shared two case studies to help ground our understanding of reparations, and then we explored the topic more hypothetically through scenarios and group discussions.

One of the case studies I presented was about Libya. Libya was colonized by Italy from 1911 to 1943, effectively treated as an extension of Italy, much like France and Algeria. During this time, the Italian government planned to relocate between half a million and a million Italians to Eastern Libya. 

But since people were already living there, the authorities decided to clear the land forcibly. Under Mussolini, around 100,000 Libyans were killed, and half of the population was also deported to concentration camps. It was a brutal period of colonial violence that lasted about five years.

Fast forward to 2008: Italy formally apologized for its colonial history in Libya. Prime Minister Berlusconi signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Libya, which included a commitment of USD 5 billion (EGP 200 billion) over 20 years in infrastructure projects and the return of a stolen statue. On the surface, it looked like a historic act: Italy became the first European power to officially apologize for colonialism.

But, when you dig deeper, many argue that this was not true reparations. First, the treaty included neo-colonial conditions, like Libya assisting Italy in controlling migration routes and allowing Italian firms to exploit Libyan oil and gas. Second, it was never called reparations; it was framed as a “friendship treaty,” which sidestepped direct acknowledgment of the victims and their suffering. Finally, when Libya’s government fell in 2011, payments stopped, showing how conditional reparations often are on politics and power dynamics.

This led to one of the big discussions of the night: are reparations really meant for the victims, or are they a political tool for governments, North or South, to assert power or gain support?

Another major theme that emerged was what I call the “value paradox” in reparations. Essentially, any number assigned to a crime is too high for politicians to accept and too low for victims to feel justice has been served. 

For example, the UK made one of its largest payouts related to colonial-era abuses, paying around GBP 19.9 million (EGP 1.29 billion) for 5,000 Kenyans tortured under British rule. While that sounds substantial, it’s only about GBP 3,800 (EGP 246,000) per person, hardly enough to compensate for a lifetime of suffering, trauma, and intergenerational struggle.

This raises fundamental questions: Can reparations ever truly quantify justice? And if we can’t put a price on historical crimes, does that mean the concept of reparations itself loses its meaning? These questions sparked some of the most intense and thought-provoking conversations at the event.

Q: Why do you think so much of the truth about colonialism’s violence and injustice remains hidden, and why does it matter to bring it to light now?

When you begin to look closely, the violence of colonialism becomes impossible to ignore. In Libya, for example, Italian concentration camps were so extreme that senior officials from Hitler’s Nazi regime reportedly visited them to study and draw inspiration for how camps would later be implemented in Eastern Europe. These sites helped shape some of the most infamous systems of violence of the twentieth century.

This is why naming these realities matters. When colonial violence isn’t explicitly acknowledged, it allows perpetrators to evade accountability and to continue benefiting from systems built on that harm.

That recognition also shaped one of the most important conversations of the evening: if reparations, as currently structured, are insufficient or compromised, what other paths to justice exist? Many participants argued that justice may lie in reclaiming sovereignty over land and resources, over knowledge production, and over scientific and cultural capacity. 

Rather than relying on vertical systems of validation from the Global North, there was a strong call to rebuild horizontal connections across the Global South, reviving pathways of collaboration, trade, education, and exchange that once existed.

The question, then, becomes whether justice might emerge not from waiting to be compensated, but from building systems in which communities no longer need to ask for reparations at all, because they have reclaimed the power, wealth, and autonomy that were taken from them in the first place.

Q: Did the discussion move people toward rethinking reparations altogether, and were there any moments of self-reflection that stood out to you?

One of the moments that really sparked reflection was a quote I shared about how, as long as we aren’t producing our own scientific knowledge, we remain dependent on other people’s solutions to our problems, and how that dependency ultimately consolidates power in the Global North. 

That idea opened up a lot of self-reflection in the room. People began questioning their own roles in perpetuating brain drain and thinking more seriously about how they might contribute back to their countries in tangible ways.

A recurring theme in those reflections was mutual aid, particularly in relation to Palestine, Sudan, and the Congo. Many people spoke about the importance of supporting communities directly, outside of Global North institutions, and imagining what it looks like to build alternative systems of care and solidarity ourselves.

What we aim to do with Hekayyatna is create space for exactly these kinds of conversations. They’re not open-mic town halls, but thoughtfully structured discussions and activities that allow people to reflect together, listen to one another, and sit with complexity without the conversation tipping overwhelmingly in one direction.

The setting itself added another layer. The room we gathered in was an installation by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahanna, built entirely from Ghanaian materials he describes as a form of “reverse restitution.” 

Bringing these materials into a UK context was a way of rewriting cultural narratives, physically relocating the Global South into the Global North. It made the space feel like an extension of the conversation itself.

Q: Against the backdrop of the Grand Egyptian Museum’s opening, how do you see institutions like this contributing to countries reclaiming and owning their historical narratives?

I think it plays a crucial role in this conversation because it directly challenges long-standing Global North narratives around the restitution of artifacts. For decades, when countries have demanded the return of stolen objects, the response has often been the same: you don’t have the capacity to care for them; they’re safer here; they’re more accessible here.

Investments like the Grand Egyptian Museum fundamentally dismantle that argument. They demonstrate not only the existence of world-class physical infrastructure, but also scientific expertise, and the ability to conserve, restore, and exhibit artifacts at the highest international standards. 

Perhaps most importantly, museums like this shift control over narrative. When a country holds its own artifacts, it controls how they are contextualized, interpreted, and presented. It decides the stories told on the wall texts, the relationships drawn between objects, and the paths visitors follow through history. Those curatorial choices shape how a culture is understood.

And when that power sits with the country itself, the story being told is no longer filtered through an external gaze; it becomes a narrative authored from within.

Q: Could you explain what narrative means to you, and how it operates both on a large scale, like shaping economic or political power, and on smaller scales, like telling local stories or sharing cultural knowledge?

Being a storyteller means controlling the narrative. Every story I tell carries my intentions, and my biases, whether I’m conscious of them or not. The way you experience a story from me will inevitably be different from how you might experience it from someone else, or from an alternative source, or even by discovering it yourself.

Whoever is telling the story, whether you’re listening, reading, scrolling, or watching, shapes the narrative. They decide what to highlight, what to leave out, what matters, and what doesn’t. They are in control of how the story is framed and understood.

With Hekayyatna, what we’re trying to do is introduce alternative storytelling, such as community storytelling, which are stories from perspectives that often go unheard, whether in London, in our physical spaces, or in online and public spaces. 

It’s about telling our own stories, our histories, our truths, instead of only hearing them through the lens of others. To me, that’s what it means to truly control the narrative: to tell your story, or to hear it from someone you trust.

Q: What is interesting about Hekayyatna is that it’s community and network-based, rather than just individual projects. Can you talk about why building that collective approach to storytelling is important to you?

I think that’s what makes it special. It’s one thing to watch a documentary about reparations, but it’s another to be in a room with people, discussing it, reflecting on it, and connecting it to your own life, even role-playing scenarios and really digging into the topic. That kind of engagement tends to stick with people much longer.

The feedback we’ve received shows that attendees were still thinking about the event days afterwards, reflecting on its implications for their own lives and communities. That’s exactly what we hope people leave with: a sense of responsibility, a spark to think critically about their own role, and an inspiration to take action in some way. When that happens, we can look back on the work and feel genuinely excited about its impact.

Q: What final message would you give to the younger generation about reparations and taking responsibility for their own narratives? 

For me, the most important thing isn’t always about fighting for historical reparations. It’s about identifying the injustices happening around you and thinking about how you can help. That injustice could be economic; maybe you can support an organization or donate resources. It could be educational, and maybe you can teach someone a skill they don’t have, whether it’s English or something else. It could be cultural, social, or even environmental. The key is to notice the injustice, learn about it, and see where you can make a difference.

At our events, I try to encourage people to find the issues that resonate with them. If historical reparations don’t spark your interest, maybe climate justice does. 

For example, understanding climate injustices in Egypt and thinking about accountability or solutions. Or perhaps social justice issues are more compelling to you. Whatever it is, dive into it, read about it, talk about it with friends and neighbors, and take action where you can.

Israeli air strikes killed 22 people in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, including women and children, according to the territory’s civil defence agency, updating an earlier toll.

Despite a US-brokered ceasefire entering its second phase earlier this month, violence in the Palestinian territory has continued, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the truce agreement.

The latest violence comes as Israel announced it would reopen the crucial Rafa crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, a key demand by humanitarian organisations.

“The death toll in the Gaza Strip from Israeli air strikes since dawn on Saturday has risen to 22, most of them women and children, with others still trapped under the rubble,” the civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under the Hamas authority, said in a statement.

“Residential apartments, tents, shelters and a police station were targeted, resulting in this humanitarian catastrophe,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said in the statement.

One strike hit the police station in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre.

Gaza’s general police directorate said seven people were killed in that attack.

“The killed included police officers and personnel as well as civilians who were present at the station at the time of the strike to follow up on their cases,” the directorate said in a statement.

In another attack, Israeli forces hit a shelter in Al-Mawasi, an area of south Gaza where tens of thousands of displaced Gazans have set up tents and makeshift shelters, an AFP journalist reported.

The number of casualties from this strike was still not known.

Although people have been killed almost daily in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire on October 10, Saturday’s toll was particularly high.

– Ceasefire violations –

An Israeli military source told AFP that “in response to Hamas’ blatant violations of the ceasefire agreement, several air strikes were conducted overnight”.

The source did not offer details about the strikes.

Gaza health ministry general director Munir al-Barsh told AFP after the initial toll of 11 was reported Saturday that 11 more people were killed and 20 wounded “as a result of strikes carried out by the occupation targeting civilians in a tent and an apartment” in Gaza City and in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Israel “continues its serious violations of the ceasefire agreement amid a severe shortage of medical supplies, medicines and medical equipment”, Barsh added.

The health ministry, which operates under the Hamas authority, has said that Israeli attacks have killed at least 509 people in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect.

Israel’s military says four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period in Gaza in suspected militant attacks.

Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have meant that AFP has been unable to independently verify casualty figures or freely cover all the violence.

Meanwhile, Israel has said Sunday’s reopening of the Rafah crossing will be only for the “limited movement of people”.

The reopening is a key element in the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Israel had previously expressed its unwillingness to reopen the gateway until it received the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage to be held in Gaza, who was recovered earlier this week and laid to rest in Israel on Wednesday.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Israeli retaliation flattened much of Gaza, which was already suffering from previous rounds of fighting and from an Israeli blockade imposed since 2007.

The two-year war has left at least 71,769 people dead in Gaza, according to the health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

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Iranian army chief Amir Hatami on Saturday warned the United States and Israel against an attack, saying his country’s forces were on high alert after Washington’s heavy military deployments in the Gulf. 

“If the enemy makes a mistake, without a doubt it will endanger its own security, the security of the region, and the security of the Zionist regime,” said Hatami, according to the official IRNA news agency, noting that Iran’s armed forces were “at full defensive and military readiness”.

The warning came as the region prepared for a potential US strike on Iran, with the United States bolstering its military presence in the Middle East, including the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and other assets.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said a “massive armada” was heading towards the Islamic Republic.

Trump warned that “time is running out” for the country, and referenced air strikes carried out against Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025.

The Trump administration has toyed with attacking Iran for nearly a month on the pretext of the brutal crackdown on demonstrators that has seen thousands killed by government security forces.

Middle East Eye reported on Monday that Trump was considering precision strikes on “high-value” Iranian officials and commanders it deemed responsible for the deaths of protesters during anti-government demonstrations earlier this month.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that US, Israeli and European leaders had exploited Iran’s economic problems, incited unrest and provided people with the means to “tear the nation apart” in recent protests.

“Everyone knows that the issue was not just a social protest,” he added.

The two-week nationwide protests, which erupted in late December amid an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and rising living costs, have subsided following a deadly crackdown by authorities.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that at least 6,563 people were killed during the unrest, including 6,170 protesters and 214 members of the security forces.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, however, told CNN Turk that 3,100 people were killed, including 2,000 security personnel.

Regional allies such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have stepped up diplomatic efforts to prevent a military confrontation between the US and Iran.

Washington is demanding that Tehran curb its ballistic missile programme as a precondition for renewed talks, a demand Iran has rejected.

Speaking in Turkey, which has positioned itself as a key negotiator, on Friday, Araqchi said that Iran’s defence capabilities and missile programme would never be the subject of any negotiations.

The foreign minister said there had been no contact yet between Tehran and Washington about “plans or a programme for talks”, but added, “We are ready for a just, fair and equitable negotiation.”

Trump on Thursday said he was planning to talk with Iran and that there were some “very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them”.