RIYADH: Saudi Arabia plans to allow alcohol sales to non-Muslim diplomats for the first time, two sources familiar with the plan told AFP on Wednesday, modifying strict rules governing liquor in the conservative country. Alcohol “will be sold to non-Muslim diplomats” who previously had to import alcohol via a diplomatic pouch, or sealed official package, one of the sources said.

The sales will take place in a store in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, a neighborhood of foreign missions and residences west of the city center, according to a document seen by AFP. Access to the store will be restricted to people who register on an application known as the Diplo App, and monthly quotas will be enforced, the document said.

Prohibition has been the law of the land in Saudi Arabia since 1952. Rumors have swirled for years that alcohol would become available in the Gulf kingdom amid a wave of social reforms introduced as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda, among them the introduction of cinemas and mixed-gender music festivals.

A Saudi government statement on Wednesday said authorities were introducing “a new regulatory framework... to counter the illicit trade of alcohol goods and products received by diplomatic missions”. The statement added: “The new process will focus on allocating specific quantities of alcohol goods when entering the kingdom to put an end to the previous unregulated process that caused an uncontrolled exchange of such goods in the kingdom.” The policy “will continue to grant and ensure that all diplomats of non-Muslim embassies have access to these products in specified quotas,” it said.

Access to the store in the Diplomatic Quarter “is strictly restricted to non-Muslims”, according to the document seen by AFP. “No persons under the age of 21 are allowed inside the store” and “proper attire is required”, it says. Those who register with the app are unable to send relatives, drivers, assistants or colleagues in their place, it says. Use of mobile phones is prohibited in the store.

Under the quota system, those authorized to access the store will be able to purchase 240 “points” of alcohol per month. A litre of spirits is worth six points, a litre of wine is worth three points and a litre of beer is worth one point. The Saudi government statement indicated that not much would change immediately for the vast majority of Saudi Arabia’s 32 million people, who have few ways to imbibe unless they are willing to travel abroad.

Vision 2030 seeks to transform the world’s biggest crude exporter into a business, tourism and sports hub, laying the groundwork for a post-oil economy. Wednesday’s news came as Saudi Arabia increasingly competes with its neighbors, especially Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, for foreign investment and tourism dollars. This month, for example, authorities implemented a rule requiring multinational firms to set up regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia or lose out on government contracts.

Alcohol is available in myriad hotels, restaurants and bars in Dubai. In neighboring Qatar, alcohol is served in licensed hotels and restaurants to non-Muslims over 21 years old. Last year, Saudi Arabia was granted hosting rights for Expo 2030 and the World Cup in 2034, further fueling speculation that the alcohol ban might be lifted, or at least weakened with carve-outs in places like NEOM, a planned $500 billion futuristic megacity.

But given that alcohol is forbidden in Islam, the issue remains deeply sensitive in the country that is home to the religion’s holiest sites in the cities of Makkah and Madinah. Under Saudi law, penalties for consumption or possession of alcohol can include fines, jail time, public flogging and deportation for unauthorized foreigners. Saudi officials had until Wednesday dismissed suggestions of any major policy change. “The short answer is, we are going to continue with our current laws,” deputy tourism minister Princess Haifa Al-Saud said when asked directly about the issue at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2022. – AFP

GAZA: Fighting intensified Wednesday in Gaza’s Khan Yunis, the focus of the Zionist entity’s war with Hamas, with the UN saying a shelter for the displaced was hit by deadly tank shelling as combat drew closer to hospitals. The Zionist army says it has “encircled” southern Gaza’s biggest city, the birthplace of Hamas’ Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, accused of being the mastermind of the Oct 7 attacks against the Zionist entity.

Tank shelling on a United Nations shelter in the city killed at least nine people, said the Gaza head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. “Two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people — reports now 9 dead and 75 injured,” Thomas White, UNRWA’s Gaza director, said on X, formerly Twitter. Teams from the UNRWA and the World Health Organization were trying to reach the shelter, which has been blocked for two days, White said.

Heavy fighting was meanwhile reported close to hospitals in the city, including Al-Aqsa, Nasser and Al-Amal, with reports of Palestinians trying to flee, said UN humanitarian agency OCHA. “No-one can enter or exit (Nasser Hospital) due to ongoing bombardments,” OCHA said, citing medics who also reported that staff were digging graves on the grounds of the facility “due to the large numbers of fatalities anticipated”.

OCHA said about 18,000 people uprooted from their homes were reported to be at Nasser Hospital alone. An AFP journalist saw Palestinians who fled Khan Yunis arriving in the southern town of Rafah on the backs of pick-up trucks along with their belongings. Gaza hospitals had already received the bodies of at least 125 people killed overnight, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said.

“Dozens of (Zionist) tanks are surrounding Nasser Hospital from all sides, except for a corridor for displaced people to leave,” the Hamas government said. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Al-Amal hospital was also surrounded. The Zionist entity has carried out a relentless military offensive that has killed at least 25,700 people in Gaza, about 70 percent of them women and children.

The government of Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under mounting pressure from the Zionist public to end the war. That pressure intensified after 24 soldiers were killed Monday in the army’s deadliest single day since it launched ground operations in Gaza. The military said 21 of them were reservists killed “when a squad of terrorists surprised the force” with rocket-propelled grenade fire.

Zionist army chief Herzi Halevi said “they fell in battle near the border fence during a defensive operation in the area separating (Zionist) communities from Gaza”. Citing Zionist officials, the New York Times said the operation was to demolish part of a Palestinian neighborhood as part of a plan to create a “buffer zone” inside Gaza along the Zionist border.

In Gaza City, people displaced by the war said they were stuck in a new conflict zone without provisions. “They besieged us in the camp and brought us here, and even here, the shelling continued,” Umm Dahud al-Kafarna, originally from Beit Hanun, told AFPTV. “They have besieged us for six days, leaving us with nothing to eat or drink while bombing us from the air, sea and tanks.”

Zionist media reported that a far-right fringe group had attempted to disrupt aid deliveries at the Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza, but it was unclear whether their protest caused any delays. US President Joe Biden’s Middle East envoy Brett McGurk is in the region for talks aimed at brokering a new deal to free the remaining captives in exchange for a pause in fighting.

A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said a Hamas delegation had arrived in Cairo on Tuesday to meet Egypt’s intelligence chief and discuss new ceasefire proposals. A source close to Hamas told AFP that the talks in the Egyptian capital were continuing on Wednesday.

The Gaza war has spurred fears of a wider escalation, with a surge in violence involving Iran-backed Hamas allies across the Middle East. A British maritime security agency reported an explosion went off near a vessel south of Yemen, the latest suspected attack on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. It came after the US military said it carried out strikes on Iran-backed groups in both Iraq and Yemen overnight.

In Yemen, the US military said it destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles overnight, which had posed an “imminent threat”. It was the latest in a series of strikes by the United States and Britain aimed at reducing the Houthis’ ability to target shipping, which they have done since November in support of Palestinians in Gaza. – AFP