Palestine’s envoy to Britain dismisses move as ‘PR and propaganda with no political weight’
UN Human Rights chief says the stark contrast in casualties on both sides is also suggestive of a wholly disproportionate response
Updated 19 May 2018
HAZEM BALOUSHA ANNA PUKAS
GAZA/LONDON: The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday voted to send a team of international war crimes investigators to Gaza to investigate the violent protests that have left more than 100 people dead.
An international commission of inquiry is the UNHRC’s highest level of investigation.
But if the intention was to give hope to Palestinians after six weeks of violent confrontation along the border between Gaza and Israel, it has not entirely succeeded. In a heated tirade, Manuel Hassassian, Palestine’s envoy to Britain, dismissed the UNHRC resolution as “PR and propaganda with no kind of political weight.”
Speaking to Arab News from the West Bank, a clearly emotional Hassassian said: “All these resolutions from all the international organizations but there is nothing concrete ever on the ground. There is no implementation whatsoever.”
Even if the UN did send war crimes investigators, their movements and access would be controlled by the Israelis because they are in charge of the borders, Hassassian said.
“The Israelis are not going to let them be mobile enough to get around all the areas where there was naked aggression. I am really depressed. I am in the West Bank and what I am seeing with my own eyes is total apartheid. And in Gaza, there are two million people living in subhuman conditions.
“Israel and the United States seem to be above international law, but when there is any violation by the Arab world, immediately there are sanctions imposed. If this is the model of democracy that you want, then stop preaching to us about the rule of law.”
Only two of the council’s 47 members, the US and Australia, voted against the resolution, while 29 voted in favor and 14 abstained, including Britain, Switzerland and Germany.
The resolution calls for a probe into all alleged violations and abuses “including those that may amount to war crimes.”
The violence has claimed more than 100 Gazan lives. Sixty Palestinians were killed and thousands injured on Monday alone. That was the day that the US embassy transferred from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and also the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were ejected from their homes and lands as the state of Israel came into being.
The UN vote was welcomed by Palestinian officials and campaigners.
Issam Younis, director of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, said: “This decision is very important, especially after the UN Security Council failed to issue a condemnation of the occupation because there must be accountability. These were repeated assaults on civilians. The road to justice is long and not achieved by knockout, but by total points.”
Opening the session on Friday, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein slammed the “wholly disproportionate” use of force by Israeli troops, insisting that many of those injured and killed on Monday were “completely unarmed’ yet were “shot in the back, in the chest, in the head and limbs with live ammunition.”
He added: “Some of the demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, used slingshots to throw stones, flew burning kites into Israel and attempted to use wire-cutters against the two fences between Gaza and Israel.
But these actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force.” Yet there was “little evidence” of any attempt by the Israelis to minimize casualties, he said.
It has also emerged that Kuwait circulated a draft resolution to members of the UN Security Council calling for an “international protection mission” to be sent to protect Palestinian civilians.
According to AFP, which obtained a copy of the draft, it does not specify what form such a mission should take.
Israel immediately condemned the UNHRC’s decision. A statement from the foreign ministry said it “proves once again that it is an anti-Israeli body dominated by hypocrisy and absurdity.”
Gazans began queuing at dawn on Friday after Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi declared the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would be opened during Ramadan, in a move widely thought to be part of a deal to persuade Gazans to tone down their protests. Hamas leader Ismail Hanuyeh visited Egypt on Sunday but Hamas denies it has come under pressure from Cairo.
Israel army vows to ‘protect maritime space’ as aid boat sails for Gaza
The boat from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition departed Sicily on Sunday and is carrying around a dozen people, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg
Updated 6 sec ago
AFP
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said it was ready to “protect” the country’s maritime space on Tuesday, after a boat organized by an international activist coalition set sail for Gaza aiming to deliver aid.
The boat from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition departed Sicily on Sunday and is carrying around a dozen people, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.
“The (Israeli military) is prepared to defend the citizens of the State of Israel on all fronts — in the north, the south, the center and also in the maritime arena,” army spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said.
“The navy operates day and night to protect Israel’s maritime space and borders at sea,” he added at a televised press conference.
“For this case as well, we are prepared,” he said in response to a question about the Freedom Flotilla vessel, declining to go into detail.
“We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly.”
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, launched in 2010, is a non-violent international movement supporting Palestinians, combining humanitarian aid with political protest against the blockade on Gaza.
The “Madleen” is a small sailboat reportedly carrying fruit juices, milk, rice, tinned food and protein bars.
“Together, we can open a people’s sea corridor to Gaza,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition wrote on X on Tuesday.
In early May, a Freedom Flotilla ship called the “Conscience” was damaged in international waters off Malta as it headed to Gaza, with the activists saying they suspected an Israeli drone attack.
Israel recently eased a more than two-month blockade on the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, but the aid community has urged it to allow in more food, faster.
Gaza relief effort ‘succeeding’ but can ‘improve,’ Washington says after deaths
The Red Cross said that 27 people were killed in southern Gaza near an aid center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund as Israeli troops opened fire
Updated 34 min 30 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday that a US-backed relief effort in Gaza was succeeding in distributing meals but acknowledged the potential for improvement after the Red Cross reported 27 deaths.
“They’re succeeding in getting the meals distributed. And in the meantime, we’re going to obviously be determining how that’s working and how we can further improve perhaps,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
The Red Cross said that 27 people were killed in southern Gaza near an aid center of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund as Israeli troops opened fire.
The foundation has faced persistent criticism from the United Nations and aid groups, which say it goes against long-standing humanitarian principles by coordinating relief efforts with a military belligerent.
Bruce complained that President Donald Trump’s administration had been “harangued” by criticism on accounts of hunger in Gaza and that the foundation was getting in food.
She blamed the presence of Israeli troops on the lack of a surrender by Hamas, which Israel has been battling since the armed group’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023.
“The dynamics are dangerous and there are seven million meals that have been distributed. I can’t stress enough that that is the story,” she said.
“In the meantime, hopefully things will be refined,” she said, adding there would be another environment “if Hamas actually behaved like human beings.”
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, on Monday attacked media outlets that, quoting witnesses, had reported on injuries in Gaza aid delivery, saying they were “contributing to the anti-Semitic climate” that has led to two attacks in the United States.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, asked about the Red Cross account of deaths on Tuesday, said that the Trump administration was “aware of those reports, and we are currently looking into the veracity of them.”
“Because unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth,” she said.
Kazakhstan positions itself as major player with key partners in Middle East
Astana International Forum took place last month, dialogue on critical global issues
Updated 48 min 48 sec ago
Tamara Aboalsaud
ASTANA: As Kazakhstan positions itself to be a major player in the logistical, technological, and energy sectors, the Middle East could be a key partner for riding that train forward.
The Astana International Forum took place in May, hosting dialogue on critical global issues.
On the sidelines of the forum, Arab News spoke to several high-level Kazakh officials to discuss the country’s collaboration with Middle Eastern countries in finance, energy and foreign policy.
The largest economy in Central Asia, Kazakhstan’s geopolitical profile provides immense global transit potential.
With abundant natural and agricultural resources and a growing middle class, the nation has all the fundamentals for further growth and diversification, according to Nurlan Zhakupov, chief executive officer of sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna.
Kazakhstan has attracted over $24 billion in foreign direct investment from strategic partnerships around the world, including Qatar and the UAE.
In addition to being key partners in the oil and gas sectors, Middle Eastern countries provide opportunities in a range of other areas.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alibek Kuantyrov said: “In general, GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries are very important to (us).
“We have a lot of productive talks about mutual projects, from Kazakhstan to Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabian investors to Kazakhstan.”
Earlier this year, Mobile Telecom-Service LLP, one of two mobile communications subsidiaries of Kazakhstan’s largest telecom company Kazakhtelecom, was acquired by Qatar’s Power International Holding for $1.1 billion.
Samruk-Kazyna is also in close talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, “and we hope that soon these discussions will materialize into concrete projects,” Zhakupov said.
The Kazakh fund’s next big focus is logistics and transportation, aiming to double its cargo volume.
Kazakhstan is additionally expanding its international transit capacity by building more ports across parts of Asia and Europe, including one in Abu Dhabi.
Together with Abu Dhabi Ports, Samruk-Kazyna’s subsidiary oil and gas company, KazMunayGas, operates a fleet of vessels in the Caspian Sea.
This partnership is part of a bigger goal to expand China-Europe trade capacity through the Trans-Caspian Trade Route that connects Central Asia to the Caspian Sea; a path similar to the ancient Silk Road and through which 90 percent of Chinese cargo passes Kazakhstan.
The Central Asian nation also has a strong focus on digitalization and renewable energy.
Zhaslan Madiyev, the minister of digital development, innovation, and aerospace industry, said that a new artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency committee has been established.
Kazakhstan is also one of the world’s top 10 countries in crypto mining, with 60 operating mining firms and several mining pools.
By amending laws and adding crypto ATMs, exchange shops and cards, “the president’s idea is to define a crypto city that will be completely crypto friendly,” the minister said.
One of the major projects the ministry is working on is an International AI Center, a location for excellence focused on talent development, innovation, and economic growth in AI.
The 20,000 sq. meters sphere-shaped center will be a regional hub for attracting international technological collaboration.
The project will be part of a bigger ecosystem hoping to replicate the success of Astana Hub, an international technology park with 1,500 startups under its belt and an outreach across 20 cities worldwide, including a joint innovation hub in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh’s Al-Farabi Innovation Hub opened in March 2024 with the intention of bridging startups from Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the Caucasus with the Middle East and North Africa markets.
That same month, Kazakhstan’s ed-tech startup CodiPlay partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Artificially Intelligent Learning Assistant to bring digital education solutions to 200 Saudi schools, an initiative that aims to enhance IT literacy among students.
Madiyev said: “I believe there is a huge potential for bringing Saudi investments here and expanding Kazakhstan innovative startups and technologies to Saudi as well.
“With their startups and technologies, Saudi can access the whole Central Asia region through Kazakhstan, and we will be glad to access the Saudi market and the broader Middle Eastern region.”
He also noted that another hub and acceleration program is set to open in Dubai in the fall of this year.
When asked about plans to balance the environmental effects of AI and technology, the president’s special representative on the environment told Arab News that nuclear power was a potential solution.
“It’s really a big question of where your energy comes from. If it comes from coal, then there will definitely be a huge impact on the environment,” said Zulfiya Suleimenova, special representative of the president on international environmental cooperation.
The country aims to have its share of nuclear in the national generation mix hit 5 percent by 2035. The first plant, expected to be completed in eight years, will be built in the Almaty region and is one of three planned nuclear power plants.
One of the largest projects Kazakhstan has in the Middle East is an agreement with Masdar, the Emirati state-owned renewable energy company, signed between Samruk-Kazyna and the UAE’s Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in May this year.
The agreement is two-fold. It will include the development of a 1 gigawatt wind farm in the Jambyl Region with a 600 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system, positioned to be one of the largest wind initiatives in Central Asia.
Additionally, a 24/7 renewable energy project plans to provide up to 500 megawatts of baseload renewable energy with a capacity of up to 2 gigawatts.
Kazakhstan aims to generate 15 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 50 percent by 2035.
Other opportunities for joint environmental efforts in the Middle East are in water cooperation, Suleimenova said.
The idea of the One Water Summit which took place in Riyadh last year was to drive more political momentum around water-related issues that otherwise do not get the same attention as other climate concerns.
At the summit, nine international development banks committed to increase financing into water infrastructure and water-related projects — particularly in vulnerable regions — including the European Investment Bank.
“Back in 2023 when I was minister of ecology, I had the pleasure of meeting the Saudi minister of water, environment and agriculture, and am very (much) looking forward to continuing these discussions and cooperation and hopefully joint efforts,” said Suleimenova.
The president’s special representative noted that falcon and eagle diplomacy and the protection of these species was another key focus of collaboration between Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia, and added: “We hope to further our efforts and cooperation in biodiversity … including the preservation of eagles. They are the pride of our country and our people but also of your countries, of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others.”
Discussions with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power over the possibility of developing a 1GW wind energy and battery storage plant in Kazakhstan are also ongoing.
British doctors describe hospitals flooded with casualties from Gaza aid site attacks
Patients all had gunshot wounds, mostly to their limbs, after Israeli soldiers opened fire Tuesday, emergency consultant at Al-Mawasi hospital says
Scores of Palestinians killed in 3 days near same aid distribution hub
Updated 03 June 2025
Arab News
LONDON: The remaining hospitals in southern Gaza were overwhelmed with casualties after Israeli soldiers opened fire on crowds trying to access an aid distribution center, British doctors working in the territory said.
Scores of Palestinians congregating to reach the food hub in Rafah have been shot dead in recent days.
The Red Cross said 27 people were killed and many more wounded on Tuesday when Israeli soldiers opened fire about one km from the aid center run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
On Sunday, at least 31 people were killed as they gathered at the same roundabout before heading to the aid center.
Dr. Iain Lennon, an emergency consultant volunteering at Al-Mawasi hospital in southern Gaza, told the BBC that all of the patients who arrived at the facility after the attack were suffering bullet wounds.
“We were woken up in the early hours of the morning by the team in the hospital,” Lennon said. “One of our partner organizations had declared a mass casualty incident and were overwhelmed, and we were taking patients both directly from the scene and from the other hospitals involved.”
“We’ve seen probably about 22 patients between 5 and 8 a.m. in the morning, two patients who we’ve had to take immediately to theater for immediate life saving surgery and a number of other patients with bullet wounds in limbs.”
He said the youngest victims were aged 15 or 16, and most of them were men who had walked the long distances to reach the aid hub.
“They were all injured by bullets, as far as we could see,” he added. “There was no sort of blast or shrapnel injuries, particularly at this event. Lots of people with wounds in, arms and legs, and a couple of people with more sort of central abdominal wounds.”
The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers opened fire when “several suspects” deviated from the designated route toward the aid site.
“The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” the military said.
Dr. Victoria Rose, a British surgeon, said that on Sunday, 28 bodies and more than 200 people with gunshot injuries arrived at the Nasser hospital where she is working.
“We went into a mass casualty scenario, so all of the theaters stopped operating and just started taking the emergency work from the emergency department,” she said in a video shared by Islamic Help charity. “It’s going to be very hard for us to deal with all of this now because we don’t really have the medical supplies or the reserves in the workforce to deal with a mass casualty of this kind.”
New aid distribution hubs have been set up after Israel blocked the UN from delivering aid to Gaza and cut off all supplies on March 2.
Deliveries resumed late last month but are being managed by the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, said: “Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable.”
He called for a “prompt and impartial” investigation into the killings.
DUBAI: “Where is the world?” That was the chilling closing caption shared by 11-year-old Yaqeen Hammad in one of the final videos she posted on social media, just days before she was killed on May 23 by an Israeli airstrike on Deir Al-Balah in Gaza.
Yaqeen’s story has been thrown into particular focus this week as the world marks International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression on June 4, a reminder not only of those lost but of the futures stolen.
As Gaza’s youngest social media influencer, Yaqeen was known for the uplifting videos she created and her work alongside her brother at Ouena, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to humanitarian relief and development.
Yaqeen’s followers will remember her for her infectious optimism and volunteer work with displaced families. Just days before she died, she posted survival tips to help others endure life under siege.
Now she has become a haunting symbol of the toll the war between Israel and Hamas is taking on young people.
Yaqeen Hammad was killed in an Israeli airstrike on May 23, drawing renewed attention to the plight of Gaza’s children. (Social Media)
More than 50,000 children have been killed or injured since the latest conflict began, according to the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF. Thousands more have been orphaned or displaced by the ongoing violence.
Israeli authorities launched military operations in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, during which 1,200 people were killed, the majority of them civilians, and about 250 were taken hostage, many of them non-Israelis.
Despite repeated international efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, the continuing conflict has devastated the Palestinian enclave, creating one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
FASTFACT
Every year on June 4, International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression acknowledges the pain that children around the world suffer. Many of these children are victims of physical, mental, and emotional abuse.
For those children who survive long enough to see an enduring ceasefire, what kind of future awaits them?
“We are losing a generation before our eyes, condemning patients to die from hunger, disease and despair — deaths that could have been prevented,” American trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa told the UN Security Council on May 28.
He delivered a searing account of what he witnessed during two volunteer missions in Gaza, the first in 2024, the second in March and April this year, at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. Sidhwa said he has worked in several conflict zones, including Haiti and Ukraine, but nothing compared to what he witnessed in Gaza.
“I operated in hospitals without sterility, electricity or anesthetics,” he told council members. “Children died, not because their injuries were unsurvivable but because we lacked blood, antibiotics and the most basic supplies.”
He stressed that during his five weeks in Gaza he had not treated a single combatant.
“Most of my patients were preteen children, their bodies shattered by explosions and torn by flying metal,” he said, describing six-year-old patients with bullets in their brains, and pregnant women whose pelvises had been shattered by airstrikes.
“Civilians are now dying not just from constant airstrikes, but from acute malnutrition, sepsis, exposure and despair,” he added, noting that in the time between his two visits he had observed a sharp decline in the general health of patients, many of whom were too weak to heal as a result of hunger.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, almost 71,000 cases of acute malnutrition, including 14,100 severe cases, are expected in Gaza between April 2025 and March 2026. As of May 29 this year, about 470,000 people in Gaza were facing imminent famine, the UN said, and the entire population was suffering from severe food insecurity. One in five children under the age of 5 years old is severely malnourished, and more than 92 percent of infants and pregnant or breastfeeding women are not receiving adequate nutrition.
As of May 29 this year, about 470,000 people in Gaza were facing imminent famine, the UN said, and the entire population was suffering from severe food insecurity. (AFP)
Despite global pressure on Israeli authorities to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, access for relief workers remains limited. The UN Relief and Works Agency said deliveries are sporadic and some areas are unreachable as a result of fighting.
The day after Yaqeen was killed, Gaza was struck by another tragedy. On May 24, an Israeli airstrike hit the home of Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, a pediatrician in Khan Younis who had long devoted her life to saving children, while she was on duty treating the wounded at Nasser Medical Complex.
Nine of her 10 children were killed in the blast. The youngest was just 7 months old, the eldest only 12. Her husband Hamdi, also a doctor, and their 11-year-old son, Adam, were pulled from the rubble with critical injuries. Hamdi died in hospital on May 31.
Injured Palestinian children are transported by ambulance to the Ahli Arab Hospital (Maamadani), after an Israeli strike hit a school in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City on April 3, 2025. (AFP)
The Israel Defense Force said in response to initial reports of the strike that “an aircraft struck several suspects identified by IDF forces as operating in a building near troops in the Khan Younis area, a dangerous combat zone that had been evacuated of civilians in advance for their protection. The claim of harm to uninvolved individuals is being reviewed.”
Two days later, another child’s face captured the attention of the world. Ward Jalal Al-Sheikh Khalil, 7, emerged from the flames alone when Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City, a shelter for displaced families, was hit by an Israeli airstrike on May 26.
Her mother and two siblings were killed and her father is fighting for his life. In a now-viral video, Ward whispers through tears: “There was a shooting and all my siblings died.”
The Israeli military and Shin Bet, the country’s internal security service, issued a statement about the bombing of the school, in which they claimed the strike had targeted a compound used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“The command and control center was used by the terrorists to plan and gather intelligence in order to execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops,” the army said. “Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.”
Illustrations of a little girl surrounded by flames, inspired by Ward’s escape from the school, quickly spread across social media, capturing the sense of grief and outrage over the suffering of children in Gaza.
INNUMBERS
1,309 children killed and 3,738 injured since the collapse of Gaza ceasefire on March 18.
50,000 children reportedly killed or injured since latest conflict began in October 2023.
(Source: UNICEF)
“In a 72-hour period this weekend, images from two horrific attacks provide yet more evidence of the unconscionable cost of this ruthless war on children in the Gaza Strip,” UNICEF’s regional director, Edouard Beigbeder, said on May 27.
“On Friday, we saw videos of the bodies of burnt, dismembered children from the Al-Najjar family being pulled from the rubble of their home in Khan Younis. Of 10 siblings under 12 years old, only one reportedly survived, with critical injuries.
“Early Monday, we saw images of a small child trapped in a burning school in Gaza City. That attack, in the early hours of the morning, reportedly killed at least 31 people, including 18 children.
“These children — lives that should never be reduced to numbers — are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors: the grave violations against children, the blockade of aid, the starvation, the constant forced displacement, and the destruction of hospitals, water systems, schools and homes. In essence, the destruction of life itself in the Gaza Strip.”
Children watch as others inspect the damage at the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City on May 26, 2025, following an Israeli strike. (AFP)
Beyond the physical destruction, an invisible crisis is escalating. According to the War Child Alliance, nearly half of children in Gaza now exhibit suicidal thoughts as a result of the sheer weight of grief, trauma and loss. Aid workers report children as young as 5 years old asking why they survived when their siblings, parents or even entire families did not.
During his address to the UN Security Council, Dr. Sidhwa described the despair he witnessed among young patients during his time in Gaza, and asked: “I wonder if any member of this council has ever met a 5-year-old who no longer wants to live — let alone imagined a society in which so many young children feel that way.
“What astonishes me is not that some children in Gaza have lost the will to live, but that any still cling to hope.”
Even with the most immediate, basic means of survival out of reach for many in Gaza, mental health support remains a more distant concern, leaving an entire generation to navigate profound psychological scars alone. (AFP)
Mental health professionals warn that many children in the territory display symptoms of complex trauma, including persistent nightmares, bed-wetting, social withdrawal, and panic attacks triggered by the sound of planes or ambulances.
But with even the most immediate, basic means of survival out of reach for many in Gaza, mental health support remains a more distant concern, leaving an entire generation to navigate profound psychological scars alone.
“How many more dead girls and boys will it take?” asked Beigbeder, the UNICEF chief. “What level of horror must be livestreamed before the international community fully steps up, uses its influence, and takes bold, decisive action to force the end of this ruthless killing of children?”
