Yemenis stranded in India call to be repatriated as fear of coronavirus infection rises 

In Yemen, scores of COVID-19 cases have been recorded across the country, but the UN warns that the virus is spreading largely undetected. (File/AFP)
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Updated 25 October 2020
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Yemenis stranded in India call to be repatriated as fear of coronavirus infection rises 

  • Yemeni nationals who traveled to India for medical treatment call on international humanitarian organizations to defend their right to return to Yemen
  • Many say they are running out of cash to pay for hotels and food and drink , as they wait to be returned home

Far from home, no money for food or accommodation and in fear of contracting COVID-19 — this is the situation of thousands of Yemeni nationals stranded in India due to the pandemic. 

“I came to India to get an operation on my eye. We are staying in a hotel but we can’t pay for the hotel anymore. And now I just want to return to Yemen,” six-year-old Mohammed Abdulnoor Radman said.

The young boy had been taken to the Mehta International Eye Institute in Mumbai for an examination of his right eye that was found to have corneal perforation on March 3. More than two months later — like thousands of others — he is still in India, unable to return home.

Hussam Galeel is in a similar position. He travelled to India in late February for his little brother’s thyroid operation. They had booked tickets back to Yemen on March 20, but when Yemen suspended international flights on March 18 in response to the coronavirus outbreak Galeel and his brother were stranded in India.

“Who is going to support us financially here?” Galeel asked. “There are many others here like us, and their situation is even worse than ours,” he said.

Galeel was referring to the thousands of Yemeni nationals who had travelled to India for medical reasons but were now unable to pay for hotels and daily expenditure such as food and drink.

Citizens from Yemen – which has had its infrastructure weakened by the civil war – mainly travel to India for medical reasons. Figures from India’s Bureau of Immigration show that Yemen is a major source of the country’s medical tourists. In 2017, 11,903 Yemeni nationals travelled to India for medical treatment.

The war in Yemen, which erupted in 2015 between the Iranian-allied Houthi militia and the Saudi-backed internationally recognized government, has killed and wounded thousands of soldiers and civilians. It has also devastated the health system, so that doctors in Yemen recommend advanced treatment abroad for the injured.




A Yemeni national who is stranded in India holds a poster that reads in Arabic "we want to return to our homeland," on May 9, 2020.  

A Yemeni doctor sent to India by the government to oversee the medical treatment of 90 wounded people told Arab News – under the condition of anonymity – that the situation of Yemeni citizens in India was devastating.

“We have a patient who is suffering from depression after finishing his medical treatment. He is not in his right mind at the moment and might run away again from the hotel and get caught by police, who would beat him and arrest him,” the doctor said, explaining that he and his team would then have to bail the patient out of jail.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government put the country under lockdown on March 25, several videos surfaced on social media showing police brutality inflicted on those who violated the curfew. Footage showed officers using what appeared to be as canes to beat offenders.

 

The Yemeni doctor, who said he himself was suffering from depression due to the current situation, said he knew of Yemeni citizens who were only able to afford one meal a day as their budgets were running low.

“People came to India with a budget sufficient for their stay; they didn’t plan for a pandemic keeping them away from their homes for this long,” he said, adding that many feared getting infected.

Since the virus was first identified in Wuhan, in China, at the start of this year, 4.5 million people have been infected in the world, and more than 300,000 have died. The rapid spread of the virus led governments worldwide to stop international flights, close their borders and impose nationwide lockdowns.

The Yemeni embassy in New Delhi had done little to help its nationals stranded in India since the start of the lockdown, the doctor said. He explained that he had seen a list sent to the embassy of 1,600 names of Yemeni nationals that needed to return home, but believed that the official number of stranded citizens far exceeded 2,000.

Yemen’s ambassador to India, Abdulmalik Abdullah Al-Eryani, did not respond to Arab News for a comment.




A Yemeni national holds a poster that says in Arabic "stranded Yemeni" on May 9, 2020. 

Fahd Al-Maqtari, a Yemeni expat who has been living in India for the past 18 years, said that for the past two months he and other Yemeni expats had been receiving dozens of messages from stranded Yemenis asking for help.

According to Al-Maqtari, there are more than 1,800 sick and wounded patients and more than 2,400 students stranded across India. 

“It’s not easy for people from Yemen to come here for medical treatment. They usually sell something valuable like land or their cars, even their wives’ gold, to be able to afford to come here to get treated for one month or two. They don’t have enough to stay longer,” Al-Maqtari said, explaining how some are relying on food donations from locals.

Recovering patients were particularly vulnerable, Al-Maqtari explained, as they were unable to seek medical assistance during the lockdown and were often turned away from hospitals that were only accepting COVID-19 patients.

Al-Maqtari explained that he had been in touch with Yemeni diplomats working in the embassy, including the ambassador, to get help for those who were vulnerable, but had been ignored.

The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that they were not aware of the situation of Yemeni nationals stranded in India. However, the organization released a statement to Arab News that called on “consular support” for stranded nationals and help for migrants in response to the COVID crisis.

“Consular support and return assistance are a vital lifeline for many people who find themselves in difficult conditions and want to return home and re-establish themselves,” the statement said.

“(The IOM) calls on countries to address the particular needs and vulnerabilities of migrants, regardless of their legal status, in the spirit of Universal Health Coverage. The fight against COVID-19 cannot be won unless the response plans in all countries include migrants, especially those marginalized or in situations of vulnerability,” the statement added.

“Being stranded here is already a big problem for us, but it will get worse if we get infected with the coronavirus,” an older Yemeni man said.




Yemeni nationals stranded in India calling on international humanitarian organizations to defend their rights to return to Yemen.

Another man called on the government to return them back to Yemen. “If we are required to be quarantined, we are happy to comply and do so, even if it is in the middle of the Yemeni desert,” he said.

In Yemen, scores of COVID-19 cases have been recorded across the country, but the UN warns that the virus is spreading largely undetected. Hundreds of people in the interim capital Aden have died in the past week with symptoms of what appears to be the coronavirus, local health officials said.

The officials fear the situation is only going to get worse as Yemen has little capacity to treat those suspected of having the virus.

However, for those stranded in India, facing fears of coronavirus at home is better than facing the threat abroad.

“We ask President Hadi — whom the Yemeni people voted for — and the internationally recognized government to look after Yemeni nationals no matter where they are,” said a man who had been stranded in India for more than two months. “We just ask them to repatriate us, like other leaders who returned their citizens home from abroad.”


Israel accuses Turkiye of ‘malice’ over UN arms embargo call

Updated 05 November 2024
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Israel accuses Turkiye of ‘malice’ over UN arms embargo call

  • Turkiye’s letter, seen by AFP Monday, called the “staggering” civilian death toll “unconscionable and intolerable”

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday accused Turkiye of “malice,” after Ankara submitted a letter signed by 52 countries calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel over the war in Gaza.
“What else can be expected from a country whose actions are driven by malice in an attempt to create conflicts with the support of the ‘Axis of Evil’ countries,” said Ambassador Danny Danon, using a pejorative term to describe the Arab countries who signed the letter.
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said Sunday it had submitted the letter to the United Nations, with the signatories including the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Israel has faced international criticism for the conduct of its war in Gaza, where its offensive has killed at least 43,374 people, most of them civilians, according to health ministry figures which the United Nations considers to be reliable.
The war was sparked by Palestinian armed group Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
“This letter is further proof that the UN is led by some sinister countries and not by the liberal countries that support the values of justice and morality,” said Danon.
Turkiye’s letter, seen by AFP Monday, called the “staggering” civilian death toll “unconscionable and intolerable.”
“We therefore make this collective call for immediate steps to be taken to halt the provision or transfer of arms,  munitions and related equipment to Israel, the occupying Power, in all cases where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the letter said.
It added that the UN Security Council (UNSC) must take steps to ensure compliance with its resolutions “which are being flagrantly violated.”
The UNSC called in March for a ceasefire in Gaza, but has struggled to speak with a unified voice on the issue due to the veto wielded by Israel’s key ally, the United States.
Asked about the joint letter on Monday, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had not seen it.


Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

Updated 05 November 2024
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Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

  • Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has taken some measures to increase aid access to Gaza but has so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation in the enclave, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, as a deadline set by the US to improve the situation approaches.
The Biden administration told Israel in an Oct. 13 letter it had 30 days to take specific steps to address the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip, which has been pummeled for more than a year by Israeli ground and air operations that Israel says are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants.
Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza.
“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around. We have seen an increase in some measurements. We’ve seen an increase in the number of crossings that are open. But just if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met,” Miller said.
Miller said the results so far were “not good enough” but stressed that the 30-day period had not elapsed.
He declined to say what consequences Israel would face if it failed to implement the recommendations.
“What I can tell you that we will do is we will follow the law,” he said.
Washington, Israel’s main supplier of weapons, has frequently pressed Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza since the war with Hamas began with the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
The Oct. 13 letter, sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said a failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing the measures on aid access may have implications for US policy and law.
Section 620i of the US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.
Israel on Monday said it was canceling its agreement with the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), citing accusations that some UNRWA staff had Hamas links.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said Israel had scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time.
An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.
Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.


Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

Updated 05 November 2024
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Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

  • “The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement

JERUSALEM: A Gaza hostages campaign group called Monday for an investigation into the alleged leak of confidential documents by an ex-aide to Israel’s premier, which may have undermined efforts to secure their release.
A court announced Sunday that Eliezer Feldstein, a former aide to Benjamin Netanyahu, had been detained along with three others for allegedly leaking documents to foreign media.
The case has prompted the opposition to question whether Netanyahu was involved in the leak — an allegation denied by his office.
“The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
“Such actions, especially during wartime, endanger the hostages, jeopardize their chances of return and abandon them to the risk of being killed by Hamas terrorists.”
The forum represents most of the families of the 97 hostages still held in Gaza after they were seized in the unprecedented October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war.
The Israeli military says 34 of them are dead.
“The suspicions suggest that individuals associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the greatest frauds in the country’s history,” the forum said.
“This is a moral low point like no other. It is a severe blow to the remaining trust between the government and its citizens.”
Critics have long accused Netanyahu of stalling in truce negotiations and prolonging the war to appease his far-right coalition partners.
Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet and the army launched an investigation into the breach in September after two newspapers, British weekly The Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s Bild tabloid, published articles based on the classified military documents.
One article claimed a document had been uncovered showing that then Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — later killed by Israel — and the hostages in Gaza would be smuggled into Egypt through the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The other was based on what was said to be an internal Hamas leadership memo on Sinwar’s strategy to hamper talks toward the liberation of hostages.
The Israeli court said the release of the documents ran the risk of causing “severe harm to state security.”
“As a result, the ability of security bodies to achieve the objective of releasing the hostages, as part of the war goals, could have been compromised,” it added.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s count based on official Israeli data, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 43,341 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.
Meanwhile, late on Monday Netanyahu asked the attorney general to begin investigating other alleged leaks from cabinet meetings during the war.
“Since the beginning of the war, we have witnessed an incessant flood of serious leaks and revelations of state secrets,” he said in a letter to the attorney general, which was posted on his Telegram channel.
“Therefore, I am appealing to you to immediately order the investigation of the leaks in general.”


UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

Updated 05 November 2024
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UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

  • “This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros says

GENEVA: The chief of the World Health Organization on Monday denounced Israel’s decision to cut ties with the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, saying it would not make the country safer while increasing civilian suffering in Gaza.
“Let me be clear: There is simply no alternative to UNRWA,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video posted on X.
“This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros added.
His comments came after Israel said it had formally notified the UN of its decision to sever ties with UNRWA, after Israeli lawmakers backed the move last week.
The suspension of the agency, which coordinates nearly all aid in war-ravaged Gaza, sparked global condemnation including from key Israeli backer the United States.
The move is expected to come into force in late January, with the UN Security Council warning it would have severe consequences for millions of Palestinians.
Israel has accused a dozen UNRWA employees of taking part in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the deadliest in Israeli history.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA but said Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.
The agency, which employs 13,000 people in Gaza, fired nine employees after an internal probe found that they “may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October.”
UNRWA, which was established in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli conflict following Israel’s creation a year earlier, provides assistance to nearly six million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
“Every day, it provides thousands of medical consultations and vaccinated hundreds of children,” Tedros said, adding that many humanitarian partners rely on UNRWA’s logistical networks to get supplies into Gaza.
He said that the UNRWA staff his organization had worked with were “dedicated health and humanitarian professionals who work tirelessly for their communities under unimaginable circumstances.”
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,374 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers to be reliable.


GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

Updated 04 November 2024
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GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

  • Meeting gathers ministers, UN agency representatives, international organizations

KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi addressed a high-level conference on counter-terrorism and border security on Monday.

The conference, which is being held in Kuwait and ends on Tuesday, has been organized by Kuwait in partnership with Tajikistan and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

It gathered ministers, UN agency representatives, and international and regional organizations to help bolster international counter-terrorism efforts.

Al-Budaiwi said: “This important regional conference focuses on border security and combating terrorism, which are vital issues requiring collective action.”

Al-Budaiwi spoke of the GCC’s achievements in security collaboration, including information-sharing and laws targeting terrorism financing.

He added: “The GCC countries have built a common security system through joint agreements, enhancing cooperation in border protection and addressing security threats.”

He stressed the region’s proactive approach in utilizing technology and training personnel to safeguard borders against transnational threats like arms and human trafficking.