Israel blocks aid trucks from entering Gaza over medical kit scissors

Trucks carry boxes from a joint French Qatari humanitarian aid package to Gaza arrived from Doha in Egypt’s El-Arish airport. (AFP)
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Updated 13 March 2024
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Israel blocks aid trucks from entering Gaza over medical kit scissors

  • UNRWA chief accuses Israel of withholding medical supplies, including anesthesia medication, water-purification tablets
  • Aid organizations have voiced similar concerns about the refusal to allow dates

LONDON: A truck loaded with humanitarian supplies destined for Gaza was turned away by Israeli authorities because of scissors packed inside medical kits, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, accused Israel of withholding essential medical supplies. He said the army has imposed restrictions on items such as anesthesia medications and water-purification tablets, on the grounds that they are potentially “dual-use” items that might be repurposed for military use.

Aid organizations have voiced similar concerns about the refusal of Israeli authorities to allow dates, traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during Ramadan, into the territory.

“The clearance of humanitarian supplies and the delivery of basic and critical items need to be facilitated and accelerated,” Lazzarini said. “The lives of 2 million people depend on that. There is no time to waste.”

Israeli authorities denied the incident involving the medical scissors took place. In a message posted on social media, they said: “Lying is a sign of desperation.”

Meanwhile, a ship belonging to the Spanish charity Open Arms set sail from Cyprus on Tuesday bound for the Gaza Strip, carrying 200 tonnes of food aid. The shipment, expected to arrive at the territory in two to three days, is the first test of a newly established maritime aid-delivery mechanism.
 


Jordanian king holds talks on Gaza with UK prime minister

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Jordanian king holds talks on Gaza with UK prime minister

  • King Abdullah II emphasizes need for greater international effort to end war
  • Keir Starmer reaffirms commitment to two-state solution

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in London on Thursday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.

The king emphasized the need for greater international effort to end the war in Gaza and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave, the Petra news agency reported.

He also highlighted the importance of the UK’s efforts to achieve stability and peace in the region.

The king warned of the “dangers” posed by Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank and attacks on Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and reaffirmed Jordan’s stance against the displacement of Palestinians.

Starmer said the only long-term solution to the conflict was the two-state solution and that London and Amman would continue to work together to achieve a ceasefire and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

King Abdullah was accompanied on his visit by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Director of the King’s Office Alaa Batayneh and Jordan’s Ambassador to the UK Manar Dabbas.

Safadi also had a meeting with his UK counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Lammy.


EU official says $183m Syria recovery package ‘clear message’ of support

Updated 3 min 45 sec ago
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EU official says $183m Syria recovery package ‘clear message’ of support

  • Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani will attend a ministerial meeting involving almost a dozen Mediterranean countries in Brussels on June 23

DAMASCUS: Visiting EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica said on Thursday that a €175 million (nearly $183 million) package for Syria was a “clear message” of support for its reconstruction.

Suica announced the package in Damascus on Wednesday, saying it would focus on sectors including energy, education, health, and agriculture, helping rebuild Syria’s economy, support its institutions, and promote human rights.

“I came here ... with a clear message that we are here to assist and help Syria on its recovery,” Suica said in an interview on Thursday.

“We want that reconstruction and recovery will be Syria-owned and Syria-led,” she said, on the first visit by an EU commissioner since a transitional government was unveiled in late March.

“We want to see Syria be a regular, normal, democratic country in the future,” she added.

Syria has been navigating a delicate transition since Bashar Assad was ousted in December after nearly 14 years of civil war.

The EU announced last month it would lift economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help its recovery.

“This is a pivotal moment — a new chapter in EU-Syria relations,” Suica said on X, calling her meeting with President Ahmad Al-Sharaa “constructive.”

Like Syria’s neighbors, Western governments are keen to steer it onto the road to stability after the war triggered an exodus of millions of refugees.

Refugee returns should be “safe, voluntary and dignified,” Suica said.

The EU has not designated Syria as a safe country for returns “because we don’t want to push people to come here and then they don’t have a home,” she said.

The EU last month sanctioned three Syrian groups and two of their leaders for human rights abuses over their alleged involvement in sectarian massacres in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority, to which Assad belongs, in March.

“We cannot pronounce one part of Syria safe and another not,” Suica said, noting that designating Syria a safe country needs “unanimity among 27 European member states.”

She said Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani would attend a ministerial meeting involving almost a dozen Mediterranean countries in Brussels on June 23.

A statement released on Wednesday said that the European Commission was “actively pursuing the integration of Syria into several key initiatives with its Mediterranean partner countries.”

“We want to see Syria united and inclusive, Suica said. 

“This is a process. It will happen step by step.”


UN Security Council condemns ongoing Houthi detentions of aid workers and diplomats

Updated 30 min 44 sec ago
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UN Security Council condemns ongoing Houthi detentions of aid workers and diplomats

  • On anniversary of the first detentions, council members call for immediate and unconditional release of all those being held
  • They express deep concern about additional recent arrests and condemn death of a World Food Program employee in Houthi custody on Feb. 10

NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned the continued detention by the Houthis in Yemen of UN staff, aid workers and representatives of civil society, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.

In a statement marking the first anniversary of a wave of detentions that began in June 2024, council members expressed deep concern over additional recent arrests and the prolonged captivity of workers from the UN, international and national nongovernmental organizations, and diplomatic missions.

They also condemned the death of a World Food Program employee in Houthi custody on Feb. 10.

The Eid Al-Adha holiday, which began on Thursday evening, will be especially painful for those who are detained and their families, council members said, and they warned that the continuing abductions create fear among humanitarian workers.

Threats to those helping to deliver aid are “unacceptable” and make an already dire humanitarian crisis in Yemen even worse, they added.

The 15-member council called on the Houthis to respect the principles of international humanitarian law, including the provision of “safe, rapid and unimpeded” access to allow humanitarian assistance to reach civilians in need.

Members welcomed ongoing efforts by the UN to secure the safe release of all detainees and reaffirmed their support for the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.

They reiterated their commitment to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen, and backed a “negotiated, inclusive, Yemeni-led and Yemeni-owned” political process in the country under the auspices of the UN.

The conflict in Yemen has raged since 2014, when the Houthis seized control of the capital, Sanaa, triggering a civil war that has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.


Israel’s aid restrictions deny Palestinian children ‘chance in life,’ WFP chief says

Updated 41 min 51 sec ago
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Israel’s aid restrictions deny Palestinian children ‘chance in life,’ WFP chief says

  • Cindy McCain urges Israel to allow aid into the territory ‘at scale’

LONDON: Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza means a generation of Palestinian children are being denied a chance in life, the head of the UN’s World Food Program said on Thursday.

Israel imposed a full blockade on food and relief supplies from entering the territory on March 2, before breaking a ceasefire and resuming its devastating military operation a few weeks later.

Limited supplies were allowed back in late last month but nowhere near to the scale required, WFP Director Cindy McCain told Sky News.

“It’s very, very important that people realize that the only way to stave off malnutrition, catastrophic food insecurity and, of course, famine would be by complete and total access for organizations like mine,” she said.

“We’re looking at a generation of children that won’t have a chance in life because they haven’t had the proper nutrients. Right now, we’re looking at over 500,000 people within Gaza that are catastrophically food insecure.”

The resumption of limited aid supplies came after Israel built new distribution hubs in the territory run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a newly formed US organization.

Previously, the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA and the WFP were in charge of distributing aid in the territory. But Israel has banned UNWRA from working in Gaza and has taken control of the aid system.

Scores of Palestinians have been shot dead this week as they attempted to access one of the new aid hubs in the south of the territory.

McCain said the new system was not allowing enough aid to get into Gaza to feed its malnourished population.

Speaking to “The World with Yalda Hakim,” she urged Israel to allow international aid to “get in at scale.”

“We need safe, unfettered, clear access all the way in and we're not getting that right now,” she said.

Her comments came as the GHF resumed its operations on Thursday after shutting down on Wednesday in response to the number of deaths near its hub.

McCain is the latest aid agency chief to deliver strongly worded condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where its military operation has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

On Wednesday, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric said Gaza had become “worse than hell on earth.”


Residents of south Beirut suburbs flee Israeli warnings, strikes on Hezbollah factories

Updated 45 min 1 sec ago
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Residents of south Beirut suburbs flee Israeli warnings, strikes on Hezbollah factories

  • November ceasefire sought to end the fighting — which left Hezbollah severely weakened
  • Under the truce, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river

BEIRUT: Huge numbers of people fled Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning and said it was striking underground drone factories belonging to Hezbollah.

The streets around the area were seen jammed with traffic as residents tried to leave, with Lebanese media reporting Israeli warning strikes.

“You are located near facilities belonging to the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” said the warning from the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee.

“For your safety and the safety of your families, you are required to evacuate these buildings immediately and move away from them at a distance of no less than 300 meters.”

In a separate statement, the army said it would “soon carry out a strike on underground UAV (drone) production infrastructure sites that were deliberately established in the heart of (the) civilian population” in Beirut.

Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah engaged in more than a year of hostilities that began with the outbreak of the Gaza war and culminated in an intense Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

A November ceasefire sought to end the fighting — which left Hezbollah severely weakened — but Israel has continued to regularly carry out strikes in Lebanon’s south.

Strikes targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs, considered a Hezbollah stronghold, have been rare, however.

“Following Hezbollah’s extensive use of UAVs as a central component of its terrorist attacks on the state of Israel, the terrorist organization is operating to increase production of UAVs for the next war,” the army statement said, calling the activities “a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

Under the truce, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers from the border, and dismantle their military posts to the south.

Israel was to pull all its troops from Lebanon, but it has kept them in five positions it deems “strategic” along the frontier.

The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south and removing Hezbollah infrastructure there, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying Thursday that it had dismantled “more than 500 military positions and arms depots” in the area.