Could a ‘maritime highway of boats and barges’ end Gaza’s siege?

Open Arms vessel with the humanitarian food aid at the Cypriot port of Larnaca. (AFP)
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Updated 18 March 2024
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Could a ‘maritime highway of boats and barges’ end Gaza’s siege?

  • Arrival of first vessel with meals highlights efforts to overcome hurdles to sending aid by road
  • Some experts say provisions dropped onto the enclave are just as valuable as those coming by land or sea

LONDON: Although Israel has permitted dozens of aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip in recent days, humanitarian agencies warn that not nearly enough assistance is reaching the embattled enclave.

There was a glimmer of hope on Thursday, however, when the first international relief vessel arrived off Gaza’s northern coast.

The Spanish-flagged Open Arms left Cyprus on March 12, towing some 200 tons of flour, protein and rice and a ready-to-use pontoon, which allowed it to offload its cargo in the absence of any formal port infrastructure.

The shipment — largely funded by the UAE — was organized by US charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), which said it had a further 500 tons of aid ready to dispatch.




Entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza by road in trucks has slowed due to Israeli feet-dragging, lawlessness, and deadly stampedes. (AFP)

In a statement, WCK founder Jose Andres and its chief executive Erin Gore, said: “Our goal is to establish a maritime highway of boats and barges that are stocked with millions of meals continuously headed towards Gaza.”

In a separate statement on X, Andres noted that WCK was also constructing its own jetty where vessels could land in the future.

With 200 tons equaling 12 truckloads, the Open Arms’ delivery represents just a fraction of the roughly 500 aid trucks that had been entering Gaza daily before the Israel-Hamas conflict began on Oct. 7.

According to Israeli authorities, 89 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip on March 13. On that same day, aid from 145 trucks was distributed inside Gaza, while a convoy of 21 trucks made its way to northern Gaza, where aid organizations have warned there is a high risk of famine.

Over the last three weeks, the Israelis say, more than 150 trucks have been transferred to the north, and four tankers of cooking gas designated for the operation of essential infrastructure in Gaza have also entered the enclave.

However, the number of trucks entering is still well short of the 300 that charities believe are needed daily to stave off the looming famine.

Unlike recent US airdrops, which have been criticized by some as being a dangerous and ineffective means of delivering aid, the prospective maritime corridor has received a warmer reception.

Julia Roknifard, an assistant professor at the University of Nottingham’s School of Politics, History, and International Relations, said that, unlike the airdrops, the Open Arms’ mission cannot be dismissed as political maneuvering.

“This push for the charity to deliver aid is coming from civil society as well, so it can’t be seen as a PR stunt alone,” Roknifard told Arab News.




With 200 tons equaling 12 truckloads, the Open Arms’ delivery represents just a fraction of the roughly 500 aid trucks that had been entering Gaza daily before the Israel-Hamas conflict began on Oct. 7. (AFP)

Importantly, she added, US backing for the mission will likely deter the Israel Defense Forces from risking a repeat of the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla incident in which IDF commandos tried to board the Mavi Marmara aid ship and killed nine activists in the process.

WCK had sought to allay Israeli government concerns ahead of its mission. Its communications director, Laura Lanuza, told National Public Radio in the US that the charity had to hash out a deal with the Israelis to ensure the IDF would not try to block the delivery of aid from Open Arms.

Even once an agreement was reached, Lanuza said it took the charity about three weeks to ensure the ship and its cargo complied with the agreed regulations and restrictions.

“We had a huge challenge in front of us trying to make this happen. We had to be cautious, and we had to follow all the protocols that we did in order to have a good end to this,” Lanuza added, noting that each crate was individually scanned under Israeli supervision.

Commenting on joint EU-UAE-US plans to develop the maritime corridor, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Open Arms was the first vessel to have been authorized by the Israelis to deliver aid directly to Gaza in almost 20 years.

INNUMBERS

• 200 Tons of flour, protein and rice delivered by Open Arms.

• 500 Tons of aid ready to be dispatched to Gaza.

• 500 Aid trucks were entering Gaza daily Oct. 7.

In a joint statement, the EU, UAE, and US said, “Delivery of aid to Gaza by sea will be complex. We’ll continue to assess and adjust efforts to ensure we deliver aid as effectively as possible.”

It added: “This maritime corridor can — and must — be part of a sustained effort to increase the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial commodities into Gaza through all possible routes.” The statement also called on the international community to “do more.”

Sharing Roknifard’s hopes for the maritime corridor is Yossi Mekelberg, associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House in London and a strident critic of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Mekelberg told Arab News that “of course” there was an element of PR in US plans to “go and build a floating dock,” but he stressed that this did not necessarily nullify the benefits that could come from its construction.




The shipment — largely funded by the UAE — was organized by US charity World Central Kitchen. (AFP)

“Essentially, what sort of change it can offer is dependent on a few factors — namely, how big it is and how much aid it can actually get into Gaza,” he said. “Right now, every little helps, on top of what is already getting in, for as long as those 500 truckloads of aid that are needed to keep Gaza running are not getting in.”

Mekelberg added that provisions being parachuted in are just as valuable as those coming by land or sea.

However, he continued, if the proposed floating dock is to make a real difference, then time is of the essence. He cited estimates that the dock could take two months to build, despite warnings from aid agencies that some 576,000 people are already on the brink of famine.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, founder of Project Unified Assistance, which aims to establish a UN-operated humanitarian airport in Gaza, wrote on X that the temporary dock was a “mammoth step” that could have a “transformative impact if implemented effectively.”

“It’s also historic because it will be the first time in a contemporary context that Gaza will have a functioning seaport which can receive regular, large-scale cargo shipments,” he said.

“After the food airdrops, US involvement in establishing a maritime corridor will bolster Washington’s diplomatic posture and signal the Biden administration’s seriousness about ending the humanitarian catastrophe that Gaza’s civilian population is experiencing.”

Support for the maritime corridor, though, has not been universal. Medecins Sans Frontieres slammed the plans as a “glaring distraction,” and urged the US to instead force Israel’s hand to allow more trucks to enter the enclave.

Avril Benoit, the organization’s executive director, said the US had to address the “real problem,” namely what he described as “Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate military campaign and punishing siege.”

In a statement, Benoit added: “The food, water, and medical supplies so desperately needed by people in Gaza are sitting just across the border.




According to Israeli authorities, 89 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip on March 13. (AFP)

“Israel needs to facilitate rather than block the flow of supplies. This isn’t a logistics problem; it is a political problem. Rather than look to a workaround, the US should insist on immediate humanitarian access using roads and entry points that already exist.”

Israel denies it is restricting the entry of aid and has instead shifted the blame to humanitarian organizations operating inside Gaza, claiming that hundreds of trucks filled with aid are sitting idle on the Palestinian side of the main crossing.

The UN says it cannot always reach the trucks at the crossing because, at times, it can be too dangerous.

So, short of increasing the number of trucks entering Gaza and guaranteeing the safe delivery of the aid they carry, many view the maritime option as the best alternative.

“Looking at the big picture for the US government, being a patron for such an act is, of course, better than nothing, but overall (it is) pathetic compared to the actual pressure that could be rendered on Israel to stop the attacks,” said Roknifard.




The Spanish-flagged Open Arms left Cyprus on March 12. (AFP)

Roknifard believes the US should use its leverage to “twist Israel’s arm” and force Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners to allow sufficient aid to arrive by road.

Such a move is unlikely, however, given the upcoming US presidential election, which Roknifard said presents a “major roadblock” to the necessary “political will.”

Although this still seems “like a pretty lame excuse for not doing the real thing,” Roknifard said the maritime corridor was at least better than dropping aid from the air.

 


Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says war death toll at 44,235

Updated 6 sec ago
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Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says war death toll at 44,235

GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday that at least 44,235 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 24 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 104,638 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
 

 


Syria’s ‘large quantities’ of toxic arms serious concern: watchdog

Updated 26 November 2024
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Syria’s ‘large quantities’ of toxic arms serious concern: watchdog

  • The war has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged the country’s infrastructure and industry

THE HAGUE: The world’s chemical watchdog said Monday that it was “seriously concerned” by large gaps in Syria’s declaration about its chemical weapons stockpile, as large quantities of potentially banned warfare agents might be involved.
Syria agreed in 2013 to join the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, shortly after an alleged chemical gas attack killed more than 1,400 people near Damascus.
“Despite more than a decade of intensive work, the Syrian Arab Republic chemical weapons dossier still cannot be closed,” the watchdog’s director-general Fernando Arias told delegates at the OPCW’s annual meeting.
The Hague-based global watchdog has previously accused President Bashar Assad’s regime of continued attacks on civilians with chemical weapons during the Middle Eastern country’s brutal civil war.
“Since 2014, the (OPCW) Secretariat has reported a total of 26 outstanding issues of which seven have been fulfilled,” in relation to chemical weapon stockpiles in Syria, Arias said.
“The substance of the remaining 19 outstanding issues is of serious concern as it involves large quantities of potentially undeclared or unverified chemical warfare agents and chemical munitions,” he told delegates.
Syria’s OPCW voting rights were suspended in 2021, an unprecedented rebuke, following poison gas attacks on civilians in 2017.
Last year the watchdog blamed Syria for a 2018 chlorine attack that killed 43 people, in a long-awaited report on a case that sparked tensions between Damascus and the West.
Damascus has denied the allegations and insisted it has handed over its stockpiles.
Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011 after the government’s repression of peaceful demonstrations escalated into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global jihadists.
The war has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged the country’s infrastructure and industry.


Syria state TV says Israel struck bridges near border with Lebanon

Updated 26 November 2024
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Syria state TV says Israel struck bridges near border with Lebanon

  • The defense ministry said “the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of Lebanese territory, targeting crossing points that it had previously hit” between the two countries

DAMASUS: Syrian state television reported Israeli strikes on several bridges in the Qusayr region near the Lebanese border on Monday, with the defense ministry reporting two civilians injured in the attacks.
Israel’s military has intensified its strikes on targets in Syria since its conflict with Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon escalated into full-scale war in late September after almost a year of cross-border hostilities.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the bridges of Al-Jubaniyeh, Al-Daf, Arjoun, and the Al-Nizariyeh Gate in the Qusayr area,” state television said, with official news agency SANA reporting damage in the attacks.
The defense ministry said “the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of Lebanese territory, targeting crossing points that it had previously hit” between the two countries.
The attacks “injured two civilians and caused material losses,” it added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, based in Britain, said the attacks had “killed two Syrians working with Hezbollah and injured five others,” giving a preliminary toll.
Earlier, the monitor with a network of sources in Syria had said the “Israeli strikes targeted” an official land border crossing in the Qusayr area and six bridges on the Orontes River near the border with Lebanon.
Since September, Israel has bombed land crossings between Lebanon and Syria, putting them out of service. It accuses Hezbollah of using the routes, key for people fleeing the war in Lebanon, to transfer weapons from Syria.

 

 


Iraqis sentenced to prison in $2.5bn corruption case

Updated 26 November 2024
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Iraqis sentenced to prison in $2.5bn corruption case

  • A criminal court in Baghdad specializing in corruption cases issued the prison sentences ranging from three to 10 years, a statement from Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced to prison former senior officials, a businessman and others for involvement in the theft of $2.5 billion in public funds — one of Iraq’s biggest corruption cases.
The three most high-profile individuals sentenced — businessman Nour Zuhair, as well as former prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi’s cabinet director Raed Jouhi and a former adviser, Haitham Al-Juburi — are on the run and were tried in absentia.
The scandal, dubbed the “heist of the century,” has sparked widespread anger in Iraq, which is ravaged by rampant corruption, unemployment and decaying infrastructure after decades of conflict.
A criminal court in Baghdad specializing in corruption cases issued the prison sentences ranging from three to 10 years, a statement from Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said.
Thirteen people received sentences on Monday, according to member of Parliament Mostafa Sanad.
Most of them, 10, are from Iraq’s tax authority and include its former director and deputy, he added on his Telegram channel.
Iraq revealed two years ago that at least $2.5 billion was stolen between September 2021 and August 2022 through 247 cheques that were cashed by five companies.
The money was then withdrawn in cash from the accounts of those firms.
A judicial source told AFP that some tax officials charged were in detention, without detailing how many.
Businessman Zuhair was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to the judiciary statement.
He was arrested at Baghdad airport in October 2022 as he was trying to leave the country, but released on bail a month later after giving back more than $125 million and pledging to return the rest in instalments.
The wealthy businessman was back in the news in August after he reportedly had a car crash in Lebanon, following an interview he gave to an Iraqi news channel.
Juburi, the former prime ministerial adviser, received a three-year prison sentence. He also returned $2.6 million before disappearing, a judicial source told AFP.
Kadhemi’s cabinet director Raed Jouhi, also currently outside Iraq, was sentenced to six years in prison — alongside “a number of officials involved in the crime,” according to the judiciary’s statement.
Corruption is rampant across Iraq’s public institutions, but convictions typically target mid-level officials or minor players and rarely those at the top of the power hierarchy.
 

 


11 killed in Kurdish-led attacks in north Syria: war monitor

Updated 26 November 2024
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11 killed in Kurdish-led attacks in north Syria: war monitor

  • Seven Turkiye-backed militants were also killed in the attack and in an operation by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that control swathes of northeast Syria.

BEIRUT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Monday 11 people including civilians were killed in attacks by a Kurdish-led force on positions of Turkiye-backed militants in north Syria.
“A woman, her two children and a man were killed... in the bombing of a military position... used by Ankara-backed factions for human smuggling operations to Turkiye,” the Britain-based monitor said.
It said seven Turkiye-backed militants were also killed in that incident and in an operation by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control swathes of northeast Syria.
SDF special forces infiltrated a Turkiye-backed group’s military position and killed three militants, said the monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.
The SDF also booby-trapped a military position as they withdrew, in an attack that killed another four pro-Turkiye militants but also four civilians including a woman and her two children, the Observatory said.
On Sunday, 15 Ankara-backed Syrian militants were killed after the SDF infiltrated their territory, the monitor reported earlier.
The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded the fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019.
It is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by Ankara as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkish troops and allied armed factions control swathes of northern Syria following successive cross-border offensives since 2016, most of them targeting the SDF.