Gaza Strip: The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has said that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.
“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @UNRWA food convoys to the north,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said Sunday on X.
“This is outrageous & makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man made famine.”
Israel fired back, saying on Monday that UNRWA “has long forsaken its role in facilitating aid to northern Gaza. While we’ve been working with aid orgs and other UN agencies to facilitate large amounts of aid to the north.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Israel “goes to great lengths to facilitate aid to northern Gaza, including by opening a new crossing in northern Gaza.”
UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told AFP the decision not to approve deliveries to the north had been relayed in a meeting with Israeli military officials on Sunday.
It followed two denials in writing for convoy deliveries to the north last week. No reason for the decision was given, Touma said.
Gaza faces dire humanitarian conditions as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas that began nearly six months ago, triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7.
Last week a UN-backed food security assessment warned that famine was projected to hit the north of Gaza by May unless there was urgent intervention.
UNRWA has not been able to deliver food to the north since January 29, Touma said.
“The latest decision is another nail in the coffin” for efforts to get desperately needed aid to Gazans reeling from war, Touma said.
Martin Griffiths, head of the UN humanitarian coordination office, said on X on Sunday that UNRWA “is the beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza.”
“The decision to block its food convoys to the north only pushes thousands closer to famine. It must be revoked,” he added.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said on X that blocking UNRWA aid deliveries was “in fact denying starving people the ability to survive.”
Earlier Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an end to the “non-stop nightmare” endured by Gaza’s 2.4 million people in the territory’s worst-ever war.
Israel has accused UNRWA staff members of participating in the October 7 attack and called the agency “a front for Hamas.”
Touma said Israeli authorities on Sunday also rejected a UN request to send a team to Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, where fighting has flared for almost a week, “to evacuate people who are injured.”
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Israel’s military campaign to eliminate Hamas has killed at least 32,226 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
UN agency for Palestinians says barred from North Gaza aid deliveries
https://arab.news/2bfbh
UN agency for Palestinians says barred from North Gaza aid deliveries
- UNRWA has not been able to deliver food to the north since January 29
- Gaza faces dire humanitarian conditions as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas that began nearly six months ago
Israeli plan to seize Gaza alarms many: ‘What’s left for you to bomb?’
“What’s left for you to bomb?” asked Moaz Kahlout, a displaced man from Gaza City who said many resort to GPS to locate the rubble of homes wiped out in the war.
Israeli officials said Monday that Cabinet ministers approved the plan to seize Gaza and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time — news that came hours after the military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.
Details of the plan were not formally announced, and its exact timing and implementation were not clear. It may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, about 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
“They destroyed us, displaced us and killed us,” said Enshirah Bahloul, a woman from the southern city of Khan Younis. “We want safety and peace in this world. We do not want to remain homeless, hungry, and thirsty.”
Some Israelis are also opposed to the plan. Hundreds of people protested outside the parliament Monday as the government opened for its summer session. One person was arrested.
Families of hostages held in Gaza are afraid of what an expanded military operation or seizure could mean for their relatives.
“I don’t see the expansion of the war as a solution — it led us absolutely nowhere before. It feels like déjà vu from the year ago,” said Adi Alexander, father of Israeli-American Edan Alexander, a soldier captured in the Oct. 7 attack.
The father is pinning some hopes on US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, set for next week. Israeli leaders have said they don’t plan to expand the operation in Gaza until after Trump’s visit, leaving the door open for a possible deal. Trump isn’t expected to visit Israel, but he and other American officials have frequently spoken about Edan Alexander, the last American-Israeli held in Gaza who is still believed to be alive.
Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Omri Miran, 48, the oldest hostage still believed to be alive, said the family was concerned about the plan.
“We hope it’s merely a signal to Hamas that Israel is serious in its goal to dismantle its governmental and military capabilities as a leverage for negotiations, but it’s unclear whether this is an end or a means,” he said.
Meanwhile, every day, dozens of Palestinians gather outside a charity kitchen that distributes hot meals to displaced families in southern Gaza. Children thrust pots or buckets forward, pushing and shoving in an desperate attempt to bring food to their families.
“What should we do?” asked Sara Younis, a woman from the southernmost city of Rafah, as she waited for a hot meal for her children. “There’s no food, no flour, nothing.”
Israel cut off Gaza from all imports in early March, leading to dire shortages of food, medicine and other supplies. Israel says the goal is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining hostages.
Aid organizations have warned that malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in Gaza. The United Nations says the vast majority of the population relies on aid.
Aid groups have expressed concerns that gains to avert famine made during this year’s ceasefire have been diminishing.
Like most aid groups in Gaza, Tikeya has run out of most food and has cooked almost exclusively pasta for the past two weeks.
Nidal Abu Helal, a displaced man from Rafah who works at the charity, said that the group is increasingly concerned that people, especially children, will die of starvation.
“We’re not afraid of dying from missiles,” he said. “We’re afraid that our children will die of hunger in front of us.”
Chinese fighter jets soar over Egypt in first joint exercises
- Drills showcased China’s military hardware, Egypt’s regional clout
- Beijing expanding defense and technology ties in North Africa
BEIJING: The sound of Chinese fighter jets roared over the Egyptian pyramids and could echo across the Middle East, as Beijing wrapped up military drills with Cairo aimed at chipping away at US strategic influence in the volatile region.
China’s military on Monday released videos of its fast jets, helicopters and transport planes flying high above the Sahara and hailing inaugural joint air force exercises with Egypt as “a signal of deepening military ties and shifting alliances.”
The joint exercises with one of the United States’ biggest security partners come as Washington increasingly turns inward under President Donald Trump, allowing China to deepen ties across North Africa and invest billions in security projects.
“As Egypt looks beyond its traditional US partnership, a new era of cooperation is taking flight over Cairo’s skies,” said a video released by the international division of state broadcaster CCTV, as a jet plane takes off into the night.
Global Times, a tabloid owned by the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, People’s Daily, said the “Eagles of Civilization 2025” drills had established a foundation for various potential cooperation between the two countries’ militaries at a time when Egypt is trying to upgrade its combat equipment, citing experts.
Analysts say the 18-day drills also help Egypt assert itself as a major regional power among the Arab nations and North Africa amid growing regional turbulence.
“It’s great public diplomacy for (China), particularly in the Middle East,” said Eric Orlander, co-founder of the China-Global South Project. “It’s what brings people in the door for them to sell drones, SAMs, light arms, transports, et cetera.”
“A major regional power needs an Air Force, right?” he added.
Orlander cautioned that switching jet fighter systems is very expensive, and Washington could choose to withhold financial military support from Cairo if it upped its purchases of Chinese technologies.
But the United States — the primary security partner to Egypt, neighboring Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states since the late seventies — has made large foreign cuts under Trump that have been keenly felt across the region.
And with the Gaza crisis unfolding to its north-east, ethnic violence in Sudan to the south, and political instability in Libya to its west, Egypt finds itself squeezed on three fronts.
China has since pledged billions in fresh investment for projects such as satellite manufacturing facilities in Egypt capable of producing military-grade surveillance equipment.
Beijing’s air force said the drills represented “a new starting point and a significant milestone in military cooperation between the two countries,” in a statement marking their conclusion.
First Jordanian passenger jet lands in Syria’s Aleppo after 14-year hiatus
- The airline said it will run three flights per week from Amman to Aleppo
CAIRO: A Royal Jordanian Airlines passenger jet landed in Aleppo on Tuesday, marking the company’s first flight to the city after nearly 14 years.
The flight was from Amman to Aleppo International Airport, according to the Syrian News Agency.
The airline said it would run three flights a week from Amman to Aleppo, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, SANA reported.
Royal Jordanian had operated a trial flight in March to assess the airport’s technical and security readiness.
The airline began commercial flights to Damascus in January, according to a previous SANA report.
Top Hamas official says Gaza truce talks no longer of interest
- A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza
GAZA: A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel's "hunger war" against Gaza.
"There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip," Basem Naim told AFP.
He said the world must pressure the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the "crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings" in Gaza.
The comments by Naim, a Hamas political bureau member and former Gaza health minister, come a day after Israel's military said expanded operations in Gaza would include displacing "most" of its residents.
On Monday Israel's security cabinet approved the military's plan for expanded operations, which an Israeli official said would entail "the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories".
Nearly all of the territory's residents inhabitants have been displaced, often multiple times, since the start of the war sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2 and faces a severe humanitarian crisis.
Israel's military resumed its offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month truce.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in a radio interview on Tuesday called Israel's plan for a Gaza offensive "unacceptable", and said its government was "in violation of humanitarian law".
Sudan’s paramilitary unleashes drones on key targets in Port Sudan
- The barrage was the second such attack this week on a city that had been a hub for people fleeing Sudan’s two-year war
- Local media reported loud sound of explosions and fires at the port and the airport
CAIRO: Sudan’s paramilitary unleashed drones on the Red Sea city of Port Sudan early Tuesday, hitting key targets there, including the airport, the port and a hotel, military officials said. The barrage was the second such attack this week on a city that had been a hub for people fleeing Sudan’s two-year war.
There was no immediate word on any casualties or the extent of the damage. Local media reported loud sound of explosions and fires at the port and the airport. Footage circulating online showed thick smoke rising over the area.
The attack on Port Sudan, which also serves as an interim seat for Sudan’s military-allied government, underscores that after two years of fighting, the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are still capable of threatening each other’s territory.
The RSF drones struck early in the morning, said two Sudanese military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Abdel-Rahman Al-Nour, a Port Sudan resident, said he woke up to strong explosions, and saw fires and plumes of black smoke rising over the port. Msha’ashir Ahmed, a local journalist living in Port Sudan, said fires were still burning late Tuesday morning in the southern vicinity of the maritime port.
The attack apparently disrupted air traffic at the airport, with Cairo airport data in neighboring Egypt showing that three Port Sudan-bound flights were canceled on Tuesday.
The RSF did not release any statements on the attack. On Sunday, the paramilitary force struck Port Sudan for the first time in the war, disrupting air traffic in the city’s airport, which has been the main entry point for the county in the last two years.
A military ammunition warehouse in the Othman Daqna air base in the city was also hit, setting off a fire that burned for two days.
When the fighting in Sudan broke out, the focus of the battles initially was the country’s capital, Khartoum, which turned into a war zone. Withing weeks, Port Sudan, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east of Khartoum, turned into a safe haven for the displaced and those fleeing the war. Many aid missions and UN agencies moved their offices there.
The attacks on Port Sudan are also seen as retaliation after the Sudanese military earlier this month struck the Nyala airport in South Darfur, which the paramilitary RSF has turned into a base and where it gets shipments of arms, including drones.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in Khartoum. From there, the fighting spread to other parts of the country.
Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including four million crossed into neighboring countries. It also pushed parts of the country into famine.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western Darfur region, according to the United Natios. and international rights groups.
