JERUSALEM: Days after Israel announced a daily pause in fighting on a key route to allow more aid into Gaza, chaos in the besieged Palestinian territory has left vital supplies piled up and undistributed in the searing summer heat.
More than eight months of war, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, have led to dire humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and repeated UN warnings of famine with outside aid severely restricted.
Desperation among Gaza’s 2.4 million population has increased as fighting rages, sparking warnings from aid agencies that they are unable to deliver aid including vegetables.
Israel says it has let supplies in and called on agencies to step up deliveries.
“The breakdown of public order and safety is increasingly endangering humanitarian workers and operations in Gaza,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, also known as OCHA, said in a briefing late Friday.
“Alongside the fighting, criminal activities and the risk of theft and robbery has effectively prevented humanitarian access to critical locations.”
But Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks of aid into southern Gaza, trading blame with the United Nations over why the aid is stacking up.
It shared aerial footage of white and black containers lined up on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing and more trucks arriving to add to the stockpile.
The October Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 41 are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 37,551 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
With civil order breaking down in the territory, the UN says it has been unable to pick up any supplies from Kerem Shalom since Tuesday, leaving crucial aid in limbo.
A deputy UN spokesman this week said the crossing “is operating with limited functionality, including because of fighting in the area.”
Israel’s coordinator for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, known as COGAT, said Thursday “the content of 1,200 aid trucks awaits collection by UN aid agencies,” saying a lack of distribution was responsible.
Earlier in the week, COGAT spokesman Shimon Freedman told reporters at the crossing the daily pause on a southern road into Gaza was designed to allow the UN “to collect and distribute more aid” alongside an Israeli military presence.
He said most of the aid had not moved because “organizations have not taken sufficient steps to improve their distribution capacity.”
Aid agencies have instead pointed to Israel’s offensive on the southern city of Rafah, which pushed out more than a million people and closed a border crossing with Egypt, as a deepening humanitarian crisis hampered relief efforts.
The United States also sanctioned an extremist Israeli group last week, accusing it of blocking convoys and looting and burning trucks trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
And the UN food agency has said its aid convoys have been looted inside Gaza by “desperate people.”
As both sides stall, it is the civilians in Gaza who are paying the price.
“We don’t see any aid. Everything we get to eat comes from our own money and it’s all very expensive,” said Umm Mohammad Zamlat, 66, from northern Gaza but now living in Khan Yunis in the south.
“Even agencies specialized in aid deliveries are not able to provide anything to us,” she added.
“We hope this war ends and we return to our homes and that we don’t need aid from anyone.”
NGO Doctors Without Borders said on Friday that six trucks with 37 tons of supplies, mostly essentially medical items, have been held up at the Egyptian part of Kerem Shalom since June 14.
“This is incomprehensible and unacceptable,” it said in a statement.
“It’s like asking a fireman to watch a house filled with people burn down, and preventing him putting out the fire.”
Food piles up at Gaza crossing as aid agencies say unable to work
https://arab.news/87eyw
Food piles up at Gaza crossing as aid agencies say unable to work
Rahim Al-Hussaini is named new spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, succeeding his father
- Rahim Al-Hussaini was designated as the Aga Khan V
- The Aga Khan is treated by his followers as a head of state
LISBON: Rahim Al-Hussaini was named Wednesday as the new Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili Muslims.
He was designated as the Aga Khan V, the 50th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, in his father’s will. His father died Tuesday in Portugal.
The Aga Khan is considered by his followers to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and is treated as a head of state.
The Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili religious community announced earlier that His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, the Aga Khan IV and 49th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, died surrounded by his family.
It said his burial and will-reading will be held in the coming days, followed by an homage ceremony.
The late Aga Khan was given the title of “His Highness” by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather the Aga Khan III unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year dynasty as leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect.
A defender of Islamic culture and values, he was widely regarded as a builder of bridges between Muslim societies and the West despite — or perhaps because of — his reticence to become involved in politics.
The Aga Khan Development Network, his main philanthropic organization, deals mainly with issues of health care, housing, education and rural economic development. It says it works in over 30 countries and has an annual budget of about $1 billion for nonprofit development activities.
Ismailis lived for many generations in Iran, Syria and South Asia before also settling in east Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as Europe, North America and Australia more recently. They consider it a duty to tithe up to 12.5 percent of their income to the Aga Khan as steward.
Palestinian Ambassador to Japan: The world is not real estate for Trump who does not understand what Palestine is
- “We condemn the policy and statements of Trump, who claims that he wants to bring peace to the world,” Ambassador Siam said
- The Palestinian Ambassador pointed out that “the world is not a piece of real estate for Trump to play with according to his whims
TOKYO: Palestinian Ambassador to Japan Walid Siam has strongly criticized US President Donald Trump in response to Trump’s sudden announcement of his intention to occupy the Gaza Strip after displacing its Palestinian residents.
“We condemn the policy and statements of Trump, who claims that he wants to bring peace to the world,” Ambassador Siam said in an interview with Arab News Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Siam said that the American president’s wish to possess Greenland, annex Canada, reclaim the Panama Canal, and now occupy Gaza clearly shows that Trump is the last person in the world who wants peace.
The Palestinian Ambassador pointed out that “the world is not a piece of real estate for Trump to play with according to his whims. There are international laws that govern the relationship between countries.”
He warned that Trump’s disrespect for international law will expose America to many problems in the future.
Regarding Trump’s statement calling for the expulsion of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people and their transfer to Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan and other countries, Ambassador Siam referred to the Geneva Convention and UN resolutions that guarantee the Palestinians’ right to their land and their right to be protected under occupation, stressing that neither the occupiers or anyone else has the right to seize them or force them to leave their lands, which are protected by international agreements.
“I think that Trump does not know the Palestinian people, who have suffered for a hundred years under the Zionist Israeli occupation,” Siam said. “And have seen hundreds of thousands of Palestinian martyrs and have been subjected to massacres committed by the Zionist occupation forces in 1947 and 1948 and beyond, and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians who have become refugees in all the corners of the Earth.”
Ambassador Siam said that Israel’s crimes did not end there as they also occupied the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza and want to expel the Palestinians from those areas that remain for them from the land of Palestine.
“Israel is still committing human massacres against the Palestinians, and despite all this, the Palestinian people are still clinging to their lands and are firmly rooted in the land of their ancestors,” he said. “This is a historical Palestinian land and is not for sale or bargaining. We are in our land. Other people came who do not have a land.”
“We continue to tell the entire world that the Palestinians have the right to their independent state on their land and we will not give that up until the last drop of Palestinian blood. There is no power in the world that can banish us from existence or uproot us from our land, so we are telling the entire world that international law must be respected.”
Ambassador Siam strongly criticized the American policy of hegemony and arrogance, saying, “America is not international law and must respect the rule of law. America and Congress do not represent global leadership or global law.”
“We are the only legitimate residents of Palestine, and the others are illegitimate,” he added, referring to the Jews who came to Palestine from all over the world. “This is what Trump does not know. He does not understand what the land of Palestine is.”
Jordanian king affirms support for Palestinians in meeting with President Abbas
- Jordan firmly rejects any attempts to annex land or displace Palestinians in Gaza
- King Abdullah is scheduled to visit Washington on Feb. 11
LONDON: Jordan’s King Abdullah II reaffirmed his kingdom’s support for Palestinians when he welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at Al-Husseiniyah Palace in Amman.
The king said Jordan fully supported Palestinians in realizing their legitimate rights to establish a state based on pre-1967 borders, which include the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
He also stressed that Jordan firmly rejected any attempts to annex land or displace Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the Petra news agency.
His remarks come after US President Donald Trump said Egypt and Jordan would have to take in any Gazans that were displaced by Washington, a proposal rejected by both countries.
During a media conference on Tuesday evening with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump reiterated his statement and added the US planned to take control of Gaza.
King Abdullah is scheduled to visit Washington on Feb. 11. Jordan, which signed a peace agreement with Tel Aviv in 1994, shares approximately 400 kilometers of border with Israel, including the territories of the occupied West Bank.
Abbas emphasized Jordan’s crucial role in supporting a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza and its ongoing delivery of humanitarian aid to the coastal enclave.
The meeting was attended by Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi, as well as Director of General Intelligence Maj. Gen. Ahmed Hosni and Hussein Al-Sheikh, the secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, among others.
Aoun seeks French support for Israeli troop withdrawal
- Joseph Aoun called for pressure to be applied to halt daily violations and to work toward the release of Lebanese prisoners within the specified timeframe
- Israeli forces are positioned behind earthen barriers and barbed wire, with a warning sign reading Do Not Approach, at the entrances of Yaroun and Maroun Al-Ras
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has urged France to back demands for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese border areas occupied during the recent conflict.
In a meeting with the French Ambassador to Lebanon, Herve Magro, on Wednesday, Aoun also called for “pressure to be applied to halt daily violations and to work toward the release of Lebanese prisoners within the specified timeframe.”
Israeli forces are still entrenched behind an earthen barrier created a week ago west of the town of Mays Al-Jabal, while Lebanese troops are deployed dozens of meters away.
Several houses in the town of Rab El Thalathine in the Marjeyoun district were destroyed by Israeli troops a day after homes in the town of Yaroun in the Bint Jbeil district were also razed.
Israeli forces are positioned behind earthen barriers and barbed wire, with a warning sign reading “Do not approach,” at the entrances of Yaroun and Maroun Al-Ras.
They are supported by snipers hidden among the trees, while elements of the Lebanese army are deployed just meters away.
Israeli forces are expected to withdraw from the border area on Feb, 18, following a 23-day extension of the withdrawal deadline with the approval of the US.
Wajih Zahwi, 7, from Majdal Selem, on Wednesday died from head injuries sustained in an Israeli military drone strike on Jan. 29 while civilians were returning to their villages. The attack was in violation of the ceasefire agreement.
The border municipality of Ramiyah said that it was “informed by the military intelligence that two army posts will be established within the town. Additionally, efforts will be made to open several secondary roads, and on Friday, engineering teams from the army will conduct surveys and inspections for remnants of the Israeli aggression in the area.”
Meanwhile, a foreign photojournalist working in the Middle East claimed that she was threatened by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.
Courtney Bonneau posted on Instagram that at around 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, while she was in a building in the town of Taybeh in southern Lebanon, where the Lebanese army has redeployed, the Israeli army called UNIFIL to inform her and another photographer that if they did not vacate the premises, they would be shot.
As part of military and security agencies’ efforts to combat illegal weapons, the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces said that it had seized a four-wheel-drive vehicle driven by a 43-year-old Lebanese man, whose name was not disclosed.
Weapons and ammunition were found after the vehicle was stopped at the Dahr Al-Baydar checkpoint on the Bekaa-Beirut road. The man admitted bringing the weapons from Syria, and another Lebanese man accompanying him was also arrested.
Military police on Tuesday also intercepted a weapons shipment in Wardaniyeh that was being moved from a Hezbollah warehouse to an undisclosed location.
In a related development, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has designated Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem as his “representative for Hussainiyah affairs and religious administration in Lebanon.”
Qassem is believed to have remained in Iran since assuming his new role.
His appointment was announced by Hezbollah on Oct. 29, following the death of Hassan Nasrallah in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Nasrallah had served as Khamenei’s representative in Lebanon before his death.
Indonesia ‘strongly rejects’ Trump’s Gaza plan
- “Indonesia strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians or alter the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the Foreign Ministry said
- Jakarta also called on the international community to respect international law
JAKARTA: Indonesia “strongly rejects” the proposal made by President Donald Trump for the United States to assume control of Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Trump announced the stunning proposal Tuesday, without detailing his plans on how to move out nearly two million Palestinians from the enclave, claiming that the US will rebuild the territory and turn it into the “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has consistently called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Indonesia strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians or alter the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on social media X, formerly Twitter.
Jakarta also called on the international community to respect international law, “particularly the right to self-determination of the Palestinians as well as their inalienable right to return to their homeland,” the ministry added.
Trump claimed there was support from the “highest leadership” in the Middle East and upped pressure on Egypt and Jordan to take displaced Palestinians — despite both countries flatly rejecting the idea.
Jakarta said addressing the “root cause” of the conflict, namely “the illegal and prolonged Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory,” was the only path to achieve a lasting peace in the region, the statement added.
