GENEVA: The head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) on Monday called on partners to fight back against efforts by Israel to have the organization disbanded as it provides humanitarian assistance to Gaza and across the region.
“Israel has long been critical of the agency’s mandate. But it now seeks to end UNRWA’s operations, dismissing the agency’s status as a United Nations entity supported by an overwhelming majority of member states,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said at a meeting of the agency’s advisory commission in Geneva.
“If we do not push back, other UN entities and international organizations will be next, further undermining our multilateral system.”
The Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva had no immediate comment.
Lazzarini said the agency, which has provided essential aid to Gazans throughout Israel’s offensive, was “staggering under the weight of relentless attacks.”
“In Gaza, the agency has paid a terrible price: 193 UNRWA personnel have been killed,” he said.
“More than 180 installations have been damaged or destroyed, killing at least 500 people seeking United Nations protection...Our premises have been used for military purposes by Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.”
Lazzarini said the agency was being subjected to a “concerted effort” to dismantle it, including through legislative initiatives threatening to evict the agency from its compound and labelling UNRWA as a terrorist organization.
Several countries halted their funding to UNRWA following accusations by Israel that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war. Most donors have since resumed their funding.
Lazzarini said that UNRWA still lacked the necessary resources to fulfil its mandate.
“The agency’s ability to operate beyond August will depend on member states disbursing planned funds and providing new contributions to the core budget,” he said.
Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides services including schooling, primary health care and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
UNRWA chief urges pushback against efforts to disband Palestinian agency
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UNRWA chief urges pushback against efforts to disband Palestinian agency
- UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini: ‘If we do not push back, other UN entities and international organizations will be next, further undermining our multilateral system’
- Several countries halted their funding to UNRWA following accusations by Israel that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack
Iran election shows declining voter support amid calls for change
- Of the 61 million eligible voters, only about 40 percent cast ballots, marking a record-low turnout in the country where some people have lost faith in the process. More than 1 million ballots were spoiled
TEHRAN: The first round of Iran’s presidential election revealed shrinking support for reformists and conservatives even though some voters are pushing for change by backing the sole reformist candidate, analysts say.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist contender and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, led the polls held on Friday to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.
Friday’s vote, marked by a historically low turnout, “clearly shows that both reformists’ and conservatives’ bases have considerably shrunk,” said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think tank.
In the lead-up to the election, Iran’s main reformist coalition supported Pezeshkian, with endorsements by former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, a moderate.
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The combined votes of Saeed Jalili and Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf totaled 12.8 million.
“The reformists brought out the big guns and tried their best to mobilize their base,” Vaez said on social media platform X, but “it was simply insufficient.”
Likewise, the conservatives failed to garner sufficient votes “despite the tremendous resources they deployed,” he added.
Vaez pointed out that the combined votes of Jalili and conservative parliamentary speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, who came in third, totaled 12.8 million.
That figure was well below Raisi’s nearly 18 million votes in the 2021 election.
Of the 61 million eligible voters, only about 40 percent cast ballots, marking a record-low turnout in the country where some people have lost faith in the process. More than 1 million ballots were spoiled.
For Vaez, the decline in turnout, from around 49 percent in 2021, was “a real embarrassment for the leadership” in Iran, where ultimate political power lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Political commentator Mohammed Reza Manafi said Pezeshkian’s lead reflected a push for “fundamental changes” regarding the economy and relations with the rest of the world.
However, those favoring Pezeshkian “do not expect a miracle or a quick solution but hope he can gradually prevent conditions from worsening,” Manafi added.
Iran has been reeling from the economic impact of international sanctions, contributing to soaring inflation, high unemployment, and a record low for the Iranian rial against the US dollar.
The vote also came amid heightened regional tensions over the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas and diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
Pezeshkian, an outspoken heart surgeon who has represented the northwestern city of Tabriz in parliament since 2008, came out on top thanks to his “clean record without any accusations of financial corruption,” said Manafi.
Official figures showed Pezeshkian had 42.4 percent of the vote, against 38.6 percent for Jalili.
The reformists have urged “constructive relations” with Washington and European capitals to “get Iran out of its isolation.”
In contrast, Jalili is widely recognized for his uncompromising anti-West stance.
He is a former nuclear negotiator and a representative of Khamenei on the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s highest security body.
During his campaign, he rallied a substantial base of hard-line supporters under the slogan “no compromise, no surrender” to the West.
He staunchly opposed the 2015 nuclear deal with the US and other world powers, which imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear activity in return for sanctions relief.
At the time, Jalili argued that the pact violated Iran’s “red lines” by accepting inspections of nuclear sites.
The deal collapsed in 2018.
In a Sunday column in the ultraconservative Javan daily, political expert Ali Alavi hailed Jalili’s “honesty and truthfulness, unlike the others.”
The candidate also received support from Ghalibaf, who, after Saturday’s result, urged his support base to back Jalili in next Friday’s runoff.
Two ultraconservatives who dropped out a day before the election have also endorsed Jalili.
But on Sunday, the reformist newspaper Etemad quoted former vice president Isa Kalantari as warning against a continued conservative grip on the government.
“The country will be in peril and face numerous problems and challenges,” he said.
Vaez said the “Jalili fear factor can’t be overlooked.”
“Many who didn’t vote in this round might vote in the next one: not because they hope for better, but because they fear the worst.”
Political analyst Mohammad Marandi, however, said Jalili may not be “the sort of radical that is depicted by his opponents.”
Marandi believes that under either of the two candidates, Iran will “continue to pursue strong ties with the Global South” countries.
He added that they “will still attempt to see what can be done with the nuclear deal,” though Jalili “will just approach it with more skepticism.”
Israel says 18 soldiers hurt in Golan Heights
- IDF said in a statement the strike happened earlier on Sunday
- It said since then, it had struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon with air strikes and artillery fire
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said on Sunday 18 of its soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, when a drone struck their position in the occupied Golan Heights, which border Lebanon.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said in a statement the strike happened earlier on Sunday. It said since then, it had struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon with air strikes and artillery fire.
Fighting between the IDF and Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been escalating, after it was triggered by the Gaza war.
Propane tank explosion in western Turkiye kills 5 people, injures 63 others
- Security cameras recorded the explosion, which devastated the street and caused minor damage to surrounding buildings
- Izmir Gov. Suleyman Elban visited the injured at the hospital and announced that 40 of them had already been released
ISTANBUL: A propane tank explosion at a restaurant in the western Turkish city of Izmir on Sunday left five people dead and 63 others injured, authorities said.
Security cameras recorded the explosion, which devastated the street and caused minor damage to surrounding buildings.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on social media that dozens of rescue personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene.
Izmir Gov. Suleyman Elban visited the injured at the hospital and announced that 40 of them had already been released.
Authorities have detained one suspect who might be responsible. The man had replaced the propane tank with a new one on Saturday.
Ultra-Orthodox protest against order to enlist in Israeli military turns violent in Jerusalem
- Tens of thousands of men rallied in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to protest the order
- Israeli police said protesters threw rocks and attacked the car of an ultra-Orthodox Cabinet minister, pelting it with stones
JERUSALEM: Thousands of Jewish ultra-Orthodox men clashed with Israeli police in central Jerusalem on Sunday during a protest against a Supreme Court order for them to begin enlisting for military service.
The landmark decision last week ordering the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel wages war in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of men rallied in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to protest the order. But after nightfall, the crowd made its way toward central Jerusalem and turned violent.
Israeli police said protesters threw rocks and attacked the car of an ultra-Orthodox Cabinet minister, pelting it with stones. Water cannons filled with skunk-scented water and police mounted on horses were used to disperse the crowd. But the demonstration was still not under control late Sunday.
Military service is compulsory for most Jewish men and women in Israel. But politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties have won exemptions for their followers to skip military service and instead study in religious seminaries.
The long-standing arrangement has bred resentment among the broader public, a sentiment that has grown stronger during the eight-month war against Hamas. Over 600 soldiers have been killed in fighting, and tens of thousands of reservists have been activated, upending careers, businesses and lives.
Ultra-Orthodox parties and their followers say forcing their men to serve in the army will destroy their generations-old way of life. Earlier Sunday, thousands of men crowded a square and joined in mass prayers. Many held signs criticizing the government, with one saying “not even one male” should be drafted.
The ultra-Orthodox parties are key members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition and could potentially force new elections if they decide to leave the government in protest.
Party leaders have not said whether they will leave the government. Doing so could be risky, with Netanyahu’s coalition’s popularity lagging since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
Palestinians say Israeli drone strike kills West Bank militant
NUR SHAMS: The Palestinian health ministry said an Israeli strike on Sunday in the occupied West Bank killed a man identified by the Islamic Jihad militant group as one of its commanders.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack, which official Palestinian news agency Wafa said was carried out with a drone.
The Ramallah-based health ministry said a Palestinian man was killed and five other people were wounded “following a strike by the (Israeli) occupation” in the northern West Bank’s Nur Shams refugee camp.
Wafa identified the slain man as Saeed Izzat Jaber, 24.
Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad later said “the martyred leader” was one of its commanders, adding that he had previously “survived several assassination attempts.”
Jaber’s killing “will strengthen our resistance” against Israel, the group said.
According to Wafa, the Israeli military had fired three projectiles from a drone at a house in the camp near the town of Tulkarm.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its crews were treating two people wounded from “shrapnel following a strike on a house in the Nur Shams camp.”
The organization added that rescuers were initially unable to enter the targeted building “due to fire.”
An AFP correspondent later saw Nur Shams residents searching through the rubble, while blocks of concrete slabs lay scattered as a portion of the house was ripped off by the strike.
Even before the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, the West Bank saw a surge of violence which has since escalated to levels unseen in about two decades, with frequent military raids and attacks by Israeli settlers.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
At least 554 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli forces or settlers since the Gaza war began, according to Palestinian officials.
Attacks by Palestinians in the West Bank over the same period have killed at least 15 Israelis including soldiers, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
