PARIS: Access to war-torn Gaza has become increasingly difficult for humanitarian groups, 13 leading NGOs warned on Monday, accusing Israel’s military of blocking much-needed aid from reaching the besieged Palestinian territory.
Denouncing “Israel’s systematic obstruction of aid and its ongoing attacks on aid operations,” the humanitarian organizations said that Israel had facilitated only 53 — less than half — of the 115 relief missions they had planned.
The aid groups slammed what it called Israel’s “siege tactics” in its struggle against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
It said the so-called “humanitarian zone” where most of the strip’s population of 2.4 million people now reside had become “an active combat zone” and “extremely unsafe.”
The charities also criticized the bombing of United Nations schools used as shelters by displaced Palestinians.
At least six schools have been hit over the past nine days.
“These recent events are exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe at a time when NGOs continue to come up against the obstacles imposed by the continuation of Israeli military operations on the ground,” a press release summarising the 13 NGOs’ views warned.
Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council were among the charities to contribute to the document.
Since Israel began its ground offensive in the far-southern city of Rafah in May, humanitarian workers have faced major difficulties in delivering aid to the Gaza Strip’s south.
Israel’s capture at the beginning of May of the Rafah crossing, which has since been destroyed, brought aid deliveries to a “complete halt,” the NGOs added.
Tonnes of “absolutely necessary aid” were left blocked at the crossing points in the south “due to the deterioration in security conditions,” the statement said.
More than 1,500 trucks of humanitarian aid containing medicines, first-aid kits and basic necessities were stuck in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish as a result.
Meanwhile, in the north of the Gaza Strip — which has been isolated from the south by the Israeli army — aid delivery is “very limited.”
Oxfam said it took it five weeks to transport just 1,600 food parcels from Jordan to Gaza — a journey it said “should take no more than six hours.”
At Kerem Shalom, designated since May as a priority crossing point for humanitarian aid, the situation had “deteriorated significantly since Israel’s offensive in May,” the aid groups said.
This had made the crossing “unsafe to access from within Gaza and currently not logistically viable.”
Israel denies any famine in Gaza and accuses the United Nations of blocking aid deliveries.
“Yesterday, 211 trucks entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said on Monday.
In addition, “eight trucks were collected on the Gaza side” of the Erez along with “103 from the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom,” he added.
The war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the military says are dead.
Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,664 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Gaza health ministry.
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Increasingly hard for aid groups to access Gaza: NGOs
https://arab.news/w7b45
Increasingly hard for aid groups to access Gaza: NGOs
- Humanitarian organizations said that Israel had facilitated only 53 of the 115 relief missions they had planned
- Aid groups slammed what it called Israel’s “siege tactics”
GCC leaders call for halt to war crimes in Gaza, end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- The leaders stressed their firm support for the Palestinian cause and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital
- The ‘Kuwait Declaration,’ issued at the 45th session of the GCC Supreme Council, praised the growing role of Gulf countries in addressing regional, global challenges
RIYADH: Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday called for an end to Israeli war crimes in Gaza, the displacement of the region’s population, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The leaders stressed their firm support during a meeting in Kuwait for the Palestinian cause and its sovereignty over all Palestinian territories occupied since June 1967, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The “Kuwait Declaration,” which was issued at the 45th session of the Supreme Council of the GCC, praised the growing role of Gulf countries in addressing regional and global political, security, and economic challenges.
It also praised their contribution to resolving issues that threatened peace, security, and stability, and for enhancing international dialogue and communication between countries.
A statement said: “The Supreme Council called for an end to the killings and collective punishment in Gaza, the displacement of the population, and the destruction of civilian facilities and infrastructure, including health facilities, schools, and places of worship, in clear violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
GCC leaders also welcomed the resolutions of the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in November to enhance international action to stop the war on Gaza; achieve permanent and comprehensive peace; implement the two-state solution in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative; mobilize support for recognizing the State of Palestine; and lead the international coalition to implement the two-state solution.
They also praised Qatar’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and exchange detainees.
The leaders condemned continued Israeli aggression on Lebanon and warned against the expansion of the conflict in the region. They also welcomed the recently brokered ceasefire in the country.
The leaders also welcomed continued efforts made by Saudi Arabia and Oman to revive the political process in Yemen.
The leaders stressed the peaceful approach of GCC countries and their preference for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve all disputes in the region and beyond, in accordance with the requirements of international law and the UN Charter.
US Navy destroys Houthi missiles and drones targeting American ships in Gulf of Aden
- The Houthis claimed the attack on merchant ships in a statement and said they had targeted the US destroyers
DUBAI: US Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi militants at the warships and three American merchant vessels they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.
US Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified.
The Houthis claimed the attack in a statement and said they had targeted the US destroyers and “three supply ships belonging to the American army in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”
Houthi attacks for months have targeted shipping through a waterway where $1 trillion in goods pass annually over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon. A ceasefire was announced in the latter last week.
The USS Stockdale was involved in a similar attack on Nov. 12.
US, France, Germany, UK urge ‘de-escalation’ in Syria: joint statement
WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies France, Germany and Britain called Sunday for “de-escalation” in Syria and urged in a joint statement for the protection of civilians and infrastructure.
“The current escalation only underscores the urgent need for a Syrian-led political solution to the conflict, in line with UNSCR 2254,” read a statement issued by the US State Department, referencing the 2015 UN resolution that endorsed a peace process in Syria.
Britain ups Gaza aid ahead of donor conference
- Aid organizations accuse Israel of preventing trucks from entering Gaza in large enough numbers to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory
LONDON: Britain will provide an additional 19 million pounds ($24 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the international development minister said Monday, calling for Israel to give greater access ahead of a key conference on the conflict.
“Gazans are in desperate need of food, and shelter with the onset of winter,” the minister, Anneliese Dodds, said in a statement as she headed for a three-day visit to the region, including an international conference in Cairo Monday on the Gaza Strip’s aid needs.
“The Cairo conference will be an opportunity to get leading voices in one room and put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis,” she added.
“Israel must immediately act to ensure unimpeded aid access to Gaza.”
Aid organizations accuse Israel of preventing trucks from entering Gaza in large enough numbers to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory.
The new UK funding will be split into 12 million pounds for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and seven million pounds for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the statement said.
UNRWA announced Sunday it had halted the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of safety fears, saying the situation had become “impossible.”
Britain has committed to spending a total of 99 million pounds this year in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories, the government said.
After Dodds’s Cairo stop, the minister is to travel to the Palestinian territories and Israel.
Islamist militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the death of 1,207 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 44,429 in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Airstrikes in northwestern Syria kill 25 people, says Syria’s White Helmets
- The Syria offensive began Wednesday, the same day a truce between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah came into effect
DAMASCUS: The Syrian rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday on X that at least 25 people have been killed in northwestern Syria in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia on Sunday.
