JERUSALEM: Israeli lawmakers on Monday passed legislation that could threaten the work of the main UN agency providing aid to people in Gaza by barring it from operating on Israeli soil.
The bill bans the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel.
The legislation, which wouldn’t take effect immediately, risks collapsing the already fragile aid distribution process at a moment when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening and Israel is under increased US pressure to ramp up aid.
The vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mostly members of Arab parliamentary parties.
A second bill severing diplomatic ties with UNRWA was also being voted on later Monday.
Taken together, these bills would signal a new low in relations between Israel and UNRWA, which Israel accuses of maintaining close ties with Hamas militants. The changes would also be a serious blow to the agency and to Palestinians in Gaza who have become reliant upon it for aid throughout more than a year of devastating war.
The bills risk crippling the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
Israel passes legislation restricting UNRWA
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Israel passes legislation restricting UNRWA
- The bill bans the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel
Israel strike on Lebanon-Syria crossing hampers key escape route
- Land crossing on Lebanon’s northeastern border, known as Jousieh on the Syrian side, connects to Qusayr in Syria’s Homs province
- It was put out of service last Friday when the Israeli strike created a large crater that blocked vehicle traffic
AL-QUSAYR: The flow of displaced families crossing from Lebanon into Syria via a secondary crossing has slowed to a trickle after an Israeli strike there last week, a local official told AFP on Monday.
The land crossing on Lebanon’s northeastern border, known as Jousieh on the Syrian side, connects to Qusayr in Syria’s Homs province.
It was put out of service last Friday when the Israeli strike created a large crater that blocked vehicle traffic.
The raid came after the main land border with Syria, known as Masnaa on the Lebanese side and which lies between Beirut and Damascus, was forced to close by an Israel strike on October 4.
The attacks have heavily constrained the ability of people to flee Lebanon overland at a time when all airlines except the national carrier have suspended flights.
“The movement of displaced people has dropped by 90 percent since the (Jousieh) crossing was targeted,” said Dabbah Al-Mashaal, a Syrian official who oversees the crossing.
“We used to receive about 1,500 people a day, but today the number does not exceed 150,” he told AFP.
Lebanese authorities said on Friday that more than half a million people, mostly Syrians, had crossed into Syrian territory since Israel began heavily striking Lebanon late last month at the start of its all-out war with Hezbollah.
Six official land crossings connect the two countries, although there are many unofficial routes along the porous border.
Four connect Lebanon to Homs province to the northeast. The province is home to the city of Qusayr, which became a major hub for Hezbollah when it intervened in the Syrian civil war in support of President Bashar Assad.
At the Jousieh crossing on Monday, people were seen crossing into Syria on foot, carrying their belongings in plastic bags and pushing buggies, according to an AFP correspondent.
The Israeli army said on Friday that it had destroyed Hezbollah infrastructure at the crossing.
Israel has repeatedly accused the Iran-backed group of transferring weapons into Lebanon from Syria.
Since September 23, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 1,672 people, according to an AFP tally of nationwide health ministry figures though the real number is likely to be higher due to data gaps.
Iran executes Iranian-German national after terrorism conviction
- Jamshid Sharmahd, who holds US residency, was sentenced to death in 2023 on charges of corruption on earth
- CDU leader Friedrich Merz: The execution of the death sentence against our fellow citizen Jamshid Sharmahd is a heinous crime
Iran executed Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd after he was convicted of carrying out terrorist attacks, Iranian state media said on Monday.
Sharmahd, who also holds US residency, was sentenced to death in 2023 on charges of “corruption on earth,” a capital offense under Iran’s Islamic laws.
He was accused by Iran of heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly 2008 bombing and planning other attacks in the country.
Sharmahd’s arrest was announced in 2020 in an intelligence ministry statement that described him as “the ringleader of the terrorist Tondar group, who directed armed and terrorist acts in Iran from America.”
Based in Los Angeles, the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran, or Tondar, says it seeks to restore the Iranian monarchy that was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution. It runs pro-Iranian opposition radio and television stations abroad.
“The execution of the death sentence against our fellow citizen Jamshid Sharmahd is a heinous crime,” the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany, Friedrich Merz, told Reuters on Monday.
The opposition leader asked the German government to respond decisively, saying that the approach of “quiet diplomacy” had failed.
“Relations with Iran should be put to the test in view of the state-sponsored killing of a German citizen,” Merz said. “The Iranian ambassador must be expelled.”
Sudanese need protection, but conditions not right for UN force, says Guterres
- “Sudan is, once again, rapidly becoming a nightmare of mass ethnic violence,” Guterres said
- The current war has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the Security Council on Monday for its support to help protect civilians in war-torn Sudan, but said conditions are not right for deployment of a UN force.
“The people of Sudan are living through a nightmare of violence — with thousands of civilians killed, and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual assaults,” Guterres told the 15-member council.
War erupted in mid-April 2023 from a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, and triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis.
“Sudan is, once again, rapidly becoming a nightmare of mass ethnic violence,” Guterres said, referring to a conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region about 20 years ago that led to the International Criminal Court charging former Sudanese leaders with genocide and crimes against humanity.
The current war has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. The RSF killed at least 124 people in a village in El Gezira State on Friday, activists said, in one of the conflict’s deadliest incidents.
The RSF has previously denied harming civilians in Sudan and attributed the activity to rogue actors.
Guterres acknowledged calls by Sudanese and human-rights groups for stepped-up measures to protect civilians, including the possible deployment of some form of impartial force, saying they reflected “the gravity and urgency of the situation.”
“At present, the conditions do not exist for the successful deployment of a United Nations force to protect civilians in Sudan,” he told the council, but added he was ready to discuss other ways to reduce violence and protect civilians.
“This may require new approaches that are adapted to the challenging circumstances of the conflict,” Guterres said.
Aid access
The UN says nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — need aid as famine has taken hold in displacement camps and 11 million people have fled their homes. Nearly three million of those people have left for other countries.
“This is not just a matter of insufficient funding. Millions are going hungry because of access,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council.
Thomas-Greenfield said Washington was alarmed that instead of facilitating aid, the Sudanese authorities “continue to undermine, intimidate, and target humanitarian officials.” She said they need to expand and streamline humanitarian movements.
“They also need to extend the authorization for the Adre border crossing, open additional cross-border and crossline access routes, and facilitate airport access for humanitarian purposes,” Thomas-Greenfield added.
The Sudanese army-backed government is committed to facilitate aid deliveries across the country, including in areas controlled by the RSF, said Sudan’s UN Ambassador Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed. He said 10 border crossings and seven airports had been opened for aid deliveries.
A three-month approval given by Sudanese authorities for the UN and aid groups to use the Adre border crossing with Chad to reach Darfur is due to expire in mid-November.
“There are 30 trucks that went through the Adre border crossing loaded with advanced weaponry and ammunition and this led to serious escalation in Al-Fashir and in other places,” Mohamed said. “We noticed that thousands of mercenaries from Africa and Sahel entered the country ... through Adre. The border crossing Adre is really a threat to national security.”
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council it was up to the Sudanese government to decide on whether the Adre crossing would remain open beyond mid-November and that it would be “inappropriate to put pressure on” the government.
“We’re categorically opposed to the politicization of humanitarian assistance,” he said. “We believe that any humanitarian assistance should be conducted and delivered solely with the central authorities in the loop.”
Iran at disadvantage after Israel’s airstrikes, Israeli defense minister says
- Israel has “damaged their production capabilities, which changes the balance of power. Their supplies are now set, and this affects their calculus,” statement said
JERUSALEM: Iran is at a disadvantage that can be exploited in the future after Israeli airstrikes over the weekend, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday.
“You have conducted accurate strikes on their radars and air defense systems, which creates a huge disadvantage for the enemy when we will want to strike later,” a statement released by Gallant’s office quoted the defense minister as saying during a meeting with air force chiefs.
“You have also damaged their production capabilities, which changes the balance of power. Their supplies are now set, and this affects their calculus. Both their attack and defensive capabilities have been weakened.”
Iran has said Saturday’s airstrikes caused limited damage. A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Tehran would “use all available tools” to respond.
Israel’s air strikes responded to an Iranian missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1.
South Africa files ‘evidence’ of ‘genocide’ by Israel in ICJ case
- Several nations have added their weight to South Africa’s proceedings against Israel, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkiye, Chile and Libya
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa has filed “evidence” of a “genocide” committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip with the International Court of Justice, the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.
The document “contains evidence which shows how the government of Israel has violated the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza,” the presidency said in a statement, amid claims vehemently denied by Israel.
An official for the Hague-based court on Monday confirmed it had received the document, but declined to give further detail.
“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” said the presidency.
The “memorial” — the name of the document detailing South Africa’s case against Israel before the ICJ — cannot be made public but laid out evidence in “over 750 pages of text, supported by exhibits and annexes of over 4,000 pages,” it added.
South Africa in December brought a case before the ICJ, arguing the war in Gaza breached the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, an accusation Israel has strongly denied.
Several nations have added their weight to South Africa’s proceedings against Israel, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkiye, Chile and Libya.
While ICJ rulings are legally binding, the court has no concrete means to enforce them.
Israel’s Gaza campaign has killed at least 43,020 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
The offensive was prompted by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by during the attack, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
