JERUSALEM: Israeli legislation cutting ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees raised fears that the largest provider of aid to Gaza could be shut out of the war-ravaged territory, even as the implications of the new laws remained unclear Tuesday.
The agency known as UNRWA provides essential services to millions of Palestinians across the Middle East and has underpinned aid efforts in Gaza throughout the Israel-Hamas war. Legislation barring it from operating in Israel passed with an overwhelming majority Monday. Israel says UNRWA has allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas, with the militants siphoning off aid and using the agency’s facilities as shields. UNRWA denies the allegations, saying it is committed to neutrality and acts quickly to address any wrongdoing by its staff.
The two newly passed laws are all but certain to hamper UNRWA’s work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, as Israel controls access to both territories. But the details of how the legislation would be implemented, and potential workarounds, remain unclear. It could also face legal challenges.
Either way, the laws could have major consequences for Palestinians in Gaza, who are heavily reliant on emergency food aid more than a year into a war that has killed tens of thousands, according to local officials who don’t distinguish combatants from civilians; displaced 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million; and left much of the territory in ruins.
What do the laws say?
The first law prohibits UNRWA from “operating any mission, providing any service or conducting any activity, either directly or indirectly, within Israel’s sovereign territory,” according to a statement from parliament.
It’s unclear whether UNRWA would still be able to operate inside Gaza and the West Bank, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war but has never formally annexed. The Palestinians want both to be part of a future state.
The second law prohibits Israeli state agencies from communicating with UNRWA and revokes an agreement dating to 1947, before Israel was created, under which it facilitated UNRWA’s work.
With Israel controlling all access to Gaza and the West Bank, it could be difficult for UNRWA staff to enter and leave the territories through Israeli checkpoints, and to bring in vital supplies for its schools, health centers and humanitarian programs.
UNRWA and its staff would also lose their tax exemptions and legal immunities.
How would the laws affect UNRWA’s operations?
UNRWA’s headquarters are in east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally.
Much of the agency’s supply lines to the territories run through Israel, and shutting them down could create even more obstacles to getting essential aid — everything from flour and canned vegetables to winter blankets and mattresses — into Gaza.
At present, all shipments of aid into Gaza must be coordinated with COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs, which inspects all shipments. Aid groups say their work is already hampered by Israeli delays, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order inside Gaza.
Aid levels plunged in the first half of October as Israel closed crossings into north Gaza, where hunger experts say the threat of starvation is most acute. COGAT attributed the decline to closures related to the Jewish holidays and troop movements for a large, ongoing offensive in northern Gaza.
In the first 19 days of October, the UN says, 704 trucks of aid entered the Gaza Strip, down from over 3,018 trucks in September and August. COGAT’s own tracking dashboard shows aid deliveries in October plunging to under a third of their September and August levels.
The new laws would also likely bar UNRWA from banking in Israel, raising questions about how it would continue to pay thousands of Palestinian staff in Gaza and the West Bank. Its international staff would likely have to relocate to third countries like Jordan.
What could replace UNRWA?
Rights groups say Israel is obliged under international law to provide for the basic needs of people in the territories it occupies. Israel also faces increasing pressure from the Biden administration, which says it may have to reduce US military support if there isn’t a dramatic increase in aid going into Gaza.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States was “deeply troubled” by the legislation, which “poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services.”
“We are going to engage with the government of Israel in the days ahead about how they plan to implement it” and see whether there are any legal challenges, he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Monday that Israel is“ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security.”
But many of those partners insist there is no alternative to UNRWA.
A spokesperson for the UN children’s agency, which also provides aid to Gaza, denounced the new laws in unusually strong language, saying “a new way has been found to kill children.”
James Elder said the loss of UNRWA “would likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza.” His agency, known as UNICEF, “would become effectively unable to distribute lifesaving supplies,” such as vaccines, winter clothes, water and food to combat malnutrition.
Israeli officials are considering the possibility of having the military or private contractors take over aid distribution, but have yet to develop a concrete plan, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door discussions.
COGAT referred all questions on the new legislation to the government.
At risk is not just UNRWA’s aid delivery to Gaza, where it is also the largest employer. UNRWA also operates schools in the occupied West Bank serving over 330,000 children, as well as health care centers and infrastructure projects.
Amy Pope — head of the International Organization for Migration, another UN body — said it would not be able to fill the gap left by UNRWA, which she described as “absolutely essential.”
“They provide education. They provide health care. They provide some of the most basic needs, for people who have been living there for decades,” she said.
Israel’s move to ban UN agency raises alarm about aid to Gaza even as the implications are unclear
https://arab.news/zhyrg
Israel’s move to ban UN agency raises alarm about aid to Gaza even as the implications are unclear
- Legislation barring UNRWA from operating in Israel passed with an overwhelming majority Monday
- The two new laws are all but certain to hamper UNRWA’s work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank
Israel-Hamas talks resume in Qatar as violence shows no let-up
- Israel’s defense chief says indirect negotiations with Hamas seek release of hostages
- Ninety-six Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 Israeli military says are dead
GAZA STRIP: Israel confirmed on Saturday that negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal had resumed in Qatar, as rescuers said more than 30 people had been killed in fresh bombardment of the territory.
The civil defense agency said a dawn air strike on the home of the Al-Ghoula family in Gaza City killed 11 people, seven of them children.
AFP images from the neighborhood of Shujaiya showed residents combing through smoking rubble. Bodies including those of small children were lined up on the ground, shrouded in white sheets.
As the violence raged, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that indirect negotiations with Hamas had resumed in Qatar for the release of hostages seized in the October 2023 attacks.
The minister told relatives of one of the hostages, woman soldier Liri Albag, that “efforts are under way to free the hostages, notably the Israeli delegation which left yesterday (Friday) for negotiations in Qatar,” his office said.
Katz said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given “detailed instructions for the continued negotiations.”
He was speaking after Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, released a video of Albag in captivity in Gaza.
In the undated, three-and-half-minute recording that AFP has not been able to verify, the 19-year-old conscript called in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure her release.
In response, her family issued an appeal to Netanyahu, saying: “It’s time to take decisions as if it were your own children there.”
A total of 96 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the latest video was “firm and incontestable proof of the urgency of bringing the hostages home.”
Hamas had said late on Friday that the negotiations were poised to resume.
The militant group, whose October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war, said they would “focus on ensuring the agreement leads to a complete cessation of hostilities (and) the withdrawal of occupation forces.”
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged in months of effort that have failed to end nearly 15 months of war.
In December, Qatar expressed optimism that “momentum” was returning to the talks following the US election of Donald Trump, who takes office in 16 days.
But Hamas and Israel then accused each other of setting new conditions and obstacles.
As the clock ticks down to the handover of power in Washington, the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden notified Congress of an $8 billion arms sale to Israel, a source familiar with the plan said on Saturday.
“The department has informally notified Congress of an $8 billion proposed sale of munitions to support Israel’s long-term security by resupplying stocks of critical munitions and air defense capabilities,” the official said.
The United States is Israel’s largest military supplier.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the Ghoula home in Gaza City “was completely destroyed” by the dawn strike.
“It was a two-story building and several people are still under the rubble,” he said, adding Israeli drones had “also fired on ambulance staff.”
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army did not immediately comment.
“A huge explosion woke us up. Everything was shaking,” said neighbor Ahmed Mussa.
“It was home to children, women. There wasn’t anyone wanted or who posed a threat.”
Elsewhere, the civil defense agency said an Israeli strike killed five security officers tasked with accompanying aid convoys as they drove through the southern city of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli army said the five had been “implicated in terrorist activities” and were not escorting aid trucks at the time of the strike.
Rescuers said strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed 10 other people.
AFP images showed Palestine Red Crescent paramedics in Gaza City moving the body of one of their colleagues, his green jacket laid over the blanket that covered his corpse.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a total of 136 people had been killed over the previous 48 hours.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen in the latest of a series of attacks.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been firing missiles and drones at Israel — as well as at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — in what they say is a solidarity campaign with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.
The Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 45,717 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
Israel-Hamas talks resume in Qatar as violence shows no let-up
- Israel's defense chief says direct negotiations with Hamas seeks release of hostages
- PM Netanyahu had given “detailed instructions for the continued negotiations,” says Defense Minister Katz
- A total of 96 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead
GAZA STRIP: Israel confirmed on Saturday that negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal had resumed in Qatar, as rescuers said more than 30 people had been killed in fresh bombardment of the territory.
The civil defense agency said a dawn air strike on the home of the Al-Ghoula family in Gaza City killed 11 people, seven of them children.
AFP images from the neighborhood of Shujaiya showed residents combing through smoking rubble. Bodies including those of small children were lined up on the ground, shrouded in white sheets.
As the violence raged, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that indirect negotiations with Hamas had resumed in Qatar for the release of hostages seized in the October 2023 attacks.
The minister told relatives of one of the hostages, woman soldier Liri Albag, that “efforts are under way to free the hostages, notably the Israeli delegation which left yesterday (Friday) for negotiations in Qatar,” his office said.
Katz said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given “detailed instructions for the continued negotiations.”
He was speaking after Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, released a video of Albag in captivity in Gaza.
In the undated, three-and-half-minute recording that AFP has not been able to verify, the 19-year-old conscript called in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure her release.
In response, her family issued an appeal to Netanyahu, saying: “It’s time to take decisions as if it were your own children there.”
A total of 96 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the latest video was “firm and incontestable proof of the urgency of bringing the hostages home.”
Hamas had said late on Friday that the negotiations were poised to resume.
The militant group, whose October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war, said they would “focus on ensuring the agreement leads to a complete cessation of hostilities (and) the withdrawal of occupation forces.”
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged in months of effort that have failed to end nearly 15 months of war.
In December, Qatar expressed optimism that “momentum” was returning to the talks following the US election of Donald Trump, who takes office in 16 days.
But Hamas and Israel then accused each other of setting new conditions and obstacles.
As the clock ticks down to the handover of power in Washington, the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden notified Congress of an $8 billion arms sale to Israel, a source familiar with the plan said on Saturday.
“The department has informally notified Congress of an $8 billion proposed sale of munitions to support Israel’s long-term security by resupplying stocks of critical munitions and air defense capabilities,” the official said.
The United States is Israel’s largest military supplier.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the Ghoula home in Gaza City “was completely destroyed” by the dawn strike.
“It was a two-story building and several people are still under the rubble,” he said, adding Israeli drones had “also fired on ambulance staff.”
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army did not immediately comment.
“A huge explosion woke us up. Everything was shaking,” said neighbor Ahmed Mussa.
“It was home to children, women. There wasn’t anyone wanted or who posed a threat.”
Elsewhere, the civil defense agency said an Israeli strike killed five security officers tasked with accompanying aid convoys as they drove through the southern city of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli army said the five had been “implicated in terrorist activities” and were not escorting aid trucks at the time of the strike.
Rescuers said strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed 10 other people.
AFP images showed Palestine Red Crescent paramedics in Gaza City moving the body of one of their colleagues, his green jacket laid over the blanket that covered his corpse.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a total of 136 people had been killed over the previous 48 hours.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen in the latest of a series of attacks.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been firing missiles and drones at Israel — as well as at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — in what they say is a solidarity campaign with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.
The Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 45,717 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
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Israel military says it intercepted another missile fired by Houthis
- Yemen’s Houthi militia have been firing missiles and drones at Israel as well as at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
- The militia said its campaign is in solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Sunday that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, shortly after sirens sounded.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in Talmei Elazar, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement posted to Telegram.
On Friday, Israel’s military said it shot down a drone launched from Yemen after it crossed into Israeli territory.
Yemen’s Houthi militia have been firing missiles and drones at Israel — as well as at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — in what they say is a solidarity campaign with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The Houthis have stepped up their attacks since November’s ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has also struck Yemen, including targeting Sanaa’s international airport at the end of December.
Elaborate military tunnel complex linked to Assad’s palace
- On the slopes of Mount Qasyun, secret tunnels links a military complex to the presidential palace
- During Assad’s rule, Qasyun was off limits to the people of Damascus
DAMASCUS: On the slopes of Mount Qasyun which overlooks Damascus, a network of tunnels links a military complex, tasked with defending the Syrian capital, to the presidential palace facing it.
The tunnels, seen by an AFP correspondent, are among secrets of president Bashar Assad’s rule exposed since rebels toppled him on December 8.
“We entered this enormous barracks of the Republican Guard after the liberation” of Damascus sent Assad fleeing to Moscow, said Mohammad Abu Salim, a military official from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the dominant Islamist group in the alliance that overthrew Assad.
“We found a vast network of tunnels which lead to the presidential palace” on a neighboring hill, Salim said.
During Assad’s rule, Qasyun was off limits to the people of Damascus because it was an ideal location for snipers — the great view includes the presidential palaces and other government buildings.
It was also from this mountain that artillery units for years pounded rebel-held areas at the gates of the capital.
An AFP correspondent entered the Guard complex of two bunkers containing vast rooms reserved for its soldiers. The bunkers were equipped with telecommunications gear, electricity, a ventilation system and weapons supplies.
Other simpler tunnels were dug out of the rock to hold ammunition.
Despite such elaborate facilities, Syria’s army collapsed, with troops abandoning tanks and other gear as rebels advanced from their northern stronghold to the capital in less than two weeks,.
On the grounds of the Guard complex a statue of the president’s brother Bassel Assad, atop a horse, has been toppled and Bassel’s head severed.
Bassel Assad died in a 1994 road accident. He had been the presumed successor to his father Hafez Assad who set up the paranoid, secretive, repressive system of government that Bashar inherited when his father died in 2000.
In the immense Guard camp now, former rebel fighters use pictures of Bashar Assad and his father for target practice.
Tanks and heavy weapons still sit under arched stone shelters.
Resembling a macabre outdoor art installation, large empty rusted barrels with attached fins pointing skyward are lined up on the ground, their explosives further away.
“The regime used these barrels to bomb civilians in the north of Syria,” Abu Salim said.
The United Nations denounced Bashar’s use of such weapons dropped from helicopters or airplanes against civilian areas held by Assad’s opponents during Syria’s years-long civil war that began in 2011.
UNIFIL accuses Israeli army of deliberately destroying property in southern Lebanon
- Alleged that Israeli army bulldozer destroyed blue barrel marking withdrawal line between Lebanon and Israel
LONDON: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Saturday accused the Israeli army of deliberately destroying its property and critical infrastructure in southern Lebanon, marking a serious escalation in tensions along the border.
In a statement issued on Saturday, UNIFIL said: “This morning, peacekeepers witnessed an Israeli army bulldozer destroying a blue barrel marking the withdrawal line between Lebanon and Israel in Al-Labbouneh, as well as a watchtower belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces adjacent to a UNIFIL site in the area.”
The blue barrels, which serve as markers for the withdrawal line — commonly referred to as the Blue Line — are crucial in delineating the boundary established following Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
UNIFIL condemned the actions, describing them as a “deliberate and direct destruction” of its property and infrastructure clearly identifiable as belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). The statement further characterized the incident as “a blatant violation of (UN Security Council) Resolution 1701 and international law.”
Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War, calls for respect for Lebanon’s territorial integrity and the cessation of all aggressive actions in the area.
UNIFIL also urged all parties to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that could jeopardize the fragile cessation of hostilities.
“We urge all parties to refrain from any actions, including the destruction of property and civilian infrastructure, that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities,” the statement added.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border, with several exchanges of fire reported in recent weeks.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah is to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River — some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
In late December, the UN peacekeeping force expressed concern at the “continuing” damage being done by the Israeli military in south Lebanon.
Detailing its latest air strikes in Lebanon on Thursday, the Israeli military said it was acting to remove any threat to Israel “in accordance with the ceasefire understandings.”
