WASHINGTON: Israel has taken some measures to increase aid access to Gaza but has so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation in the enclave, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, as a deadline set by the US to improve the situation approaches.
The Biden administration told Israel in an Oct. 13 letter it had 30 days to take specific steps to address the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip, which has been pummeled for more than a year by Israeli ground and air operations that Israel says are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants.
Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza.
“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around. We have seen an increase in some measurements. We’ve seen an increase in the number of crossings that are open. But just if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met,” Miller said.
Miller said the results so far were “not good enough” but stressed that the 30-day period had not elapsed.
He declined to say what consequences Israel would face if it failed to implement the recommendations.
“What I can tell you that we will do is we will follow the law,” he said.
Washington, Israel’s main supplier of weapons, has frequently pressed Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza since the war with Hamas began with the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
The Oct. 13 letter, sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said a failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing the measures on aid access may have implications for US policy and law.
Section 620i of the US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.
Israel on Monday said it was canceling its agreement with the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), citing accusations that some UNRWA staff had Hamas links.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said Israel had scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time.
An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.
Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.
Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms
https://arab.news/4ey5c
Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms
- Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza
US deportees arrive in South Sudan, airport sources say
NAIROBI: An aircraft carrying US deportees arrived in South Sudan on Saturday, two officials working at Juba airport said, after eight migrants lost their last-ditch effort to halt their deportation by the Trump administration.
An airport staffer speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters he had seen a document showing that the aircraft “arrived this morning at 6:00 am.”(0400 GMT)
An immigration official also said the deportees had arrived in the country but shared no further details, referring all questions to the National Security Service intelligence agency.
Earlier, a South Sudan government source said US officials had been at the airport awaiting the migrants’ arrival.
Facing settler threats, Palestinian Bedouins forced out of rural West Bank community
- “We can’t do anything to stop them. We can’t take it anymore, so we decided to leave,” said Mahmoud Mleihat
- Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, a sparsely populated region near the Jordan River
JORDAN VALLEY, West Bank: Thirty Palestinian families left their home in a remote area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, saying they were forced out after years of persistent harassment and violence by Israeli settlers.
The families, members of the Bedouin Mleihat tribe from a shepherding community in the Jordan Valley, began dismantling homes built with iron sheets and wooden boards on Friday, overwhelmed by fears of further attacks.
“The settlers are armed and attack us, and the (Israeli) military protects them. We can’t do anything to stop them. We can’t take it anymore, so we decided to leave,” said Mahmoud Mleihat, a 50-year-old father of seven from the community.
As the Palestinians took down their encampment, an Israeli settler armed with a rifle and several Israeli soldiers looked on.
Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, a sparsely populated region near the Jordan River, have faced escalating harassment from settlers in recent years, including violence.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has documented repeated acts of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in Mu’arrajat, near Jericho, where the Mleihat tribe lives. In 2024, settlers armed with clubs stormed a Palestinian school, while in 2023, armed settlers blocked the path of vehicles carrying Palestinians, with some firing into the air and others hurling stones at the vehicles.
“We want to protect our children, and we’ve decided to leave,” Mahmoud said, describing it as a great injustice.
He had lived in the community since he was 10, Mahmoud said.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to Reuters questions about the settler harassment faced by the Bedouin families or about the families leaving their community.
Asked about settler violence in the West Bank, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters on Monday that any acts of violence by civilians were unacceptable and that individuals should not take the law into their own hands.
Activists say Israeli settlement expansion has accelerated in recent years, displacing Palestinians, who have remained on their land under military occupation since Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war.
B’Tselem representative Sarit Michaeli said the Mleihat tribe had faced “intense settler violence” that included, theft, vandalism, and assault. This week, she said, the settlers had established an informal outpost near the Palestinians’ home.
The military was failing to protect Palestinians from attacks by settlers, who she said acted with impunity.
Aaliyah Mleihat, 28, said the Bedouin community, which had lived there for 40 years, would now be scattered across different parts of the Jordan Valley, including nearby Jericho.
“People are demolishing their own homes with their own hands, leaving this village they’ve lived in for decades, the place where their dreams were built,” she said, describing the forced displacement of 30 families as a “new Nakba.”
The Nakba, meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic, refers to the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes during 1948 at the birth of the state of Israel.
Most countries consider Israeli settlements a violation of the Geneva Conventions which ban settling civilians on occupied land; Israel says the settlements are lawful and justified by historic and biblical Jewish ties to the land.
Rabbi behind the Abraham Accords: Trump key to Israel-Syria peace
- American Rabbi Abraham Cooper has just met Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus, weeks after meeting Syria’s foreign minister in New York. Al Majalla went to ask his thoughts
NEW YORK: A septuagenarian grand-grandfather from New York, Rabbi Abraham Cooper is known for breaking ground internationally. A director of the Jewish human rights organisation Simon Wiesenthal Centre, he helped smooth the way for Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations with Israel back in 2020, laying the groundwork years earlier.
Long before then, in the 1980s, he opened the first Jewish cultural centre in Moscow after visiting the Soviet Refuseniks in the 1970s. In 1995, he flew to Cairo to ask Sheikh Tantawi, the then Grand Mufti of Egypt, to meet Israel’s Chief Rabbi Lau (a Holocaust survivor) to improve Jewish-Muslim relations (they eventually met four years later). In 2004, he travelled to Khartoum to become the first Jewish leader to meet Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir. In short, he opens doors, some for the first time.
Back in 2017, during US President Donald Trump’s first term, Cooper hosted the King of Bahrain, helping to pave the way for normalised relations between his country and Israel that became known as the Abraham Accords. It was therefore of interest that, along with American Christian leader and religious freedom campaigner Pastor Johnnie Moore, Cooper visited Damascus in June, meeting Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, having met Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in April.
Al Majalla spoke to Rabbi Cooper afterwards about the Damascus talks, his role, his perceptions of Syria’s future, and relations between Damascus and Tel Aviv. He clearly sees Trump as key to rapid progress, and left the Syrian capital impressed with Al-Sharaa, who he said “holds a vision for Syria that accommodates all its citizens”. Cooper said the Syrian leader, a former Islamist, “looks at things with a strategic and practical mindset”. This is the conversation:
Do you think the war between Iran and Israel will have any effect on your efforts in Syria?
The total defeat of the Ayatollahs’ tyranny will be great for the people of Iran, for the people of Israel, for Syria’s future, for greater stability, and for the future of our grandchildren. Great things are possible. For Syria, it can give an injection of hope that life will improve and the brain drain will end. Let’s start with people of different faiths working together towards a real peace.
How was your trip to Damascus?
Full of surprises and too short! Each meeting was invigorating, as was walking through the Christian Quarter, seeing people out again in the street. The most important time of all was the two hours we spent with the president (Al-Sharaa), an Islamist who also has a vision for an inclusive new Syria for all its citizens. He looks at things with a strategic and practical mindset, with a view to removing Syria from countries’ lists of enemies, with the hope of building on peace.
He went into more depth than our meeting with the foreign minister a few weeks ago at the United Nations. I happened to be in New York that day. We have come a very long way in a very short period. We also had a lengthy meeting with 15-20 Christian leaders from across Syria, plus some who work in Lebanon. They wanted to know what would happen to the Christians, just as we asked, what would happen to the Jews. The hope is that there will be a unified Syria, with one army, and everyone in equal citizenship.
I’m particularly sensitive to that topic. I chaired the US Commission on International Religious Freedom last year and have been an activist for half a century. As a Jewish American, I look at human rights through the lens of religious freedom, as a kind of litmus test for the health of a society. I hope you (Syria) can combine the leader’s vision with the more practical concerns over the quality of life for Syrian citizens. It would be arrogant for someone who spent maybe 35 hours in Syria to start giving all sorts of ideas, but I think there is hope.
What is the main message you have for the Syrian president?
I represent no government, I’m no spy, I’m just a Jewish guy with an American passport, but my approach is very simple: try to help by communicating with government officials on a practical basis, and supporting sustainable humanitarian projects, the kinds of projects that involve people from different countries and cultures. I raised two at the meeting.
As a Jewish American, I try to look at human rights through the lens of religious freedom, as a kind of litmus test for the health of a society.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper
One is to help Syrians close the circle of grief by using DNA to match families with human remains. This would let them give their loved ones a proper burial and learn the truth about where they perished. I spoke to Fr. Patrick Desbois, who is based in Paris. He is an expert in the excavation of mass graves and is committed to helping. He did it in Ukraine, in Central America, in Iraq, and for Jewish people from the Holocaust. It's not an overnight project, but it could benefit all Syrians, whatever their religious or ethnic background is.
The second project is more generic. Flying into Damascus, you see: there's so much desert. There is expertise on water and agriculture next door (in Israel). The idea is to facilitate the movement of areas (on water and agriculture between Syria and Israel). It may be a bit early for government-to-government, but we used NGO's (international non-governmental organisations) in Bahrain in the years leading up to the Abraham Accords, also a bit in the UAE.
Just the drive from the airport to Damascus shows how huge the challenge is, including on infrastructure. It's a huge list and we can't do everything—I'm old enough not to over-promise! But the idea is: diplomats sign treaties, people make peace.
You mean to encourage people-to-people diplomacy? To provide water from Israel to the suburbs of Damascus?
I mean you share the expertise over water that you have. I've already had meetings with the foreign minister and various Israelis, one of whom has a great NGO in Africa that's reclaiming water; she's done great work, taking used water and making it drinkable again. You've got that (knowledge) with people right next door. All they need is a phone call.
What kind of response did you get?
I would say, not in a direct way. I got no response about the DNA. That could either be very good or not very good, we'll find out in the coming weeks, because I'm going to continue to pursue it. The response I got to the other issue (water) was a bit 'chicken and egg,' you know, first we've got to do X, then we can talk about Y…' I understand. But I'm an old man; I don't have time to wait.
There are two ways to do this. First, with an NGO, like we did with Bahrain two years before the Abraham Accords, we invited religious leaders to be our guests in Jerusalem. It was great. It was a multiplier. Here, we want to talk about water, not ideology. We can bring five or six (Israeli) experts to Damascus, then spend a couple of days out in the field where it's safe. It goes from there. Give me a list of five or six experts in Syria who need the help. They don't need me at a meeting; they just need to sit with their opposite numbers from Israel.
Let them start. It doesn't need to be public. I don't think you can ever do anything in Israel that's secret, but it's practical, it will involve human connection, and if it happens, it'll be good for Syria, and will create maybe a more positive direction.
In Bahrain and the UAE, you played a key role in preparing the ground for them to join the Abraham Accords. Do you think Syria, with its new leadership, is on that path?
I don't think you can be an expert after three meetings, but the meetings were with people who make a difference. The priority now for Syria is to remove countries from their enemy lists. So, first of all, let's not be enemies. This is not such a bad approach.
On the Abraham Accords itself, honestly, there is one man who can speed up this process, and one man only: Donald Trump. I saw that Netanyahu, the other day, made a public request that President Trump get involved. I'm no expert. I've known Netanyahu for many years, but I don't report to him.
When I discussed American sanctions on Syria with American diplomats, some laughed at me. They didn't want to drop the sanctions. They said: 'Look what happened in Afghanistan. They promised everything, we removed the sanctions, and three weeks later, girls couldn't attend school.' But President Trump ignored them (and decided to remove sanctions on Syria). Only Donald Trump has brought us to this place. For the Presidents of Syria and Israel to have a meeting in his office is the best way to fast-track this. Without that, both sides will need confidence-building measures.
Did you brief Trump or his team about your meeting with Al-Sharaa, and is the trilateral meeting 'on the table'?
Check with Pastor Moore. He runs the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. He has the closest, informal contacts, but I know that when he's back in Washington, he'll pursue it. There are obviously some contacts between the two countries (Syria and Israel), but for different reasons, they need a boost. He's a big guy, Trump. A collective hug from him for these two guys (Netanyahu and al-Sharaa), that's the fast track to the Abraham Accords, like taking the express train from London to Paris. Otherwise, it's like taking the local trains, which take forever. But it's up to President Trump.
We bring 5-6 Israeli water experts to Damascus, they spend a couple of days out in the field where it's safe, and it goes from there.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper
When you raised this with Al-Sharaa, what was his reaction?
He took a tremendous amount of time to outline where Syria is right now and how they view Israeli activity right now. It may be a bit overwhelming for him right now to consider humanitarian projects, given everything else Syria needs.
We know that the needs are great. Don't worry, businessmen are coming from all over the world with great ideas, and also US Congressmen. I said to the president (Al-Sharaa), one of the benefits of such projects (like DNA or water) is that you create ambassadors from both countries, from both societies, for peace. It's just a byproduct of doing it. But I do also have a sense for the crushing list of priorities.
I don't know that he (Al-Sharaa) yet has connected those dots. For Syria, the top priority is security, followed by reconstruction and business. There has already been contact with Israel, the UAE and Azerbaijan. They're talking about moving on from conflict, the cessation of hostilities, and about security guarantees to revive the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement. I think that was reflected in the president's statements. I'll be in Azerbaijan, taking Muslim, Christian, and Jewish religious leaders to Auschwitz next week. I will probably have an opportunity to meet some of the leadership.
The goal here is normalcy. There are immediate benefits to launching sustainable humanitarian projects that involve people, like building a hospital, maybe on the border, so that Jordanians would be involved, Lebanese, Israelis... It's something that would benefit all citizens.
There's another reason to try to have another meeting with President Trump, if possible. The US, in many ways, is disengaging overseas. If Syria is to succeed, it will need continued American engagement and involvement. Pastor Moore and I will continue cheerleading to move in that direction!
It's a tough neighbourhood. You've got all the international big boys looking on from the sidelines: Russians, Turks, Chinese and so on. The kinds of things that have to happen towards peace are going to outlast the 3.5 years of one president.
You mentioned in another interview with Reuters that Al-Sharaa is a "unicorn"?
Yes, because he's an Islamist with a vision for peace regionally, an Islamist whose vision for the very diverse population of Syria is one of inclusion. I presented two books of Psalms as a gift, one to the president and one for his wife, because he includes his wife in meetings and walks in public holding hands with her. This guy is a unicorn.
Do you think Al-Sharaa can make peace with Israel?
I think he has the tools and the skills to do so, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done on both sides to achieve that in a step-by-step process, but if it helps move on from conflict in Syria's relations with Israel, that obviously is a huge priority, also for Israel. Many people in the Arab world, including in Syria, underestimate what October 7 2023, did to Israelis. They don't get (understand) it. So much suffering.
For me, more contact (between Israelis and Syrians) will help reduce conflict. Of course, there are questions. Pastor Moore asked the foreign minister: 'How much of Syria do you control? The things that you say you want to do, can you deliver?' There are always question marks about leadership. I hope the people (Al-Sharaa) selected around him can match his commitment and carry forward his vision and policies.
Do you think Syria will be part of the Abraham Accords, or could they do a different kind of deal?
I think at this point, the first thing is moving away from conflict. When they do, a lot of good can happen. We don't need the same kind of peace (such as a peace treaty with Israel) that was agreed with Egypt and Jordan.
You want warm peace?
We want a warm peace. It doesn't have to be part of the Abraham Accords. The bottom line is that if President Trump calls them in, gives them a collective hug and says 'we're with you all the way', there could be an Abraham Accord. Without it, based on the realities of the region and the enormous challenges of the Syrian people, it's up in the air. There are a lot of actors both inside and outside of the country that can still make it even more challenging.
Many people in the Arab world, including in Syria, underestimate what October 7 2023, did to Israelis. They don't get it. So much suffering.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper
Either way, we'll keep coming back. You know, there's an old Yiddish word: 'noodge'. A noodge is like when you have a mosquito that keeps coming back. We'll be noodges, because you know, the desert still beckons, and families are still mourning, not knowing.
(At the meeting with Al-Sharaa) I brought up Eli Cohen (an Egyptian-born Israeli spy executed by the Assad regime, whose possessions were recently sent back to Israel by the new Sharaa-led Damascus government). I thanked the president for the return. We're praying for the return of the remains of one Jew, so I know how it feels to us. I grew up with Syrian Jews in Brooklyn, people who fled al-Assad senior.
Is the next step to move away from conflict between Israel and Syria to implement the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between them?
That is my understanding from what I heard in the two meetings. I'm not a diplomat, but it's clear right now that this is where Syria is at.
In terms of timeframes, there are two options, as you said: step-by-step, or an express process with Trump bringing the two leaders to the White House. Based on your experience with Bahrain and the UAE, what timeframe do you think we are on?
Nobody predicted that we were heading to the Abraham Accords when we tried all of these efforts (in Bahrain and the UAE), but we did succeed in quickly breaking down barriers, preconceived notions, and stereotypes. The then US Secretary of State (Mike Pompeo) thanked us for helping with the building blocks towards peace. I do not take credit for the Abraham Accords, but that is sort of where we see ourselves.
The current Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) is an important player. He has broad experience in foreign policy and is now in charge of USAID. He will be a major player in all of this. But the person who can make the kind of revolutionary change he made with sanctions relief is Donald Trump.
Do you think that in any peace deal between Syria and Israel, the future of the Golan Heights should be part of the deal?
No. I'm no diplomat, but it's not going to happen. Times change, leaderships change, sometimes systems change, but the topography of the area doesn't change. At the end of the day, the State of Israel, even with the Golan Heights, is one twentieth the size of California. Maybe there can be joint projects on the Golan Heights. It's a great place for horseback riding, and maybe for summer camps!
For skiing, maybe…
Yes, for skiing, and we didn't even talk about archaeology, but the psychological, historic and practical barriers don't just melt away automatically. Hopefully in future years, whoever's in your seat and whoever's doing my kind of work can muse on things that seem a bit more practical by then.
There are many ways to reimagine it, for instance, having a different kind of purpose, like a place where disabled children from both countries and other countries can come together to spend the summer, maybe. Right now, I think we're past the baby steps, hopefully walking, maybe Trump will speed things up, but if you want to talk about the Golan Heights being under different control? No.
What about the other areas annexed by Israel after 8 December 2024?
You've got to ask the diplomats. It's outside my control. The main goal here is to move away from conflict, to get some sense of trust. Look, the UAE has already had 700,000 Jewish tourists, 500,000 of them Israelis. Do you have any idea how many Jewish tourists would like to come to see Syria? Those kinds of things only happen when there's warm peace.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen in Egypt, and it's very unpleasant going across the border to Jordan today, especially if you're a religious Jew. These things happen organically. But when it comes to dealing with maps and topography, luckily, that's outside the realm of my expertise. I'm old enough to know what I don't know!
UK re-establishes diplomatic ties with Syria in first ministerial visit since Assad’s fall
LONDON: The UK has formally re-established diplomatic relations with Syria following Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s visit to Damascus, the first such trip by a British minister in 14 years.
The visit marks a major shift in UK foreign policy, eight months after the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime.
Lammy met President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani to offer support for Syria’s political transition and pledge renewed UK engagement in rebuilding efforts, a government statement issued on Saturday said.
“As the first UK Minister to visit Syria since the fall of Assad’s brutal regime, I’ve seen first-hand the remarkable progress Syrians have made in rebuilding their lives and their country,” Lammy said.
“After over a decade of conflict, there is renewed hope for the Syrian people. The UK is re-establishing diplomatic relations because it is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians.”
Lammy said a stable Syria would reduce the risk of irregular migration, prevent the resurgence of Daesh, and enhance regional security — all key priorities under the Government’s Plan for Change.
During the visit, Lammy announced a £2 million ($2.7 million) contribution to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to help eliminate Assad-era chemical weapons stockpiles. Since Assad’s fall, the UK has already provided over £837,000 to support the OPCW’s initial work in Syria.
He also met with Syrian Civil Defence volunteers, known as the White Helmets, and women-led businesses benefiting from UK-funded economic recovery programmes. The UK has supported the White Helmets with over £5 million in the past two years, including £2.25 million this financial year.
An additional £94.5 million UK aid package was also unveiled to provide urgent humanitarian assistance, support education and livelihoods, and help neighbouring countries hosting Syrian refugees.
The UK has contributed £4.5 billion to Syria and the region since 2011.
Following his Damascus visit, the Foreign Secretary will travel to Kuwait for talks focused on regional security and trade. A new joint UK-Kuwait initiative will be announced to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Sudan and support relief work in Somalia.
Syria battles forest fires for third day as Turkiye sends help
- Syria’s ministry for emergencies and disaster management said teams from Turkiye began helping on Saturday morning
- Syria’s civil defense said a volunteer firefighter suffered from smoke inhalation
QASTAL MA’AF, Syria: Syrian emergency workers were battling forest fires raging in the coastal province of Latakia on Saturday for a third day in tough conditions as neighboring Turkiye sent assistance.
An AFP correspondent saw strong winds fanning the flames in forest areas and farmland in Qastal Maaf, around a dozen kilometers (eight miles) from the Turkish border, as residents continued to flee with what they could carry.
Some residential areas in the region were evacuated a day earlier.
Syria’s ministry for emergencies and disaster management said teams from Turkiye began helping on Saturday morning “as part of regional coordination to face the fires,” with the assistance including two aircraft and eight fire trucks.
Turkiye, a key supporter of Syria’s new authorities, has been battling its own fires in recent days, including near the Syrian border.
The AFP correspondent saw helicopters bearing the Turkish flag flying over Qastal Maaf assisting firefighters on the ground.
Syria’s civil defense said a volunteer firefighter suffered from smoke inhalation and a service vehicle caught fire.
More than 60 Syrian civil defense and other teams were fighting fires across several areas of Latakia province, the ministry said.
It cited “very difficult conditions, with the explosion of war remnants and mines,” strong winds and high temperatures, adding that mountainous terrain was hampering efforts to reach some blazes.
More than six months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that also left munitions and ordnance scattered across the country.
With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves, low rainfall and major forest fires.
In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”
