WASHINGTON: The Biden administration says Israel has made good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and it will not limit arms transfers to Israel as it had threatened to a month ago if the situation had not improved.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday the progress to date must be supplemented and sustained but “we at this time have not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of US law.” It requires recipients of military assistance to adhere to international humanitarian law and not impede the provision of such aid.
“We are not giving Israel a pass,” Patel said, adding that “we want to see the totality of the humanitarian situation improve, and we think some of these steps will allow the conditions for that to continue to progress.”
The decision from the US, Israel’s key ally and largest provider of arms and other military aid, comes despite international aid organizations declaring that Israel has failed to meet the US demands to allow greater humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, where conditions are worse than at any point in the 13-month-old war.
The Biden administration last month set a deadline expiring Tuesday for Israel to “surge” more food and other emergency aid into the Palestinian territory or risk the possibility of scaled-back military support as Israel wages offensives against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top national security adviser, Ron Dermer, in Washington a day earlier to go over the steps that Israel has taken since Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned in mid-October of possible repercussions if the aid situation had not improved in 30 days.
Blinken stressed “the importance of ensuring those changes lead to an actual improvement in the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, including through the delivery of additional assistance to civilians throughout Gaza,” the State Department said.
The obstacles facing aid distribution were on this display this week. Even after the military gave permission for a delivery to the northernmost part of Gaza — virtually cut off from food for more than a month by an Israeli siege — the United Nations said it couldn’t deliver most of it because of turmoil and restrictions from Israeli troops on the ground.
Hunger experts have warned the north may already be experiencing famine.
Meanwhile, in the south, hundreds of truckloads of aid are sitting on the Gaza side of the border because the UN says it cannot reach them to distribute the aid — again because of the threat of lawlessness, theft and Israeli military restrictions.
Israel has announced a series of steps — though their effect was unclear. On Tuesday, it opened a new crossing in central Gaza, outside the city of Deir Al-Balah, for aid to enter. It also announced a small expansion of its coastal “humanitarian zone,” where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering in tent camps. It connected electricity for a desalination plant in Deir Al-Balah.
US officials haven’t said whether they will take any action. President Joe Biden met Tuesday at the White House with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who said a “major objective” for the US should be reining in Iran and its proxies. Herzog also called for the return of the hostages taken from Israel in the Hamas attack that started the war, to which Biden said, “I agree.”
A day earlier, Israel’s new foreign minister, Gideon Saar, appeared to downplay the deadline, telling reporters that he was confident “the issue would be solved.” The Biden administration may have less leverage after Donald Trump won the presidential election — he was a staunch supporter of Israel in his first term.
Eight international aid organization said in their report Tuesday that “Israel not only failed to meet the US criteria” but also took actions “that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza. … That situation is in an even more dire state today than a month ago.”
The report listed 19 measures of compliance with the US demands. It said Israel had failed to comply with 15 and only partially complied with four. The report was co-signed by Anera, Care, MedGlobal, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children.
In an Oct. 13 letter, the US gave Israel 30 days to, among other things, allow a minimum of 350 truckloads of goods into Gaza each day; open a fifth crossing; allow people in coastal tent camps to move inland before the winter; and ensure access for aid groups to northern Gaza. It also called on Israel to halt legislation that would hinder operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
Aid levels remain far below the US benchmarks. Access to northern Gaza remains restricted, and Israel has pressed ahead with its laws against UNRWA.
Israel launched a major offensive last month in the north, where it says Hamas militants had regrouped. The operation has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.
Through October and the first days of November, Israel allowed no food to enter the area, where tens of thousands of civilians have stayed despite evacuation orders.
Last week, Israel allowed 11 trucks to go to Beit Hanoun, one of the north’s hardest-hit towns. But the World Food Organization said troops at a checkpoint forced its trucks to unload their cargo before reaching shelters in the town.
On Tuesday, COGAT — the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza — announced it allowed a new delivery of food and water to Beit Hanoun a day earlier. Again, the WFP said that while it tried to send 14 trucks, only three made it to the town “due to delays in receiving authorization for movement and crowds along the route.” When it tried to deliver the rest Tuesday, Israel denied it permission, it said.
Aid into all of Gaza plummeted in October, when just 34,000 tons of food entered, only a third of the previous month, according to Israeli data.
UN agencies say even less actually gets through because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and lawlessness that makes it difficult to collect and distribute aid on the Gaza side.
In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, and 75 a day so far in November, according to Israel’s official figures. The UN says it only received 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October.
COGAT said 900 truckloads of aid are sitting uncollected on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.
“Before the organizations give out grades, they should focus on distributing the aid that awaits them,” COGAT said in response to the aid groups’ report.
Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, said the miliary was not coordinating movements for aid trucks to reach the stacked-up cargos. “If we are not provided a safe passage to go and collect it ... it will not reach the people who need it,” she said.
COGAT blamed the drop in October on closures of the crossings for the Jewish high holidays and memorials marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion have killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities, who don’t say how many of those killed were militants. Around 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced, and hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps, with little food, water or hygiene facilities.
The United States has rushed billions of dollars in military aid to Israel during the war, while pressing it to allow more aid into Gaza.
Trump has promised to end the wars in the Middle East without saying how. He was a staunch defender of Israel during his previous term, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says they have spoken three times since his reelection last week.
US says it will not limit Israel arms transfers after some improvements in flow of aid to Gaza
https://arab.news/bzz36
US says it will not limit Israel arms transfers after some improvements in flow of aid to Gaza
- State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday the progress to date must be supplemented and sustained
- “We are not giving Israel a pass,” Patel said, adding that “we want to see the totality of the humanitarian situation improve”
Remains of 30 people believed killed by Daesh militants found in Syria in a search by Qatar and FBI
- The search took place in the town of Dabiq, near Syria’s northern border with Turkiye
DAMASCUS: The remains of 30 people believed to have been killed by the militant Daesh group have been found in a remote Syrian town in a search led by Qatari search teams and the FBI, according to a statement from Qatar on Monday.
The Qatari internal security forces said the FBI had requested the search, and that DNA tests are currently underway to determine the identities of the people. The Qatari agency did not whom the American intelligence and security agency is trying to find.
Dozens of foreigners, including aid workers and journalists, were killed by Daesh militants who had controlled large swaths of Syria and Iraq for half a decade and declared a so-called caliphate. The militant group lost most of its territory in late 2017 and was declared defeated in 2019.
Since then, dozens of gravesites and mass graves have been discovered in northern Syria containing remains and bodies of people Daesh had abducted over the years.
American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig are among those killed by Daesh.
John Cantlie, a British correspondent, was abducted alongside Foley in 2012, and was last seen alive in one of the extremist group’s propaganda videos in 2016.
The search took place in the town of Dabiq, near Syria’s northern border with Turkiye.
Mass graves have also found in areas previously controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad who was ousted in a lightning insurgency last December, ending his family’s half-century rule. For years, the Assads used their notorious security and intelligence agencies to crack down on dissidents, many who have gone missing.
The United Nations in 2021 estimated that over 130,000 Syrians were taken away and disappeared during the uprising that began in 2011 and descended into a 13-year civil war.
Presidents of UAE, Syria discuss regional developments during phone call
- The two leaders discussed relations between their countries and explored ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation
DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed received a phone call Sunday from Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, WAM News Agency reported.
The two leaders discussed relations between their countries and explored ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in a manner that benefits their peoples, WAM added.
They also exchanged views on several regional developments of mutual interest.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed affirmed the “UAE’s commitment to supporting all efforts aimed at fulfilling the aspirations of the Syrian people for stability, development, and a future marked by security and prosperity.”
Al-Sharaa expressed his appreciation for the UAE’s steadfast support for the Syrian people, and praised the UAE’s constructive role in advancing regional peace and stability.
Kurdish militant group decides to disband and end armed struggle with Turkiye
- The PKK announced its dissolution and the end of more than four decades of armed struggle against the Turkish state
ANKARA: A Kurdish militant group announced a historic decision Monday to disband and disarm as part of a new peace initiative with Turkiye, after four decades of armed conflict.
The decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was announced by the Firat News Agency, a media outlet close to the group. It comes days after it convened a party congress in northern Iraq.
In February, PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group to convene a congress and formally decide to disband, marking a pivotal step toward ending the decades-long conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s.
On March 1, the PKK announced a unilateral ceasefire, but attached conditions, including the creation of a legal framework for peace negotiations.
The group has led an armed insurgency since 1984 that has left claimed tens of thousands of lives. It is listed as a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Israel is not committed to any ceasefire or prisoner release with Hamas
DUBAI: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire in exchange for Hamas’s release of a US-Israeli hostage, who a source close to the group said could be freed Monday.
Hamas on Sunday said it would release Edan Alexander, a US-Israeli soldier held in Gaza, ahead of a visit by US President Donald Trump to the region, and as the group revealed it was engaged in direct talks with Washington towards a ceasefire.
No date was given, but a source close to Hamas told AFP 21-year-old Alexander would “most likely” be released on Monday or Tuesday.
“Most likely, Edan will be released today or tomorrow, Tuesday, but this requires securing field conditions,” the source said.
Hamas had demanded that American envoys ensure a “halt to all Israeli military operations... to create a safe corridor” for his transfer to the Red Cross, the source added.
The source said the Palestinian militant group had decided not to hold a public ceremony for the handover.
Netanyahu meanwhile said that “Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind or the release of terrorists but only to a safe corridor that will allow for the release of Edan”.
Negotiations for a possible deal to secure the release of all hostages would continue “under fire, during preparations for an intensification of the fighting”, Netanyahu added.
Hamas had said Alexander would be released “as part of efforts towards a ceasefire” and the reopening of aid crossings.
Trump, who is due in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hailed the “monumental news”in a post on social media, describing it as a “good faith gesture”.
“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict,” he added.
Egypt and Qatar, who along with the US have mediated talks between Hamas and Israel, also welcomed the development, describing it in a joint statement as a “a gesture of goodwill and an encouraging step toward a return to the negotiating table”.
Earlier, two Hamas officials told AFP that talks were ongoing in Doha with the United States and reported “progress”.
Israeli strikes meanwhile continued, with Gaza’s civil defence agency reporting that at least 10 people were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced people.
Israel ended a two-month ceasefire on March 18, launching a major offensive in Gaza and ramping up its bombardment of the territory.
It has also cut off all aid to Gaza, saying it would pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Washington had for decades publicly refused to engage directly with Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organisation, before first doing so in March.
Hamas has continued to insist on a deal that ends the war and on April 18 rejected an Israeli proposal for a 45-day truce and hostage-prisoner exchange.
In its statement on Sunday, the group said it was willing to “immediately begin intensive negotiations” that could lead to an agreement to end the war and would see Gaza under a technocratic and independent administration.
Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence there.
While ceasefire negotiations have yet to produce a breakthrough, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, on Sunday “fully” endorsed a US plan to restore aid to Gaza, under a complete blockade since March 2.
The plan has drawn hefty international criticism for sidelining the United Nations and existing aid organisations, with the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, saying it was “impossible” to replace it in Gaza.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that at least 2,720 people have been killed since Israel’s assult on Gaza bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,829.
Israel’s blockade means Gaza’s hospitals cannot provide food to recovering patients
- Hospital patients are among the most vulnerable as Palestinians across Gaza struggle to feed themselves, with Israel’s blockade on food and other supplies entering the territory now in its third month
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: It cost a fortune, she said, but Asmaa Fayez managed to buy a few zucchinis in a Gaza market. She cooked them with rice and brought it to her 4-year-old son, who has been in the hospital for the past week. The soup was his only meal of the day, and he asked for more.
“It’s all finished, darling,” Fayez replied softly. Still, it was an improvement from the canned beans and tuna she brings on other days, she said.
Hospital patients are among the most vulnerable as Palestinians across Gaza struggle to feed themselves, with Israel’s blockade on food and other supplies entering the territory now in its third month.
With hospitals unable to provide food, families must bring whatever they can find for loved ones.
“Most, if not all, wounded patients have lost weight, especially in the past two months,” Dr. Khaled Alserr, a general surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told The Associated Press. Nutritional supplements for intensive care unit patients are lacking, he said.
“Our hands are tied when it comes to making the best choice for patients. Choices are limited,” he said.
Hunger worsens as supplies dwindle
Malnutrition is on the rise across Gaza, aid groups say. Thousands of children have been found with acute malnutrition in the past month, but adults as well are not getting proper nutrients, according to the UN It estimates that 16,000 pregnant women and new mothers this year face acute malnutrition.
Since Israel’s blockade began on March 2, food sources have been drying up. Aid groups have stopped food distribution. Bakeries have closed. Charity kitchens handing out bowls of pasta or lentils remain the last lifeline for most of the population, but they are rapidly closing for lack of supplies, the UN says.
Markets are empty of almost everything but canned goods and small amounts of vegetables, and prices have been rising. Local production of vegetables has plummeted because Israeli forces have damaged 80 percent of Gaza’s farmlands, the UN says, and much of the rest is inaccessible inside newly declared military zones.
Fayez’s son, Ali Al-Dbary, was admitted to Nasser Hospital because of a blocked intestine, suffering from severe cramps and unable to use the bathroom. Fayez believes it’s because he has been eating little but canned goods. She splurged on the zucchini, which now costs around $10 a kilogram (2.2 pounds). Before the war it was less than a dollar.
Doctors said the hospital doesn’t have a functioning scanner to diagnose her son and decide whether he needs surgery.
Israel says it imposed the blockade and resumed its military campaign in March to pressure Hamas to release its remaining hostages and disarm.
Hamas ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage, most of whom have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel’s offensive has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.
Concern over Israeli plans to control aid
Israeli officials have asserted that enough food entered Gaza during a two-month ceasefire earlier this year. Rights groups have disputed that and called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.
Now Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, using private contractors to distribute supplies. The UN and aid groups have rejected the idea, saying it could restrict who is eligible to give and receive aid and could force large numbers of Palestinians to move — which would violate international law.
Those under care at hospitals, and their families who scrounge to feed them, would face further challenges under Israel’s proposal. Moving to reach aid could be out of the question.
Another patient at Nasser Hospital, 19-year-old Asmaa Faraj, had shrapnel in her chest from an airstrike that hit close to her tent and a nearby charity kitchen in camps for displaced people outside Khan Younis.
When the AP visited, the only food she had was a small bag of dates, a date cookie and some water bottles. Her sister brought her some pickles.
“People used to bring fruits as a gift when they visited sick people in hospitals,” said the sister, Salwa Faraj. “Today, we have bottles of water.”
She said her sister needs protein, fruits and vegetables but none are available.
Mohammed Al-Bursh managed to find a few cans of tuna and beans to bring for his 30-year-old son, Sobhi, who was wounded in an airstrike three months ago. Sobhi’s left foot was amputated, and he has two shattered vertebrae in his neck.
Al-Bursh gently gave his son spoonfuls of beans as he lay still in the hospital bed, a brace on his neck.
“Everything is expensive,” Sobhi Al-Bursh said, gritting with pain that he says is constant. He said he limits what he eats to help save his father money.
He believes that his body needs meat to heal. “It has been three months, and nothing heals,” he said.
