UN humanitarian chief appeals for aid access as Gaza faces ‘total’ blockade

People walk amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 18 March 2025
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UN humanitarian chief appeals for aid access as Gaza faces ‘total’ blockade

  • ‘Worst fears materialized’ after Israel resumes airstrikes, issues new evacuation orders
  • Renewal of hostilities has undermined gains during ceasefire, Security Council told

NEW YORK: The UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs warned the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the aid crisis in Gaza is worsening, as Israel resumed airstrikes across the territory and continued to block vital supplies.

“Overnight our worst fears materialized,” Tom Fletcher told council members.

“Airstrikes resumed across the entire Gaza Strip. (Reports) of hundreds of people killed. New evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces. Once again, the people of Gaza are living in abject fear.”

Fletcher added the situation had returned to chaos, undermining the modest gains made during a recent ceasefire.

Humanitarian efforts in Gaza were severely hampered following the resumption of hostilities, he said.

“Today, I am distressed to report that in addition to the intense airstrikes that have resumed, since March 2 Israeli authorities have cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies — food, medicines, fuel, cooking gas — for 2.1 million people,” Fletcher said.

“Our repeated requests to collect aid sitting at Karem Shalom crossing have also been systematically rejected. No further hostages have been released. Only medical evacuations and humanitarian staff rotations continued. Even that came to a halt today.”

The blockade has worsened living conditions, with essential services such as clean water becoming increasingly scarce.

Fletcher highlighted that the shutdown of Gaza’s desalination plant has left 600,000 people without access to safe drinking water.

“The current suspension of aid and commercial materials is reversing the progress achieved during the brief ceasefire. Survival resources are now being rationed,” he said, adding that vegetable prices in northern Gaza have tripled, while bakeries have closed due to shortages of cooking gas and supplies.

The World Health Organization has warned that public health risks remain very high, including for communicable diseases resulting from overcrowding and poor sanitation.

Fletcher again raised concerns about the growing challenges facing humanitarian workers, with the new restrictions imposed on international NGOs since the Knesset legislation banning the aid agency UNRWA took effect on Jan. 30.

“UNRWA international staff are no longer able to rotate into and out of Gaza,” he said.

Fletcher said that on March 9, Israeli authorities introduced new registration rules for international NGOs delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the territory. If enforced, these will impose strict conditions and significantly disrupt aid operations.

“The Israeli Knesset is also considering a bill to impose considerable taxation on donations from third states to Israeli NGOs, including humanitarian and human rights groups.

“If implemented, this would further erode the number of partners with the capacity to implement protection interventions.

“Many Israeli NGOs are engaged on legal cases involving home demolitions and forced evictions. They also provide protective presence activities related to settler violence.”

Fletcher underscored the success of the 42-day ceasefire, which allowed deliveries from more than 4,000 aid trucks per week, the release of 30 hostages, and the distribution of essential resources to over 2 million people.

“This proves what’s possible when we’re allowed to do our job,” Fletcher said. “We cannot accept a return to pre-ceasefire conditions or the complete denial of humanitarian relief.”

The UN official also expressed grave concern about escalating violence in the West Bank, where 95 Palestinians, including 17 children, have been killed since the beginning of the year, and over 40,000 Palestinians forced from their homes by Israeli military operations.

Fletcher called for immediate action, urging that humanitarian aid and commercial goods be allowed to enter Gaza, and that hostilities cease with the renewal of a ceasefire agreement.

He warned that without funding for the humanitarian response, which has received only 4 percent of the required financial support, the situation will worsen.

“Blocking food, water, and medicine for people who need them is unconscionable,” Fletcher said. “It goes against international humanitarian law and must be stopped immediately.”


Syria unveils new national emblem as part of sweeping identity overhaul

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Syria unveils new national emblem as part of sweeping identity overhaul

  • Unveiled during a ceremony in Damascus on Thursday
  • New emblem reimagines iconic Syrian golden eagle with symbolic elements representing country’s history, geography and post-conflict aspirations

DAMASCUS: The Syrian Arab Republic has launched a new national visual identity featuring a redesigned golden eagle emblem, in what officials described as a break from the legacy of authoritarianism and a step toward a state defined by service, unity and popular legitimacy.

Unveiled during a ceremony in Damascus on Thursday, the new emblem reimagines the iconic Syrian golden eagle with symbolic elements representing the country’s history, geography and post-conflict aspirations, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

The redesign forms the centerpiece of a wider national branding effort aimed at redefining Syria’s image at home and abroad.

The eagle has long held significance in Syrian history, appearing in early Islamic military symbolism, notably in the 7th-century Battle of Thaniyat Al-Uqab, and later as part of the 1945 emblem of Syria.

The new design retains this historic continuity but shifts its meaning, and the combative shield clutched by previous iterations of the eagle has been removed.

Instead, the emblem now features the eagle topped by three stars representing the people symbolically placed above the state.

The redesigned wings are outstretched, balanced rather than aggressive, with seven feathers each to represent Syria’s 14 governorates.

The tail carries five feathers symbolizing the country’s major geographical regions: north, south, east, west, and central Syria — a nod to national unity and inclusivity, SANA reported.

Officials described the design as a “visual political covenant,” aimed at linking the unity of land with the unity of national decision-making.

“The people, whose ambitions embrace the stars of the sky, are now guarded by a state that protects and enables them,” said a statement accompanying the launch. “In return, their survival and participation ensure the renaissance of the state.”

The emblem is designed to signal historical continuity with the original post-independence design of 1945, while also representing the vision of a modern Syrian state born from the will of its people, SANA said.

Officials said the elevation of the stars above the eagle was intended to reflect the empowerment and liberation of the people, and the transition from a combative state to a more civic-minded one.

The symbolism also reinforces Syria’s territorial integrity, with all regions and governorates represented equally. The design, they said, reflects a new national pact, one that defines the relationship between the state and its citizens based on mutual responsibility and shared aspirations.

The new emblem is also intended as a symbolic end to Syria’s past as a security-driven state, replacing a legacy of repression with one of reconstruction and citizen empowerment.

President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who has positioned his administration as one of reform and renewal, described the change as emblematic of “a government emanating from the people and serving them.”

The visual identity was developed entirely by Syrian artists and designers, including visual artist Khaled Al-Asali, in a deliberate effort to ground the new identity in local heritage and creativity.

Officials said that the process was intended not only as a rebranding exercise but as a reflection of Syria’s cultural and civilizational legacy — and its future potential.

Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani, speaking at the event, framed the launch as part of a broader transformation in Syrian governance and diplomacy.

“In every encounter, we carried a new face of Syria,” he said. “Our efforts brought Syria back to the international stage — not as a delayed hope, but as a present reality.”

He said the country was now rejecting the “deteriorated reality” inherited from decades of authoritarian rule, and described the new emblem as a symbol of Syria’s emergence as a state that “guards” and empowers its people, rather than controlling them.

Al-Shaibani concluded his remarks by calling the moment “a cultural death” for the former regime’s narrative.

“What we need today is a national spirit that reclaims the scattered pieces of our Syrian identity, that is the starting point for building the future.”


Syria ready to work with US to return to 1974 disengagement deal with Israel

Updated 14 min 1 sec ago
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Syria ready to work with US to return to 1974 disengagement deal with Israel

Washington has been pushing diplomatic efforts toward a normalization deal between Syria and Israel
Barrack confirmed this week that Syria and Israel were engaging in “meaningful” US-brokered talks

DAMASCUS: Syria said on Friday it was willing to cooperate with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating the two countries’ forces.

In a statement following a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, Asaad Al-Shaibani expressed Syria’s “aspiration to cooperate with the United States to return to the 1974 disengagement agreement.”

Washington has been pushing diplomatic efforts toward a normalization deal between Syria and Israel, with envoy Thomas Barrack saying last week that peace between the two was now needed.

Speaking to The New York Times, Barrack confirmed this week that Syria and Israel were engaging in “meaningful” US-brokered talks to end their border conflict.

Following the toppling of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December, Israel deployed its troops into the UN-patrolled zone separating Syrian and Israeli forces.

It has also launched hundreds of air strikes on military targets in Syria and carried out incursions deeper into the country’s south.

Syria and Israel have technically been in a state of war since 1948.

Israel conquered around two thirds of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, before annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognized by much of the international community.

A year after the 1973 war, the two reached an agreement on a disengagement line.

As part of the deal, an 80 kilometer-long (50 mile) United Nations-patrolled buffer zone was created on the east of Israeli-occupied territory, separating it from the Syrian-controlled side.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday that his country had an “interest” in normalizing ties with Syria and neighboring Lebanon.

He however added that the Golan Heights “will remain part of the State of Israel” under any future peace agreement.

Syrian state media reported on Wednesday that “statements concerning signing a peace agreement with the Israeli occupation at this time are considered premature.”

Under pressure, Hezbollah weighs scaling back its arsenal

Updated 58 min 7 sec ago
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Under pressure, Hezbollah weighs scaling back its arsenal

  • The group’s difficulties have been compounded by seismic shifts in the regional power balance
  • Another senior official, who is familiar with Hezbollah’s internal deliberations, said the group had been holding clandestine discussions on its next steps

BEIRUT: Hezbollah has begun a major strategic review in the wake of its devastating war with Israel, including considering scaling back its role as an armed movement without disarming completely, three sources familiar with the deliberations say.

The internal discussions, which aren’t yet finalized and haven’t previously been reported, reflect the formidable pressures the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group has faced since a truce was reached in late November.

Israeli forces continue to strike areas where the group holds sway, accusing Hezbollah of ceasefire violations, which it denies. It is also grappling with acute financial strains, US demands for its disarmament and diminished political clout since a new cabinet took office in February with US support.

The group’s difficulties have been compounded by seismic shifts in the regional power balance since Israel decimated its command, killed thousands of its fighters and destroyed much of its arsenal last year.

Hezbollah’s Syrian ally, Bashar Assad, was toppled in December, severing a key arms supply line from Iran. Tehran is now emerging from its own bruising war with Israel, raising doubts over how much aid it can offer, a regional security source and a senior Lebanese official told Reuters.

Another senior official, who is familiar with Hezbollah’s internal deliberations, said the group had been holding clandestine discussions on its next steps. Small committees have been meeting in person or remotely to discuss issues including its leadership structure, political role, social and development work, and weapons, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The official and two other sources familiar with the discussions indicated Hezbollah has concluded that the arsenal it had amassed to deter Israel from attacking Lebanon had become a liability.

Hezollah “had an excess of power,” the official said. “All that strength turned into a weak point.”

Under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last year, Hezbollah grew into a regional military player with tens of thousands of fighters, rockets and drones poised to strike Israel. It also provided support to allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Israel came to regard Hezbollah as a significant threat. When the group opened fire in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in 2023, Israel responded with airstrikes in Lebanon that escalated into a ground offensive.

Hezbollah has since relinquished a number of weapons depots in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese armed forces as stipulated in last year’s truce, though Israel says it has struck military infrastructure there still linked to the group.

Hezbollah is now considering turning over some weapons it has elsewhere in the country — notably missiles and drones seen as the biggest threat to Israel — on condition Israel withdraws from the south and halts its attacks, the sources said.

But the group won’t surrender its entire arsenal, the sources said. For example, it intends to keep lighter arms and anti-tank missiles, they said, describing them as a means to resist any future attacks.

Hezbollah’s media office did not respond to questions for this article.

Isreal’s military said it would continue operating along its northern border in accordance with the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, in order eliminate any threat and protect Israeli citizens. The US State Department declined to comment on private diplomatic conversations, referring questions to Lebanon’s government. Lebanon’s presidency did not respond to questions.

For Hezbollah to preserve any military capabilities would fall short of Israeli and US ambitions. Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon’s armed forces were to confiscate “all unauthorized arms,” beginning in the area south of the Litani River — the zone closest to Israel.

Lebanon’s government also wants Hezbollah to surrender the rest of its weapons as it works to establish a state monopoly on arms. Failure to do so could stir tensions with the group’s Lebanese rivals, which accuse Hezbollah of leveraging its military might to impose its will in state affairs and repeatedly dragging Lebanon into conflicts.

All sides have said they remain committed to the ceasefire, even as they traded accusations of violations.

PART OF HEZBOLLAH’S ‘DNA’
Arms have been central to Hezbollah’s doctrine since it was founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to fight Israeli forces who invaded Lebanon in 1982, at the height of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war. Tensions over the Shiite Muslim group’s arsenal sparked another, brief civil conflict in 2008.

The United States and Israel deem Hezbollah a terrorist group.

Nicholas Blanford, who wrote a history of Hezbollah, said that in order to reconstitute itself, the group would have to justify its retention of weapons in an increasingly hostile political landscape, while addressing damaging intelligence breaches and ensuring its long-term finances.

“They’ve faced challenges before, but not this number simultaneously,” said Blanford, a fellow with the Atlantic Council, a US think tank.

A European official familiar with intelligence assessments said there was a lot of brainstorming underway within Hezbollah about its future but no clear outcomes. The official described Hezbollah’s status as an armed group as part of its DNA, saying it would be difficult for it to become a purely political party.

Nearly a dozen sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said the group wants to keep some arms, not only in case of future threats from Israel, but also because it is worried that Sunni Muslim jihadists in neighboring Syria might exploit lax security to attack eastern Lebanon, a Shiite-majority region.

Despite the catastrophic results of the latest war with Israel — tens of thousands of people were left homeless and swathes of the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs were destroyed — many of Hezbollah’s core supporters want it to remain armed.

Um Hussein, whose son died fighting for Hezbollah, cited the threat still posed by Israel and a history of conflict with Lebanese rivals as reasons to do so.

“Hezbollah is the backbone of the Shiites, even if it is weak now,” she said, asking to be identified by a traditional nickname because members of her family still belong to Hezbollah. “We were a weak, poor group. Nobody spoke up for us.”

Hezbollah’s immediate priority is tending to the needs of constituents who withstood the worst of the war, the sources familiar with its deliberations said.

In December, Secretary General Naim Qassem said Hezbollah had paid more than $50 million to affected families with more than $25 million still to hand out. But there are signs that its funds are running short.

One Beirut resident said he had paid for repairs to his apartment in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs after it was damaged in the war only to see the entire block destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in June.

“Everyone is scattered and homeless. No one has promised to pay for our shelter,” said the man, who declined to be identified for fear his complaints might jeopardize his chances of receiving compensation.

He said he had received cheques from Hezbollah but was told by the group’s financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan, that it did not have funds available to cash them. Reuters could not immediately reach the institution for comment.

Other indications of financial strain have included cutbacks to free medications offered by Hezbollah-run pharmacies, three people familiar with the operations said.

SQUEEZING HEZBOLLAH FINANCES
Hezbollah has put the onus on Lebanon’s government to secure reconstruction funding. But Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, a Hezbollah critic, has said there will be no aid from foreign donors until the state establishes a monopoly on arms.

A State Department spokesperson said in May that, while Washington was engaged in supporting sustainable reconstruction in Lebanon, “this cannot happen without Hezbollah laying down their arms.”

Israel has also been squeezing Hezbollah’s finances.

The Israeli military said on June 25 that it had killed an Iranian official who oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in transfers annually to armed groups in the region, as well as a man in southern Lebanon who ran a currency exchange business that helped get some of these funds to Hezbollah.

Iran did not comment at the time, and its UN mission did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.

Since February, Lebanon has barred commercial flights between Beirut and Tehran, after Israel’s military accused Hezbollah of using civilian aircraft to bring in money from Iran and threatened to take action to stop this.

Lebanese authorities have also tightened security at Beirut airport, where Hezbollah had free rein for years, making it harder for the group to smuggle in funds that way, according to an official and a security source familiar with airport operations.

Such moves have fueled anger among Hezbollah’s supporters toward the administration led by President Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam, who was made prime minister against Hezbollah’s wishes.

Alongside its Shiite ally, the Amal Movement, Hezbollah swept local elections in May, with many seats uncontested. The group will be seeking to preserve its dominance in legislative elections next year.

Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper, said next year’s poll was part of an “existential battle” for Hezbollah.

“It will use all the means it can, firstly to play for time so it doesn’t have to disarm, and secondly to make political and popular gains,” he said.


UN records 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys or aid distribution points run by US group

Updated 04 July 2025
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UN records 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys or aid distribution points run by US group

  • Deaths near aid points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near humanitarian convoys

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: The UN human rights office said Friday it has recorded 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys and at aid distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization since it first began operations in late May.

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said “it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points” operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

She said it was not immediately clear how many of those killings had taken place at GHF sites, and how many occurred near convoys.

Speaking to reporters at a regular briefing, Shamdasani said the figures covered the period from May 27 through June 27, and “there have been further incidents” since then. She said she was basing the information on an internal situation report at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Shamdasani said the figures, compiled through its standard vetting processes, were not likely to tell a complete picture, and “we will perhaps never be able to grasp the full scale of what’s happening here because of the lack of access” for UN teams to the areas.


Israeli military prepares plan to ensure Iran cannot threaten country, defense minister says

Updated 04 July 2025
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Israeli military prepares plan to ensure Iran cannot threaten country, defense minister says

  • Longtime enemies engaged in 12-day air war in June
  • Israel and Iran agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24

DUBAI: The Israeli military is preparing an enforcement plan to “ensure that Iran cannot return to threaten Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told senior military officials.

He said the military must be prepared, both in intelligence and operations, to ensure Israel has air superiority and to prevent Tehran from reestablishing its previous capabilities.

He made his remarks following a 12-day air war between the longtime enemies in June, during which Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the aim was to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies seeking nuclear arms and that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

Israel and Iran agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire that ended hostilities on June 24.