UN appoints envoy to assess aid for Palestinians

The UN has appointed an envoy to complete a "strategic assessment" of the agency charged with aiding Palestinians, a spokesman said. (AFP/File)
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Updated 23 April 2025
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UN appoints envoy to assess aid for Palestinians

  • “We’re trying to see how in this very complex environment, UNRWA can best deliver for the Palestine refugees it serves,” Dujarric told reporters
  • “We will see how UNRWA can better operate and better serve the communities that rely on“

UNITED NATIONS: The UN on Tuesday appointed an envoy to complete a “strategic assessment” of the agency charged with aiding Palestinians, a spokesman said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed Ian Martin of the United Kingdom to review the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, to gauge the “political, financial, security” constraints the agency faces.
The organization, broadly considered to be the backbone of humanitarian aid delivery for embattled Palestinians, has withstood a barrage of criticism and accusations from Israel since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel and the devastating war in Gaza that followed.
Israel cut all contact with UNRWA at the end of January, and has accused 19 of its 13,000 employees in Gaza of being directly involved in the October 7 attacks.
“We’re trying to see how in this very complex environment, UNRWA can best deliver for the Palestine refugees it serves. For the communities it serves, they deserve to be assisted by an organization, by an UNRWA that can work in the best possible manner,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The review is being carried out as part of the UN80 initiative launched last month to address chronic financial difficulties, which are being exacerbated by US budget cuts to international aid programs.
Not all agencies will undergo a strategic assessment, but UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are unique, Dujarric said.
“We will not question UNRWA’s mandate. We will see how UNRWA can better operate and better serve the communities that rely on” it, Dujarric added.
The agency was created by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1949, in the wake of the first Israeli-Arab conflict, shortly after the creation of Israel in 1948.
Throughout decades of sporadic but ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, UNRWA has provided essential humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Educated at Cambridge and Harvard universities, Martin has previously served the UN on missions in Somalia, Libya, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Eritrea, Rwanda and Haiti.


Top UN court wraps a week of hearings on humanitarian aid to Gaza

Updated 3 sec ago
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Top UN court wraps a week of hearings on humanitarian aid to Gaza

  • The proceedings are taking place as the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is nearing collapse and ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked
  • Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since March 2
THE HAGUE: The top United Nations court on Friday wraps a week of hearings on what Israel must do to ensure desperately needed humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Last year, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating.
Experts say the case could have broader ramifications for the United Nations and its missions worldwide.
The hearings are taking place as the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is nearing collapse and ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked. Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since March 2. It renewed its bombardment on March 18, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages.
Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its war with Hamas and did not attend the hearing. The country did provide a 38-page written submission for the court to consider.
What is at stake?
The hearings focused on provision of aid to the Palestinians, but the UN court’s 15 judges could use their advisory opinion to give legal guidance on the powers of the world body.
“The court has the opportunity to clarify and address questions about the legal immunities of the United Nations,” Mike Becker, an expert on international human rights law at Trinity College Dublin, told The Associated Press.
Advisory opinions issued by the UN court are described as “nonbinding” as there are no direct penalties attached to ignoring them. However, the treaty that covers the protections that countries must give to United Nations personnel says that disputes should be resolved through an advisory opinion at the ICJ and the opinion “shall be accepted as decisive by the parties.”
“The oddity of this particular process,” Becker said, “is a clear response to any argument that the opinion is nonbinding.”
What has the ICJ been tasked with answering?
The resolution, sponsored by Norway, seeks the ICJ’s guidance on “obligations of Israel … in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations … to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population.” The United States, Israel’s closest ally, voted against it.
Israel’s ban on the agency, known as UNRWA, which provides aid to Gaza, came into effect in January. The organization has faced increased criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claim the group is deeply infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA rejects that claim.
“We cannot let states pick and choose where the UN is going to do its work. This advisory opinion is a very important opportunity to reinforce that,” Becker said.
Do these proceedings matter for countries other than Israel?
Whatever the judges decide will have an impact beyond the current situation in Gaza, according to Juliette McIntyre, an expert on international law at the University of South Australia. “Are these immunities absolute or is there wiggle room? This is useful for where United Nations personnel are working in other places,” McIntire told AP.
An authoritative answer from the World Court can have influence beyond judicial proceedings as well. “Every time a norm is breached, the norm gets weaker. The advisory opinion in this case could push the norm back,” said McIntyre.
In separate proceedings last year, the court issued an unprecedented and sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the occupied Palestinian territories, finding Israel’s presence unlawful and calling for it to end. The ICJ said Israel had no right to sovereignty in the territories, was violating international laws against acquiring territory by force and was impeding Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
According to McIntyre, the arguments presented this week reflect the opinion handed down just nine months ago. “Now the starting premise is that Israel is illegally occupying all of Palestine,” McIntire said.
What did the Palestinians and Israelis say?
On Monday, the Palestinian delegation accused Israel of breaching international law in the occupied territories and applauded the move to bring more proceedings to the court. “Our journey with the international institutions, be it Security Council, the General Assembly or the ICJ, is we are building things block on top of another block while we are marching toward the accomplishment of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including our right to self-determination, statehood, and the right of the refugees,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters.
Israel has denied it is in violation of international law and said the proceedings are biased. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar hit back at the case during a news conference in Jerusalem on Monday. “I accuse UNRWA, I accuse the UN, I accuse the secretary-general and I accuse all those that weaponized international law and its institutions in order to deprive the most attacked country in the world, Israel, of its most basic right to defend itself,” he said.
The court is expected to take months to deliver its opinion.

Israel downs Yemen-fired missile claimed by Houthis

Updated 53 min 7 sec ago
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Israel downs Yemen-fired missile claimed by Houthis

  • The insurgents have carried out dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel since the Gaza war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack
  • The Houthis have also repeatedly targeted merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Friday it shot down a missile launched from Yemen, an attack claimed by the Arabian Peninsula country’s Iran-backed Houthi militantss.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted” before entering Israeli territory, the military said.
The Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, said they targeted an air base “east of the occupied area of Haifa” with a “hypersonic ballistic missile.”
The insurgents have carried out dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel since the Gaza war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack.
They are part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States, presenting themselves as defenders of Palestinians in Gaza.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that the group’s “support operations will continue until the aggression against Gaza ceases and the siege is lifted.”
The Houthis have also repeatedly targeted merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, drawing retaliatory strikes by Israel, the United States and Britain.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the United States has intensified its bombing campaign, with almost daily strikes for more than a month.
Houthi media said this week that US strikes on the movement’s stronghold of Saada killed at least 68 people, all Africans being held at a “center for illegal migrants.”
The United States said in April its strikes since March 15 had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen and killed “hundreds of Houthi fighters.”
On Friday, the Houthi-run Saba news agency said three people were wounded in a US air strike the previous night in Al Wahda district, citing a preliminary toll.


All aboard Gaza aid flotilla confirmed safe, Malta government says

Updated 4 min 10 sec ago
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All aboard Gaza aid flotilla confirmed safe, Malta government says

  • Maltese government: ‘The vessel had 12 crew members on board and four civilian passengers; no casualties were reported’

VALLETTA: Everyone aboard an aid flotilla for Gaza that was hit by drones in international waters off Malta overnight are “confirmed safe,” the Maltese government said in a statement on Friday.
“The vessel had 12 crew members on board and four civilian passengers; no casualties were reported,” the statement said, adding that a nearby tug had been directed to aid the vessel.
“The tug arrived on scene and began firefighting operations. By 1:28 a.m. (2328 GMT Thursday), the fire was reported under control. An Armed Forces of Malta patrol vessel was also dispatched to provide further assistance,” the government said.
“By 2:13 a.m., all crew were confirmed safe but refused to board the tug ... The ship remains outside territorial waters and is being monitored by the competent authorities,” the statement concluded.


Sudan’s war-ravaged Khartoum tiptoes back to life after recapture by army

Updated 02 May 2025
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Sudan’s war-ravaged Khartoum tiptoes back to life after recapture by army

  • In a lightning offensive in March, the army recaptured the city center, including the presidential palace and the airport
  • Within the next six months, the UN expects more than two million displaced people to return to the capital if security conditions allow

KHARTOUM: In war-ravaged Khartoum donkey carts clatter over worn asphalt, the smell of tomatoes wafts from newly reopened stalls and pedestrians dodge burnt-out cars left by two years of war.
Life is slowly, cautiously returning to the Sudanese capital, weeks after the army recaptured the city from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who had held it since soon after fighting erupted in April 2023.
Stallholder Maqbool Essa Mohamed was laying out his wares in the large market in the southern neighborhood of Kalakla.
“People feel safe again,” he said. “Business is moving and there’s security.”
Just weeks ago this market was deserted – shops shuttered, streets silent and snipers perched on rooftops.
In a lightning offensive in March, the army recaptured the city center, including the presidential palace and the airport, and the RSF was shed back into the western outskirts of greater Khartoum.
But the RSF remain within artillery range of the city center, as they demonstrated twice this week with a bombardment of the army’s General Command headquarters last Saturday followed by shelling of the presidential palace on Thursday.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million.
In greater Khartoum alone, more than 3.5 million people have fled their homes, leaving entire neighborhoods abandoned.
Within the next six months, the UN expects more than two million displaced people to return to the capital if security conditions allow.
Kalakla, a neighborhood on the road to Jebel Awliya – once an RSF bastion – suffered heavily during the war.
Its location close to a military base made it a prime target, with RSF fighters encircling the area and cutting off food and water for the civilians trapped inside.
In July 2023 activists called it “uninhabitable.”
But now women can be seen on the roadside brewing tea – a common sight before the war – as a man dragging his suitcase stands beside a minibus, newly arrived in the war-torn neighborhood.
Public transport has yet to return to normal as fragile security conditions and crumbling infrastructure impede movement.
With buses packed to capacity, weary commuters climb atop vehicles, preferring the risky ride over an indefinite wait for the next bus – which may not come for hours.
From January, the army began advancing in the greater Khartoum area and by late March had wrested back control of both Khartoum and the industrial city of Khartoum North just across the Blue Nile.
Standing amid the wreckage of the presidential palace, army chief Burhan declared: “Khartoum is free.”
The paramilitaries are now confined to the southern and western outskirts of Omdurman, the third of the three cities that make up greater Khartoum.
Both sides in the conflict have been accused of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians and indiscriminately bombing residential neighborhoods.
The RSF in particular has been notorious for systematic sexual violence, ethnic cleansing and rampant looting.
“They left nothing,” said Mohamed Al-Mahdi, a longtime resident. “They destroyed the country and took our property.”
Today, Mahdi steers his bicycle through the recovering market, where vehicles, animal carts and pedestrians jostle for space under the wary eye of the army.
Earlier this month, Sudan’s state news agency reported that the army-backed government plans to restore the water supply to the area – a basic necessity still out of reach for many.
But for vendor Serelkhitm Shibti, the costs of the war are not about lost income or damaged infrastructure.
“What pains me is every drop of blood that fell in this land, not the money I lost,” he said.


Israeli military strikes near Syria’s presidential palace after warning over sectarian attacks

Updated 02 May 2025
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Israeli military strikes near Syria’s presidential palace after warning over sectarian attacks

DAMASCUS, Syria: Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace early Friday hours after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria.
The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The clashes left dozens of people dead or wounded.
The Israeli army said in a statement that fighter jets struck adjacent to the area of the Palace of President Hussein Al-Sharaa in Damascus. It gave no further details.
Pro-government Syrian media outlets said the strike hit close to the People’s Palace on a hill overlooking the city.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus.