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.
UN appoints envoy to assess aid for Palestinians
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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“
Gaza ambulance fleet down to a third, Palestinian Red Crescent says
Flour and other aid began reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas on Thursday after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week Israeli blockade, Palestinian officials said.
Israel said it let in 100 trucks carrying baby food and medical equipment on Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the blockade under mounting international pressure amid warnings of starvation in Gaza.
Asked how long his organization could continue operating in Gaza, Palestine Red Crescent Society President Younis Al-Khatib told reporters in Geneva: “It’s a matter of time. It could be days.
“We are running out of fuel. The capacity of ambulances we work with now is one third,” he added, saying its gasoline-powered ambulances had already halted but it had some that were running on solar power provided by the United Nations.
The PRCS is part of the world’s largest humanitarian network, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and provides medical care in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Al-Khatib criticized the small amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza so far, warning of the risk of mob attacks.
“I think that is an invitation for killing. These people are starving,” he said.
Israel, at war with Gaza’s dominant militant group Hamas since October 2023, has repeatedly defended its controls on aid in the enclave, saying there is enough food there and denying accusations of causing starvation.
He added his voice to criticism of a US-backed organization that aims to start work in Gaza by the end of May overseeing a new model of aid distribution. “It’s not up for discussion. No, no, no,” he said.
“The world should not give up on the system as we know it.”
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation intends to work with private US security and logistics firms to provide aid to 300,000 people from distribution hubs in Gaza’s south. Gaza’s total population is 2.3 million, most of it displaced.
Jordan-Syria coordination council will strengthen ties, King Abdullah says
- Nations’ leaders speak after deal signed to establish new body
- Ahmed Al-Sharaa praises Jordan’s support for Syria
LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan and Syrian Arab Republic interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa spoke on Thursday about bilateral relations and regional developments.
The telephone conversation came after the two countries this week signed an agreement to establish the Higher Coordination Council, which aims to strengthen collaboration in key sectors such as water, energy and trade.
The king said the new body would institutionalize cooperation and maximize opportunities for both nations. He also reiterated his support for Syrians and the country’s security, stability and territorial integrity, the Jordan News Agency reported.
Al-Sharaa praised Jordan’s support for enhancing Syria’s international presence after both the EU and US this month announced the lifting of Assad-era sanctions on the country.
The two leaders also emphasized the need to increase efforts to stabilize southern Syria and improve border security.
Sweden to charge militant over Jordanian pilot burnt to death in Syria: prosecutor
- Prosecutors plan to charge the Swedish citizen with “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes in Syria“
STOCKHOLM: Prosecutors said Thursday they plan to indict a convicted Swedish militant for his suspected involvement in the 2014 capture of a Jordanian pilot in Syria and burning him to death in a cage.
Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said in a statement it planned to charge a 32-year-old Swedish citizen on May 27 with “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes in Syria.”
The man, Osama Krayem, has already been sentenced for his involvement in the 2015 attacks in Paris and the attacks in Brussels a year later.
Summer comes early for Iraq with 49 degrees Celsius in Basra
- In Iraq, summer temperatures often exceed 50 degrees Celsius, especially in July and August
BAGHDAD: Summer has come early for Iraq this year with temperatures hitting 49 degrees Celsius (topping 120 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southern city of Basra on Thursday, the national weather center said.
“It is the highest temperature recorded in Iraq this year,” weather center spokesperson Amer Al-Jabiri told AFP.
He said the early heat was in contrast to last year, when the temperature was “relatively good” in May and “it only began to rise in June.”
In Iraq, summer temperatures often exceed 50 degrees Celsius, especially in July and August, and sometimes reach these levels earlier.
On Sunday, two cadets died and others were admitted to hospital with heat stroke at a military academy in the southern province of Dhi Qar, authorities said.
The defense ministry said nine cadets “showed signs of fatigue and exhaustion due to sun exposure” while waiting to be assigned to battalions.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the deaths of the two cadets.
Iraq is one of the five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change, according to the United Nations. It has also seen a prolonged drought and frequent dust storms.
Some flour reaches Gaza as blockade eases, aid groups call for more
- Palestinian health minister said 29 children and elderly people had died from starvation-related reasons in Gaza
- Israel said it allowed 100 trucks carrying baby food and medical equipment into the enclave on Wednesday
CAIRO: Flour and other aid started reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas on Thursday after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week blockade, Palestinian officials said.
Many other trucks were still at the border, and people were still waiting to receive food, amid fears that desperate crowds would try to loot the vehicles when they arrived, the Palestinian Red Crescent warned.
Israel said it allowed 100 trucks carrying baby food and medical equipment into the enclave on Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the restrictions under mounting international pressure.
“Flour arrived from the (UN) World Food Programme, and we immediately started working,” baker Ahmed Al-Banna said as flatbreads passed by on a conveyor belt behind him at his base in Deir Al-Balah on Thursday.
Bakeries across the south of the enclave started ovens that had been shut for two months, he added. “God willing, bakeries in northern Gaza will soon resume work.”
Israel imposed the blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters — a charge the group denies. The UN has said a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are at risk of famine.
The Palestinian health minister said 29 children and elderly people had died from starvation-related reasons in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk.
Israel has repeatedly defended its controls on aid in Gaza, saying reports from aid groups of famine-like conditions were exaggerated and denying accusations of causing starvation.
Bread distribution would start later on Thursday, Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, told Reuters.
He said just 90 trucks had got through. “During the ceasefire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing,” he said.
Bakeries backed by the WFP would produce the bread and the agency’s staff would hand it out — a more controlled system than previously when bakers sold it directly to the public at a low cost, he added.
Palestinian Red Crescent president Younis Al-Khatib said many trucks were still at the border at Karem Shalom and there was a risk of violence and looting when they arrived.
“No civilian has received anything yet,” he said. “It’s very hard to hide the rush or the looting that will happen.”
On Wednesday night, boys and young men gathered after one vehicle arrived in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis, but kept back as men, some holding guns, watched over the unloading of sacks.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had got one truck of medical supplies through to replenish its field hospital in Rafah, but more was needed.
“A trickle of trucks is woefully inadequate. Only the rapid, unimpeded, and sustained flow of aid can begin to address the full scope of needs on the ground,” the organization added in a statement.
ATTACKS REPORTED
Israel has stepped up its military operation in Gaza since early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and bring back remaining hostages seized in October 2023.
Pressure inside Israel for tougher action is likely to increase after two Israeli embassy staffers were killed by a gunman in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night, and police said a suspect had chanted pro-Palestine slogans.
On Thursday, Israeli military strikes killed at least 50 Palestinians across Gaza, local health authorities said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reports. It has repeatedly said it seeks to avoid civilian casualties and targets militants.
In Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside Al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the health ministry said. Rescue workers had been trying to extinguish the fires for hours, it added.
Tanks are stationed outside the hospital, medics say, effectively blocking access to the facility.
The Gaza health care system has been barely functioning, with most of the medical facilities out of order, because of repeated Israeli military strikes, raids and the ban on the entry of medical supplies.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Israel would be open to a temporary ceasefire to enable the return of hostages taken by Hamas-led fighters. But if they were not returned, he said it would press ahead with a military campaign to gain total control of Gaza.
“Netanyahu continues to stall and insist on pursuing the war. There is no value to any agreement that doesn’t stop the massacres in Gaza permanently,” senior Hamas official Sami Ab Zuhri said in response to Netanyahu’s comments.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.
The campaign has since killed more than 53,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip, where aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
