Borrell condemns Knesset's rejection of Palestinian state after Hungary vetoes statement

Copyright Ahmad Abdo/EU

By Mared Gwyn Jones
Published on 19/07/2024 -

A high-ranking EU diplomat confirmed 26 member states had subscribed to the statement while Budapest wielded its veto power.

The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, has issued a statement deploring a Knesset resolution rejecting Palestinian statehood, after EU member states failed to unanimously back the condemnation due to Hungary's holdout.

On Thursday, the Israeli parliament overwhelmingly approved a resolution that rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, even if that state was part of a negotiated deal with Israel.

The text says that Palestinian statehood would pose an "existential danger" to Israel.

Borrell deplored the statement as a setback to international efforts to solve the long-standing conflict: "A credible pathway to Palestinian statehood is a crucial component of that political process. No hope, no horizon for the Palestinian people will only deepen the conflict," the statement reads.

But the bloc's failure to secure the necessary unanimity among its member states will likely undermine the condemnation.

The opposition came once again from Hungary, which has consistently derailed the bloc's statements on the conflict between Israel and Hamas since it first broke out last October.

Budapest has previously blocked an EU statement calling on Israel to refrain from striking the southern Gazan town of Rafah, and has derailed efforts to sanction extremist Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the occupied West Bank.

A high-ranking EU diplomat said that the Knesset's decision showed that there was now a "systemic issue" in terms of Israel's stance on the two-state solution, the internationally-endorsed plan to bring peace to the war-torn region by recognising a Palestinian state.

"Now, we have an overwhelming majority of the Israeli parliament, which represents the Israeli people, saying no to Palestinian state - that is a radical change," the diplomat said.

He added that twenty member states made suggested minor changes to the statement which were quickly approved, but that nothing could be done to bring Hungary on board.

It's another example of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán going against the grain of the EU's foreign policy.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers are due to gather in Brussels to discuss the ongoing conflict and its implications on the broader region, including plans to prop up the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority and reinstate an EU mission on the border crossing in Rafah.

Ministers are also expected to slam premier Orbán's recent self-proclaimed peace mission which saw him meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. His government is blocking EU military and industrial aid worth €6.6 billion to Ukraine, as part of the European Peace Facility (EPF).

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Israel strikes Palestinians in Rafah after top UN court orders it to halt offensive

AFP
May 25, 2024



A Palestinian boy stands amid the rubble of a destroyed house in central Gaza


Rafah – Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, a day after the top UN court ordered it to halt military operations in the southern city as efforts get underway in Paris to seek a ceasefire in the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian militants, hours after the Israeli military announced troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the captives from northern Gaza.

The Hague-based court, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which it closed earlier this month at the start of its assault on the city.

Israel gave no indication it was preparing to change course in Rafah, insisting that the court had got it wrong.

“Israel has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, welcomed the ICJ ruling on Rafah but criticised its decision to exclude the rest of war-torn Gaza from the order.

– ‘Nothing left here’ –

Hours after the ICJ ruling, Israel carried out strikes on the Gaza Strip early Saturday while clashes between the Israeli army and the armed wing of Hamas continued.

Palestinian witnesses and AFP teams reported Israeli strikes in Rafah and the central city of Deir al-Balah.

“We hope that the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel to end this war of extermination, because there is nothing left here,” said Oum Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City displaced to Deir al-Balah by the war.

“But Israel is a state that considers itself above the law. Therefore, I do not believe that the shooting or the war will stop other than by force,” said Mohammed Saleh, also met by AFP in the central Gaza Strip city.

In its keenly awaited ruling, the ICJ said Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

It ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian aid and also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The Israeli military said the three hostages whose bodies were recovered in north Gaza on Friday — Israeli hostage Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French-Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux — were “murdered” during the October 7 attack and their bodies taken to Gaza.

– Paris meetings –

The court order comes ahead of separate meetings on the Gaza conflict in Paris between the CIA chief and Israeli representatives on one side and French President Emmanuel Macron and the foreign ministers of four key Arab states on the other.

Ceasefire talks involving US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators ended shortly after Israel launched the Rafah operation, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office this week said the war cabinet had asked the Israeli delegation “to continue negotiations for the return of the hostages”.

CIA chief Bill Burns was expected to meet Israeli representatives in Paris in a bid to relaunch negotiations, a Western source close to the issue said.

Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron received the prime minister of Qatar and the Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers on Friday “to press for a ceasefire”, according to Cairo.

The French presidency said they held talks on the Gaza war and ways to set up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The five countries discussed “the effective implementation of the two-state solution”, it added.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken also spoke with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about new efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reopening of the Rafah border crossing as soon as possible, Washington said.

– ‘End this nightmare’ –

Israeli ground troops started moving into Rafah in early May, defying global opposition.

Troops took over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, further slowing sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people.

But on Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed in a call with his US counterpart Joe Biden to allow UN aid through the other entry point into southern Gaza, the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel, the White House said.

The US military has also installed a temporary jetty on the Gaza coast to receive aid by sea that a UN spokesman said had delivered 97 trucks of aid after “a rocky start” a week ago.

The security and humanitarian situation in the territory remains alarming, with a risk of famine, hospitals out of service, and around 800,000 people, according to the United Nations, having fled Rafah in the last two weeks.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the situation had reached “a moment of clarity”.

“Aid workers and UN staff must be able to carry out their jobs in safety,” he posted on social media site X late Friday.

“At a time when the people of Gaza are staring down famine… it is more critical than ever to heed the calls made over the last seven months: Release the hostages. Agree a ceasefire. End this nightmare.”

Food bound for Gaza rots in the sun as Egypt's Rafah crossing stays shut

Heavy machinery is used to dispose of rotten eggs, part of aid packages for Gaza that had gone bad as Rafah crossing remains closed, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt on May 22, 2024.
PHOTO: Reuters

MAY 24, 2024 


AL-ARISH — Some of the food supplies waiting to enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt have begun to rot as the Rafah border crossing remains shut to aid deliveries for a third week and people inside the Palestinian territory face worsening hunger.

Rafah was a main entry point for humanitarian relief as well as some commercial supplies before Israel stepped up its military offensive on the Gazan side of the border on May 6 and took control of the crossing from the Palestinian side.

Egyptian officials and sources say humanitarian operations are at risk from military activity and that Israel needs to hand the crossing back to Palestinians before it starts operating again.

Egypt is also worried about the risk of Palestinians being displaced from Gaza.

On Friday (May 24), Egypt and the US agreed to send aid via Israel's nearby Kerem Shalom crossing until legal arrangements are made to open Rafah from the Palestinian side, the Egyptian presidency said.

That could ease the backlog of aid on the road between the Egyptian side of the crossing and the town of al-Arish, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Rafah and an arrival point for international aid donations, though too late to save some food supplies.


Read Also

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Israel defiant after World Court ruling on Gaza, vows to continue fighting



One truck driver, Mahmoud Hussein, said his goods had been loaded on his vehicle for a month, gradually spoiling in the sun. Some of the foodstuffs are being discarded, others sold of cheap.


"Apples, bananas, chicken and cheese, a lot of things have gone rotten, some stuff has been returned and is being sold for a quarter of its price," he said, crouching under his truck for shade.

"I'm sorry to say that the onions we're carrying will at best be eaten by animals because of the worms in them."

Aid deliveries for Gaza through Rafah began in late October, two weeks after the start of the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The flow of relief has often been slowed by Israeli inspections and military activity inside Gaza, aid officials say.

Supplies have been stuck in al-Arish or on the road to Rafah, incurring transport and storage fees.


A global hunger monitor has warned of imminent famine in parts of Gaza, home to 2.3 million people.
Rotten eggs

Since May 7, no trucks have crossed through Rafah and very few through Kerem Shalom, according to UN data.

Just over 900 truckloads have entered Gaza in total since that date, compared to at least 500 trucks daily that the UN says are required.

The amount of aid waiting in Egypt's northern Sinai was now very large, and some had been stuck for more than two months, said Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the area.

"Some aid packages require a certain temperature ... We coordinate on this with specialists who are highly trained in the storage of food and medical supplies," he said.


"We hope the border will reopen as soon as possible."

As of May 16, more than 2,000 UN and international NGO trucks were waiting to enter Gaza, including 1,574 carrying food supplies, according to a UN document seen by Reuters.

KSrelief, a Saudi-funded charity, has more than 350 trucks carrying items including food and medical supplies waiting, but has had to offload flour because of the risk of it rotting, the group's supervisor general Abdullah Al Rabeeah said.


Read Also

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Gaza aid piles up in Egypt, US pier delivery falters



"We pack and send but also we have to recheck. It is a big burden," he told Reuters.


Some food has been sold at cut price on the local market in northern Sinai, leading to the confiscation of stocks of rotten eggs, said local officials from Egypt's ministry of supply.

Inside Gaza, there have also been scares about the quality of delayed food deliveries that made it in before Rafah closed, or through other crossings.

Palestinian medical and police officials who used to check goods coming into Gaza had been unable to do so during Israel's offensive, said Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.

"There is a big problem as many of the goods that enter the Gaza Strip are unfit for human use and are unhealthy," he said.

"Therefore, the health ministry issued the warning statement to raise public awareness that people should examine the goods before eating them or sharing them with their families."

Israeli activists battle over Gaza-bound
aid convoys

5 hours ago
Paul Adams,

Diplomatic correspondent

BBC

The war in Gaza is being fought on many fronts.

One of them is aid.

Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys.

In recent weeks, social media has been flooded with images of aid lorries being blocked and ransacked.

Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.

“It’s important to stop the aid,” one activist says. “It’s the only way we’ll win. The only way we’ll get our hostages back.”

Many argue that Gazans should receive nothing while Israeli hostages remain in captivity, and that providing aid to Gaza merely serves to prolong the war.

In one video, a group of jubilant protesters dance and celebrate on top of a looted lorry.

In another, one of the stranded lorries is ablaze.

Other videos show Israeli vigilantes stopping lorries in Jerusalem and demanding that drivers show papers proving they are not transporting aid to Gaza. Their faces are uncovered and they appear to be acting with complete impunity.

In the West Bank, at least two drivers who were not carrying goods bound for Gaza were dragged from their cabs and beaten.

Palestinian lorry drivers say they’re traumatised.

“I’m terrified to reach the crossing point,” Adel Amro told the BBC.

“I fear for my life.”

Mr Amro was carrying commercially purchased goods from the West Bank to Gaza when he was set upon. Other targeted drivers are involved in transporting aid from Jordan, which has to cross the West Bank and Israel before it reaches Gaza.

“We’re now taking side roads, far from the main routes, because we fear the aggressiveness of the settlers,” he said.

AFP
Aid bound for Gaza has been left strewn on roads after the attacks


But after a series of well-documented attacks, some Israelis are fighting back.

Peace activists have taken to tracking their opponents’ movements on social media and making sure they’re present at key crossing points.

At Tarqumiya checkpoint, where lorries enter Israel from the southern West Bank, members of the group Standing Together are now mounting regular vigils.

Tarqumiya was the scene of one of the most dramatic recent attacks.

“People in Gaza are starving and aid should get to Gaza,” said Suf Patishi, one of Standing Together’s founding members.

“Israeli society should say in a loud and clear voice that we are opposed to these acts,” he said of the recent attacks on convoys.

“It’s not a lot to ask, not to die from hunger, you know.”

Suf Patishi is the founder of Standing Together, a group that tries to protect aid convoys

The group brings together Jews and Arabs from all over Israel.

For Nasser Odat, an Israeli Arab from Haifa, coming to Tarqumiya provided a welcome opportunity to feel useful, after more than seven months of helplessly watching the war in Gaza.

“I feel very empowered,” he said. “Now, finally, I have something to do to help. To help these people that are starving.”

As the peace activists sheltered from the fierce sun under palm trees at the centre of a roundabout, passing lorry drivers waved and sounded their horns in gratitude.

A small group of right-wing demonstrators arrived but were heavily outnumbered by Mr Patishi’s volunteers.

The two sides debated their differing positions in discussions that became increasingly heated.

Police officers stood nearby, ready to keep the opposing camps apart if it came to blows.

The peace activists have accused the police, under the control of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most hardline members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, of doing little to stop the attacks.

They say there’s evidence that settlers are receiving help from the authorities and point to text messages in which groups organising attacks on aid lorries solicit and receive help from the police and army.

Getty Images
Other Israeli groups have meanwhile tried to block border crossings to prevent aid reaching Gaza



“A lot of times the police were in the areas when attacks occur, but they didn't have someone to push them to act,” Mr Patishi said.

“And it's very sad because the police should keep the law.”

As lorries drove by, two young women waved an Israeli flag but stopped short of trying to stop the traffic.

The two, who asked to be identified as Ariel and Shira (not their real names), explained why they felt it was important to be there.

“We would prefer that we don’t have to do the blockages, honestly,” Ariel said.

“I don’t like ransacking things. It’s not one of my favourite hobbies. But we prefer that to the death of our friends and family, which is what happens the longer this war drags on."

Both women recognised that there might be starvation in Gaza, but were convinced that Hamas was stealing and stockpiling aid rather than distributing it to people in need.

And they were not worried about what sort of image of Israel was being projected by the scenes of aid lorries being stopped, ransacked and set on fire.

“It’s time to stop caring what everybody else thinks,” Shira said, “and do what’s necessary to protect my life, to protect my family.”

As for the police, Ariel was dismissive.

“They aren’t going to interfere if they aren’t certain they’re able to shut it down,” she said. “They’re not going to start something they can’t finish.”

Three Injured in the U.S. Crew Offloading at Gaza Aid Pier

Benavidez in a May 17 photo offloading at the floating pier in Gaza (CENTCOM)

PUBLISHED MAY 24, 2024 12:32 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Three members of the crew working at the Gaza aid pier were injured in an unloading accident according to a report first on ABC News. U.S. Central Command confirmed the incident with “non-combat-related injuries” to ABC News without providing specific details.

According to various sources, ABC is reporting it was a forklift accident while the MV Roy P. Benavidez, a Ro/Ro cargo ship, part of MARAD’s Ready Reserve Fleet, was offloading on the dock. The report said all three individuals were transferred to an Israeli hospital as they required more care.

ABC is quoting Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a CENTCOM deputy commander, saying that two of the individuals later returned to duty. The third individual is reported to be in critical condition and remains at the Israeli hospital. The ship is crewed by contracted merchant mariners, and it was unclear if it was this civilian crew or as ABC which referred to them as “service members.”

CENTCOM released a picture on May 18 which showed the Benavidez on the dock with large trucks carrying supplies ashore. According to the report 150 metric tons of supplies were delivered from the ship to the beach transport point on May 22. A further 185 metric tons was distributed from the transfer point to the U.N. warehouse.

 

Benavidez was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2003 (Northrop Grumman photo)

 

Completed in 2003, the Benavidez was the last of seven strategic sealift ships built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems for the U.S. Navy. The ship which had previously been deactivated, left Newport News, Virginia on March 21, 2024, as part of the Joint Logistics-Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS mission. The ship is a dry cargo surge sealift carrier capable of transporting up to 380,000 square feet of containerized cargo and rolling stock between developed ports.

Aid groups have been critical of the operation since it began saying that it had a limited capacity and was risky. CENTCOM with US AID however is emphasizing the contribution of the pier in its first week of operation. As of May 22, they reported a total of 820.5 metric tons was delivered by sea to the beach transfer point. A total of 506 metric tons they said has been distributed to the U.N. warehouse. The Republic of Cyprus along with the United Nations, is helping to coordinate the effort with CENTCOM emphasizing international donors, including the UAE, the United Kingdom, Romania, and the European Union.

Israel army: We warned Netanyahu before Hamas attack


May 24, 2024 

Relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and their supporters demonstrate demanding the government sign a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in Gaza, on May 13, 2024 [Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]


The Israeli army’s Intelligence Division says it warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu prior to 7 October that an attack was to be carried out by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

The army revealed yesterday that it had sent four warning letters between March and July 2023 “concerning how Israel’s ‘enemies’ perceived the societal divides in the State of Israel and their effect on Israel and the IDF in particular,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

However the Prime Minister’s Office denied that the letters contained details of threats, saying: “Not only is there no warning in any of the documents about Hamas’s intentions to attack Israel from Gaza, but they actually contain completely opposite assessments.”

Adding that the second letter stated that “Hamas is not interested in escalation and seeks an agreement with Israel.”

Netanayhu has repeatedly said he had not received warning about any attack from security forces. But said in an interview this month that he holds himself responsible for the 7 October failure, adding: “I think we have to examine how it happened. What was the intelligence failure?”

Palestinian factions demand serious effort to execute top UN court's decisions on Israel

Rafah crossing must be completely opened, says National and Islamic Forces Committee

25/05/2024 Saturday
AA



Palestinian factions on Saturday urged the prompt and genuine implementation of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decisions, stressing the need to avoid delays or obstructions that could absolve Israel of its responsibilities.

The National and Islamic Forces Committee, which represents the majority of Palestinian groups, issued a statement in support of the top UN court decision.

"The fascist aggression against the city of Rafah and all parts of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Territory must be stopped, and the Nazi occupation army must withdraw completely,” the committee said.

It urged all parties to "seriously and genuinely work to implement the decisions of the International Court of Justice, without procrastination or delays that could absolve the occupation of its responsibilities under various pretexts."

It asked all parties to ensure “the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Rafah crossing” and to reopen it as a “solely Palestinian-Egyptian crossing in accordance with the agreed-upon mechanisms.”

The committee cautioned "against any attempts to circumvent the decision of the International Court of Justice or legitimize the siege and occupation."

On Friday, the ICJ reaffirmed its previous orders and indicated further measures including an end to military operations in the southern city, maintaining the Rafah border crossing open and allowing access for investigators to the blockaded enclave.

ICJ President Nawaf Salam said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it.

Israel continued its brutal offensive on Gaza despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 35,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and nearly 80,300 others injured since October following an attack by Hamas.

More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

EU faces 'difficult' choice between support to rule of law or support to Israel - Borrell

By Mared Gwyn Jones

Published on 24/05/2024 -

The EU must define its stance on the International Court of Justice's call on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, Borrell said.

The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has said that the bloc faces a "difficult" choice between its support for the rule of law and its support for Israel, just minutes after the ICJ ruled Israeli forces should halt their offensive in Rafah.

Speaking during a European University Institute (EUI) event in Florence, Borrell said: "Let's see which is going to be the action of the European Union to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that has been issued today, which is going to be our position?"

"We will have to choose between our support to the international institutions and the rule of law, or our support to Israel, and both things is (sic) going to be quite difficult to make compatible," he added.

It came just minutes after the Hague-based top UN court called on Israel to "halt its military offensive in Rafah", citing that the Palestinian people were at an "immediate risk".

The UN estimates that some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering from war in the southern Gazan town, which Israel claims is Hamas' last stronghold.

Borrell also acknowledged that the EU's decision-making when it came to its response to the war in Gaza had been too sluggish due to deep rifts between EU capitals' stance on the conflict.

He called for a change to the EU's decision-making processes on foreign policy, which requires the unanimous backing of all 27 leaders.

Hungary has notably blocked or delayed key EU initiatives in response to the war, including sanctions on violent Israeli settlers as well as a joint communication calling on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to abandon plans to invade Rafah.

Borrell's opening speech was also interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters who slammed the EU's response to the devastation and loss of life in Gaza, to whom the EU's top diplomat responded: "I understand perfectly the concern being expressed."
Recognition of Palestine is 'contrary' to supporting terrorism

Reacting to the scathing Israeli criticism of Spain, Ireland and Norway's decision to recognise the State of Palestine, announced Wednesday, Borrell firmly rebuked foreign minister Israel Katz's accusation that the move would send a message that "terrorism pays."

"For me one thing is clear, recognition is not supporting Hamas," Borrell said. "And on that, I have to really contest the positions expressed by the Israeli government saying that recognition is a gift to Hamas, or supporting terrorism. Just on the contrary."

"It's unfounded, completely unfounded and unacceptable to say that recognition - be or not counter-productive - is a matter of giving gifts to Hamas or expressing anti-Semitism, nothing of that."

He affirmed that the recognition was designed to bolster the EU's support to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, seen as a counter-movement to Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

He described the Palestinian Authority as the "nucleus of a future possible Palestinian state."

Borrell named Slovenia as one of a group of EU countries that could follow Spain and Ireland's path, but acknowledged that other member states believe that the recognition comes at a "counterproductive" moment.



UN rapporteur: "Israel" will not stop its madness until international community stops it

[25/May/2024]

NEW YORK May 25. 2024 (Saba) - The United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, stressed that Israel will not stop its madness in the Gaza Strip until the international community stops it.

Albanese said in a statement published on the X platform last night that the occupation entity intensified its attacks on the city of Rafah, after the International Court of Justice ordered it to stop its military operation.

The news she receives from people trapped in the southern Gaza Strip city is "horrific", she said. It called for imposing sanctions on this entity, banning the supply of weapons, and suspending diplomatic relations with it, until it complies with the decision of the International Court of Justice.

E.M


Israeli army arrests 180 displaced Palestinians from school used as shelter in Jabalia refugee camp

Army began wide-scale military operation against camp May 12

25/05/2024 Saturday
AA


The Israeli army arrested 180 displaced Palestinians from a school used as a shelter in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, amid an ongoing military campaign in the camp, according to a prisoner group on Friday.

"The occupation forces arrested some 180 displaced from the Al-Harthani school in the northern Gaza Strip during ongoing aggression," the Prisoners Media Office NGO said in a statement.

The statement, however, did not provide details on how or which day the Palestinians were arrested.

Witnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army targeted several shelters in the camp and arrested dozens of people.


On May 12, the army started a wide-scale military operation against the camp during which it destroyed homes and forced residents to flee areas in the camp.

Israel continued its brutal offensive on Gaza despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 35,850 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and nearly 80,300 others injured since October following an attack by Hamas.

More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Italy to resume funding for UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Published: 25 May 2024 -


Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (front) welcomes her Palestinian Authority counterpart Mohammed Mustafa prior to their meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on May 25 2024. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte / AFP)

AFP

Rome: Italy said Saturday it would resume funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), as Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa made a visit to Rome.

"Italy has decided to resume financing specific projects intended for assistance to Palestinian refugees," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

Mustafa met with Tajani and then with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on what was his first trip to Europe since being appointed by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in March.

Tajani said he had informed Mustafa that Rome had "arranged new funding for the Palestinian population, of a total of 35 million euros ($38 million)".

"Of this, five million will be allocated to UNRWA," he said.

The remaining 30 million euros will be allocated to Italy's "Food for Gaza" initiative in coordination with UN aid agencies.


U.N. chief ‘trusts’ Israel will comply with ICJ order to halt Rafah assault

Israeli officials indicated they would ignore the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel “immediately halt” its military operation in Rafah.


By Kelsey Ables and Victoria Bisset
Updated May 25, 2024

The International Court of Justice ruled Friday that Israel must “immediately halt” its military operation in Rafah, citing “exceptionally grave” developments there, in a high-profile rebuke of Israel’s war in Gaza.

U.N. chief António Guterres “trusts” that Israel will comply with the ruling, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Friday. Although Guterres “has no crystal ball,” Dujarric noted that U.N. member states have a duty under the body’s charter and the World Court’s statutes to abide by the decision.

Orders from the ICJ are legally binding but can be difficult to enforce. Israeli officials indicated that they would continue military operations in Rafah and said allegations by South Africa, which brought the case to the ICJ, that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza are “false, outrageous and disgusting.”

Immediately after the ruling, there were no signs of a pause in fighting, with Palestinians reporting strikes in Rafah while video and images emerged of smoke rising over the city. In a Saturday update, the Israel Defense Forces said “operational activity in specific areas of Rafah” continued on Friday, including “close-quarters combat.”

It is not clear how the ICJ ruling will impact the situation on the ground in Rafah. The court’s orders must be enforced by the U.N. Security Council, whose five permanent members, including the United States, can veto resolutions. And even among the 13 of the 15 judges who voted in favor of a provisional measure, there were some differences in opinion over how the ruling should be interpreted.

South African judge Dire Tladi wrote that the continuation of Israeli military operations in Rafah, with the exception of “legitimate defensive actions ... to repel specific attacks,” were not permitted under the order. However, Romanian judge Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu wrote that the order to halt Israel’s military offensive in Rafah only applied “to the extent that it ‘may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.’”

At one point, the majority of Gaza’s population had sought refuge in Rafah, but more than 800,000 have fled the southern city in the past few weeks, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency. Israel’s military operation in the city is taking place despite widespread global criticism.

The Biden administration has not formally responded to the ICJ ruling. The administration has straddled a delicate line on Israel’s military actions in Rafah, stressing its opposition to a full-scale offensive there while also stating that its “red line” has not been crossed — a position that has brought it criticism from lawmakers on both sides.

Friday’s ruling is part of a broader case brought by South Africa, that accuses Israel of violating the Genocide Convention. Israel has rejected the genocide charges and has said its military action is “in accordance with its right to defend its territory and its citizens” and does not breach international law.

South Africa welcomed Friday’s ruling. In a statement, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Palestinians are facing “collective punishment for something for which they have no individual responsibility.”

A spokesperson for Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry called the decision a “positive step” toward safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, wrote on social media Saturday that ICJ orders are binding and must be “fully and effectively implemented.”

Here’s what else to know

Four U.S. Army vessels supporting the U.S.-built pier in Gaza were impacted by rough seas overnight, U.S. Central Command said Saturday. Two of the vessels are beached on the Israeli coast, while two others are anchored by the pier, according to Centcom. “No injuries have been reported and the pier remains fully functional,” Centcom added in its statement.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani agreed to reinstate funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Italian media reported Saturday, months after a number of countries suspended contributions over Israeli allegations that several of UNRWA staff members took part in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. According to Italian media, Tajani said after a meeting with the Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa that his government had approved 35 million euros ($38 million) in additional funding for Palestinians, including 5 million euros for UNRWA, which would be subject to “rigorous checks.”

Egypt agreed to temporarily lift its ban on aid passing through its territory that would enter Gaza via Israel, Cairo and Washington announced Friday. The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been the main thoroughfare for aid during the war, but that flow has virtually ceased since Israel took control of the Palestinian side earlier this month. Egypt responded by prohibiting international humanitarian aid from transiting its territory on its way to the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the only other entry point into southern Gaza.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees warned that the border crossing closures have already had a serious impact. “Certain laboratory and dental items and vaccines are out of stock,” with “antibiotics for children and anti-epileptic drugs” also affected, as disruptions at the crossings meant U.N. health centers received no medical supplies for 12 days straight, UNRWA said in a Friday update.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution condemning rising attacks on humanitarian workers and agency personnel. The resolution, which did not name any country in particular, demands that “all parties” to a conflict comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law. It passed with 14 members voting in favor and Russia abstaining.

At least 35,903 people have been killed and 80,420 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 282 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.

Cate Brown, Hazem Balousha, Jarrett Ley, Louisa Loveluck and Ellen Francis contributed to this report.

Net zero U-turns will hit UK infrastructure, say government advisers

Fiona Harvey, Gwyn Topham and Jillian Ambrose
Thu, 16 May 2024 at 12:00 am GMT-6·5-min read

Rishi Sunak’s changes to key policies had created uncertainty and delay, said Armitt.Photograph: UK Parliament/AFP/Getty Images


Rishi Sunak’s U-turns over net zero have delayed progress on vital infrastructure that is needed for economic growth, the government’s advisers have said.

Sir John Armitt, the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), said good progress had been made on renewable energy in the past five years, but changes to key policies, including postponing a scheme to boost heat pump takeup, had created uncertainty and delay.

He said the government could no longer “duck key decisions”, as Britain was falling behind on vital infrastructure, from rail transport and energy to water, flood defences and waste.


Failure to catch up would stymie economic growth, and imperil climate targets, the NIC found in its latest annual review.

Since last September, when he watered down key net zero policies, Sunak has repeatedly referred to the need to be “pragmatic” on net zero.

Armitt said: “I can understand the need to seek to be pragmatic, but every time you seek to be pragmatic you take your foot off the gas and you provide an encouragement to people to say: ‘Well, do I really need to do this?’

“The message clearly has to be that this is something we’ve got to do if we believe in our carbon targets.”

He said heat pumps in particular, which the NIC found to be the only viable alternative to gas boilers for home heating, must be a top priority.

The NIC found:

The government will fail to meet its targets on heat pump rollout.


The promised lifting of a ban on new onshore windfarms has not gone far enough.


Massive investment is needed in the electricity grid.


There is no proper plan for rail in the north and Midlands now that the northern leg of HS2 has been cancelled, severely inhibiting economic growth in those regions.


Water bills will need to go up to fix the sewage crisis, and more reservoirs are needed to avoid drought, while water companies have done too little to staunch leaks.


The UK lacks a coherent strategy on flooding, with more than 900,000 properties at risk of river or sea flooding and 910,000 at risk of surface water flooding.


Good progress has been made on the rollout of gigabit broadband around the country.

Armitt called for this government, and the next, to act swiftly. “It’s not too late to catch up in many of the areas we’ve highlighted, if the goals are matched with policies of sufficient scale. But the window is closing,” he said.

“Ducking big decisions over the next 12 months will put the major goals of net zero, regional economic growth, and environmental protection in jeopardy,” he warned.

Greater investment was needed in public transport, the NIC found. Uniquely in Europe, the UK’s second and third cities showed lower economic productivity than the national average, largely because of poor transport links, the review found.

The axing of the next phases of the HS2 high-speed rail project left a “critical gap” in rail connectivity between the Midlands and the north, with northern cities likely to “remain poorly served” without further investment.

Given long-term growth in demand “a do-nothing scenario north of the proposed connection of HS2 and the west coast mainline at Handsacre is not sustainable”, the report found.

The target of rolling out 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 to reach 7m homes by 2035 was way off track, the report found, while putting off a decision on hydrogen for home heating until 2026 had created uncertainty.

The next government should end new connections to Britain’s gas network from 2025, and ban the sale of new gas boilers for homes and fossil fuel heating in large commercial buildings by 2035, according to the report. It also called on the government to rule out subsidies for hydrogen heating.Interactive

These commitments should be underpinned by steps designed to make heat pumps more affordable for households, including sufficient funding, and a plan to shift the burden of policy costs from electricity bills to either gas bills or into general taxation.

Armitt stopped short of calling for force-fitting heat pumps and smart meters in a street-by-street programme – put forward earlier this month by Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of British Gas parent company Centrica – saying it was difficult to do “from top down” while maintaining public trust. He added that other low-carbon home heating options – such as heat networks – should also be considered in areas where they made sense.

The greatest challenge to the UK’s green electricity goals, according to the review, is the need to upgrade the country’s transmission infrastructure. The bottleneck of renewable projects waiting to connect to the grid has already increased costs for households. By 2030, network constraint costs are estimated to rise to between £1.4bn and £3bn a year, unless grid capacity is expanded.

A government spokesperson said: “We’re making sure we have the infrastructure we need to grow the economy, improve people’s lives, and tackle climate change – having already increased electricity generated from renewable sources to nearly half in 2023, giving more powers to cities to build the transport they need, and providing billions to tackle potholes up and down the country.”


Window closing to deliver infrastructure that will improve lives, advisers warn

Emily Beament and Neil Lancefield, PA
Wed, 15 May 2024

The window is closing to deliver infrastructure to improve people’s lives, boost growth and tackle climate change, Government advisers have warned.

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) said there are “significant deficiencies” in the UK’s infrastructure, including a failure to build reservoirs, too many homes at risk of flooding and under-investment in regional transport.

Commission chairman Sir John Armitt said it is a critical period for making decisions on things that are of immediate concern to the public, which he characterised as the three Ps of “prices, potholes and pollution”.

The Government will need to increase public investment in infrastructure and boost private investment – which in a globally competitive market requires stable policy to attract investors, the commission argued.

The Government must make faster decisions and commit to them in the long term, with robust implementation plans and action to remove barriers that slow down delivery and increase the costs of infrastructure.

It has warned public funding will need to reach around £30 billion a year over the coming decades, from around £20 billion a year in the past decade, while private investment will need to rise to around £50 billion a year.

In an annual review of progress, the advisory body said the Government had faced several years of disruption from shocks such as the pandemic and the energy crisis.

It now needs to accelerate planning and delivery to catch up and ensure the country’s infrastructure is fit for purpose, to cut emissions to net zero, boost regional growth and make the UK more resilient to climate change.

Sir John said: “A window remains to ensure that practical delivery plans are in place, backed up by the necessary public and private funding, to help achieve economic and environmental goals that will improve life for British households.

“But the window is closing, at least if we don’t want to delay those benefits and compound the disruption of recent years.”

The commission said there are still unacceptably high levels of water pollution, and investment decisions are needed to enable “transformational change” in the sector – that would require some bill increases – to address sewage and drainage problems.

The commission warns the take-up of heat pumps for home heating systems has been too slow (Alamy/PA)

It called for action to enable new reservoirs, tackle too-high levels of leaks and reduce water demand, warning they are the only ways of reducing the risk of severe drought and avoiding consumers having to pay for emergency supply measures.

On flooding, the commission warned current funding is not being strategically directed, with no long-term targets to measure progress against.

Flood risk is worsening due to poor planning for new development and “unmanaged” growth in hard surfacing that stops water draining away.

The report also warned the UK remains “too reliant” on high cost, high carbon natural gas, but it could move away from fossil fuels and have decarbonised and secure energy.

Moving away from gas heating will be essential for reducing carbon emissions in homes, as well as improving air quality and permanently reducing heating costs for households, the report said.

The solution for cutting emissions from most homes is heat pumps, but the Government is not on track to roll out 600,000 of the clean heating systems a year by 2028, it said.

Last minute policy changes on heating have reduced the incentives for people to install heat pumps, while uncertainty over the role of hydrogen has also contributed to slow progress away from fossil fuel heating.

Sir John Armitt is chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission (PA)

The Government should rule out supporting hydrogen for heating and set out long-term funding and 0% financing to support deployment of heat pumps and heat networks, it argued.

The cost of electricity has to be rebalanced to make electric heating more cost effective, and there should also be further moves to boost renewables such as onshore wind projects.

On transport infrastructure, the NIC found Government plans for schemes to boost connectivity using money saved from scrapping HS2 north of Birmingham need “greater specificity” regarding their “scope, cost, benefits and schedule”.

The commission’s analysis also suggested there are “key corridors which will remain poorly served”, such as from Birmingham to Manchester and the rest of north-west England.

Capacity and connectivity north of Birmingham “cannot be materially improved” without further infrastructure investment, the report added.

Devolution needs to be expanded to give all local authorities with responsibility for local transport five-year funding settlements to enable more stable planning for road maintenance and other priorities

In a “mixed” report which highlighted good progress on the rollout of digital networks, there is also a warning that recycling rates have stagnated and emissions from waste remains too high, with a call for implementing reforms to meet the target to recycle 65% of rubbish by 2035.

James Heath, NIC chief executive, said the report reiterates a package of measures outlined in the commission’s second assessment last year for the next five years which is “deliverable and affordable”.

He added: “It’s the package that is necessary to close the gap in the UK between the infrastructure assets we have today and those we’re going to need in the future.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We’re making sure we have the infrastructure we need to grow the economy, improve people’s lives, and tackle climate change – having already increased electricity generated from renewable sources to nearly half in 2023, giving more powers to cities to build the transport they need, and providing billions to tackle potholes up and down the country.

“And we’re building on this by setting out our long-term plan for transport through our £36 billion Network North plan, while putting billions more investment into the low carbon transition, including through our Boiler Upgrade Scheme – which is one of the most generous in Europe.”

UK airline emissions on track to reach record high in 2024


Gwyn Topham

 Transport correspondent

THE GUARDIAN

Fri, 19 April 2024

Ryanair emitted 13.5% more CO2 in 2023 and easyJet was up by 4.8%.

Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Emissions from UK flights are rapidly returning to pre-pandemic levels, with CO2 pollution from aviation on track to reach a record high this year.

The increase means the sector may breach a key plank of the government’s Jet Zero strategy, which pledged to not surpass 2019 figures on the way to reaching net zero emissions from aviation by 2050.

Several airlines are already emitting more than ever before, according to analysis from the campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) based on UK and EU carbon reporting and other flight data.

Related: Campaigners warn over failure to curb Europe’s ‘runaway’ transport emissions


It estimates that Ryanair emitted 13.5% more CO2 in 2023 than it did in 2019, with easyJet up by 4.8% and Jet2.com up by 26.3%. British Airways was still by far the UK’s most polluting airline, although its emissions remain 18% below 2019 levels.

Last year, 940,000 flights departed from UK airports, emitting a total of 32 mn tonnes of CO2, 89% of 2019 levels, according to T&E. It said there had been remarkable levels of growth in comparison to 2022 alone, with long-haul flight emissions 28% higher, and that the data suggested aviation emissions could reach a record high in 2024.

BA, Ryanair and easyJet have announced continued planned expansion of between 7% and 9% for 2024.

Although the newer planes with lower fuel consumption ordered by airlines such as Ryanair mean they have boasted of lower emissions for each passenger, the rapid growth in traffic means their overall pollution figures are growing inexorably.

As well as warning that the UK government’s Jet Zero roadmap towards more sustainable aviation risks going off course well before 2050, T&E urged policymakers to reconsider how airlines are taxed given the limitations of the emissions trading scheme (ETS).

The UK’s ETS only covers flights wholly within the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland. That means that long-haul flights in and out of the UK – accounting for the majority of emissions – escape without charge while domestic or European flights pay for each tonne of CO2.

British Airways, whose emissions grew an estimated 25% in 2023, pays less under the ETS than easyJet or Ryanair, despite producing almost three times as much CO2 because of its long-haul network. Virgin Atlantic, which only flies to destinations outside Europe, paid nothing at all in ETS. Wizz Air paid £34.23 for each tonne of CO2 emitted, according to T&E.

BA would have paid another £350m annually under an ETS system that included long-haul flights, T&E added.

Ryanair itself has called for an overhaul of the system, demanding the extension of the UK and EU ETS to all flights. However, reform of the scheme to include long-haul flights has proved difficult in the past, with the US and China threatening to derail previous EU attempts to find a fairer global solution.

Future additional emissions from all flights will be liable for offsets under the Corsia system agreed by the UN body, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), before the pandemic – but it is not mandatory worldwide until 2027 and campaigners fear the impact will be negligible due to the likely cost to airlines.

T&E has called for a kerosene tax. Matt Finch, the UK policy manager at T&E, said: “Some airlines had their most polluting year ever in 2023, and there is a good chance that many more will get that badge of dishonour in 2024.

“The UK government is apparently committed to charging polluters to help pay the clean-up costs they cause, but it is wilfully ignoring charging airlines, despite their growing climate impact. That’s the directly opposite approach they’re taking to the nation’s drivers at the petrol pump.”

The Department for Transport was approached for comment.

A BA spokesperson said: “As this report recognises, [our] emission levels are below where they were in 2019. We are proud of the 10% reduction in our carbon intensity we’ve delivered since 2019 and are working hard towards our target of net zero by 2050.”

Ambulance driver killed while aiding Palestinians injured in attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank

Mia Alberti, Abeer Salman, Eyad Kourdi and Tim Lister, CNN
Sat, April 20, 2024 a

An ambulance driver from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society was killed while transporting Palestinians injured in an attack by settlers in the West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

The 50-year-old driver, Mohammed Awad Allah Mohammed Musa, was killed when the ambulance was hit by gunfire, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) told CNN. Israeli settlers fired the shots, it said.

In a separate incident the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) detained another ambulance crew at the entrance of the Thabet Thabet hospital in Tulkarm, West Bank, the PRCS reported.

In pictures shared by the organization, the ambulance crew is seen siting inside an IDF vehicle while surrounded by IDF soldiers. PRCS says the crew was detained and interrogated while trying to carry out “humanitarian work.”

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

IDF soldiers detain an ambulance crew at the entrance of the Thabet Thabet hospital in Tulkarm, West Bank. The ambulance crew is seen siting inside an IDF vehicle while surrounded by soldiers. - Palestinian Red Crescent Society

Earlier on Saturday, the IDF said security forces had killed “10 terrorists” in an ongoing operation at the Nur Shams refugee camp, just East of Tulkarm, in the occupied West Bank.

It said in a statement that “IDF and Israel Border Police forces are continuing extensive counterterrorism activity in the area of Nur Shams. Thus far, the security forces eliminated 10 terrorists during encounters, apprehended eight wanted suspects, exposed explosive devices and routes, and conducted searches in structures.”

It said eight IDF soldiers and one Border Force officer were lightly or moderately injured.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health condemned both the detention of the ambulance crew and “the deliberate killing of an ambulance driver…on Saturday evening, while he was performing his humanitarian duty in transporting (people with) injuries from settler gunfire near the town of Al-Sawiya, south of Nablus.”

The ministry said in a statement that it “urgently calls on international health organizations, human rights institutions, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently act to curb the escalating practices of the occupation and settlers against treatment centers and medical crews, and to allow them to perform their humanitarian duty.”

“The targeting of medics, ambulances, treatment centers, medical staff, obstructing their movement, and preventing them from reaching the wounded, constitutes a blatant and clear violation of international humanitarian law and international norms and treaties,” the ministry said.

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More than 14 Palestinians killed as violence flares in West Bank

Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi
Updated Sat, April 20, 2024 
   

NUR SHAMS, West Bank (Reuters) -Israeli forces killed 14 Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, while an ambulance driver was killed as he went to pick up wounded from a separate attack by violent Jewish settlers, Palestinian authorities said.

Israeli forces began an extended raid in the early hours of Friday in the Nur Shams area, near the flashpoint Palestinian city of Tulkarm and were still exchanging fire with armed fighters well into Saturday.


Israeli military vehicles massed and bursts of gunfire were heard, while at least three drones were seen hovering above Nur Shams, an area housing refugees and their descendants from the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel.

The Tulkarm Brigades, which groups forces from numerous Palestinian factions, said its fighters exchanged fire with Israeli forces on Saturday.

The West Bank, a kidney shaped area about 100 km (60 miles) long and 50 km wide that has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since it was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Gaza war has overshadowed continuing violence in the territory, including regular army raids on militant groups, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages, and street attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.

Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds killed during regular operations by Israeli army and police since the start of the Gaza war, most members of armed groups, but also stone-throwing youths and uninvolved civilians.

On Saturday, Palestinian health authorities said at least 14 Palestinians, two of whom were identified by Palestinian sources and officials as a gunman and a 16 year-old boy, were killed during the raid, one of the heaviest casualty totals in the West Bank in months. Another man was killed on Friday.

The Israeli military said a number of militants were killed or arrested during the raid, and at least four soldiers were wounded in exchanges of fire.

In a separate incident, the Palestinian health ministry said a 50-year-old ambulance driver was killed by Israeli gunfire near the village of Al-Sawiya, south of the city of Nablus, as he was making his way to transport people injured during the attack on the village.

It was not immediately clear whether he was shot by settlers. There was no immediate comment from the military.

GAZA STRIKES CONTINUE

In Gaza, where fighting has continued despite the withdrawal of most of Israel's combat forces earlier this month from southern areas, the death toll passed 34,000, Palestinian health authorities said on Saturday.

Israeli strikes hit the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians are sheltering, as well as Al-Nuseirat in central Gaza, where at least five houses were destroyed, and the Al-Jabalia area in the north, health officials and Hamas media said.

In Rafah, a strike hit a house and killed a father, daughter and pregnant mother, Hamas and Palestinian media outlets said. Doctors at the Kuwaiti hospital were able to save the baby, medics said, making the baby the family's only surviving member.

Five other Palestinians were killed in a separate Israeli air strike on the city before midnight, health officials said.

The Israeli military said troops were carrying out raids in central Gaza, where they were engaged in close quarter combat with Palestinian fighters.

Overall, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed 37 Palestinians and wounded 68 over the past 24 hours, Palestinian health authorities said.

Rafah is the last Gaza area that Israeli ground forces have not entered in a more than six-month war aimed at eliminating the Islamist Hamas group that rules the enclave, following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, that killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced wide international opposition to the plan to attack Rafah, where the military says the last remaining organised brigades of Hamas are located and where the remaining 133 Israeli hostages are believed to be held.

(Nidal al-Mughrabi reported from Cairo, additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and James Mackenzie in Jerusalem, editing by Mark Heinrich, Frances Kerry, Mike Harrison, Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)

Two Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in fresh West Bank violence

FRANCE 24
Sat, April 20, 2024



Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The Israeli army said it had “neutralised” two assailants who had attempted to stab and shoot troops. The deadly incident comes after at least 14 people were killed during a multi-day Israeli raid further north in the West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday. Read our liveblog to follow today's developments in the Middle East.

Summary:

Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed at least 13 people, including nine children, health officials said Sunday.


Israeli forces killed at least 14 Palestinians during a multi-day raid in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday. An ambulance driver was also killed as he went to pick up wounded from a separate attack by Jewish settlers, the Palestinian health ministry said.


The US House of Representatives approved a $26 billion military aid package for Israel on Saturday that includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza.


The US House of Representatives passed billions of dollars in new military aid to Israel which continues to prosecute its war against Hamas, despite growing international concern for the fate of civilians in Gaza.


(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)

US sanctions ally of Israeli minister, entities backing 'extremist' settlers

Simon Lewis
Updated Fri, April 19, 2024 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on an ally of Israel's far-right national security minister and two entities that raised money for Israeli men accused of settler violence, the latest actions aimed against those Washington blames for an escalation of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The sanctions, in addition to those already imposed on five settlers and two unauthorized outposts already this year, are the latest sign of growing U.S. frustration with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The moves on Friday, which freeze any U.S. assets held by those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them, hit two organizations that launched fundraising campaigns to support settlers accused of violence and targeted by previous sanctions, the Department of the Treasury said in a statement.

The Biden administration's moves against Israeli settlers have upset right-wing members of Netanyahu's governing coalition who support the expansion of Jewish settlements and ultimately the annexation of the West Bank, where Palestinians envisage a future state.

They come as the complex relationship between Washington and its ally Israel is tested by the war in Gaza and as the Biden administration urges Israel to show restraint in responding to retaliatory strikes by Iran.

Washington sanctioned Ben-Zion Gopstein, founder and leader of the right-wing group Lehava, which opposes Jewish assimilation with non-Jews and agitates against Arabs in the name of religion and national security. Gopstein has said Lehava has 5,000 members.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said members of the group had engaged in "destabilizing violence affecting the West Bank."

"Under Gopstein’s leadership, Lehava and its members have been involved in acts or threats of violence against Palestinians, often targeting sensitive or volatile areas," Miller said in a statement, warning of additional steps if Israel does not take measures to prevent extremist attacks amid an escalation of violence in the West Bank in recent days.

The European Union also said on Friday it had agreed to take sanctions against Lehava and other groups linked to violent settlers.

A spokesperson for Israel's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gopstein, the most prominent Israeli figure targeted by U.S. sanctions, is a close associate of and has family ties to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who himself lives in a West Bank settlement.

Ben-Gvir, like Gopstein, was a disciple of the late Meir Kahane, an ultranationalist rabbi whose Kach movement was listed by Washington as a specially designated global terrorist organization.

Ben-Gvir on Friday slammed what he called harassment against Lehava and "our dear settlers who have never engaged in terrorism or hurt anyone," labeling the allegations against them a "blood libel" by Palestinian groups and anarchists.

"I call on Western countries to stop cooperating with these antisemites and end this campaign of persecution against the pioneering Zionist settlers," Ben-Gvir said in a statement released by his office.

CROWDFUNDING

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and Biblical ties to the land.

The Biden administration in February said settlements were inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to long-standing U.S. policy on the issue that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

One entity targeted on Friday, Mount Hebron Fund, launched an online fundraising campaign that raised $140,000 for settler Yinon Levi, the Treasury said, after he was sanctioned on Feb. 1 for leading a group of settlers that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burned their fields and destroyed their property.

It said the second entity, Shlom Asiraich, raised $31,000 on a crowdfunding website for David Chai Chasdai, who the United States sanctioned for initiating and leading a riot that included setting vehicles and buildings on fire and causing damage to property in the Palestinian town of Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.

“These types of enforcement actions against entities helping violent settlers evade U.S. sanctions are what give sanctions teeth," said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director of research for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now, a human rights group that has highlighted efforts by supporters to evade sanctions against settlers.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis; additional reporting by Henriette Chacar and David Ljunggren, editing by Susan Heavey, Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa Babington)



EU sanctions extremist Israeli settlers over violence in the West Bank

Mared Gwyn Jones

euronews
Fri, April 19, 2024

EU sanctions extremist Israeli settlers over violence in the West Bank


A  political agreement on the move emerged among the bloc's 27 member countries last month, but technical work has delayed its implementation, prompting many countries - such as France and Belgium - to unilaterally impose national sanctions.

Some 490,000 Israelis live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which are considered a breach of international law. Attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territory have surged since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas last October, causing around 460 deaths, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Four individuals and two entities responsible for settler violence will as of Friday be blacklisted under the EU's human rights sanctions regime, meaning they will be banned from travelling to the bloc and their financial assets frozen.

The sanctioned entities are Lehava, a far-wing Jewish supremacist organisation, and Hilltop Youth, whose activities were recently halted by the Israeli Defense Forces for multiple incidents of violence and abuses against Palestinian civilians.

Two leading figures of Hilltop Youth, Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered, are also targeted.

The move comes amid escalating violence in the West Bank, where tensions have deepened since a 14-year-old boy from a settler family was killed last Saturday.

NGO Human Rights Watch says Israeli settlers are displacing Palestinian communities by destroying their homes, and are responsible for assaults, torture and sexual violence against Palestinians.

The EU's high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, has previously said that settler violence is one of the biggest obstacles to future peace in the region since settlers oppose the two-state solution which would give statehood to Palestinians.

The bloc has also repeatedly censured Benjamin Netanyahu's government for backing projects aimed at expanding settlements in the West Bank and areas around Jerusalem, and called for such decisions to be reversed.

In January, several members of the Israeli government joined a far-right conference promoting the construction of Jewish settlements in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The formal approval of the sanctions also comes as the bloc carefully calibrates its stance on the Middle East conflict following a rapid escalation in tensions between Israel and Iran.

Since Iran launched an unprecedented aerial attack on Israeli territory last Saturday, EU leaders have doubled down on their stance of solidarity with Israel but also urged Netanyahu's cabinet to exercise restraint.

Some capitals, however, want Brussels to toughen its stance on Netanyahu. Spain and Ireland have led calls to review the bloc's trade deal with Israel - the Association Agreement - to exert pressure on its government to exercise restraint in its Gaza offensive.

On Friday, Belgium's deputy prime minister Petra De Sutter claimed Belgium would "take the lead" to "re-evaluate" the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

"We call for an EU-wide import duty on products coming from illegal Israeli settlements," De Sutter said.

A note drafted by the EEAS - the EU's diplomatic arm - last December urged the EU to "enforce continued, full and effective implementation of existing EU legislation and bilateral arrangements applicable to settlements products."

Under EU legislation, Israeli products made by settlers should be clearly labelled as such and subject to less preferential customs arrangements, but the rules are not strictly enforced.

Aftermath of an Israeli raid at Nur Shams camp