Frankly Speaking: How big is Gaza’s humanitarian crisis?

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Updated 20 November 2023
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Frankly Speaking: How big is Gaza’s humanitarian crisis?

Frankly Speaking: How big is Gaza’s humanitarian crisis?
  • UNRWA director of communications demands immediate ceasefire to allow unimpeded aid agency operations
  • Juliette Touma says not even UN facilities and hospitals spared by Israeli military as it tightens grip on enclave
  • Describing level and volume of destruction as “just huge,” she insists “it is time for this war to come to an end”

DUBAI: A UN relief official mourning the loss of over 100 colleagues is demanding an immediate ceasefire to relieve Gaza from its five weeks of “hell,” warning that “no place is safe” as Israel tightens its siege of the impoverished Palestinian enclave.

Juliette Touma, director of communications at the UN Relief and Works Agency, also says that Israeli restrictions on the flow of fuel have become its latest “weapon of war” impeding the aid agency’s capacity to operate.

“It is unacceptable for a UN agency the size of ours, or any humanitarian agency, to be begging for fuel,” she said on the Arab News current-affairs show “Frankly Speaking,” adding: “This is unacceptable, in fact, unbelievable, because we need fuel for humanitarian purposes, and we’ve not had fuel for the past five weeks.”

Recently, UNRWA announced that it would be forced to stop its life-saving work at Gaza because it no longer has access to fuel. This means for the first time in 75 years, the largest aid agency operating out of Gaza is no longer able to cater to the 780,000 Palestinians that it has been offering shelter to.

On Wednesday Israel permitted 24,000 liters of diesel to cross into Gaza from Egypt but with the provisos that the fuel should neither be used in hospitals nor to service UN aid trucks operating in Gaza.




Speaking to Katie Jensen, host of “Frankly Speaking,” Juliette Touma, director of communications at the UN Relief and Works Agency, said Israeli restrictions on the flow of fuel have become its latest “weapon of war” impeding the aid agency’s capacity to operate. (AN Photo)

“What happened recently with this very tiny shipment of fuel, will only allow us to bring in the supplies. And then what do we do? We just sit there and look at the supplies? We need to distribute them,” she said.

“For that, we need fuel, and we need it urgently, not only for UNRWA, but for other humanitarian organizations working on the ground in Gaza. If not, then people will die.”

Fuel shortages are also hitting communications services. Palestinian telecommunication company Paltel gave warning on Wednesday that with its generators running dry, it had just a few days left before it too would be forced to stop operations. And, before coming on air, Touma received word of “another total (communications) blackout,” the fourth since the war began.

“The issue of telecommunications is extremely severe,” said Touma. “Blackouts mean we lose contact with our colleagues on the ground. People inside Gaza lose contact with each other. They will not be able to call ambulances. The ambulances cannot reach them because there is no fuel. And they feel further and further isolated and abandoned and cut off from each other and from the rest of the world.”

In an effort to improve the situation on the ground, the White House recently announced that it had negotiated a daily four-hour pause in the fighting, apparently to ease the flow of aid. But according to Touma, it simply is not enough, as she stressed what was “really, really, really needed” is a ceasefire.

“It has been five weeks of hell for people in Gaza,” she said. “It’s time for a ceasefire. It’s time for the siege to be lifted. It’s time for supplies to go in on a regular basis. It’s time. It’s overdue. For the sake of our humanity and whatever is left of our humanity, there has to be a ceasefire. There has to be.”

So far, those calls for a ceasefire have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, continuing with its purported efforts to rout Hamas, the Israeli Defense Forces have stepped up attacks on critical Gazan infrastructure, with a series of strikes against its largest medical facility Al-Shifa Hospital, followed by IDF forces storming the hospital grounds. This despite the prohibition of attacks on hospitals under the rules of armed conflict.




People search for survivors and the bodies of victims through buildings that were destroyed during Israeli bombardment, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 25, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. AFP)

Condemning such a flagrant violation of international law, Touma said alongside its usual duties, Al-Shifa Hospital was sheltering tens of thousands of people at the time of the IDF assault. Even before the raid, she said that efforts to properly source the hospital had been hobbled, with UNRWA only having reached it three weeks into the conflict.

“We only had a breakthrough a couple of weeks ago with the World Health Organization, where we finally were allowed to get to Al-Shifa and deliver much-needed medical supplies and emergency medicines,” Touma said. “But that was it. In more than a month, this is what we were allowed to do. Medical facilities, hospitals included, are protected by international law, and they should be protected at all times, including during conflict.”

Asked if she or her colleagues or associates had seen any evidence that Hamas is using Al-Shifa Hospital as a base, Touma declined to comment, saying: “I do not have the information and … we are not military experts.”

Compounding Touma’s anger are the personal losses she and the wider UNRWA team have suffered. Among the more than 11,500 killed so far killed in the conflict are 103 of her colleagues, marking it as the deadliest for the UN in its 78-year history. Each day, she added, another member of the team seems to die, with those updates the “most horrific” that she receives.

“When that list comes in, my heart starts pounding, really, because it’s the most dreadful news to know that yet another colleague was killed under really, really horrific circumstances,” said Touma. “Many of those colleagues of ours were killed with their families. We have whole families being wiped out in different parts of the Gaza Strip since this started. So, it is really horrific.”

Indeed, this week saw UN flags around the world lowered to half-mast in memory of those lost. In Gaza, however, the decision was made to keep the flag flying as a sign of how dedicated UNRWA was to the mission its colleagues sacrificed their lives for.




A man speaks with a worker of UNRWA outside one of their vehicles parked in the playground of an UNRWA-run school that has been converted into a shelter for displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 25, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)

“It is our dedication to the communities who came to take shelter and protection under the very same UN flag. And it’s an honor to them,” Touma told Katie Jensen, the host of “Frankly Speaking.”

“It’s a show of commitment that UNRWA is there to help to the (highest) degree possible, knowing how many challenges we are facing day in, day out. (But) we are not able to do the very minimum we’re supposed to do for the people who came to seek shelter with us.”

Failing to provide shelter, though, is very much in keeping with Israel’s perceived disregard for the laws of war, with UN agencies also being hit by IDF munitions. Last week alone, the Israeli navy hit an UNRWA guest house, which sleeps its staff, in Rafah three times. Leaving Israel’s claim that southern Gaza offered safe haven for displaced Palestinians in tatters.

“Nowhere is safe. Nowhere is safe in Gaza, not the north, not the middle areas, not the southern areas,” Touma said. “There’s this myth going around that the south is safer. That’s not true.  One third of our colleagues who were killed, they were killed in the middle areas and in the southern areas.

“Of the facilities, the UNRWA facilities that were impacted and damaged during the war, more than 70 percent were not in the north. They were in the south. They were in the middle areas. So, nowhere is safe and no place has been spared. Not even UN facilities, not even hospitals.”

Amid all this, Touma’s team are somehow expected to work. Noting its increasing mental and emotional toll, she said that everyone at UNRWA is “shell-shocked at what is happening,” pointing to both the volume and speed of the level of destruction occurring in Gaza.




When asked by Jensen about the need for a ceasefire in Gaza, Touma said it was “time for a ceasefire in Gaza, it has got to come to an end.” (AN Photo)

“It’s beyond belief and it’s unprecedented,” continued Touma. “And the exodus that we have seen over the past few days, this river of people, people moving from the north of Gaza, including Gaza City, toward other areas, the middle and the south, this exodus for many, many people meant either reliving the trauma of 1948 or living through the traumas and the war of 1948 that their parents, their ancestors lived through.”

Yet there is also a third group. Survivors of 1948 who were never forced to leave. This group is now facing up to the barbarity of being displaced and “forced to leave their homes.” In Touma’s view, it is important to highlight the trauma.

It is a fact that there is a tendency to “undermine” the impact of trauma on survivors of conflict, she said, but it is “something that will accompany people for years to come.”

Asked whether UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini was right to urge the Arab League to push for a ceasefire — and whether Israel was willing to listen —Touma’s response was unequivocal.

“We need to knock on every door and leave no stone unturned, and continue with the advocacy, continue with the efforts so that we are reaching a ceasefire,” she said.

“This is what is very much needed at the moment. So, all efforts need to be exerted to reach that. It is time for a ceasefire in Gaza. It has got to come to an end. The level of destruction and the volume of destruction is just huge. It is time for this war to come to an end.”

 

 


Red Cross chief arrives in Gaza, says suffering ‘intolerable’

Red Cross chief arrives in Gaza, says suffering ‘intolerable’
Updated 04 December 2023
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Red Cross chief arrives in Gaza, says suffering ‘intolerable’

Red Cross chief arrives in Gaza, says suffering ‘intolerable’

GENEVA: The Red Cross president arrived in war-torn Gaza on Monday, calling for the protection of civilians in the Palestinian territory, where she warned that human suffering was “intolerable.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross said ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric’s travel to the region would happen in several stages with “a visit to Israel expected over the coming weeks.”

“I have arrived in Gaza, where people’s suffering is intolerable,” Spoljaric said on X, formerly Twitter.

“It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza, and with a military siege in place there is also no adequate humanitarian response currently possible,” she added in an ICRC statement.

Spoljaric, whose organization has faced criticism from both sides in the conflict for not providing adequate help to Israeli hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, insisted that “all those deprived of liberty must be treated humanely.”

“The hostages must be released, and the ICRC must be allowed to safely visit them,” she said.

Her visit comes after full-scale fighting resumed Friday following the collapse of a week-long truce brokered by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, during which Israel and Hamas exchanged scores of hostages and prisoners.

“The last week provided a small degree of humanitarian respite, a positive glimpse of humanity that raised hopes around the world that a path to reduced suffering could now be found,” Spoljaric said in the statement.

“As a neutral actor, the ICRC stands ready to support further humanitarian agreements that reduce suffering and heartbreak.”


Netanyahu graft trial resumes in Israel in midst of Gaza war

Netanyahu graft trial resumes in Israel in midst of Gaza war
Updated 04 December 2023
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Netanyahu graft trial resumes in Israel in midst of Gaza war

Netanyahu graft trial resumes in Israel in midst of Gaza war

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial resumed on Monday, despite the country’s continuing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The trial was suspended after the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 more kidnapped according to Israeli officials.

Netanyahu, leader of Israel’s right-wing Likud party, is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, allegations he denies.

Minister David Amsalem of Likud called the resumption of proceedings during the war “a disgrace.”

“War? Captives? ... No, no. The most important thing now is to renew Netanyahu’s trial,” said Amsalem on Sunday on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Netanyahu and his allies have argued the accusations against him are politically motivated and had proposed a judicial overhaul that would have curbed some powers held by the courts.

The high-profile trial is expected to last several more months. An appeal process, if necessary, could take years.

In one of three cases the trial encompasses, prosecutors allege a plot between Netanyahu and the controlling shareholder of Israel’s Bezeq telecom giant to exchange regulatory favors for positive coverage on a news site owned by the firm. A second case relates to Netanyahu’s relationship with Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and other wealthy personalities.

According to prosecutors, between 2007 and 2016 Netanyahu allegedly received gifts valued at 700,000 shekels ($195,000), including boxes of cigars, bottles of champagne and jewelry, in exchange for financial or personal favors.

Netanyahu, who is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to stand trial, denies any wrongdoing, saying gifts were only accepted from friends and without him having asked for them.

In October 2019, his lawyers said they had received an expert legal opinion that concluded he had a right to accept gifts from close friends.


Egyptian Space Agency announces successful launch of MisrSat 2 satellite from China

Chinese and Egyptian engineers worked together to design and manufacture the satellite. (Photo: Xinhua news agency)
Chinese and Egyptian engineers worked together to design and manufacture the satellite. (Photo: Xinhua news agency)
Updated 9 min 28 sec ago
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Egyptian Space Agency announces successful launch of MisrSat 2 satellite from China

Chinese and Egyptian engineers worked together to design and manufacture the satellite. (Photo: Xinhua news agency)
  • The Egyptian Space Agency was established in 2018 and aims to build and launch satellites from Egyptian territory

CAIRO: The Egyptian Space Agency has reported that the launch of the MisrSat 2 satellite from China was successful.

The agency said: “This (the launch) is in light of the strategic partnership between the governments of Egypt and China and the fruitful and constructive cooperation between the two friendly countries.”

A team of Egyptian engineers collaborated with Chinese experts in the satellite’s design and manufacture.

It was assembled and tested at the EGSA’s Satellite Assembly, Integration, and Testing Center.

The site, the largest of its kind in Africa and the Middle East, was established within the framework of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The satellite forms part of Egypt’s sustainable development goals by utilizing space technology to enhance vital areas, including agriculture, the exploration of mineral resources, identification of surface water sources, and the study of the impact of climate change on the environment.

The agency said the work contributed to supporting the Egyptian economy as well as enhancing the country’s pioneering role by providing training programs aimed at qualifying specialized personnel on the African continent and the Middle East, while supplying spatial data.

It added that the launch of the MisrSat 2 was a milestone in Egyptian-Chinese cooperation, especially in the field of space technology.

The Egyptian Space Agency was established in 2018 and aims to build and launch satellites from Egyptian territory.

 


Tension mounts on southern front as Lebanon’s Hamas launches ‘resistance project’

Tension mounts on southern front as Lebanon’s Hamas launches ‘resistance project’
Updated 04 December 2023
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Tension mounts on southern front as Lebanon’s Hamas launches ‘resistance project’

Tension mounts on southern front as Lebanon’s Hamas launches ‘resistance project’
  • Hezbollah now capable of striking deep into Israel, says security source 

BEIRUT: Hostilities escalated on Monday on the southern front of Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

A preliminary report said that a Syrian national was injured as a result of Israeli shelling targeting the Al-Wazzani border village. Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army spokesperson, said that “three soldiers were slightly injured” after Hezbollah had targeted the Israeli military outpost of Shtula.

In parallel with the mounting confrontations in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah launched 20 missiles from southern Lebanon toward the Western Galilee, between the Shomera and Mattat settlements. The Israeli army said that “the missiles landed in open areas and that its air force targeted military infrastructure for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.”

Speaking on behalf of Hezbollah, Nabil Kaouk, a member of the group’s central council, said: “We will harshly respond to any attack against civilians in the south, and we will not let any attack against any civilian in Lebanon pass without a harsh and severe response.”

Kaouk revealed that during the truce “pressure was exerted on Hezbollah to avoid a new confrontation, as they want Israel to wage war on Gaza without the support of southern Lebanon.”

He claimed that Israel “is unable to win in Gaza or in south Lebanon, and cannot protect its settlers and ships in the Gulf and Red Sea.”

He added: “Israel is incapable of rescuing the hostages, as they were freed through negotiation only.”

According to Hezbollah’s statements, the militant group’s hostilities on the southern border had targeted on Monday morning “a gathering of the Israeli occupation soldiers in the Shtula Forest, the Al-Raheb outpost, the Al-Baghdadi outpost, and the Rowaysat Al-Alam outpost in the Kfarchouba Hills and the Shebaa Farms.”

The Israeli army activated the Iron Dome after a series of missiles were launched from the central part of southern Lebanon toward Israeli outposts.

Israel’s Channel 12 announced that “an anti-armor missile was launched toward the Misgav Am region in the Upper Galilee and that three soldiers were slightly injured after rockets were fired.”

Israeli ground and air shelling targeted the outskirts of southern villages including Naqoura, Aayta Al-Shaab, Labbouneh, Odaisseh, Kfarkila and Kfarchouba, using burning phosphorus missiles.

Israeli reconnaissance planes were seen flying at low altitude over the western and central parts of southern Lebanon, namely Naqoura, Alma Al-Shaab, Marwahin and Al-Dahira. They also reached the southern border villages of Aayta Al-Shaab, Rmaych and Yaroun. More Israeli reconnaissance planes were also seen over Rachaya and the eastern slopes of the Al-Sheikh Mountain, reaching Deir Al-Ashayer on the Lebanese–Syrian borders. They were also spotted hovering over Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Sunday.

On Sunday, Hezbollah targeted the Israeli Beit Hillel military outpost with guided missiles, directly hitting an M113 personnel carrier and injuring 11 members of the outpost.

A security source commented on Hezbollah’s attack, saying: “This escalation demonstrates Hezbollah’s capability to move more freely along the southern border.”

The source added: “Hezbollah is now capable of targeting deeper spots in Israel rather than hitting border areas. It is also using guided missiles increasingly.”

Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, said on Sunday that the group “is convinced that it will defeat Israel, and we are not in a rush to do so.”

Meanwhile, the Lebanese branch of Hamas announced on Monday “the establishment and launching of the Vanguards of Al-Aqsa Flood.”

It called on “young people and men in Lebanon and Palestine to join this movement to resist the occupation force through available and legitimate means, as a way to support the steadfastness and resistance of our Palestinian people.”

At the beginning of the confrontation in October, many Lebanese and Palestinian groups took part in the hostilities taking place on the Lebanese border, through armed members from the Al-Fajr forces — the military wing of the Islamic group — as well as through the military wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. These groups, however, have retreated, leaving Hezbollah alone to fight from the Lebanese border.

The Sayydet Al-Jabal gathering, which opposes Hezbollah, said in a statement on Monday that “Lebanon doesn’t want to enter a new war decided by someone else.”

The party, which includes a number of politicians and public activists, believes that Hezbollah has two options: “Either it returns to Lebanon and abides by the Lebanese terms — which are the terms stipulated in the Constitution, the Taif Agreement, and the resolutions of international legitimacy 1559, 1701, and 1680 — or it remains a representative of Iran until the latter abandons it the moment it faces a real threat, similar to what it did to Hamas in the last Gaza war.”


Yemen’s govt warns of massive Houthi strikes in Shabwa, Marib

Yemen’s govt warns of massive Houthi strikes in Shabwa, Marib
Updated 04 December 2023
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Yemen’s govt warns of massive Houthi strikes in Shabwa, Marib

Yemen’s govt warns of massive Houthi strikes in Shabwa, Marib
  • Yemeni authorities fear the situation may be about to deteriorate as the Houthis gather militants and military equipment in Marib, Shabwa, and Taiz
  • Iran-backed militant group vows to target American naval ships in Red Sea

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s internationally recognized government has warned that the Houthis are planning major offensives in two Yemeni regions, action that may derail peace talks and plunge the country back into turmoil.

Muammar Al-Eryani, Yemen’s information minister, accused the Iran-backed Houthis of mobilizing major military forces in the southern province of Shabwa and the central province of Marib in recent weeks.

And he noted that the militia group planned to attack Marib from the south, east, and north, as well as launch another simultaneous attack on government-controlled Bayan, Ain, Ouslen, and other areas in Shabwa.

Al-Eryani pointed out that such an attack would “undermine peace efforts, re-emerge the country in conflict, and exacerbate the deteriorating humanitarian crisis.”

Fighting has mostly stopped on all fronts throughout the nation after a UN-brokered truce came into force in April 2022.

But Yemeni authorities fear the situation may be about to deteriorate as the Houthis gathered militants and military equipment in Marib, Shabwa, and Taiz.

The Houthis have used popular outrage over continued Israeli attacks on Gaza to begin military training and collect soldiers outside government-controlled cities under the guise of preparing to battle the Israelis.

Al-Eryani urged the international community to label the Houthis as terrorists, impose penalties on their leaders, freeze their assets, bar them from traveling, and limit the militia’s income sources.

In a post on X, the minister said: “The international community, the United Nations, and its special envoy are called upon to issue a clear condemnation of these escalatory steps that confirm the Houthi militia’s disregard for de-escalation efforts.”

The warning came after the Yemeni army revealed on Sunday that its forces had killed and wounded several Houthis after foiling raids on government-controlled territory south of Marib.

The Houthis also organized a funeral procession in Sanaa on Sunday for 15 officers of various military grades killed in combat with government troops near the country’s western coastline on the Red Sea and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the Houthis threatened to target American naval ships in the Red Sea only a day after launching drone and missile assaults on commercial vessels in the waters.

On a US vow to respond to strikes, Supreme Political Council member, Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, said that America had “no right” to deploy ships in the Red Sea.

In a post on X, Al-Houthi said: “The Americans do not have a right in the Red Sea that allows them to say that they retain the right to respond.”

Washington said on Monday it would consult with its partners and allies on how to react to Houthi attacks on ships after the group fired four missiles and drones at commercial vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea.

In a post on X, the US Central Command said: “These attacks represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security.

“They have jeopardized the lives of international crews representing multiple countries around the world,” it added.