Gaza aid could grind to a halt within days, UN agencies warn

Gaza aid could grind to a halt within days, UN agencies warn
Palestinians line up to receive humanitarian aid amidst tents housing internally displaced people, along the coastline in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on May 10, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)
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Updated 10 May 2024
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Gaza aid could grind to a halt within days, UN agencies warn

Gaza aid could grind to a halt within days, UN agencies warn
  • Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid

LONDON: Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, United Nations aid agencies warned on Friday.
Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people have been sheltering.
The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which governs the besieged Palestinian territory.
“For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel,” said the UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Gaza Strip, Hamish Young.
“This is already a huge issue for the population and for all humanitarian actors but in a matter of days, if not corrected, the lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt,” he told a virtual briefing.
More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah in the last five days

More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah in recent days, said Young.
Israel’s military on Monday called for Gazans to leave eastern Rafah, which triggered widespread international alarm.
The UN children’s agency UNICEF said more than 100,000 had left, with the UN humanitarian agency OCHA putting the figure at more than 110,000.
All eyes have been on Rafah in recent weeks, where the population had swelled to around 1.5 million after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled fighting in other areas of Gaza.
Georgios Petropoulos, head of OCHA’s sub-office in Gaza, said the situation in the besieged Palestinian territory had reached “even more unprecedented levels of emergency.”
Countries around the world, including key Israeli backer the United States, have urged Israel not to extend its ground offensive into Rafah, citing fears of a large civilian toll.
Hamish Young, UNICEF’s senior emergency coordinator in the Gaza Strip, insisted Rafah “must not be invaded” and called for the immediate flow of fuel and aid into the Gaza Strip.
“Yesterday, I was walking around the Al-Mawasi zone, that people in Rafah are being told to move to,” he said, also speaking from Rafah.
“Shelters already lined Al-Mawasi’s sand dunes and it’s now becoming difficult to move between the mass of tents and tarpaulins.
AFP journalists in the Gaza Strip early Friday witnessed artillery strikes on Rafah on the territory’s southern border with Egypt.
Gaza’s bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has conducted a retaliatory offensive that has killed more than 34,900 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.


Hezbollah vows to keep fighting Israeli 'aggression'

Hezbollah vows to keep fighting Israeli 'aggression'
Updated 8 sec ago
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Hezbollah vows to keep fighting Israeli 'aggression'

Hezbollah vows to keep fighting Israeli 'aggression'
BEIRUT: Lebanon's Hezbollah on Monday vowed to keep up the fight against Israeli "aggression", on the anniversary of its militant group ally Hamas's October 7 attack that triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese have paid a "heavy price" for the Iran-backed group's decision to open a "support front" for Gaza on October 8, but "we are confident... in the ability of our resistance to oppose the Israeli aggression", it said in a statement, calling Israel a "cancerous gland that must be eliminated, no matter how long it takes".

“Victory in Gaza may be delayed, but it is coming” says Hamas former leader Khaled Mashaal

“Victory in Gaza may be delayed, but it is coming” says Hamas former leader Khaled Mashaal
Updated 9 min 55 sec ago
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“Victory in Gaza may be delayed, but it is coming” says Hamas former leader Khaled Mashaal

“Victory in Gaza may be delayed, but it is coming” says Hamas former leader Khaled Mashaal

DUBAI: Hamas’ former leader Khaled Mashaal said what is happening in Gaza is a “holocaust” in a speech he delivered on Monday morning. 

Mashaal said the Oct. 7. attacks happened because all political horizons were closed and has achieved "strategic results" since. 

He thanked Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran for supporting Hamas and called on Arab countries to provide financial support to Gaza.

Mashaal said Israel opened the war front in Lebanon after failing to achieve its goals in Gaza and claimed that Israel is conspiring against Jordan and Egypt.

A year after Oct. 7, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began.

“Israel is defeated although it has achieved accomplishments against Iran and Hezbollah,” added Mashaal.

Mashaal concluded by asking the people of Gaza not to despair and promised them victory soon.

Over the past year in Gaza, more than 40,000 people, including over 10,000 children, have been killed by Israel’s forces, exacting indiscriminate and disproportionate vengeance for the 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas on Oct. 7.

Advisor to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Al-Habash said Mashaal's statements are "empty slogans that achieve nothing".

Al-Habash said "real victory is protecting our people" and added that Hamas should have moved towards unity with the Palestinian authority. 

Globally, people have hit the streets to protest against Israel’s deadly military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon.

Demonstrators expressed outrage against the Israeli aggression, demanding an end to the war in Gaza, describing the situation as “genocide,” and calling upon the global community to act.

Protests have taken place from the Middle East to Europe, the US, India, Pakistan and Far East Asia.

 


Israeli hostage forum announces death of captive held in Gaza

Israeli hostage forum announces death of captive held in Gaza
Updated 07 October 2024
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Israeli hostage forum announces death of captive held in Gaza

Israeli hostage forum announces death of captive held in Gaza
  • Idan Shtivi, 28, was abducted from the site of the Nova music festival

TEL AVIV: An Israeli campaign group on Monday announced the death of a hostage held in Gaza, as the country marked the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Idan Shtivi, 28, was abducted from the site of the Nova music festival and his “body is still held captive by Hamas.”
The forum said Shtivi had just arrived at the festival site when the attack began.
“On October 7, Idan arrived at the Nova Festival in the early morning to document his friends’ performances and workshops,” the forum said in a statement.
“However, he never made it inside. When the attack began, Idan helped two strangers he had just met escape from the site. This selfless choice ultimately led to his abduction.”


Hamas armed wing claims to fire rockets at southern Israel

Hamas armed wing claims to fire rockets at southern Israel
Updated 07 October 2024
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Hamas armed wing claims to fire rockets at southern Israel

Hamas armed wing claims to fire rockets at southern Israel

GAZA: The Israeli military said Monday that at least four projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip just minutes after the country began to formally commemorate last year’s October 7 attacks.
“Following the sirens that sounded at 06:31 in several communities near the Gaza Strip, four projectiles were identified crossing from the southern Gaza Strip. Three of the projectiles were intercepted by the IAF (air force) and a fallen projectile was identified in an open area,” the military said in a statement.
The armed wing of Hamas said it had fired rockets into southern Israel at “enemy gatherings” at Rafah crossing, Kerem Shalom crossing and kibbutz Holit near the border with Gaza.
The Israeli military said it had also prevented an “immediate threat” from Hamas’ intentions to fire rockets.
“The IAF (air force) struck Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip,” the military said.
“Furthermore, overnight, the IAF and IDF (Israeli army) artillery struck targets in the central Gaza Strip that posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the area.”
The military said sirens also sounded in the Upper Galilee area of northern Israel, with no let-up in the daily rocket fire from neighboring Lebanon, where Israeli forces are fighting Hezbollah militants.
Earlier on Monday the military said it had also intercepted two “suspicious aerial targets” that were launched from the east.


Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary
Updated 07 October 2024
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Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people.
A year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began.
Israel’s military confirmed a Hezbollah attack on the northern city of Haifa, though it was not immediately clear whether shrapnel from “fallen projectiles” was from rockets or interceptors. Hezbollah said it tried to hit a nearby naval base. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated 10 people, most of them hurt by shrapnel.
Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week. The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.
Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events for the Oct. 7 attack, while rallies continue around the world marking the anniversary.
Israel bombards southern Beirut
Beirut’s skyline lit up again late Sunday with new airstrikes, a day after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on Sept. 23. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Israel confirmed the strikes and says it targets Hezbollah. The militant group, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, has called its months of firing rockets into Israel a show of support for the Palestinians.
A separate Israeli strike earlier Sunday in the town of Qamatiyeh southeast of Beirut killed six people, including three children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday, while Israel’s military said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
“It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”
One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. “This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbor, Ali Al Hajj.
Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.
At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group from its border so tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.
The Israeli military is now setting up a forward operating base close to a UN peacekeeping mission on the border in southern Lebanon, a UN official told The Associated Press. The base puts peacekeepers at risk, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
UNIFIL, created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion, refused the Israeli military’s request to vacate some of its positions ahead of the ground incursion.
New evacuation orders in northern Gaza
An Israeli strike hit a mosque where displaced people sheltered near the main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir Al-Balah. Another four were killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter near the town. The military said both strikes targeted militants. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue.
Israel’s military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, home to a refugee camp dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has carried out several operations there only to see militants regroup. The military said three soldiers were severely wounded in Sunday’s fighting in northern Gaza.
Israel reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of heavily destroyed northern Gaza, where up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained.
“We are in a new phase of the war,” the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” A later statement said three projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported.
Frantic residents fled again. “Since Oct. 7 to the present day, this is the 12th time that I and my children, eight individuals, have been homeless and thrown into the streets and do not know where to go,” said one, Samia Khader.
The Civil Defense — first responders operating under the Hamas-run government — said it recovered three bodies, including a woman and a child, after a strike hit a home in the Shati refugee camp.
Residents mourned. Imad Alarabid said on Facebook an airstrike on his Jabaliya home killed a dozen family members, including his parents. Hassan Hamd, a freelance TV journalist whose footage had aired on Al Jazeera, was killed in shelling on his home in Jabaliya. Al Jazeera reporter Anas Al-Sharif confirmed his death.
Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
UK advises against travel while France seeks partial arms embargo on Israel
The United Kingdom on Sunday advised its citizens against non-essential travel to Israel due to the violent clashes in the Mideast. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also advised against all travel in parts of northern and southern Israel, most of the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
Last week the UK advised its citizens against all travel to Lebanon.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial arms embargo on Israel, which had prompted an angry response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu had described such calls by Macron as a “disgrace.” Macron’s office insisted that “France is Israel’s unfailing friend” and called Netanyahu’s remarks “excessive.”
Later on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders had spoken and agreed to promote “a dialogue” on the matter. Macron’s office called the discussion “frank” and said both leaders “accepted their divergence of views.”