Israeli airstrike on Rafah kills 12 Palestinians, Gaza medics say

Israeli airstrike on Rafah kills 12 Palestinians, Gaza medics say
Smoke rises near a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians in the area of Tel al-Sultan in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 30, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 30 May 2024
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Israeli airstrike on Rafah kills 12 Palestinians, Gaza medics say

Israeli airstrike on Rafah kills 12 Palestinians, Gaza medics say
  • Israel says more fighting in central, northern and southern Gaza
  • Head of UNRWA calls for end to Israeli attacks on staff and buildings

JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed at least 12 Palestinians in a dawn airstrike on Rafah in southern Gaza on Thursday and fighting raged in several other areas of the coastal enclave, Gaza medics said.
Israel pressed on with its offensive on Rafah a day after saying its forces had taken control of a buffer zone along the nearby border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, giving it effective authority over Gaza’s entire land frontier.
It said the buffer zone’s capture had cut off a route used by the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas to smuggle arms into Gaza during more than seven months of war, which has laid waste to much of the territory and raised fears of famine.
Gaza medical sources said the 12 Palestinians, whom it said were civilians, had been killed and an unspecified number of others wounded in an Israeli airstrike as they tried to recover the body of a civilian in the center of Rafah.
Another Palestinian civilian was killed in an airstrike on Al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City in the north of the densely populated enclave, the medics said.
Israel reported clashes in southern, central and northern Gaza but did not immediately comment on the reported deaths in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians took refuge earlier in the war.
Israel has kept up raids on Rafah despite an order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top UN court, to halt its attacks. Israeli forces say they are trying to root out Hamas fighters and rescue hostages being held there, and the ICJ also called for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and land war in Gaza, with 53 of those killed in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run enclave’s health ministry said.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas fighters crossed from Gaza into southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killed 1,200 people and abducted more than 250, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli military said a soldier had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza, bringing to 292 Israel’s combat losses since its first Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 20.

TUNNELS, ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES
In an overnight call with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant underlined the continuing importance of Israeli operations in the Rafah area “due to concrete information regarding hostages held there.”
“Minister Gallant detailed IDF activities in the Rafah area where 20 terror tunnels have been identified,” the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement on the overnight call.
The Israeli military also said in a statement that tunnels used by Hamas for smuggling and moving fighters underground had been discovered during the latest raids, as well as large amounts of arms and explosives.
The Israeli statements did not say where the smuggling tunnels ran from. An Israeli official said on May 15 there were 50 tunnels connecting Rafah to the Sinai in Egypt, and voiced concern that Hamas could use them to smuggle senior operatives or hostages into Egyptian territory. Egypt on Wednesday denied the existence of any such tunnels.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, reiterated its opposition to a major ground offensive in Rafah on Tuesday but said it did not believe such an operation was under way.
The US has, with Egypt and Qatar, been involved in efforts to mediate indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on arranging a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages. Those talks have stalled, with both sides blaming the other for the lack of progress.
As the war drags on, malnutrition has become widespread in Gaza as aid deliveries have slowed to a trickle, and the United Nations has warned of incipient famine.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), also called for an end to what he said were Israeli attacks on UNRWA staff and buildings in Gaza.
In article for the New York Times, he said Israeli officials were “delegitimizing UNRWA by effectively characterizing it as a terrorist organization,” and he described a “dangerous precedent of routine targeting of UN staff and premises.”
His comments followed allegations by Israel in January that 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Israel did not immediately respond to his remarks.
The Gaza war has also stoked violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, another territory where Palestinians seek statehood.
Israel said two soldiers were killed in an overnight hit-and-run by a Palestinian motorist in the West Bank city of Nablus. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Palestinian factions.


UK and European allies urge Israel to lift Gaza aid blockade, warn against annexation

UK and European allies urge Israel to lift Gaza aid blockade, warn against annexation
Updated 14 May 2025
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UK and European allies urge Israel to lift Gaza aid blockade, warn against annexation

UK and European allies urge Israel to lift Gaza aid blockade, warn against annexation
  • In joint statement delivered at UN Security Council, group said Israeli government’s ongoing obstruction of aid deliveries was “unacceptable”

NEW YORK CITY: The UK and four European allies on Tuesday issued a joint appeal to Israel to immediately lift its blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza, warning that continued restrictions are placing millions of Palestinian civilians at risk of starvation and undermining prospects for peace

In a joint statement delivered at the United Nations, Britain, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia said the Israeli government’s ongoing obstruction of aid deliveries, now entering its third month, was “unacceptable” and risked compounding what UN agencies have described as a looming famine.

“Blocking aid as a ‘pressure lever’ is unacceptable,” the five nations said.

“Palestinian civilians, including children, face starvation… Without an urgent lifting of the aid block, more Palestinians are at risk of dying. Deaths that could easily be avoided.”

The group, which called the emergency Security Council meeting on Gaza, also warned that any Israeli move to annex parts of the territory would breach international law and deepen instability in the region.

“Any attempt by Israel to annex land in Gaza would be unacceptable and violate international law,” the statement read. “Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change.”

The intervention follows the Israeli Security Cabinet’s recent approval of plans to expand its military operations in Gaza, a move the European countries said would only add to Palestinian suffering while doing little to secure the return of hostages still held by Hamas.

“We strongly oppose both these actions,” the statement said, referring to the blockade and the expansion of military activity. “They do nothing to serve the long-term interests of peace and security in the region — nor to secure the safe return of the hostages.”

The five governments welcomed the recent release of Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American hostage held by Hamas since October 7, but reiterated demands for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining captives.

“Their suffering must end,” they said. “Hamas must have no future role in Gaza or be in a position to threaten Israel.”

The joint statement also expressed concern over proposals to create a new aid delivery mechanism in Gaza that, according to the UN, would fail to meet established humanitarian principles.

“Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool or military tactic,” the countries warned. “Any model for distributing humanitarian aid must be independent, impartial and neutral, and in line with international law.”

They emphasized that international humanitarian law obliged Israel to allow “safe, rapid and unimpeded” access for humanitarian assistance, adding: “Gaza is not an exception.”

The group condemned recent attacks on humanitarian personnel, including the killing of Palestinian Red Crescent workers and a strike on a UN compound on March 19, which they called “outrageous.”

“At least 418 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began,” the statement noted. “That is at least 418 too many.”

The countries urged Israel to complete and publish the findings of its investigation into the UN compound incident and to “take concrete action to ensure this can never happen again.”

Looking ahead, the five nations reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and renewed efforts toward a two-state solution, backing France and Saudi Arabia’s plans to host an international conference on the issue in New York next month.

“This is the only way to achieve long-term peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis,” the statement concluded.


WHO warns of permanent impact of hunger on a generation of Gazans

WHO warns of permanent impact of hunger on a generation of Gazans
Updated 13 May 2025
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WHO warns of permanent impact of hunger on a generation of Gazans

WHO warns of permanent impact of hunger on a generation of Gazans

GENEVA: Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza, emergency treatments to counter it are running out and hunger could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation,” a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

Israel has blockaded supplies into the enclave since early March, when it resumed its devastating military campaign against Hamas, and a global hunger monitor on Monday warned that half a million people there faced starvation.

WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Rik Peeperkorn said he had seen children who looked years younger than their age and visited a north Gaza hospital where over 20 percent of children screened suffered from acute malnutrition.

“What we see is an increasing trend in generalized acute malnutrition,” Peeperkorn told a press briefing by video link from Deir Al-Balah. “I’ve seen a child that’s five years old, and you would say it was two-and-a-half.”

“Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to health care, an entire generation will be permanently affected,” he said, warning of stunting and impaired cognitive development.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency Philippe Lazzarini told the BBC that he thought Israel was denying food and aid to civilians as a weapon of war.

The WHO criticized it in a statement late on Monday as “grossly inadequate” to meet the population’s immediate needs.

Due to the blockade, WHO only has enough stocks to treat 500 children with acute malnutrition, which is only a fraction of what is needed, Peeperkorn said.

Already, 55 children have died of acute malnutrition, he said.


UN aid chief slams Israel’s Gaza aid plan as ‘cynical sideshow’

UN aid chief slams Israel’s Gaza aid plan as ‘cynical sideshow’
Updated 13 May 2025
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UN aid chief slams Israel’s Gaza aid plan as ‘cynical sideshow’

UN aid chief slams Israel’s Gaza aid plan as ‘cynical sideshow’
  • “We have rigorous mechanisms to ensure our aid gets to civilians and not to Hamas, but Israel denies us access,” said Fletcher
  • No aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher on Tuesday said an Israeli plan aid distribution in the Gaza Strip was a “cynical sideshow, a deliberate distraction, a fig leaf for further violence and displacement” of Palestinians in the enclave.

He told the UN Security Council that no food, medicine, water or tents have entered the war-torn Palestinian enclave for more than 10 weeks.

“We can save hundreds of thousands of survivors. We have rigorous mechanisms to ensure our aid gets to civilians and not to Hamas, but Israel denies us access, placing the objective of depopulating Gaza before the lives of civilians,” said Fletcher.


No aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2. Israel has said it would not allow the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza until Palestinian militant group Hamas releases all remaining hostages.

At the end of last month the UN World Food Programme said it had run out of food stocks in Gaza, and US President Donald Trump said that he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow the delivery of food and medicine.

Fletcher said the UN has met more than a dozen times with Israeli authorities to discuss their proposed aid distribution model “to find a way to make it possible,” stressing the minimum conditions needed for UN involvement. Those included the ability to deliver aid to all those in need wherever they are.

“The Israeli-designed distribution modality is not the answer,” he told the 15-member council.

“It forces further displacement. It exposes thousands of people to harm ... It restricts aid to only one part of Gaza while leaving other dire needs unmet. It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip,” Fletcher said.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, met with UN agencies and international aid groups in early April and proposed “a structured monitoring and aid entry mechanism.”

“The mechanism is designed to support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas,” COGAT posted on X on April 3.

The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 52,700 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.


Syria says US lifting of sanctions ‘pivotal turning point’

Syria says US lifting of sanctions ‘pivotal turning point’
Updated 13 May 2025
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Syria says US lifting of sanctions ‘pivotal turning point’

Syria says US lifting of sanctions ‘pivotal turning point’
  • Syria welcomed US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on the country
  • Celebrations broke out in the capital Damascus and across the country

DAMASCUS: Syria on Tuesday welcomed US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on the country, calling it a “pivotal turning point,” as celebrations broke out in Damascus.
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that the country welcomed Trump’s announcement, calling it a “pivotal turning point for the Syrian people, as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”
“The removal of those sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency, and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” the statement added.
In a speech given in Riyadh amidst Trump’s trip to the Middle East, the US president said he “will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.”
Ever since overthrowing longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, Syria’s new rulers have been pushing Western states to lift sanctions imposed on the country largely during the former president’s rule.
During his visit to Paris last week, Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said there was no justification for maintaining European sanctions imposed against the Assad government.
“These sanctions were imposed on the previous regime because of the crimes it committed, and this regime is gone,” Sharaa said in a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“With the removal of the regime, these sanctions should be removed as well, and there is no justification for keeping the sanctions,” he added.
US sanctions have isolated Syria from the global financial system and imposed a range of economic restrictions on the government throughout more than a decade of civil war.
The lingering sanctions have widely been seen as a major obstacle to Syria’s economic recovery and post-war reconstruction.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani expressed “gratitude” to Saudi Arabia for its role in pushing for the lifting of the sanctions.
Celebration across Syria
Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh said Trump’s lifting of sanctions “will help Syria in building its institutions, providing essential services to the people and will create great opportunities to attract investment and restore confidence in Syria’s future.”
Syrians met the news with joy and celebration, with dozens of men, women and children gathering in Damascus’s Umayyad Square. They blasted music while others drove by in their cars waving Syrian flags.
“My joy is great, this decision will definitely affect the entire country positively. Construction will return, the displaced will return, and prices will go down,” said Huda Qassar, a 33-year-old English language teacher, celebrating with her compatriots.
In the northern province of Idlib, manufacturer Bassam Al-Ahmed, 39, said he was very happy about the lifting of US sanctions.
“It is the right of the Syrian people, after 14 years of war and 50 years of the Assads’ oppression, to live through stability and safety,” he said.
“The most important thing is economic stability, which cannot be achieved without lifting American sanctions to increase investment opportunities within Syria and encourage people to work, in addition to securing raw materials and many products that Syria has been deprived of due to sanctions,” he added.


Iran says it’s open to temporary uranium enrichment limits

Iran says it’s open to temporary uranium enrichment limits
Updated 13 May 2025
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Iran says it’s open to temporary uranium enrichment limits

Iran says it’s open to temporary uranium enrichment limits
  • Iran described Sunday’s talks as “difficult but useful” while a senior US official said Washington was “encouraged” and both sides confirmed plans for future negotiations

TEHRAN: Iran is open to accepting temporary limits on its uranium enrichment, its deputy foreign minister said Tuesday, while adding that talks with the US have yet to address such specifics.

Tehran and Washington on Sunday held their fourth round of nuclear talks, which kicked off last month, marking their highest-level contact since the US in 2018 pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal.

“For a limited period of time, we can accept a series of restrictions on the level and volume of enrichment,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

“We have not yet gone into details about the level and volume of enrichment,” he said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent purity — far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the 2015 deal but below the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade material.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Iran was the only country in the world without nuclear weapons that enriches uranium to that level.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the latest talks that the right to enrich uranium was “non-negotiable,” while US chief negotiator Steve Witkoff called it a “red line.”

The Islamic republic began rolling back its commitments to the deal a year after the US withdrawal.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” approach against Tehran. While backing nuclear diplomacy, he also warned of potential military action if it fails.

Iran described Sunday’s talks as “difficult but useful” while a senior US official said Washington was “encouraged” and both sides confirmed plans for future negotiations.

The talks are being held in “full coordination” with the supreme leader, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, according to a presidency statement on Tuesday.

“In the negotiations, we will not retreat from our principles in any way, but at the same time, we do not want tensions,” he added.

Also on Tuesday, Iran’s atomic energy agency chief, Mohammad Eslami, described the country’s nuclear industry as its “wealth and strength,” according to ISNA news agency.

Despite the talks, Washington has continued to impose sanctions targeting Iran’s nuclear program and oil industry, with the latest announced on Monday.

“There is no doubt that there is a lot of pressure on us,” said Ali Larijani, a close adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, while noting that not all of Iran’s problems were due to the sanctions.