UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East

UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East
Antony Blinken and David Lammy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 11, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 30 September 2024
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UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East

UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East
  • David Lammy: ‘The best way forward is an immediate ceasefire and to get back to a political solution’
  • David Lammy: ‘I urge UK nationals to leave, because the situation on the ground is fast moving’

LONDON: British foreign minister David Lammy repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire amid reports of a potential escalation in the Israel-Lebanon conflict, after discussing the matter with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the phone on Monday.
“We’ve both seen the reports in the media about a next phase for Israel in Lebanon,” Lammy told Sky News, amid growing indications that Israel was on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon.
“We both agreed the position that we had at the UN last week that the best way forward is an immediate ceasefire and to get back to a political solution.”
Earlier in the day a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged “all parties to show restraint.”
Lammy also repeated the government’s advice that British citizens leave Lebanon.
“We have secured places on commercial flights that are flying tomorrow so that UK nationals can get out. I urge them to leave, because the situation on the ground is fast moving,” he said.
“Whilst we will do everything we can to protect British nationals and those plans are in place to do so, we cannot anticipate the circumstances and the speed with which we could do that if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days.”


Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza

Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza
Updated 9 sec ago
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Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza

Israel passes 2 laws restricting UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza
  • Legislation risks collapsing already fragile process for distributing aid in Gaza
  • Under first law, UN agency for Palestinian refugees will be banned in Israel 

JERUSALEM: Israeli lawmakers passed two laws on Monday that could threaten the work of the main UN agency providing aid to people in Gaza by barring it from operating on Israeli soil, severing ties with it and deeming it a terror organization.
The laws, which do not immediately go into effect, signal a new low for a long-troubled relationship between Israel and the UN Israel’s international allies said they were deeply worried about its potential impact on Palestinians as the war’s humanitarian toll is worsening.
Under the first law, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, would be banned from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, while the second would sever diplomatic ties with it. The legislation risks collapsing the already fragile process for distributing aid in Gaza at a moment when Israel is under increased US pressure to ramp up aid.
Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s thousands of staff members participated in the Hamas attacks last year that sparked the war in Gaza. It also has said hundreds of UNRWA staff have militant ties and that it has found Hamas military assets near or under the agency’s facilities.
The agency fired nine employees after an investigation but denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks. Some of Israel’s allegations prompted major international donors to cut funding to the agency, although some of it has been restored.
The first vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mostly members of Arab parliamentary parties. The second law was approved 87-9.


CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports

CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports
Updated 29 October 2024
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CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports

CIA boss floats 28-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Axios reports
CIA Director Bill Burns floated a deal for a 28-day Gaza ceasefire, the freeing of around eight hostages by Hamas and the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, Axios reported on Monday, citing three Israeli officials.
Burns discussed the idea during a meeting on Sunday with Israeli and Qatari counterparts, Axios said.

Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace

Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace
Updated 29 October 2024
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Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace

Israel, Iran trade charges of endangering Mideast peace
  • Israeli aggression against Iran is obvious and does not occur in isolation

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Israel and Iran accused each other Monday of endangering Middle East peace, in a heated exchange at a UN meeting called after Israel attacked Iranian military targets.
On Saturday, Israel carried out air strikes on military sites in Iran in response to Tehran’s October 1 missile barrage on Israel. The latter was in retaliation for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.
At a meeting of the UN Security Council that was requested by Iran, each country asserted its right to self-defense.
“Israeli aggression against Iran is obvious and does not occur in isolation. This aggressive attack is part of a broader, sustained pattern of aggression and unchecked impunity with which Israel continues to destabilize the entire region,” Iran’s ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the council.
He added that Israel’s “persistent and systematic violation of international law,” and military engagements in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen should spark “unequivocal condemnation” by the council.
The ambassador repeated Iran’s threat to retaliate after Israel’s weekend air strikes, but said Tehran preferred diplomacy.
Israeli ambassador Danny Danon said his country had defended itself after the October 1 missile attacks by Iran.
“We promised that their actions would not go unanswered,” said Danon.
“Iran has seeded violence, chaos and destruction throughout the Middle East. But this violence is not limited to Israel’s borders. It threatens regional stability, global security and economic stability,” the ambassador said.
“Today, it is us. It is Israel in their crossroads. But tomorrow, it could be any of the nations represented here. Don’t be mistaken,” Danon said, calling for strong sanctions against Iran, especially to keep it from developing nuclear weapons.
The United States defended its ally Israel.
“Our message for Iran remains clear, as well: should it choose to undertake further aggressive acts against Israel or US personnel in the region, there will be severe consequences,” US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the meeting.
“We will not hesitate to act in self defense,” she said, adding however that the United States wants to avoid escalation.


US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza

US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza
Updated 29 October 2024
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US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza

US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza
  • The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies

WASHINGTON: The US State Department warned on Monday that humanitarian assistance was not getting to people that need it in Jabalia in northern Gaza, which spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US does not accept.
“That’s one of our assessments, is that the food and water and medicine that needs to get to people in Jabalia, they aren’t getting it right now. And we want to see that change,” Miller said.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. Reuters could not verify the number independently.
The emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the north, an area where the military said it had wiped out Hamas combat forces earlier in the year-long war.
Israeli forces began the recent operation in the north with the declared aim of preventing Hamas from regrouping. The operation has intensified since the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar over a week ago.
Miller said Washington would clearly reject any effort to create a siege, starve civilians or wall northern Gaza off from the rest of the enclave.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised with Israel a so-called “generals plan,” published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, suggesting Palestinian civilians would be instructed to evacuate northern Gaza, which would then be declared a closed military zone.
Israel told the US they are not carrying out the plan, Miller said.
But he warned that Israel was not meeting all of the conditions laid out in a letter the US sent to Israel earlier this month urging it to take steps in 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid, according to US officials.
“They have not fully implemented all of the changes that we called for in that letter,” he said, adding that the US would wait until the expiration of the 30 days before offering a final assessment.
The Israeli parliament passed a law on Monday to ban UN relief agency UNRWA from operating inside the country. Miller, before the passage of the law, said the US has made it clear to Israel it is deeply concerned by the legislation, as UNRWA has an irreplaceable role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza.


Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency

Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency
Updated 29 October 2024
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Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency

Germany ‘sharply’ criticizes Israeli bill to ban UN Palestinian refugee agency
  • Amtsberg said the implementation of the law as it currently stands “would be a fateful step” and that “our efforts to bring peace to the Middle East would be hindered”

BERLIN: The German government on Monday said it “sharply” criticized a bill passed by Israel’s parliament to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from working in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem.
Germany’s Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance, Luise Amtsberg, also warned the move would “effectively make UNRWA’s work in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem impossible... jeopardizing vital humanitarian aid for millions of people.”
The vote in Israel’s parliament followed years of harsh Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which has only increased since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks last year.
Amtsberg said the implementation of the law as it currently stands “would be a fateful step” and that “our efforts to bring peace to the Middle East would be hindered.”
“The Israeli action against a UN-mandated organization that has been doing vital work since 1950 is a dangerous signal of disrespect for the United Nations and for international cooperation,” she said.
In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas, which sparked the deadliest war in the Palestinian territory.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, but found no evidence for Israel’s main allegations.
Amtsberg acknowledged that “UNRWA has taken measures to address allegations of support for terrorist organizations by individual staff members and to reform internal procedures.”
She said the UN agency “must continue to implement these reforms as a high priority and further strengthen its neutrality.”