Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

David Cameron accuses Israel of blocking key aid crossing in Gaza

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An Israeli official denied the claim in an online row with the UK foreign secretary and has since been suspended

David Cameron has accused Israel of demanding the closure of a key aid crossing into Gaza, in a clash with a British-born government spokesperson that has reportedly resulted in the official’s suspension.

In a blistering letter, the UK foreign secretary said aid was not getting into Gaza owing to “arbitrary denials by the government of Israel and lengthy clearance procedures, including multiple screenings and narrow opening windows in daylight hours”.

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The US finally backs a ceasefire, but the nuances in its UN resolution show the tightrope it walks

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Draft resolution loosens linkage between Gaza ceasefire and hostage release as US tries to claw back leadership on issue at UN

Washington’s draft UN security council resolution on Gaza marks a shift in the US position, but it is a nuanced shift, retaining the linkage between a ceasefire and hostage release while loosening that linkage and emphasising that an immediate end to hostilities is the priority.

The primary focus for now is the hostage negotiations underway in Qatar, which are moving into high gear again, with the CIA and Mossad chiefs, William Burns and David Barnea, expected to fly into Doha on Friday.

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US calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal in draft UN resolution

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Source says wording suggests significant movement in US position as pressure mounts on Israel to halt campaign

The US has drafted a new UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” and hostage deal in Gaza, amid mounting pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign and allow the delivery of substantial amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

The CIA and Mossad spy chiefs, William Burns and David Barnea, were expected to arrive in Qatar on Friday in the hope of clinching an elusive truce-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas. Speaking in Egypt, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said difficult work remained to be done but added: “I continue to believe it’s possible.”

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Netanyahu addresses Senate Republicans days after Schumer calls for his ouster

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Israeli PM speaks via video link and answers questions after his request to talk to Democrats was turned down

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, virtually addressed Republican senators in Washington on Wednesday, days after the chamber’s majority leader, the Democrat Chuck Schumer, called him an impediment to peace in an unsparing floor speech.

The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, told reporters, shortly after leaving the Senate Republicans’ policy lunch, that Netanyahu joined the gathering via video link, delivered a presentation, and answered questions.

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Israeli diplomats pre-emptively attack findings of Unrwa inquiries

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UN refugee agency criticised by Israel, which claims Unrwa staff were implicated in 7 October Hamas attacks

Israeli diplomats have pre-emptively attacked the findings of two inquires into the role of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, in Gaza, on the day that one of the inquiries submitted its interim finding to the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres.

Unrwa has come under heavy criticism since Israel accused 12 of its Gaza staff of 13,000 of being implicated in the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel. The agency denies the charge and says no solid evidence has been presented to support it.

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World Bank report finds imminent risk of catastrophic famine in Gaza Strip

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Findings come as UN secretary general calls on Israel to give unconditional access to Gaza for aid relief

Half the population of the Gaza Strip is at imminent risk of famine as food shortages approach catastrophic levels for more than a million people, the World Bank has warned.

Almost six months after the war between Israel and Hamas began, the Washington-based Bank said urgent action was needed to prevent widespread deaths from starvation within the next two months.

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‘Man-made famine’ charge against Israel is backed by mounting body of evidence

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Prospect of Israel facing war crimes charges has moved closer after UN condemnation of Gaza aid restrictions

The accusation by the UN and other humanitarians that Israel may be committing a war crime by deliberately starving Gaza’s population is likely to significantly increase the prospect of legal culpability for the country, including at the international court of justice.

Amid reports that the Israel Defense Forces are hiring dozens of lawyers to defend against anticipated cases and legal challenges, the charge that Israel has triggered a “man-made famine” by deliberately obstructing the entry of aid into Gaza is backed by an increasing body of evidence.

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US and UK doctors in Washington to warn of IDF’s ‘appalling atrocities’ in Gaza

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Doctors who have returned from volunteering at besieged hospitals to tell officials aid is meaningless without a ceasefire

A delegation of American and British doctors is in Washington DC to tell the Biden administration the Israeli military is systematically destroying Gaza’s health infrastructure in order to drive Palestinians out of their homes.

The doctors, who have recently returned from volunteering at Gaza’s besieged hospitals, are expected to meet White House officials and senior members of Congress this week to warn that pledges of increased aid to Palestinians under bombardment are largely meaningless without an immediate ceasefire to allow safe distribution of food and the revival of healthcare services.

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Canada to halt arms sales to Israel after non-binding vote in house of commons

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Parliamentary motion from New Democratic party passed with support of Liberals, Bloc Québécois and Green party

Canada will halt future arms sales to Israel following a non-binding vote in the house of commons. The foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, told the Toronto Star her government would halt future arms shipments. “It is a real thing,” she said on Tuesday.

The decision follows a parliamentary motion, introduced by the New Democratic party (NDP), that called on the governing Liberals to halt future arms exports to Israel. The New Democrats, who are supporting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority government, have expressed frustration with what they see as his failure to do enough to protect civilians in Gaza.

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UN says Israeli restrictions on Gaza food aid may constitute a war crime

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High commissioner for human rights describes crisis as human-made as hunger levels worsen

Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza may amount to the war crime of deliberate starvation, the UN has said, as the White House called for unimpeded access for aid to the coastal strip.

Amid mounting and catastrophic hunger in parts of Gaza, and official UN figures for hunger levels which are the worst seen under the current classification system, the Biden administration added it was “deeply concerned” following a report about potential famine.

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Documents reveal alleged pattern of Israeli harassment of Unrwa workers on West Bank

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Exclusive: UN documents seen by the Guardian list hundreds of incidents, including claims workers were blindfolded and beaten

UN staff working with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been subjected to a systematic campaign of obstruction and harassment by the Israeli military and authorities since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza five months ago, according to internal UN documents obtained by the Guardian.

The documents record hundreds of incidents ranging from the alleged blindfolding and beating of UN staff at checkpoints to the use of UN facilities by Israeli troops as firing positions during raids on refugee camps in which Palestinians were killed.

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Jared Kushner says Gaza’s ‘waterfront property could be very valuable’

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Donald Trump’s son-in-law also says Israel should bulldoze an area of the Negev desert and move Palestinians there

Jared Kushner has praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property” and suggested Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the strip.

The former property dealer, married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, made the comments in an interview at Harvard University on 8 March.

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Middle East crisis: no way to eliminate Hamas in Rafah without ground offensive, says Netanyahu – as it happened

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Israeli prime minister reiterates that he plans to order a ground offensive in the southern Gaza Strip where a huge number of displaced Palestinians are living

At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed and 73,934 injured since 7 October in Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday.

About 93 Palestinians were killed and 142 injured in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-led ministry added.

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Israeli delegation to visit Washington to discuss planned offensive on Rafah

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US says attack would be ‘mistake’ as Biden and Netanyahu talk by phone for first time in over a month

Israel will send a team of officials to Washington to discuss its planned offensive on Rafah, the White House has said, as the Biden administration insists that an attack would be a “mistake” and seeks to persuade Israel to allow in more aid in the face of an imminent famine in Gaza.

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, announced the Israeli visit after a phone call on Monday between Joe Biden and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, focusing on the planned Rafah assault that Netanyahu has vowed to launch.

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Fierce clashes between IDF and Hamas after Israel takes control of key hospital

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Israel claims to have killed 20 militants at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City following early morning raid

Fierce fighting has continued around al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, as Israeli troops battled Hamas militants after seizing control of the strategically situated medical complex in an early morning raid.

Witnesses reported multiple airstrikes and ferocious firefights as fears rose for the safety of hundreds of civilians in the immediate vicinity of the hospital.

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‘Catastrophic levels of hunger’ in Gaza mean famine is imminent, says aid coalition

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More than a million people are at risk, according to report, as Oxfam says Israeli authorities are blocking relief deliveries

Famine is imminent in northern Gaza with people suffering “catastrophic levels of hunger”, a coalition of aid groups has warned.

The situation was called “man-made starvation”, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a group that includes the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization, said that 1.1 million people, half of Gaza’s population, faced famine.

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Israel’s Shifa raid shows its grip is slipping as a ‘forever war’ looms

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Retaking of Shifa complex shows Hamas militants, despite heavy losses, are still operational in northern Gaza

The latest raid on al-Shifa hospital reveals that the Israeli military’s hold on the areas of Gaza supposedly cleared of Hamas militants is considerably more tenuous than the country’s political leaders have claimed – and suggests the region’s military superpower is facing its own “forever war” in the territory with enormous costs for everyone involved, particularly civilians.

The fighting around the Shifa hospital and its eventual seizure was the climactic moment of the first phase of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched last year after Hamas killed 1,200 and captured 250 people, mostly civilians, in a surprise raid on 7 October. There was bitter argument over whether the hospital’s buildings and basements had been used by Hamas as a covert command centre, as Israel claimed, but none over the strength of Israel’s control of the site when its soldiers moved in on 15 November.

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Middle East crisis: famine ‘imminent’ in northern Gaza, UN report says, as EU foreign policy chief calls area ‘open air graveyard’ – as it happened

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Israel using starvation as weapon of war, says Josep Borrell, as UN report warns 1.1 million face ‘catastrophic’ food supply conditions. This live blog is closed

Oxfam has accused Israel of controlling “an unpredictable and chaotic regime of approval, scanning and inspection” of humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip.

In a new report, the NGO says “people living in Gaza will suffer mass death from disease and starvation far beyond the current 31,000 Palestinian war casualties unless Israel takes immediate steps to end its violations.”

The ICJ order should have shocked Israeli leaders to change course, but since then conditions in Gaza have actually worsened. The fact that other governments have not challenged Israel hard enough, but instead turned to less effective methods like airdrops and maritime corridors is a huge red flag, signalling that Israel continues to deny the full potential of better ways to deliver more aid.

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Israel tells civilians to evacuate after taking control of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

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Casualties reported after raids on complex, where hundreds are reportedly sheltering and IDF claims is being used by Hamas

Israeli forces are in control of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after an overnight raid on the medical complex, and have told thousands living nearby to evacuate towards the south of the Palestinian territory.

Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, said early on Monday that troops were “conducting a high-precision operation in limited areas of Shifa hospital based on … intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists to command attacks”.

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Palestinian groups ‘relieved’ after Australia reverses visa cancellations for people fleeing Gaza

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Some visas reinstated after further security checks but Amnesty urges government to provide clarity on vetting processes

Palestinian groups and refugee advocates say they are “so relieved” that the federal government has reversed visa cancellations for people fleeing Gaza, after several were stranded on their way out last week.

Some of the visas have been reinstated after further security checks, but advocates have urged the government to provide further clarity on the vetting processes, to give assurance to other Palestinians with Australian visas who manage to get out of Gaza.

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