Israel accused of using aid control to forcibly displace Palestinians
Israel's tight grip on humanitarian aid is not just reckless—it's part of a strategy to uproot Palestinians from northern Gaza, the Norwegian Refugee Council has warned.
Ahmed Bayram, the organisation's spokesperson, told Al Jazeera the selective delivery of aid amounts to coercion.
'We think that providing aid to one area above another, as opposed to all areas, is a coercive measure to forcibly displace people, which Israel has been doing all [during the war] of course,' Bayram said.
He criticised Israel's allies for enabling this situation, stressing that the aid blockade has gone on far too long. 'Israel's control of aid, whether in part or the whole system, is dangerous and should not be accepted, let alone allowed, by its allies for 81 days,' he added.
Bayram said it was unacceptable for an occupying power to restrict the flow of basic supplies. 'Israel is an occupier in this scenario and it should not control aid provision to people, let alone life-saving aid like food and water.'
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Middle East Eye
37 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel deports international activists from occupied West Bank
The Israeli authorities are deporting two international activists who were documenting settler violence against Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, in the southern occupied West Bank. Swedish citizen Susanne Bjork and Irish citizen Deirdre Murphy were arrested on 31 May in the village of Khallet al-Daba, where they had been filming settler attacks against its Palestinian residents. The two women, who are both UK residents, arrived weeks after the hamlet had been razed by Israeli bulldozers, in what residents described as the 'biggest demolition' the village had ever seen. Shortly after, settlers raided the village, forcing families out of their homes and establishing an illegal outpost on the edge of the community. Since then, the remaining villagers have been subjected to daily settler attacks. 'Women and children were moving out of their houses because of the harassment,' Bjork told Middle East Eye. 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Tourists documenting war crimes The police arrived and took them to the station where they were detained and interrogated. 'They said that we hadn't shown ID when asked, that we hadn't left the area and complied with instructions,' Bjork said. 'We were asking them, 'What are you doing? These are children.' They said, 'No, they are terrorists - they run too fast"' - Susanne Bjork During their interrogation, two Palestinian boys were brought into the station, handcuffed and zip-tied. 'We were asking them, 'What are you doing? These are children,'' Bjork said. 'They said, 'No, they are terrorists - they run too fast.'' Bjork and Murphy were released that night, but instructed to report to Ben Gurion Airport's immigration authority the next day for a hearing. At the airport, they were told that if they agreed to leave voluntarily, they would be driven across the border to Jordan, but the pair refused as there would be no official paper trail. They were then threatened with 72 hours in detention prior to deportation. 'So they'd already made their minds up about the deportation,' Bjork said. The two were interrogated and told that they had 'intimidated and humiliated police and soldiers'. 'The immigration officer said to me, 'I don't believe anything you're saying,'' Bjork told MEE. Bjork was then told her visa was cancelled, that she was there illegally and was now detained. Bjork opted to get the first flight out, while Murphy continues to be detained in order to contest the order. 'She wanted to stay in detention because we hadn't done anything wrong. The police report was full of inaccurate information and she wants to highlight the injustice of it all'. Days after Bjork and Murphy's arrests, Basel Adra, co-director of No Other Land, an Oscar-winning film about Israel's control of the West Bank, reported that masked soldiers barred international journalists from entering Khallet al-Daba. 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Bjork has been travelling to the occupied West Bank regularly over the past decade, but this is the first time she has faced arrest and deportation. 'We were quite shocked, this seems to be a new policy,' Bjork told MEE. 'Before, you would just get a ban from entering the occupied West Bank'. Murphy and Bjork's arrests follow that of Janet Adyeri, another British activist, in at-Tuwani, another Masafer Yatta village. Israeli police said she had entered a 'closed military zone'. A BBC report said that during her interrogation, 'she was found to have posted anti-[Israeli army] sentiments on social media and to belong to an organisation calling for the boycott of Israel'. Adyeri was deported shortly after. Bjork warned that the arrests of activists and the barring of journalists from the occupied West Bank will reduce scrutiny on the escalating displacement and harassment of Palestinians there. 'The Palestinians are just left to fend for themselves. There really needs to be some international protection for these communities…they are being harassed and attacked every day. And as soon as someone stands in solidarity with them and tries to document it, we are also removed,' Bjork said.
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Majority of British people support arms embargo on Israel
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Middle East Eye
5 hours ago
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‘Fauda Base': Israeli children taught to play ‘terrorist' hunters in mock Palestinian town
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