Syria announces ceasefire after sectarian violence
The announcement came a day after sectarian clashes that killed dozens, and after a state-run news agency report that Israel had launched a strike in the area.
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New York Times
22 minutes ago
- New York Times
Israel Refuses to Renew Visa of Top U.N. Humanitarian Official for Gaza
Israel has refused to renew the visa of a senior United Nations official who oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the country's foreign minister said on Sunday, further straining the already tense ties between the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the organization. Jonathan Whittall, the acting head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem, which plays a major role in managing the entry of desperately needed aid into territory, will not be allowed to continue working in Israel, Gideon Saar, the minister, wrote on social media. Mr. Saar cited what he called Mr. Whittall's 'biased and hostile conduct against Israel' as the grounds for the decision. Andrea De Domenico, Mr. Whittall's predecessor, also had to leave Israel when the country's previous foreign minister refused to allow him to continue working there. The Israeli authorities had indicated that Mr. Whittall's visa would not be extended beyond August, according to the U.N. agency known as OCHA. It said the decision had come after remarks that he had made about Gazans being killed while trying to get food at aid distribution sites. 'Speaking about conditions we see on the ground is a core element of OCHA's mandate,' the agency said in a statement in response to the decision not to renew Mr. Whittall's visa. 'Attempts to silence us are not new, but threats of reduced access to the civilians we're trying to serve are intensifying.' On Sunday, Israeli troops killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians after opening fire near a border crossing as U.N. aid trucks entered the territory, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations has strongly criticized the devastating humanitarian impact of the nearly two-year Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza. The war was set off by the Hamas-led attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which the Israeli authorities said killed roughly 1,200 people saw the taking of about 200 people hostage. The subsequent Israeli military campaign has killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and hospital workers. Its tolls include thousands of children A vast majority of Gazans have been displaced and now face a hunger crisis, with the World Food Program saying that nearly one in three are not eating for days at a time because they had limited access to food. Mr. Whittall had been a frequent critic of Israeli policies on aid, particularly an Israeli-backed relief effort run by the private and contentious Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. A series of shootings near the foundations' aid sites have caused hundreds of deaths, as desperate Palestinians have sought aid. 'What we are seeing is carnage. It is weaponized hunger,' Mr. Whittall said in June. 'It is forced displacement. It's a death sentence for people just trying to survive.'
New York Times
22 minutes ago
- New York Times
2 Deadly Shootings in 2 Days Highlight Dangers of Aid Distribution in Gaza
Over the weekend, two deadly incidents on consecutive days highlighted how the two main ways of distributing food to the hungry in Gaza — one backed by Israel, the other involving the United Nations — both come with profound risk for Palestinian civilians. In an incident on Saturday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians moving chaotically toward food distribution sites run by Israel-backed private contractors in Israeli-controlled areas. In another incident on Sunday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians rushing to seize aid from a convoy of food trucks sent by the United Nations toward areas controlled by Hamas. Supporters of the Israel-backed system used the episode on Sunday to highlight the failures of the U.N.-led system. Those favoring the U.N. system said the killings on Saturday illustrated the failures of Israel's approach. Israel says it is necessary to put food distribution sites in areas beyond Hamas's control in order to make it harder for both fighters from the militant group and civilian looters to steal supplies. Critics of that approach say it forces hungry civilians to cross Israeli military lines, putting them at greater risk. Three broader dynamics highlight the problems associated with both approaches. In both incidents over the weekend, the Israeli military used live fire to contain unrest, instead of using nonlethal forms of crowd control. Civilians are also ready to risk death by Israeli gunfire to avoid death by starvation in Gaza, where food is scarce following Israel's 80-day blockade between March and May. In addition, after 22 months of war, there is no functional governing system in most of Gaza, with Hamas no longer providing social services or law enforcement in most of the territory. Israel has decapitated Hamas's leadership, demolished many government buildings and controls the majority of the land. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has repeatedly decided against creating a system of transitional governance — whether through formal military occupation or the empowerment of Palestinian alternatives to Hamas. 'There's a blame game and everyone is looking at the technical details and about how the aid is distributed,' said Shira Efron, an expert on aid systems in Gaza at Israel Policy Forum, a New York-based research group. 'But the bigger issue is the lawlessness and the breakdown of governance,' she added. 'After 22 months of war, it's anarchy in Gaza. And without addressing the core issue of what should happen next in Gaza, there won't be a solution.' Responding to such criticism, Mr. Netanyahu has said that Hamas must be completely defeated before detailed postwar plans can begin. But his critics, including many in Israel, say that it is harder to defeat Hamas without planning for its replacement.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel Poised to Assault Last Gaza Town
Israel warned it would move for the first time into a town in the heart of the Gaza Strip that it had earlier skirted for fear of harming hostages, as it accused Hamas of stalling at US-brokered ceasefire talks and the war's toll on Palestinian civilians spiraled. Bloomberg's Dan Williams discusses with Joumanna Bercetche on Horizons Middle East and Africa.
