US-backed Gaza aid group to halt distribution on Wednesday, UN to vote on ceasefire demand
CAIRO/JERUSALEM/UNITED NATIONS, June 4 (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will not give out any aid on Wednesday as it presses Israel to boost civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its distribution sites, a day after dozens of Palestinians seeking aid were killed.
The GHF said it has asked the Israeli military to "guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks" near military perimeters; develop clearer guidance for civilians; and enhance training to support civilian safety.
"Our top priority remains ensuring the safety and dignity of civilians receiving aid," said a GHF spokesperson. An Israeli military spokesperson warned civilians against moving in areas leading to GHF sites on Wednesday, deeming them "combat zones".
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it opened fire on a group of people it viewed as a threat near a GHF food aid distribution site. The International Committee of the Red Cross said at least 27 people were killed and dozens injured. The GHF said the incident was "well beyond" its site.
Palestinians who collected food GHF boxes on Tuesday described scenes of pandemonium, with no-one overseeing the handover of supplies or checking IDs, as crowds jostled for aid.
The U.N. Security Council is also set to vote on Wednesday on a demand for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas and humanitarian access across Gaza, where aid has trickled amid chaos and bloodshed after Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on the enclave where famine looms.
"It is unacceptable. Civilians are risking – and in several instances losing – their lives just trying to get food," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday, adding that the aid distribution model backed by the U.S. and Israel was "all a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what is going on."
That model is run by the newly created GHF, which started operations in the enclave a week ago and said on Tuesday that it has given out more than seven million meals from three so-called secure distribution sites. GHF Interim Executive Director John Acree urged humanitarians in Gaza: "Work with us and we will get your aid delivered to those who are depending on it."
The U.N. and other aid groups have refused to work with the GHF because they say it is not neutral and the distribution model militarizes aid. GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get aid to the distribution sites.
It is the latest in a string of efforts to get more aid into the enclave, where experts say the entire population of some 2.1 million people is at risk of famine. Jordan last year spearheaded humanitarian air drops, while the U.S. briefly installed a floating aid pier, but it was beset by challenges.
The U.N. has long-blamed Israel and lawlessness in the enclave for hindering the delivery of aid into Gaza and its distribution throughout the war zone. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.
Israel said on Tuesday that three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza. Gaza health officials said at least 18 more Palestinians were killed in other military strikes in the territory on Tuesday. Reuters could not independently verify the reports in northern and southern Gaza.
The 10 elected members of the U.N. Security Council have asked for the 15-member body to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that demands "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties."
The draft text, seen by Reuters, also demands the release of all hostages held by Hamas and others, and the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the entry of aid and its safe and unhindered distribution, including by the U.N., throughout Gaza.
"The time to act has already passed," Slovenia's U.N. Ambassador Samuel Zbogar told Reuters. "It is our historical responsibility not to remain silent."
As U.S. President Donald Trump's administration tries to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, it was not immediately clear if Washington would veto the draft text. A spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N. said: "We cannot preview our actions currently under consideration."
A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain or France - to pass.
The war in Gaza has raged since 2023 after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in an October 7 attack and took some 250 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, which do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.
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The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The longest division: can Palestinian and Israeli students compete at the International Maths Olympiad?
For six Palestinian teenagers, it could be a 'life-changing opportunity'. The youngsters have been selected for the International Mathematics Olympiad, to be held on Australia's Sunshine Coast in July, but it is unclear whether they will be able to leave Gaza and the West Bank to take part. At the same time the IMO faces calls to suspend Israel's membership and allow its students to compete solely as private entrants. National teams around the world are in training camps for the trip to Australia, being coached by academics as they prepare to compete for medals – and the ticket such prizes offer to just about any university in the world. The Palestine team leader, Samed AlHajajla, says the IMO should be the start of a journey towards a glittering career. 'Having a mind to solve these problems is incredibly rare,' AlHajajla says. 'They are the best in Palestine, they are the top students. Being an IMO competitor, it takes a lot of hard work and talent and gifts and, for them [in training for the IMO] they can exercise that, they can exercise some freedom inside the prison which is Gaza. 'For them [it should be] a life-changing opportunity where they can taste freedom for the first time.' The problem facing AlHajajla and his young Palestinians is logistical and political. Last year, four Palestinians – two from Gaza and two from the West Bank – were selected for the 2024 IMO in Bath, England, but were unable to take part. The closure of the Rafah crossing meant those in Gaza could not leave. Visas and passports for those in the West Bank were approved by British and Israeli authorities, but did not arrive in time. A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Australia says they are 'not aware of any evidence that Israel delayed or refused visas for the Palestinian team at the last IMO, nor do we have information suggesting this will occur now'. Mike Clapper is the interim chief executive of the Australian Mathematics Trust, which is organising the Sunshine Coast event. He says it is 'very much our hope' that the Palestinian team will be able to come in person. 'We are exploring all the avenues that we can to try to make it possible for the Palestinians to participate,' he says. Whether Palestinians can compete is only one part of the IMO's problem. The other is whether Israelis should be allowed to do so. On 6 May a letter signed by more than 700 mathematicians was issued to the IMO under the heading 'Mathematics and Moral Responsibility: the IMO and the Genocide in Gaza'. The letter calls on the IMO to do as it did when it suspended Russia's membership after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine – while allowing its six students to compete remotely as private individuals. Russia remains suspended. Signatories come from a diverse range of countries, universities and career stages: from Australia to Morocco to Switzerland; from Oxford to Stanford to the University of Carthage; from PhD researchers to associate professors to three winners of the Fields medal – the award often referred to as the Nobel prize of maths. The letter – seen by Guardian Australia – has not been published, to protect signatories from harassment. Among them is an Israeli, a former IMO medallist, who asked for their name to be withheld. 'I needed to think about it for a second because of the potential danger,' they say. 'If I would tell this to random people in the street it would be, I would not say controversial, it would be considered a clearcut treasonous thing to do.' But, they say: 'We see what is happening in Gaza: there's war crimes, there's starvation, the genocide. For me it is clearcut. It is the moral thing – it is the obligatory thing to do in this situation.' They hope the suspension of Israel would be a symbolic act that would help 'put a mirror in the face of the Israeli nation'and cause their compatriots to reflect on 'what direction this country is going'. The Israeli embassy in Canberra flatly rejected the call. 'The embassy strongly opposes any call to suspend Israel's IMO membership or to boycott its students,' its spokesperson said. 'Mathematics must remain apolitical and inclusive.' The Israeli signatory, like so many young mathematicians, says competing at the IMO was a 'transformative experience'. The first signatory of the letter is the research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Ahmed Abbes. The son of a Tunisian high school maths teacher, he recalls the IMO as his 'making as a mathematician'. Abbes won a bronze medal at his first IMO in Canberra in 1988. The following year in Braunschweig, Germany, he won silver, rubbing shoulders and making lifelong connections with teenagers who would go on to become some of the world's most influential people. Ranked No 1 in the world in 1988, for the second year running, was Nicuşor Dan, who won a second consecutive gold medal with his second perfect score. In May, he emerged from Romania's political crisis as its new president. At that same IMO the Australian prime minister, Bob Hawke, presented a gold medal to an even younger prodigy, a 12-year-old Australian called Terence Tao. Tao remains the youngest ever IMO gold medallist and is now regarded by many as the greatest living mathematician. A more recent example of the IMO's power to transform lives is Ihor Pylaiev. Pylaiev was plucked from war-ravaged Kharkiv in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine to continue his studies in Paris. He won his second gold medal in Oslo, this time with a perfect score and the top world ranking. He is now studying at Cambridge on a scholarship with colleagues from the Ukrainian IMO team. Abbes, who led efforts to support Pylaiev and the Ukrainian students, says the mathematical community's response to the Russian invasion is another chapter in its proud history of standing up for human rights. 'When you accept that there are universal values, you just apply them, like you apply a mathematical theorem,' Abbes says. 'When you see clearly the double standard [in not applying the same lens to Israel], as a mathematician you cannot accept this.' The president of the IMO board, Gregor Dolinar, denies accusations of double standards. Since assuming the presidency in 2023, the Slovenian professor has overseen the incorporation of the IMO as an association, based in the Netherlands. 'I wanted to make things more formal, more professional,' Dolinar says. 'Now we have set up a government structure properly.' Dolinar says it is his 'strong belief' that important decisions such as suspending nations should be made not by his board, but by the IMO jury, which includes representatives from more than 100 states and territories. The jury, he says, will meet at the Sunshine Coast in July and could make the decision to suspend Israel then. 'Our primary goal is just focusing on [developing] young minds and, based on a very long tradition, doing a nice event,' Dolinar says. 'We really do want to avoid any political issues. We really do want to be apolitical. 'Our primary goal is to enable as many kids as possible to participate at the IMO.'
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
In 1973, I reported freely on Israel at war. Now its censorship has made that impossible
Watching the TV coverage of the conflict in Gaza with increasing dismay this week, my mind went back to the banks of the Suez canal in October 1973. I was filming the surrender of the entire Egyptian third army with a team from the BBC, without significant censorship or hindrance. The Israeli commander, Gen Avraham Adan, paused in whatever he was doing to give us an update. Crossing the canal on the Israeli pontoon bridge in a bright yellow Hertz car (not a wise choice of colour) we were even helped when we had to repair a tyre that had been punctured by the shrapnel that littered the battlefield. Censorship? Yes, the report was censored by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) back at the satellite feed point in Herzliya. But the censorship was limited only to matters of operational security. This was obviously helpful to the journalists, but also to the Israelis themselves. They had independent verification, with video to back it, of their remarkable achievement in turning around their initial setbacks in Sinai. And they could show, through scenes with a biblical resonance, that the Egyptians' surrender was conducted humanely and in accordance with the Geneva conventions, the laws of war. As the great columns of the third army mounted a sand dune, they exchanged their weapons for bottles of water abundantly provided. Was it always this easy? Of course not. On another occasion, I rose early and reached a road block beyond Gaza only to be turned back, as all the press were that day, on the orders of southern command. But that was exceptional. The IDF operated a policy of relatively open access based on mutual advantage. Sometimes it would herd everyone into press buses, which was far from satisfactory. But it would regularly provide the major TV networks with an escort officer, armed and in uniform, to enable and supervise the coverage. One of my escorts in the Yom Kippur war was Topol, the actor from Fiddler on the Roof. He was something of a hero in Israel, and all roadblocks opened to him. On another occasion I was on my way to the Golan Heights, accompanied and with documents in order, when the great conductor and Israeli sympathiser Zubin Mehta asked for a lift. To my lasting regret I turned him down on the grounds that I had a press pass and he did not – I thought this may harm my chances of being allowed in. Nowhere that the IDF operated was off limits to us. We could film what we wanted and freely interview soldiers of all ranks. In the trenches of the Golan Heights, because of language difficulties, the other ranks tended to be South African immigrants. I was also free to make mistakes. In 1968, the year after the six-day war, I returned to Israel and interviewed the chief of staff, Gen Haim Bar-Lev, who was busy building the defensive line that bore his name. I travelled to Jerusalem and was stopped at a roadblock outside the biblical village of Emmaus. It stood at the centre of the Latrun salient, a Jordanian outpost in the previous war of 1948. The Israelis were busy dismantling it brick by brick. I was not allowed to film it and could only have reported it by leaving the country, not to return. Such compromises are commonplace, but I regret this one. The village disappeared, to be replaced by a Canadian peace park. I was also allowed, after 1967, to visit and stay in Gaza, and show the day-to-day reprisals by the IDF against Palestinians whom it held responsible for previous attacks. The same applied to the destruction of homes in the West Bank city of Qalqilya, and the sowing of landmines round the churches of St John the Baptist in the Jordan valley. All of this passed the IDF's censorship without difficulty. Fast forward to today, and the coverage – or rather, the non-coverage – of the conflict between the Israelis and Hamas in Gaza. The broadcasts regularly start with the mantra that the IDF does not allow foreign media access into the Gaza Strip, and proceed with the most vivid coverage, shot by brave freelances and other civilians posting on social media from inside Gaza, of scenes of death and destruction with the commentary voiced remotely in Jerusalem, Ashkelon or London. Often, both print and broadcast media preface the numbers of the dead and injured with a reminder that they were provided by the Hamas-run health ministry – sometimes the only source available. My former colleague Jeremy Bowen said on the Today programme on Wednesday: 'Israel doesn't let us in because it's doing things there … that they don't want us to see, otherwise they would allow free reporting.' I'm inclined to agree with him. My sympathies are with Bowen, Fergal Keane and others at the BBC, especially when Donald Trump flings around baseless accusations of bias. The BBC and other responsible news outlets have a difficult line to tread. I cannot speak for the American networks, but the British channels all have excellent reporters standing by in the region, not exactly there but thereabouts, sometimes on the high ground overlooking Gaza, which some reporters call the 'hill of shame'. What is missing is the first-hand experience of the war, shared by reporters on the ground who can properly interpret what is happening. This gives free rein to rumour and falsehood. What Bowen and I know from our shared experience is that it is not enough to win the war of weapons without also winning the war of words and images. And the IDF must see that it is losing. It has historically had its ups and downs with the foreign press, but nothing like the present entrenched hostility. It is doing itself great damage, which it is beginning to feel diplomatically. I would urge the following: that the foreign press, especially the TV networks, continue to stand their ground, and that the Israeli press machine does itself a favour and relaxes the rules to allow some independent access to Gaza. This will not only limit the tides of propaganda (on both sides, it must be said) but perhaps hold the frontline troops to higher standards of behaviour, just as it did beside the Suez canal in 1973. It is important to both sides to reestablish at least the limited level of trust that used to exist between them. Here is an example. In the 1973 war, we were able transmit the news by satellite on the day that it happened. Our office was a chair beneath a palm tree near the feed point. In the 1967 war, the exposed news film was bundled into onion bags – blue for the BBC, red for NBC – and taken to the censor who stamped his approval on the masking tape around the neck, before it was air-freighted to London. But he had to take our word for what the film actually showed. The public had a more accurate account back then of events on the battlefield than it does today through the fog of war in Gaza. When access is denied, everyone loses. And, Israel, that includes you. Martin Bell is a Unicef UK ambassador. He is a former broadcast war reporter, and was the independent MP for Tatton from 1997 to 2001 Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
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