Syria: UN Chief Urges De-escalation As Sweida Violence Escalates, Israel Strikes Damascus
News reports estimate that the sectarian violence in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, south of the capital, has killed more than 200.
Israel explained its attacks in the heart of the capital and on pro-government forces in Sweida as a defensive move in support of the Druze community, which has a significant presence within Israel and in the Israeli-occupied Golan.
The strikes on the defence ministry in Damascus also hit an area near the presidential palace, according to news reports and Syrian authorities.
Pledging to protect the Druze minority but also following up on its threat to attack any Syrian military operations taking place south of the capital, Israel said it would intensify strikes if government forces did not withdraw from the region, according to news reports.
Syrians 'robbed' of opportunity for peace
' The Secretary-General is alarmed by the continued escalation of violence in Sweida ' and 'unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians,' said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Wednesday.
It was the second day in a row that the UN chief has intervened to highlight the increasing civilian toll and 'reports of arbitrary killings and acts that fan the flames of sectarian tensions and rob the people of Syria of their opportunity for peace.'
Mr. Guterres further condemned Israel's 'escalatory airstrikes' on Sweida, Daraa and central Damascus, together with 'reports of the IDF's redeployment of forces in the Golan,' the highly-contested mountainous region along the border of the two countries.
The UN also called on Israel to cease any violations of Syria's sovereignty and respect for the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.
The UN chief also reiterated the need to support 'a credible, orderly and inclusive political transition in Syria in line with the key principles of Security Council Resolution 2254.'
Extending his condolences to the people of Syria, the Secretary-General reiterated his call for an immediate de-escalation of violence measures to facilitate humanitarian access.
Civilians in peril
Mr. Dujarric said UN humanitarians were warning that 'the deadly hostilities continue to put civilians at risk, with ongoing reports of significant displacement and damage to critical infrastructure, including water, electricity and telecommunications networks,' Mr. Dujarric said.
Access to Sweida and the impacted areas remains severely constrained due to insecurity and road closures, and civilians are unable to reach shelters.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, said that the UN and its humanitarian partners plan to assess the needs and provide essential assistance in Sweida as soon as conditions allow.
Mr. Dujarric underscored that medical services in Sweida and the neighbouring Daraa Governorate are overstretched and hospitals are almost at capacity.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) has dispatched emergency medical supplies to Daraa, deliveries to Sweida have yet to get through due to the fighting.
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NZ Herald
8 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Hamas facing financial and administrative crisis as revenue dries up
'Hamas is not rebuilding their tunnels, they're not paying their highly trained fighters, they're only surviving,' Ailam said. Nor can the Hamas Administration meet the payroll of police and ministry employees in Gaza, where the group has been the governing authority since 2007, or continue to pay death benefits to the families of fighters killed, according to Ailam, a local Palestinian policeman, and two other Gazans. Ibrahim Madhoun, a Gazan analyst close to Hamas, said that the group had not prepared for more than a year of war and has been forced to adopt austerity measures, such as cutting administrative costs and salaries, while trying to maintain some basic services and thus some semblance of governing authority. For instance, it set up emergency committees that provide basic local services such as garbage collection and management of generator fuel. To pick up some of the slack, Madhoun said, Hamas also relies on efforts of the local community and the 'strong social network that helps absorb the shocks'. Hamas officials did not respond to requests for comment about the group's financial health. Hamas and Israel are currently negotiating over a possible 60-day ceasefire, with Israel seeking to ensure that it can maintain pressure on Hamas and the militant group looking for a lifeline. All sides say the talks are making progress, but an agreement remains elusive. Earlier in the war, Hamas relied on taxes imposed on commercial shipments and the seizure of humanitarian goods, according to Gazans and current and former Israeli and foreign officials. According to a Gazan who has worked at the border, plainclothes Hamas personnel routinely took inventory of goods at the Rafah crossing, until it closed last year, and at the Kerem Shalom crossing, though it was under IDF control. They also surveyed warehouses and markets. Most of the Palestinians interviewed for this story spoke either on the condition of anonymity or that only their first name be used, for fear of reprisal by Hamas. The United Nations, the European Commission and major international aid organisations have said they have no evidence that Hamas has systematically stolen their aid, and the Israeli Government has not provided proof. Hamas profited 'especially off the aid that had cost them nothing but whose prices they hike up', said a Gazan contractor who has worked at Gaza's border crossings during the war. Over nearly two years, he said, he saw Hamas routinely collect 20,000 shekels (about US$6000) from local merchants, threatening to confiscate their trucks if they did not pay. He recalled that civil servants for the Hamas-led government said several times that they would kill him or call him a collaborator with Israel if he did not co-operate with their demands to divert aid. He said he refused. But he added that he knew at least two aid truck drivers who he said were killed by Hamas for refusing to pay. When Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in March, shortly before breaking a two-month ceasefire with Hamas, most of those shipments came to a halt. Hamas officials did not respond to requests for comment about accounts that it has taxed or impounded commercial shipments, stolen humanitarian aid, or extorted local businessmen. Aid trucks pass through the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing into Gaza on the day the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into force, on January 19. Photo / Loay Ayyoub, for the Washington Post Hamas under pressure Hamas triggered the devastating war in Gaza by attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1200 people and taking about 250 others back into Gaza as hostages. Since then, the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 58,000 people, mostly women and children, Gazan health authorities say. An Israeli military official said Hamas has lost 90% of its leadership and 90% of its weapons stockpiles over the course of the conflict. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the news media. In the early phase of the war, Hamas had rushed to stash cash and supplies underground, but those have run short. In March 2024, the Israeli Army said that it confiscated more than US$3 million from the tunnels beneath al-Shifa Hospital, in northern Gaza, according to a statement in the IDF's WhatsApp group. But Hamas has profited off commercial trade and humanitarian aid, netting hundreds of millions of dollars, according to two Israeli military officials and an Israeli intelligence official, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive findings. For instance, the officials said, Hamas seized at least 15% of some goods, like flour, and aid vouchers that international agencies had intended to provide to hungry Gazans. These officials said some of that was given to Hamas personnel and supporters while the rest was sold to make money. Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian American who leads the advocacy group Realign for Palestine, said that Hamas repeatedly modified its strategy for profiting off aid and commerce while counting on the humanitarian crisis to bring the war to an end. 'Hamas's strategy relied on the suffering of Gazans,' said Alkhatib. 'But when this strategy failed, it foolishly doubled down on this approach, in large part because it had nothing else in its toolbox to deal with Israel's ferocious reaction to October 7 and the world's inability to stop it.' 'Hamas sees aid as its most important currency,' said a man from Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, who helps manage the distribution of aid. He said that while most of the population had to scrape for water and food, people affiliated with Hamas had been gifted boxes of aid meant for wider distribution. The IDF, citing intelligence, says the aid organisations targeted by Hamas have included UN agencies and NGOs. The Israeli Government has used allegations of widespread Hamas theft to justify draconian restrictions on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza and to justify bombing aid depots. Some far-right members of the Israeli Government have said these restrictions are useful in pressuring Hamas into making negotiating concessions and in turning Gaza's population against Hamas. Israel has not provided public proof that Hamas has systematically stolen aid brought into Gaza under the UN system, and despite requests from the Washington Post to officials in the IDF, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the prime minister's office, no evidence has been provided to substantiate reports of widespread diversion of UN food aid. Nor has Israel privately presented proof to humanitarian organisations or Western government officials, even when they have pressed for evidence, according to interviews with more than a dozen aid officials and several current and former Western officials. Carl Skau, deputy executive director for the UN's World Food Programme, one of the main providers of flour in Gaza throughout the war, said in an interview that systematic aid diversion by Hamas 'has not been an issue for us so far in the conflict'. WFP previously reported three instances of looting of its supplies during 21 months of war. 'We have mitigating measures that we have drawn lessons from over the past 40 years operating in these kinds of complex environments with armed groups,' he said. 'We are putting all those mitigating measures in place.' Officials from several major international aid organisations have also said that there has been no systematic diversion of their aid by Hamas and that they have robust procedures for tracking aid as it enters Gaza and is distributed. An Egyptian official briefed on intelligence, however, said that Hamas had indeed stolen some of this food aid. 'Hamas is trying to use the aid to survive. It's happening,' said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the news media. Thousands of displaced Palestinians evacuate shortly before the Israeli warplanes targeted a building in the Al-Nasr neighbourhood in central Gaza on July 21. Photo / Getty Images Push for old system Among the group's demands in negotiations with Israel over a new ceasefire deal is the reopening of Gaza's borders and the surging of humanitarian aid - partly to alleviate the severe shortage of food that has turned public opinion against Hamas, but also to revive its cash flow, said an official familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations. 'One of the reasons that Hamas is pushing for a return to the old system is that they have guys in all of the warehouses,' said a Western official. The presence of employees of the Gaza government allows Hamas to regulate and monitor market activities, as well as tax or seize some of the supplies at times, said a high-level Israeli official. Until commercial shipments into Gaza were suspended in October, Hamas taxed these imports at the border and, if traders refused, commandeered a portion of their trucks and sold their contents to Gazan merchants, according to a Gazan economic reporter. He said that before the war, 'fuel and cigarettes were the highest taxed and most profitable items for the Hamas government in Gaza', adding that revenue data has been difficult to access. A Gazan businessman said Hamas had imposed a tax of a least 20% on many goods. But the group also would take control of trucks carrying high-demand goods like flour, which could sell for up to US$30 for a kilogram, and steal fuel meant for aid groups. Fuel supplies have produced high revenue for Hamas during the war, with the group both taxing and seizing fuel stored at service stations for sale, said an Israeli military official. In addition to taxing goods, Hamas also made money by allowing associated merchants to sell imported staples like sugar and flour at inflated prices without fear of being punished for price gouging, according to the IDF, which cited an internal Hamas document obtained by the military. The Gazan economic reporter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, confirmed that these merchants are allowed to sell goods at inflated prices. He said Hamas would at times constrain supply on the market by ordering others to withhold distribution for several days, thus forcing up prices. When Israel resumed the war in March, Hamas saw its revenue tumble as imports and aid shipments into Gaza largely were reduced to a trickle. The establishment in May of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - a food assistance programme backed by the US and Israel whose operations have been overshadowed by the repeated fatal shooting of Palestinians seeking aid at its centres - has deprived Hamas of earlier revenue, the Israeli military official said. Palestinians carry sacks of food aid in Gaza City on July 20. Last weekend Israeli soldiers shot Palestinians near an Israeli-backed aid site and a UN convoy. Photo / Saher Alghorra, the New York Times Mounting repression As Hamas has come under growing military and financial pressures, it has become increasingly repressive in a bid to show it is still in control. Gazans interviewed for this story spoke of growing fear of retribution. In videos posted since this northern spring on social media by a Hamas-linked unit formed to dole out punishments, masked gunmen are shown beating up and shooting the legs of men accused of stealing aid. Gazans said Hamas is also seeking to intimidate those critical of the group. Last month, for instance, Mowafeq Khdour, 31, was robbed and brutally beaten by dozens of armed Hamas men after he spoke out publicly against Hamas, his brother Mahmoud said over WhatsApp. As Hamas adopts harsher policies, the group's popularity is falling, said Rami, a 40-year-old employee of the Hamas-run government who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used out of concern for his safety. He said the anger on Gaza's streets is markedly different from the optimism earlier in the conflict, when 'we believed we were on the brink of liberating Palestine or achieving a major victory in the war', especially with Hamas and its allies holding about 250 people hostage. 'Israel's actions are undeniably criminal, but Hamas's poor judgment and failure to account for the war's aftermath have also contributed significantly to this disaster,' Rami said. - Miriam Berger and Lior Soroka contributed to this report.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
US-funded contraceptives for poor nations to be burned in France, sources say
By Ammu Kannampilly , Jennifer Rigby and Jonathan Landay , Reuters The logistics warehouse in Geel, Belgium, where millions of condoms and other contraceptives have been stored by the US development agency USAID. Photo: LUC CLAESSEN / Belga / AFP US-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters. The supplies have been stuck for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in the Belgian province of Antwerp, following President Donald Trump's decision to freeze US foreign aid in January. They comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to seven sources and a screengrab shared by an eighth source confirming the planned destruction. The US government will spend $160,000 (about NZ$265,000) to incinerate the stocks at a facility in France that handles medical waste, according to four of the sources with knowledge of the matter, following Trump's decision to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the negotiations to save the contraceptives from destruction or the plans to incinerate them. US lawmakers have introduced two bills this month to prevent the destruction of the supplies but aid groups say the bills are unlikely to be passed in time to stop the incineration. The Belgian foreign ministry said Brussels had held talks with US authorities and "explored all possible options to prevent the destruction, including temporary relocation". "Despite these efforts, and with full respect for our partners, no viable alternative could be secured. Nevertheless, Belgium continues to actively seek solutions to avoid this regrettable outcome," it said in a statement shared with Reuters on Tuesday. "Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints ," it added. The supplies, worth $9.7 million (NZ$16.07m), are due to expire between April 2027 and September 2031, according to an internal document listing the warehouse stocks and verified by three sources. Sarah Shaw, Associate Director of Advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, told Reuters the non-profit organisation had volunteered to pay for the supplies to be repackaged without USAID branding and shipped to countries in need, but the offer was declined by the US government. "MSI offered to pay for repackaging, shipping and import duties but they were not open to that... We were told that the US government would only sell the supplies at the full market value," said Shaw. She did not elaborate on how much the NGO was prepared to pay, but said she felt the rejection was based on the Trump's administration's more restrictive stance on abortion and family planning. "This is clearly not about saving money. It feels more like an ideological assault on reproductive rights, and one that is already harming women." She added that many countries in sub-Saharan Africa had relied on USAID for access to contraception and that the aid cuts would lead to a rise in unsafe abortions. The United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, also offered to buy the contraceptives outright, three sources told Reuters, without disclosing the financial terms of the proposal. However, negotiations broke down, a source with knowledge of the talks said, in part due to a lack of response from the US government. UNFPA declined to comment. One of the sources with knowledge of the issue said that the Trump administration was acting in accordance with the Mexico City policy, an anti-abortion pact in which Trump reinstated US participation in January. The pact forbids the US government from contributing to or working with organisations providing funding or supplies that offer access to abortions. The source said there was no way for the US government to ensure that UNFPA would not share the contraceptives with groups offering abortions, violating the Mexico City policy. The source also said the matter was complicated by the fact that the contraceptives in Belgium were embossed with the USAID trademark and Washington did not want any USAID-branded supplies to be rerouted elsewhere. UNFPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the concerns raised by the source. MSI, which says on its website that it fights for a future where everyone can access contraception and abortion, accused the State Department earlier this month of being "hellbent on destroying life-saving medical supplies, incurring additional costs for the US taxpayer in the process." The State Department declined to comment. Abortion is a divisive issue in US politics and was a major issue in the 2024 election won by Trump. In 2022, the US Supreme Court ruled to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion, leaving abortion laws to each of the 50 states. One of the two sources who told Reuters the stocks of contraceptives were being trucked to France said it would likely take dozens of truckloads and at least two weeks to move the supplies out of the Geel warehouse, with a third source also confirming the scale of the operation. The French government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chemonics, the contractor managing the supply chain for USAID's family planning programme, declined to comment on the plans to destroy the supplies. An internal USAID memo, sent in April, said a large quantity of contraceptives was being kept in warehouses and they should be "immediately transferred to another entity to prevent waste or additional costs". - Reuters
Scoop
12 hours ago
- Scoop
Joint Statement In Response To Government Declaration On Gaza
We, the undersigned organisations, express grave concern over the recent joint declaration by New Zealand and 24 other nations condemning Israel's actions in Gaza and accusing it of obstructing humanitarian aid. This statement is not only misguided, it represents a dangerous inversion of reality, in which: Terrorists are excused, and defenders are condemned Hamas's propaganda is cited as fact, and verified Israeli efforts are ignored The thief is pitied, and those delivering food under fire are vilified Blaming the Rescuers, Not the Arsonists The joint statement accuses Israel of 'inhumane' killing and 'drip-feeding' aid. Yet it is Hamas (the very group that started this war with a massacre on October 7 2023) that: Steals aid, sells it, and redistributes it to fighters; Creates disturbances and fires on civilians at aid stations to induce panic and lay blame on Israel; Places bounties on aid workers not under its control. To accuse Israel of causing the humanitarian crisis while ignoring Hamas's central role is to blame the firefighter for the fire. Israel has worked hard to coordinate necessary aid to the extent that there are currently hundreds of truckloads of food on the Gaza side of the border in need of distribution. Thus, there is no "drip-feeding" by Israel. Treating Terrorist Casualty Reports as Gospel The casualty numbers cited (tens of thousands of 'civilians' killed) come directly from Hamas's so-called 'Gaza Health Ministry.' This is not a neutral medical authority. It is: A Hamas-run information weapon, whose sole aim is to inflate civilian casualties; A notoriously unreliable source. Due to inconsistencies the UN has quietly revised its own reporting; Completely opaque and unverifiable, with no distinction between combatants and civilians. When governments like New Zealand cite these figures without context or scrutiny, they lend credibility to terrorists and undermine genuine humanitarian reporting. Condemning What Works, Ignoring What Fails While condemning Israel, the joint statement says nothing about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) — the one aid mechanism that actually works: GHF delivers aid using vetted drivers, uses GPS tracking and bypass routes around Hamas. It ensures direct civilian access to food and medicine. It has faced threats and sabotage from Hamas, and—most shockingly—refusal to cooperate from UN agencies and NGOs. According to a Times of Israel report (22 July 2025), these agencies have declined GHF's repeated offers to collaborate, even as they lament 'lack of access' and blame Israel. This is not humanitarianism — it is institutional dysfunction. Calling for Ceasefire While Hostages Rot in Tunnels The joint statement demands an 'immediate, unconditional ceasefire.' But what kind of ceasefire: Leaves 50 hostages in captivity? Enables Hamas to rearm, reorganise, and repeat the horrors of October 7? Forbids Israel from dismantling a terror regime that uses civilians as shields and hospitals as bases? A ceasefire without the above conditions does not end the war. It guarantees the next one. When Hamas Applauds You, Something Is Wrong That Hamas has celebrated the joint statement should alarm every signatory. If your position is being used by a terrorist group as vindication, it is time to re-examine whose reality you are serving. Why does NZ side with terrorists, when a tiny western style democratic state the size of Northland fights an existential defensive war? Israel did not start this war. She has an obligation to defend her citizens, to do everything possible to free the hostages and to protect her people from future 7 October style massacres. What Must Happen Now We urge the New Zealand Government and its partners to: Withdraw or amend the joint statement, explicitly naming Hamas as the source of Gaza's suffering; Publicly support the GHF and demand cooperation from UN and NGO agencies obstructing its work; Reject the inversion of truth, where democracies are condemned and terror groups are given a free pass; Recognise that Israel is fighting an existential war, and that peace is not possible if a genocidal terror regime is left in place; Demand the immediate release of all hostages and urge Hamas to accept the ceasefire. A Final Word: Reality Must Be Respected This is not a war between equals. It is a fight between a democracy that warns civilians and a death cult that hides behind them. Between those who seek peace and those who glorify death. Reversing that truth is not diplomacy. It is betrayal. We call on New Zealand to return to moral clarity — and stop legitimising the lies of Hamas. Dr David Cumin, Greg Bouwer - Israel Institute NZ Dr Sheree Trotter - Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem Rob Berg - Kol Israel Yifat Goddard, Ashley Church - Israel NZ Network Dennis Mcleod - Christian Friends of Israel
