Funeral for Palestinian-American killed in West Bank, and Syria's fires
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Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Witkoff and Huckabee to enter Gaza as anger over famine mounts
US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee plan to enter Gaza on Friday to inspect aid distribution sites, as global rage mounts over the looming famine in the Gaza Strip. "Tomorrow, special envoy Witkoff and ambassador Huckabee will be travelling into Gaza to inspect the current (aid) distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday. The visit will be Witkoff's second to Gaza and the first visit from a US ambassador to the enclave in over two decades. It reflects mounting pressure by Trump to address the enclaves' starving Palestinians, as resentment grows not only among US allies but within his own MAGA base. Trump dispatched Witkoff to Israel on Thursday, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The death toll in the Gaza Strip has passed 60,000, mainly women and children, as Israel continues to pummel the enclave with no ceasefire in sight. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 154 people, including 89 children, have died from hunger since the war started in October 2023. Backlash to Gaza famine Those seeking aid have been met with bombardment and gunfire from Israeli soldiers and American mercenaries. The US and Israel sidelined the United Nations in Gaza and established the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to distribute aid at four sites for Gaza's two million-strong population. The images of starving Palestinians running through cage-like structures in a barren desert to pick up packages of meagre food have started to filter out to the US public and are causing backlash. Tony Aguilar, a former Green Beret and contractor who worked for GHF, has shared with US media harrowing stories of atrocities committed by US mercenaries and Israeli soldiers at the sites. This week, he appeared in an interview with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson. Why Trump has little interest in delivering a ceasefire in Gaza Read More » Earlier this week, for the first time, a majority of Senate Democrats and two Independent allies voted to block the sale of $675m in weapons to Israel. The measure was defeated, and all Republicans voted against the resolutions. But Trump's base of "America First" conservatives is also turning against Israel's war on Gaza. This week, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump supporter, became the first Republican member of Congress to declare Israel's war a genocide, joining dozens of human rights groups and scholars, including two prominent Israeli ones, to do so. The conservative podcaster Carlson has run a series of back-to-back interviews critical of Israel's war on Gaza and the US's involvement in the scandal-ridden GHF. Analysts told MEE that Trump has been forced to manage the ugly realities of the Gaza famine because he has decided not to extend political capital to push Netanyahu into a ceasefire and permanent end to the war. On Thursday, Trump reiterated previous comments that the humanitarian crisis would end if Hamas releases the captives, but he did not spell out a permanent end to the war. "The fastest way to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND FREE THE HOSTAGES!!!" Trump said on Thursday in a social media post. US isolation deepens The US has become more isolated on the world stage as it faces pressure from European and Arab partners to rein in Israel. In Egypt, Arab officials tell MEE there is growing alarm that Israel will use Gaza's famine to implement a forced displacement of Palestinians to Sinai. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made a rare video address to Trump this week, calling on him to end the war after an Egyptian police station was stormed by protesters angry over Gaza. Former Gaza contractor says Israeli soldiers were ready to shoot starving children Read More » Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and France jointly hosted a UN conference that called for a ceasefire in Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the creation of a Palestinian state along the lines of the 1967 border, also known as the green line, which includes Gaza, the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. The UK announced this week that unless a ceasefire in Gaza is reached by September, it will recognise a Palestinian state. Canada and Portugal have joined the UK in announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state. Germany's top diplomat, Johann Wadephul, who met Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday, warned before setting off that "Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority". So far, the US is doubling down. The US State Department announced it would deny visas to officials from the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and which the US's Arab allies want to govern Gaza after the war.
Gulf Today
5 hours ago
- Gulf Today
France, 14 other countries urge recognition of Palestinian state
France and 14 other Western nations called on countries worldwide to move to recognise a Palestinian state, France's top diplomat said on Wednesday. The foreign ministers of 15 countries late on Tuesday issued a joint statement following a conference in New York, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, aimed at reviving a two-state solution between Israelis and the Palestinians. 'In New York, together with 14 other countries, France is issuing a collective appeal: we express our desire to recognise the State of Palestine and invite those who have not yet done so to join us,' French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X. President Emmanuel Macron announced last week he would formally recognise Palestinian statehood in September, provoking strong opposition from Israel and the United States. France is hoping to build a momentum around the formal recognition of a Palestinian state. Also on Wednesday, Jordan's King Abdullah II said that the 'humanitarian catastrophe' unfolding in the Gaza Strip was the worst in modern history. 'Gaza is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe that exceeds anything we have witnessed in modern history,' the longtime Western ally said, adding that Jordan was in contact with international partners 'to pressure for an end to the war,' now in its 22nd month. On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the UK will formally recognise the State of Palestine in September unless Israel takes various 'substantive steps', including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza. Starmer's move, paired with Paris, would make the two European allies the first G7 nations to do so. In the statement, 15 nations including Spain, Norway, and Finland affirmed their 'unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution.' Nine of the signatories which have not yet recognised the Palestinian state expressed 'the willingness or the positive consideration of their countries' to do so, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Seventeen countries plus the European Union and Arab League during the conference joined calls for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war in the Palestinian territory. Meanwhile, Britain on Wednesday rejected criticism that it was rewarding Hamas by setting out plans to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to improve the situation in Gaza and bring about peace. The sight of emaciated Gaza children has shocked the world in recent days and on Tuesday, a hunger monitor warned that a worst-case scenario of famine was unfolding there and immediate action was needed to avoid widespread death. Starmer's ultimatum, setting a September deadline for Israel, prompted an immediate rebuke from his counterpart in Jerusalem, who said it rewarded Hamas and punished the victims of their 2023 cross-border attack. US President Donald Trump said he did not think Hamas 'should be rewarded' with recognition of Palestinian independence. Asked about that criticism, British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander - designated by the government to respond to questions in a series of media interviews on Wednesday — said it was not the right way to characterise Britain's plan. 'This is not a reward for Hamas. This is about the Palestinian people. It's about those children that we see in Gaza who are starving to death,' she told LBC radio. 'We've got to ratchet up pressure on the Israeli government to lift the restrictions to get aid back into Gaza.' The co-founder of pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action can launch a court bid to overturn the UK government's decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws, a judge ruled on Wednesday. The government earlier this month banned the group days after activists broke into an air force base in southern England. Prosecutors have said they caused an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft at the base. Being a member or supporting the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Agence France-Presse
Middle East Eye
7 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
'No Other Land' murder: Women in Awdah Hathaleen's village launch hunger strike
More than 70 women in the village where Awdah Hathaleen was killed on Monday have launched a hunger strike, calling for Israeli police to return his body and release residents arrested in the wake of his murder. Their protest comes as they say Israeli forces have raided family homes in the village each night since the killing, arresting their husbands and brothers and beating other family members. "A woman would be not properly dressed, lying in bed, and they would come in and open the door and say, 'We want your husband, we want your brother'," Ikhlas Hazalin, Hathaleen's sister-in-law, told Middle East Eye on Thursday. "Whenever they didn't find whom they were looking for, other family members would be beaten – his brother, or one of his family members – until the wanted person was brought in." Hazalin added: "I've never seen such brutality." New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Awdah Hathaleen was a 31-year-old English teacher and peaceful anti-settlement activist. He was allegedly shot by an Israeli settler, previously sanctioned by the US, in a confrontation captured on video. A consultant for the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, Hathaleen's murder has made global headlines and drawn international condemnation. He is one of 16 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli civilians in the West Bank since the 7 October 2023 attacks, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). Ten more Palestinians have been killed in circumstances in which the UN could not determine whether the perpetrator was a member of the Israeli forces or a settler. Israeli authorities are holding his body, preventing residents in Umm al-Khair – one of a string of communities in the South Hebron Hills – and his family from holding a funeral. 'By God, we won't eat until he arrives' - Ikhlas Hazalin, Awdah Hathaleen's sister-in-law For three days, his wife and nieces have been on hunger strike, saying they will refuse to eat until Hathaleen's body is returned. At midnight on Thursday, dozens of women in the village, including teenagers and those in their 70s, joined the protest, according to local reports and Hathaleen's sister-in-law. The women were compelled to participate after Israeli authorities offered to return Hathaleen's body on Wednesday evening, but under conditions: he would be handed over at 1am and only 15 people could attend his funeral. 'We saw that they were stubborn about not releasing him and wouldn't hand him over to us except on their terms,' Hazalin said. 'These are terms we will never accept. We, the people of Umm al-Khair, will never accept them.' Escalating violence Hathaleen's killing comes as observers and human rights organisations warn of state-backed settler violence displacing Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank, which has escalated dramatically following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. At least 2,894 Palestinians have been displaced by settler violence since January 2023, with 740 settler violence incidents recorded between January and June of this year, according to Ocha. Allegra Pacheco, head of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of international NGOs focused on protecting vulnerable Palestinian communities in the West Bank from forced displacement and attacks, said settler violence in the West Bank is 'completely connected' to Gaza. "The inhumanity and impunity in the West Bank are spillovers from the Gaza genocide,' Pacheco told MEE. 'What the soldiers and settlers are allowed to do, what the politicians are allowed to say… The call for destroying Gaza, for settling Gaza - all of that and the lack of public rejection of that. This is what you hear all the time on Israeli media. That's what reigns in the West Bank too.' 'The inhumanity and impunity in the West Bank are spillovers from the Gaza genocide' - Allegra Pacheco, West Bank Protection Consortium The current residents in Umm al-Khair are refugees from the Nakba, the forced expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 which led to the creation of Israel, and have been living in the village on land they purchased for over 50 years. The neighbouring Israeli settlement of Carmel was built in the 1980s on land belonging to residents. Pacheco, who was in Umm al-Khair on Thursday morning, said the residents have been facing a 'coercive environment' for years. 'No planning, water restrictions, no building, 16 rounds of house demolitions. Everything has a demolition order,' she said. 'But they've stayed. And they committed today firmly: we will stay until the last martyr.' In addition to their hunger strike, the women in the village also told Pacheco that they guarded their homes and land by themselves on Wednesday evening because there were so few men left to do it. "The Israelis arrested community members every night. They effectively were emptying the community of men and the women, in the last few nights, were on their own more and more,' she said. 'Every night, the men have this guard shift where they guard the houses from settlers. Last night, there were so few men that the women decided as a group [that] we have to do one of these shifts because there are no men left.' She added: 'I said to them, 'What would you have done if a settler had come?' A woman said, 'I don't know, but God gave me this sense of power that I could do anything and I just did it.'' West Bank 'emergency' Yinon Levi, the settler accused of killing Hathaleen, was previously sanctioned by the US under the Biden administration, but sanctions were lifted by President Donald Trump in January. The UK and the EU still have sanctions on Levi in place. On Tuesday, a court in Jerusalem released Levi from custody and placed him under house arrest. Israeli settler accused of killing No Other Land activist released under house arrest Read More » "This is the perversion of justice and of the narrative,' Pacheco said. 'The people who were injured are in prison. The people who tried to prevent this are in prison. The people who acted in self-defence are in prison. And the guy with the smoking gun - the guy who shot the gun on video - is sitting at home and drinking coffee.' She called on international leaders to provide a protection force for Palestinians in the West Bank immediately and not wait until September, when France, the UK, Canada and others are set to formally recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly. 'People will be dead by then. We are in an emergency in the West Bank,' she said. In Umm al-Khair, the women say they hope their hunger strike will be effective for this moment. "Perhaps, God willing, we can pressure them and there will be pressure to hand him over to us. The men also supported us and said they would join us within 24 hours if they don't hand him over," Hazalin said. "By God, we won't eat until he arrives."
