Israel orders military to block aid boat from reaching Gaza
Israel's defence minister on Sunday ordered the military to block an aid boat headed for Gaza with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
"I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza," Israel Katz said in a statement from his office. "To Greta the antisemite and her companions, Hamas propaganda mouthpieces, I say clearly: turn back because you will not reach Gaza."
Reporting by AFP
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Gulf Today
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Gaza relief distribution remains suspended as bombings continue
Medics in Gaza said 55 people in total were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave on Saturday. At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by airstrikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local health authorities said. More than one missile landed in the area. The target seemed to have been a multi-floor residential building, but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media. Israel has warned people to evacuate the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity. Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion on Saturday. Reuters The Israeli military said it had uncovered 'an underground tunnel route, including a command and control center from which senior Hamas commanders' operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza. It added that it had located several bodies of militants whose identities were 'under examination.' The Israeli government and military said last month it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas' Gaza chief, but Hamas did not confirm his death. AID GROUP : The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US- and Israeli-backed aid group, said on Saturday it was unable to distribute assistance to Palestinian civilians, blaming threats by Hamas, which Gaza's dominant group denied. Displaced Palestinians carrying their belongings in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. AP Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the GHF said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. The GHF, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations for alleged lack of neutrality, said it was unable to distribute any humanitarian aid on Saturday because Hamas had issued 'direct threats' against its operations. 'These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,' the GHF said in a statement in which it also said it intended to resume aid distribution 'without delay'. A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such 'alleged threats'. An APC maneuvers on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border on Saturday. Reuters On Wednesday, the GHF suspended operations and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after Palestinian hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points between June 1-3. Eyewitnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian 'suspects' who were advancing towards their positions. The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located. There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. ISRAELI HOSTAGE : The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday, as Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified. Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza on Saturday. Reuters Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza. Israel's military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week. There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive. ROME PROTEST: Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday to protest the war in Gaza, in a rally called by opposition parties denouncing the government's alleged 'complicity' in the conflict. Protestors hold placards as they join a demonstration called by Italian opposition parties in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in Rome on Saturday. AFP 'Stop the massacre, stop complicity!' read a wide banner held by protestors at the start of the march, amid a sea of red, white and green Palestinian flags, peace flags and 'Free Palestine' signs. The peaceful protest attracted a massive crowd estimated by organisers at 300,000 people. Police later said those estimates were 'largely confirmed', according to Italian news agency AGI. AID SHIP : An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, is nearing Gaza, having reached the Egyptian coast, organisers said on Saturday. Agencies
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
Gaza war must end for the sake of humanity
Gaza is 'worse than hell on earth,' International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC's Jermy Bowen following her latest visit to the strip. 'We cannot continue to watch what is happening. It's surpassing any acceptable, legal, moral, and humane standard. The level of destruction, the level of are watching a people entirely stripped of its human dignity. It should really shock our collective conscience.' She said all states must strive to end the war and return the hostages held by Hamas to their families. 'Israel has a right to defend itself,' she said in response to the October 7th, 2023, raid by Hamas, which killed 1,200 and abducted 150 from southern Israel. However, she argued both Hamas and Israel must abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which prohibits attacks on civilians.' The Geneva Convention must not be disrespected or hollowed out by rule breakers. 'The rules apply to everyone,' she stated before declaring, 'A child in Gaza has exactly the same protections under the Geneva Conventions as a child in Israel.' 'Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Nowhere. Not for the civilians, not for the hostages,' said Spoljaric. 'That's a fact. And (the Red Cross) hospital is not safe. I don't recall another situation (like this) that I have seen where we operate in the midst of hostilities.' Events in Gaza will have repercussions far beyond Palestinians and Israelis because the Geneva Conventions that 'protect the fundamental rights of every human being' are not respected and applied. Spoljaric appealed to all parties for a ceasefire to 'preserve a pathway back to peace for the region.' If this is destroyed, 'the region will never find safety and security. But we can stop (the war) now. It's not too late.' She declared, 'Every state is under the obligation to use their means, their peaceful means, to help reverse what is happening in Gaza today.' Her words are particularly pertinent as the ICRC is the custodian of the Geneva Conventions which provide protection for civilians at time of war. However, this interview coincided with the US veto of the latest UN Security Council resolution that called for an 'immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.' While fourteen of the fifteen members of the Council voted in favour of the resolution, including four of the five permanent members (France, Britain, China and Russia), the fifth the US, cast its veto, the latest on five ceasefire resolutions. US ambassador Dorothy Shea defended the Trump administration's negative stand by saying, 'Any product that undermines our close ally Israel's security is a non-starter.' Her unfortunate use of the word 'product' shows contempt not only for the resolution — which was supposed to end the killing, maiming, and dispossession of Palestinians in Gaza - but also for the Security Council and the United Nations as a world body. As if her words were not damaging enough, US Secretary of State Marco expanded on her remark by stating, 'We will not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas, does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza, draws a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, or disregards Israel's right to defend itself.' There is no 'equivalence' between Hamas, a liberation movement, and Israel, an illegal occupier, according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Rubio said that Hamas could end 'this brutal conflict immediately' by laying down its arms and releasing all remaining hostages, including the remains of four Americans. 'Many members of the Security Council still refuse to acknowledge this reality and performative efforts like this resolution undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire.' He followed up by repeating the Israeli propaganda line: 'This resolution would have only empowered Hamas to continue stealing aid and threatening civilians.' UN agencies argue there is 'no evidence' that Hamas is stealing aid and Hamas has ceased 'threatening (Israeli) civilians' since Israel mounted its 20-month war on Gaza. In this region it is the US and Israel which are flagrantly violating the laws of war and peace as well as humanitarian law as defined in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which was adopted after the horrors of World War II. The body of this Convention spells out regulations which apply to protected persons, including civilians in occupied territory. In addition, the Convention provides rules for hospitals and safety zones, hospital staff, the wounded and sick (including land, air and sea transport to safety), free passage and delivery of food and medical supplies, and humanitarian workers and organisations. As Article 49 deals with the behaviour of occupying powers, it should be applicable to Israel's conquest of Palestinian territory. The Article reads: 'Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.' The Article also states that persons evacuated due to conflict 'shall be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased.' The Article ends with the prohibition which Israel has ignored since its expansion by war in 1967: 'The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.' That means there must be no Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territory in accordance with the ICJ ruling of July 2024. It is unfortunate that that Israel's US-backed Gaza war has coincided with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia has been condemned and sanctioned for mounting a military offensive against Ukraine which has killed 12,000 Ukrainian civilians out of 37.7 million and wreaked limited destruction on Ukrainian cities, towns and infrastructure. Europe has provided weapons and funds for Kyiv, as this war is on European soil and Europeans believe threat hangs over them. In a conflict far from Europe, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza, starved 2.3 million Gazans, and destroyed the coastal strip. There is no comparison between the two conflicts, but 'double standards' instead of the Geneva Conventions have ruled. As global popular outrage over US-backed Israel's brutal behaviour and violations of the laws of war has peaked, Europe has finally responded. On May 28th, Spain, Ireland, and Norway recognised a Palestinian State. Last week French President Emmanuel Macron warned of 'double standards' and called for return to the 'two state solution' by creating a Palestinian state. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer belatedly described Israel's war in Gaza as 'appalling, counterproductive and intolerable.' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called Gaza a 'human tragedy and political catastrophe,' questioned 'the goal of the Israeli army in Gaza,' and said that the harm to civilians 'can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism.' Actions speak louder than words. Bombed and starving Gazans await international intervention.
Khaleej Times
4 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Gaza-bound aid ship reaches Egyptian waters; Israel vows to block it
Israel's defence minister on Sunday ordered the military to block an aid boat headed for Gaza with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg. "I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza," Israel Katz said in a statement from his office. "To Greta the antisemite and her companions, Hamas propaganda mouthpieces, I say clearly: turn back because you will not reach Gaza," Katz said. The organisers of the Madleen's voyage said Saturday they had reached Egyptian waters and were nearing Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas has entered its 21st month. The Madleen, a sailing boat operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Italy on June 1 with the stated aim of delivering humanitarian aid and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory. "Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade of Gaza, which is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas -- a murderous terrorist group holding our hostages and committing war crimes," Katz said. "Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or support terror groups -- by sea, air or land," he added. The war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. On Sunday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,880, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable.
