Gaza aid on brink of collapse, warn NGOs
The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is 'facing total collapse' because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organisations warned on Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".
Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.
"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.
"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said.
A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organisations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.
"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a UN-run school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. - Reuters
"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."
Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.
Meanwhile, Qatari Emir Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani said on Thursday that Israel had failed to respect January's ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
"As you know, we reached an agreement months ago, but unfortunately Israel did not abide by this agreement," said the ruler of Qatar, a key mediator of the deal.
A truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar with Egypt and the United States, came into force on January 19, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting triggered by Palestinians October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The initial phase of the truce ended in early March, with the two sides unable to agree on the next steps. Israel resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip on March 18 after earlier halting the entry of aid.
Israel said that it had converted 30 per cent of Gaza into a buffer zone in the widening offensive.
Shaikh Tamim said Qatar would "strive to bridge perspectives in order to reach an agreement that ends the suffering of the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza".
Putin recognised Qatar's "serious efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict" and called deaths in the conflict "a tragedy".
"A long-term settlement can only be achieved on the basis of the UN resolution and first of all connected to the establishment of two states," he added. - AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
15 hours ago
- Observer
UK and four nations sanction two far-right Israeli ministers
London: Britain and four allies joined forces on Tuesday to sanction two Israeli ministers for "repeated incitements of violence" against Palestinians, upping their condemnation of Israel's actions around the war in Gaza. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the country frozen, Britain's foreign ministry said in a statement. The announcement was a rare joint action alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway and comes as the Israeli government faces growing international criticism over its conduct of the conflict with Hamas. The sanction sees the five countries break from Israel's closest ally, the United States. Ben Gvir and Smotrich "have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights", the foreign ministers of the five countries said in a joint statement. "These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now -- to hold those responsible to account," they added. Smotrich and Ben Gvir are part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fragile ruling coalition. Both have drawn criticism for their hard-line stance on the war in Gaza and comments about settlements in the occupied West Bank, the other Palestinian territory. Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has increasingly called for the territory's annexation. Last month, he said Gaza would be "entirely destroyed" and that civilians would "start to leave in great numbers to third countries". Ben Gvir has also called for Gazans to be resettled from the besieged territory. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the pair have used "horrendous extremist language" and that he would "encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language". Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had been informed by Britain of its sanctions decision, describing the move as "outrageous". Meanwhile, Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Israeli forces seized their small aid ship, which was seeking to break a longstanding naval blockade of Gaza, and the 12-strong crew were brought to Israel. Four of the group, including Thunberg, agreed to immediate deportation, while the eight others contested the repatriation order. They have been detained near Tel Aviv airport awaiting a court hearing on their legal status. Amongst those who have refused to leave are Rima Hassan, a French member of the European parliament. — SEE ALSO P6
Observer
15 hours ago
- Observer
Israel strikes Hodeidah port, threatens blockade
DUBAI: Israel stepped up pressure on Yemen, deploying its navy to hit targets in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah and threatening with a naval and air blockade if attacks on Israel persist. Yemeni Al Masirah TV said that Israel carried out two strikes on the docks of Al Hodeidah port. The Israeli military on Monday urged the evacuation of the ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and Salif. An Israeli military official said that the operation was a unique long-range strike conducted from hundreds of kilometers away and that the navy had been preparing for it for an extended period of time. British maritime security firm Ambrey said there was no reported damage to merchant vessels in the port following the Israeli strikes. Ambrey also advised vessels to minimize crew movements on deck and bridge manning to a minimum while operating in the vicinity. Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, Ansar Allah group has fired at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea in what it says are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians. — Reuters
Observer
15 hours ago
- Observer
UN experts accuse Israel of 'extermination' in Gaza attacks
GENEVA: An independent United Nations commission said on Tuesday Israeli attacks on schools, religious and cultural sites in Gaza amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of seeking to exterminate Palestinians. "Israel has obliterated Gaza's education system and destroyed over half of all religious and cultural sites in the Gaza Strip," the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a report. It accused Israeli forces of committing "war crimes, including directing attacks against civilians and wilful killing, in their attacks on educational facilities that caused civilian casualties. "In killing civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites, Israeli security forces committed the crime against humanity of extermination," the report said. It noted: "While the destruction of cultural property, including educational facilities, was not in itself a genocidal act, evidence of such conduct may nevertheless infer genocidal intent to destroy a protected group." Commission chair Navi Pillay said in a statement accompanying the report: "We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza." "Children in Gaza have lost their childhood," the senior South African judge said. "They are forced to worry about survival amid attacks, uncertainty, starvation and subhuman living conditions." The three-member commission said Israeli attacks "targeted religious sites that served as places of refuge, killing hundreds of people, including women and children". The commission was set up by the UN to investigate violations of humanitarian and human rights law in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. In May, UN humanitarian relief chief Tom Fletcher urged the countries of the UN Security Council to take action "to prevent genocide" in Gaza. Israel has denied committing genocide. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs demanded that Israel lift its aid blockade on Gaza, where the UN says the entire population of more than two million people is at risk of famine. "For those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now?" Fletcher said on May 14. "Will you act — decisively — to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?" The UN commission's report paid special attention to Gaza but also focused on Israeli attacks on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories as a whole, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel itself. It said Israel had "done little" to prevent or prosecute Jewish settlers in the West Bank who "intentionally targeted educational facilities and students to terrorise (Palestinian) communities and force them to leave their homes". The report said Israeli authorities had intimidated and, in some cases, detained Israeli and Palestinian teachers and students who "expressed concern or solidarity with the civilian population in Gaza". The panel urged the Israeli government to stop attacking cultural, religious and education institutions, "immediately end its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory" and cease all settlement activity. It said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should comply fully with provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice. The court has ordered Israel "to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide against people in Gaza" and allow humanitarian aid to get through. It also urged Hamas, the Islamist militant group that runs Gaza, "to cease using civilian objects for military purposes". The commission is to present its findings to the UN Commission on Human Rights on June 17. Meanwhile, more than 300 civil servants at Britain's foreign ministry have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressing concerns about Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The officials warned of potential UK "complicity" in what they called "Israel's violations of international humanitarian law" during the conflict in the Palestinian territory. The letter dated May 16 questioned the continuation of some UK arms sales to the country, according to the broadcaster. — AFP
