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Middle East: Dozens of Palestinians killed at aid site – DW – 06/01/2025

Middle East: Dozens of Palestinians killed at aid site – DW – 06/01/2025

DW02-06-2025
06/01/2025
June 1, 2025 IDF head Zamir orders Gaza operation expansion
The Israeli army's Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir has ordered an expansion of the IsraeliDefense Forces' (IDF) operation in the Gaza Strip.
IDF head Zamir visited troops in one of the enclave's coastal areas while announcing the move, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas "is losing control" over the Strip.
"We are in the midst of a powerful and relentless operation," Zamir was quoted as saying by the DPA news agency.
This comes hours after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF will go ahead with its plans regardless of the negotiations over a potential ceasefire and a hostage deal.
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Foreign NGOs Say New Israeli Rules Keep Them From Delivering Gaza Aid
Foreign NGOs Say New Israeli Rules Keep Them From Delivering Gaza Aid

Int'l Business Times

time2 hours ago

  • Int'l Business Times

Foreign NGOs Say New Israeli Rules Keep Them From Delivering Gaza Aid

New Israeli legislation regulating foreign aid groups has been increasingly used to deny their requests to bring supplies into Gaza, a joint letter signed by more than 100 groups said Thursday. Ties between foreign-backed aid groups and the Israeli government have long been beset by tensions, with officials often complaining the organisations are biased. The rocky relations have become even more strained since Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war. "Israeli authorities have rejected requests from dozens of NGOs to bring in lifesaving goods, citing that these organisations are 'not authorised to deliver aid'," the aid groups said. According to the letter, whose signatories include Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), at least 60 requests to bring aid into Gaza were rejected in July alone. UK-based Oxfam said that $2.5 million worth of its supplies, including food, were barred from entering Gaza, while another charity, CARE, said it had not been authorised to bring in aid since March. Another signatory, Anera, said it had millions of dollars' worth of supplies waiting just outside Gaza, in the Israeli port city of Ashdod. "Anera has over $7 million worth of lifesaving supplies ready to enter Gaza - including 744 tons of rice, enough for six million meals, blocked in Ashdod just kilometres away," CEO Sean Carroll said in the joint letter. In March, the Israeli government approved a new set of rules for foreign non-governmental organisations working with Palestinians. The law updates the framework for how aid groups must register to maintain their status within Israel, along with provisions that outline how their applications can be denied or registration revoked. Registration can be refused if Israeli authorities deem that a group denies the democratic character of Israel or "promotes delegitimisation campaigns" against the country. "Unfortunately, many aid organisations serve as a cover for hostile and sometimes violent activity," said Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, whose ministry has been put in charge of NGO registrations. "Organisations that have no connection to hostile or violent activity and no ties to the boycott movement will be granted permission to operate," he added. The aid groups complained the new rules were leaving Gazans without life-saving assistance. "Today, international NGOs' fears have proven true: the registration system is now being used to further block aid and deny food and medicine in the midst of the worst-case scenario of famine", their joint letter concluded. "Our mandate is to save lives but due to the registration restrictions, civilians are being left without the food, medicine and protection they urgently need," said Jolien Veldwijk, Palestinian territories director for CARE. Israel has long accused Hamas of diverting aid entering the territory under the longstanding UN-led distribution system. Since May, it has distributed aid through the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an organisation that is boycotted by the United Nations and other aid groups for serving Israeli military objectives. According to Gaza's civil defence agency, the GHF's operations have been frequently marred by chaos as thousands of Gazans have scrambled daily to approach its hubs, where some have been shot, including by Israeli soldiers. In late July, the United Nations reported that at least 1,373 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza since May 27 while awaiting or searching for aid. International NGOs now fear they could be barred from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories altogether if they do not submit sensitive information about their Palestinian staff to the Israeli government. The deadline for information submission is in September, at which point "many could be forced to halt operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and remove all international staff within 60 days." Long lines of aid trucks wait on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border for Israeli permission to enter the Palestinian territory. AFP

EU plan to penalize Israel still stalled amid famine warning – DW – 08/13/2025
EU plan to penalize Israel still stalled amid famine warning – DW – 08/13/2025

DW

time18 hours ago

  • DW

EU plan to penalize Israel still stalled amid famine warning – DW – 08/13/2025

A proposal to restrict Israeli access to some EU funds over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is going nowhere for now. Germany is among those blocking the move. Two weeks after the European Commission laid out a plan to impose first-of-their-kind penalties on Israel, the proposal remains stalled due to disagreements among the bloc's members. Germany is among the hold-outs asking for more time to review, European Union (EU) diplomats told DW. Without Berlin's backing, the plan is unlikely to advance. "Humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels, with famine unfolding before our eyes," the EU's executive warned on Tuesday. In a bid to pressure Israel to change course, it proposed barring Israeli startups from accessing part of a pot of EU research funding known as "Horizon Europe" in late July. That marked a shift in the EU's approach: the first time the bloc moved to back a year and a half of critical words with action. "With its intervention in the Gaza Strip and the ensuing humanitarian catastrophe, including thousands of civilian deaths and rapidly rising numbers of spreading extreme malnutrition specifically of children, Israel is violating human rights and humanitarian law and thus is in breach of an essential principle of the EU-Israel cooperation," the European Commission wrote in its proposal on July 28. Belgium's foreign minister Maxime Prevot had floated August 13 as a possible date for adoption if consensus was reached, but EU sources told DW there was little shift in positions at a virtual meeting of EU ministers on Monday. That means for now, there's no green light. To kick in, the EU plan needs support from a so-called qualified majority of the bloc's 27 member states, a system under which more populous countries' views carry most weight. Israel's foreign ministry called Brussels' proposal to restrict funds "regrettable," and claimed any such punitive measures would only serve to "strengthen Hamas" — something the bloc refutes. The stall in EU action has drawn outrage from campaigners and human rights watchdogs, which have long accused the bloc of failing to use potential leverage. "The fact that the EU cannot even agree on the smallest step is a disgrace. The bar is on the floor, and yet the EU and some EU countries are still managing to trip over it," Oxfam's Bushra Khalidi told DW. The internal divisions keeping action on pause are nothing new. Ever since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, the bloc has been united in its condemnation of the militant group — classed as a terrorist organization by the EU — and in its call for the release of Israeli hostages. But that's where the unity ends. Every word in every statement on Europe's ties with Israel has been fiercely debated ever since. The schism among EU members now centers on whether and how to respond to an EU review which found Israeli actions in Gaza — from restricting aid entry to targeting journalists — likely amount to a breach of the deal that governs EU-Israel trade and ties. In a leaked letter seen by DW, Israel blasted the EU investigation as a "moral and methodological failure" based on biased evidence, but the bloc sticks by its findings. Now Spain, often seen as a fierce critic of the Israeli government, is calling for the entire EU-Israel pact to be suspended. Other EU members including the Netherlands and Sweden — traditionally seen as less critical of Israel — want to freeze the trade element of the deal. The move would make it more difficult and expensive for Israeli firms to export to the EU, Israel's top trading partner. Germany on the other hand views itself as having a historic responsibility toward Israeli security, due to its Nazi past and its systemic murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. Though Berlin is holding out on the first EU-level measures, Chancellor Merz announced last week that Germany would halt exports of arms "that can be used in the Gaza Strip"by Israeli forces, signalling a shift in tone. The EU says its priority is get aid flowing into Gaza in the face of a deepening humanitarian crisis — and after threatening sanctions, the bloc announced what appeared to be a breakthrough last month. "Significant steps have been agreed by Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said a July 10 statement on the so-called "common understanding" — which Germany also helped broker. But weeks on, many EU capitals say this falls far short. With proposals for action caught in institutional deadlock, EU officials continue their words of condemnation. "I call for the immediate release of all Israeli hostages by Hamas & Islamic Jihad," EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib said on August 3, adding that she also calls "on Israel to end its starvation of Gaza and to allow for an effective delivery of humanitarian aid at scale."

Gaza updates: Israeli military approves takeover plan – DW – 08/13/2025
Gaza updates: Israeli military approves takeover plan – DW – 08/13/2025

DW

timea day ago

  • DW

Gaza updates: Israeli military approves takeover plan – DW – 08/13/2025

The head of Israel's military has dropped opposition to a planned offensive in Gaza as Hamas leaders arrive in Egypt for ceasefire talks. DW has the Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir on Wednesday dropped his opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans for a massive military ground operation in the Gaza Strip. An IDF statement said Zamir had "approved the main framework for the IDF's operational plan in the Gaza Strip." Zamir had earlier voiced opposition to the plan due to the risks it presented for IDF soldiers as well as the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. Wednesday's announcement follows an Israeli Security Cabinet decision last week ordering the offensive, which is aimed at taking complete control of Gaza City and destroying Hamas cells that Israel says are operating in Gaza's main refugee camps. Though no timetable was given for the ground offensive, Israeli warplanes have bombarded the largest city in the Palestinian enclave for days, with Hamas-affiliated health officials claiming that 123 people have been killed there over the past 24 hours. Gaza's civil defense agency, which is also controlled by Hamas, said Israeli bombardments have included "very heavy airstrikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Hello and welcome to DW's coverage of developments in Gaza on Wednesday, August 13, 2025. Our coverage begins with an Israeli military chief approving a controversial plan for an expanded ground offensive in the Gaza Strip as Hamas negotiators traveled to Egypt for talks about ending the war and returning hostages still held by the terror outfit. The day also brings more reports of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli gunfire as they attempted to get food for their families.

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