For Trump, LA is just the beginning. Soon, he'll monitor every move Americans make
In real time, we are watching the United States of America slide further into authoritarianism. As the administration's response to protests in Los Angeles escalates, President Donald Trump's handling of the issue must be understood in the context of his broader assault on democracy and the rule of law.
If deploying the National Guard and the marines to control citizens exercising their democratic right to protest was not a clear enough message, on Monday, Trump said that 'it would be a great thing' if Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, was arrested over his opposition to the federal government's intervention.
Another alarming example of encroachment on citizen's rights is the recent news that the Trump administration is engaging the US-based tech company Palantir to merge government data to create one enormous mega-centre of personal information on citizens. Here, it joins China and Russia in the use of mass surveillance to monitor and control its people.
The notoriously secretive tech company already has deep connections to the US government, particularly to the Central Intelligence Agency and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement – the agency that provoked the protests in California as it carried out raids and mass arrests of illegal immigrants across Los Angeles late last week.
In its contract with ICE, Palantir is developing a surveillance platform that will allow the government to prioritise people for deportation, track deportations, and streamline 'deportation logistics'.
And in yet another government contract revealed last month, Palantir will scrape, consolidate and analyse federal data on the health, finances and education of Americans for the Trump administration. This could give the government what the New York Times has described as 'untold surveillance power'. Critics of the project argue that providing Trump with what amounts to detailed portraits of civilians could be used to silence or punish critics of the administration.
This mass surveillance program potentially encompasses all of American life. And unlike the phone and internet records secretly collected by the National Security Agency (as revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013), this technology is far more sophisticated, far more wide-ranging in scope, less understood, and less regulated.
In J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, the word 'palantir' refers to powerful crystal balls. Made by ancient elves and used to see events of the past and future, the empire-building Sauron had one, which he could use to corrupt all others. In the real world, Palantir was co-founded by billionaire activist Peter Thiel, Elon Musk's erstwhile mentor and a long-term supporter of Vice President J.D. Vance, as well as one of the many far-right tech bros currently propping up and profiting from the Trump administration.
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Perth Now
43 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Security in focus as PM departs for global leader talks
Climate and security are expected to dominate diplomatic talks as the prime minister makes the first stop on his journey to a leaders' summit. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will arrive in Fiji to meet with his counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka on Friday, before heading to the American city of Seattle en route to Canada's mountainous vistas for the G7 summit. The two are expected to discuss climate change and regional security after their nations signed on to the co-operative Vuvale Partnership in 2019. "Visiting Fiji so soon after the election is a deliberate decision to reinforce my government's Pacific priorities and to exchange views with my dear friend Prime Minister Rabuka," Mr Albanese said. Though his visit to the Pacific is expected to play second fiddle to a potential meeting with US President Donald Trump, issues in the region remain a key focus for Australia. "Fiji is one of the most important relationships for Australia in the Pacific Islands region," Lowy Institute Pacific Islands program director Mihai Sora told AAP. The nation has been able to delineate its security relationships with traditional partners like the US, Australia and New Zealand, while also protecting and promoting trade and economic ties with China and other parts of Asia, Mr Sora said. "Fiji giving those clear signals about how it wants to manage its security relationships is something the Australian government has been keen to build upon," Mr Sora said. As Australia makes a bid to co-host the United Nations' climate conference in 2026 with Pacific nations, the environment and climate change could also be discussed. But the centrepiece of Mr Albanese's whirlwind trip will be the G7 summit, a gathering of seven of the world's largest advanced economies. Australia is not a member of the G7, but Canadian prime minister Mark Carney extended an invitation to Mr Albanese. He is expected to meet with the US president on the sidelines of the conference, where he could try to carve out a tariff exemption. Australia is facing 10 per cent tariffs on goods exported to the US and - like every US trading partner except the UK - has been hit with 50 per cent tariffs on aluminium and steel sent to America. The Australian government has called the trade measures an "act of economic self-harm" and is considering using critical minerals and US beef imports as bargaining chips. Mr Albanese has not yet confirmed whether he will meet with Mr Trump, though other bilateral discussions have been organised with the leaders of Canada, the UK, South Korea and Japan. En route to the G7, the Australian prime minister is also expected to meet with business leaders in Seattle to discuss emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Is Trump trying to normalise troops on US streets?
Sam Hawley: Across America, the number of protests against Donald Trump's immigration raids is increasing, a week since the LA rallies began. But it's Donald Trump's decision to deploy armed forces on US soil that's really causing a stir. Today, Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, on why it's an authoritarian move Trump has long wanted to take. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Karen Bass, LA Mayor: I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for downtown Los Angeles. News report: Thousands of National Guard troops and Marines deployed by President Trump are on the ground in LA in response to the protests. An overnight curfew in the city will remain in place indefinitely. News report: As Los Angeles enters its sixth day of protests against the policy, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, announced it was deploying tactical agents to Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Northern Virginia. Protester: I want to say to each and every one of you, you are not alone. The world is watching Los Angeles. Sam Hawley: Ilya, it's a week since these protests in LA first began, but it's been an extraordinary week, not so much because of the protests, but because of the US President's reaction to them. Ilya Somin: Yes, that's right. The protests themselves are not that extraordinary, nor is the level of violence that has occurred, which is so far at least pretty modest in scope. Rather, it's the domestic use of the military and the attempt to assert federal control over National Guard, which if not completely unprecedented, certainly is unusual and certainly in modern times has not been done without much more substantial reason than exists here. Sam Hawley: And I would have thought it's pretty ironic, Ilya, that Donald Trump pardons almost everyone involved in the January 6th riots and then sends in the military for these protests. Ilya Somin: So I would say it's more than an irony. It's pretty obvious and blatant hypocrisy. What happened in 2021 was a genuine insurrection and a genuine attempt to overthrow the government effectively to keep in power a person who had no legal claim to it. On the other hand, what is going on now is fairly small-scale violence and property destruction. I condemn it. The people who do it should be prosecuted, but it's not anywhere near the level of what happened on January 6th. In many cases, Trump's immigration policies and the activities of ICE themselves, as well as trying to deport people without due process, seizing people when they're going to immigration hearings, sending people to imprisonment in El Salvador, which is lawless on many levels and which several courts have ruled against. So I think it is Trump's law breaking which precipitated this crisis and he and his policies are principally to blame for it. That doesn't justify people reacting with violence that harms innocent people in response. That's wrong and I condemn it, but it is also the case when the government itself acts lawlessly, they can't rightly count on the cooperation of citizens that normally they might come to expect. Sam Hawley: Some of these protesters have been flying the Mexican flag. That plays into Donald Trump's hands, doesn't it? That's what he wants. Ilya Somin: Maybe. If I were organising a protest, and I'm no political activist, but if I was, I probably would not wave Mexican flags, but that people have a first amendment right to wave whatever flags they want, whether I approve of them or not. Sam Hawley: All right, so, Ilya, we're going to unpack with you the significance of Donald Trump's intervention in these protests. To do that, I just wondered if you could first take us to Fort Bragg. That's a military base in North Carolina. Donald Trump addressed troops there during the week, didn't he? Donald Trump, US President: It's a beautiful sight to be with you in a place called Fort Bragg. Sam Hawley: What was he actually telling them? Ilya Somin: As I understand it, you know, he was telling them that the US had been invaded and that he would use force to prevent it in Los Angeles. Donald Trump, US President: What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order, and a national sovereignty carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country. We're not going to let that happen. Ilya Somin: And he was at least strongly implying he would use force even against peaceful protesters, and he got the troops to cheer. Donald Trump, US President: Time and again, our enemies have learned that if you dare to threaten the American people, American soldier will chase you down, crush you, and cast you into oblivion. That's what happens, unfortunately. In Los Angeles, the governor of California, the mayor of Los Angeles, they're incompetent. Ilya Somin: From what I have read, what they did is troops who seemed inclined not to be supportive of Trump, they had the right to just not appear at that speech. And so the people who were there were sort of self-selected to be his supporters. The bottom line, though, is it's unusual and a violation of political norms, at the very least, for the president to openly advocate the use of force domestically and to use troops as a backdrop for what is obviously a blatantly partisan political speech, at the very least. It may not be illegal to do that, but it's certainly a violation of political norms, though in fairness, over the last decade, we've seen a lot of norms be violated, and this will be far from the first. Sam Hawley: All right. And he told these troops that he'd liberate LA. Donald Trump, US President: Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean and safe again. It's happening very quickly. Sam Hawley: And he called the protesters animals and the foreign enemy. Quite extraordinary. Ilya Somin: Yes. I think that language speaks for itself and you don't really need me to say much more, except that it's both wildly inaccurate and to say the least, hugely inappropriate. Sam Hawley: Yeah. All right. Well, let's just talk a bit more about his decision to send in the US Marines and the National Guard to LA, even though the local authorities, the police insist they were being brought under control. It's hardly surprising he acts in this manner, is it? I mean, he has form. Ilya Somin: In one sense, it's not surprising because it seems like he wanted to do this even in his first term during the much larger actually protests and riots that occurred after the death of George Floyd. And at that time he was prevented by his secretary of defence and by military officials. This time around, he has sort of more cooperative loyalists or one might say, toadies who are less willing to counter his worst impulses. So while it's not surprising that this individual wanted to do it, it is, I think, at the very least, a major breach of norms and at least arguably a violation of law as well. Sam Hawley: But just explain for me how that relates to now and what Donald Trump is doing now. Ilya Somin: So I think in two ways. One is he clearly did want to use the military back then, and he clearly has sort of these authoritarian instincts going way back. At one point, even years before he was president, he praised the Chinese government for their crackdown in Tiananmen Square, which a massacre that killed hundreds or even thousands of protesters. Donald Trump, US President: I was not endorsing it. I said that is a strong, powerful government that put it down... they kept down the riot. It was a horrible thing. It doesn't mean at all I was endorsing it. Ilya Somin: And so he has these instincts going way back, but also his frustration over what happened in 2020 may make it even more likely that he would want to do things differently now. Sam Hawley: So you seem to be suggesting that sending in the National Guard and the Marines could be somewhat sinister in a way. Ilya Somin: I think at the very least, it's quite possible, given that the actual legal and policy argument for doing so is extremely weak. So either at best is just a very poorly thought out initiative by the administration, but at worst, it is indeed sinister, as you suggest. Sam Hawley: But to what end? What's the aim? Ilya Somin: So one possible aim could simply just be to look strong or to satisfy his instincts to be strong and tough. Another possibility is that they want to normalise the idea that you can use troops domestically so that they have this in their toolkit going forward. And that obviously would be extremely sinister, as you suggested. Sam Hawley: What, so it's a practice run for the future? Ilya Somin: Yeah. If you normalise something and you succeed in getting people to accept it, and obviously those are two big ifs, then it's easier to do it the second or third or fourth time around. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Ilya, Trump's deployed the Marines to LA and the National Guard, but there are limits, aren't there, on what those forces can do? Just explain that. Ilya Somin: So under the current set of statutes that he's invoked, it seems like the limits are that they can only sort of protect federal facilities and perhaps federal personnel. And from what I've read and heard they actually haven't been doing very much other than sort of being in the streets and guarding certain federal facilities. But if he were to invoke the Insurrection Act, a law he hasn't invoked yet, then at least it's possible that they would have much broader law enforcement authority to just enforce ordinary laws and could then act much more aggressively. And there's also the issue of even if he doesn't invoke the Insurrection Act, whether he could simply just order them to do things which are illegal, but on the hopes that nobody would stop him from doing it, even if it is illegal under the letter of the law. Sam Hawley: Right. And just to point out that Insurrection Act, it's not used very often. We haven't seen it used much in American history, right? Ilya Somin: Not much. The last time, if I recall correctly, was with respect to the LA riots of 1992, which really was much larger scale violence than anything going on right now. But certainly it was the case that there was large scale riots. The LA police at that time were just not able to control them. They were taken by surprise. Whereas right now, from what I've heard, things are sort of calming down. There has been some destruction of property and some relatively low level violence, but nothing like what happened in LA in 1992 or at some other notorious riots in American history. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, in a televised address said that Donald Trump is destroying democracy, that California may be the first, but it won't be the last. Gavin Newsom, California Governor: When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation. This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Sam Hawley: Now, we should point out, of course, that he is a Democrat and could potentially be a presidential nominee in the future. But what do you make of his comments? Ilya Somin: I think his concerns are at least plausible and well taken. We don't know whether the administration has a plan to make use of this precedent in the future, but I think the risk is great enough that this is the kind of thing that, if at all possible, you want to cut off before we go down that road and take more risk. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Ilya, Donald Trump's next big scheduled event is this military parade in Washington over the weekend. The president says any protests there would be met with a very big force. Donald Trump, US President: For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force. You know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force. Ilya Somin: I don't know what force he has in mind or whether he even plans to carry out that threat in any way or not. But obviously, if he does use force, even against peaceful protesters, that would both be a violation of the First Amendment and I would argue a crime as well. Sam Hawley: But Ilya, if the LA riots are the start of something bigger for Trump, what legally can be done to stop him? I note the California governor is taking action in the court to halt the troop deployment, but does that achieve anything? Ilya Somin: So it depends to some extent on whether he wins the action, if so, whether Trump would obey the decision. So we'll have to see what happens in court on that. And if there is a decision by the court against Trump, whether they would obey the injunction or not. You know, if troops commit crimes or shoot people illegally or whatnot, criminal liability can result there. There would also be civil liability as well. But it all depends on exactly what is done and under what circumstances. And if the Insurrection Act is invoked, then there could be litigation about that. And, you know, there would be questions that I think in modern times, there's little, if any, judicial precedent on. Sam Hawley: We see headlines suggesting it could be the start of a civil war. That's going a bit far, I would think at this point. But there is a concern about that. Ilya Somin: So I think a civil war, to my mind, is still unlikely. But obviously, the very fact that we're talking about that is itself not a great sign. Sam Hawley: Ilya Somin is a law professor at the George Mason University in Virginia, and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, which is a libertarian think tank. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Adair Sheppard. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. ABC News Daily will be back again on Monday. Thanks for listening.
The Advertiser
5 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Aid staff killed in Gaza ambush Israel blames on Hamas
Israel has accused Hamas militants of killing five Palestinians who worked for the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in an apparent effort to disrupt their food distribution operations. GHF said in a statement that one of its buses was ambushed late on Wednesday as it headed to an aid centre near the southern city of Khan Younis, carrying local men who worked alongside a US team to deliver critical supplies. "Hamas murdered five humanitarian workers from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with others being kidnapped," said COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. "The international community can not ignore Hamas's crimes against humanitarian workers." Hamas declined to comment on the shootings. Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying people affiliated with Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a large clan which has challenged Hamas's supremacy in the enclave and is being armed by Israel. Elsewhere in Gaza, the local health authority said at least 30 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Thursday, as the small coastal enclave continued to be roiled by violence and destruction. The IDF said it had killed three militants who fired an anti-tank missile towards Israeli soldiers. It also said it had arrested several Hamas members in Syria overnight, accusing them of planning to attack Israeli civilians and IDF forces. Israel has fought for more than 20 months to eliminate Hamas after it launched deadly attacks October 7, 2023 that ignited the war. All efforts to end the conflict through negotiations have failed. Despite the bus attack, GHF said it was continuing its distribution efforts on Thursday, handing out food boxes early at one of its sites, before shutting its gates there. The GHF has handed out more than 16 million meals since it started operations in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of food distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 160 people have been killed by Israeli fire near the aid centres, as the aid effort repeatedly degenerated into chaos and terror with ravenous locals scrabbling for limited supplies. "This model will not address the deepening hunger. The dystopian 'Hunger Games' cannot become the new reality," Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X. "The UN including @UNRWA have the knowledge, expertise & community trust to provide dignified & safe assistance. Just let the humanitarians do their jobs," he added. Israel has repeatedly called for UNRWA to be disbanded, accusing it of having ties with Hamas. UNRWA has denied this. Besides the GHF distribution effort, Israel is also letting into Gaza trucks carrying flour for the handful of bakeries that are still operating. For the first time in months, Israel allowed humanitarian trucks to enter northern Gaza directly overnight - with 56 trucks carrying supplies from the UN's World Food Programme crossing into the largely devastated region. Israel has accused Hamas militants of killing five Palestinians who worked for the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in an apparent effort to disrupt their food distribution operations. GHF said in a statement that one of its buses was ambushed late on Wednesday as it headed to an aid centre near the southern city of Khan Younis, carrying local men who worked alongside a US team to deliver critical supplies. "Hamas murdered five humanitarian workers from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with others being kidnapped," said COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. "The international community can not ignore Hamas's crimes against humanitarian workers." Hamas declined to comment on the shootings. Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying people affiliated with Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a large clan which has challenged Hamas's supremacy in the enclave and is being armed by Israel. Elsewhere in Gaza, the local health authority said at least 30 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Thursday, as the small coastal enclave continued to be roiled by violence and destruction. The IDF said it had killed three militants who fired an anti-tank missile towards Israeli soldiers. It also said it had arrested several Hamas members in Syria overnight, accusing them of planning to attack Israeli civilians and IDF forces. Israel has fought for more than 20 months to eliminate Hamas after it launched deadly attacks October 7, 2023 that ignited the war. All efforts to end the conflict through negotiations have failed. Despite the bus attack, GHF said it was continuing its distribution efforts on Thursday, handing out food boxes early at one of its sites, before shutting its gates there. The GHF has handed out more than 16 million meals since it started operations in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of food distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 160 people have been killed by Israeli fire near the aid centres, as the aid effort repeatedly degenerated into chaos and terror with ravenous locals scrabbling for limited supplies. "This model will not address the deepening hunger. The dystopian 'Hunger Games' cannot become the new reality," Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X. "The UN including @UNRWA have the knowledge, expertise & community trust to provide dignified & safe assistance. Just let the humanitarians do their jobs," he added. Israel has repeatedly called for UNRWA to be disbanded, accusing it of having ties with Hamas. UNRWA has denied this. Besides the GHF distribution effort, Israel is also letting into Gaza trucks carrying flour for the handful of bakeries that are still operating. For the first time in months, Israel allowed humanitarian trucks to enter northern Gaza directly overnight - with 56 trucks carrying supplies from the UN's World Food Programme crossing into the largely devastated region. Israel has accused Hamas militants of killing five Palestinians who worked for the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in an apparent effort to disrupt their food distribution operations. GHF said in a statement that one of its buses was ambushed late on Wednesday as it headed to an aid centre near the southern city of Khan Younis, carrying local men who worked alongside a US team to deliver critical supplies. "Hamas murdered five humanitarian workers from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with others being kidnapped," said COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. "The international community can not ignore Hamas's crimes against humanitarian workers." Hamas declined to comment on the shootings. Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying people affiliated with Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a large clan which has challenged Hamas's supremacy in the enclave and is being armed by Israel. Elsewhere in Gaza, the local health authority said at least 30 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Thursday, as the small coastal enclave continued to be roiled by violence and destruction. The IDF said it had killed three militants who fired an anti-tank missile towards Israeli soldiers. It also said it had arrested several Hamas members in Syria overnight, accusing them of planning to attack Israeli civilians and IDF forces. Israel has fought for more than 20 months to eliminate Hamas after it launched deadly attacks October 7, 2023 that ignited the war. All efforts to end the conflict through negotiations have failed. Despite the bus attack, GHF said it was continuing its distribution efforts on Thursday, handing out food boxes early at one of its sites, before shutting its gates there. The GHF has handed out more than 16 million meals since it started operations in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of food distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 160 people have been killed by Israeli fire near the aid centres, as the aid effort repeatedly degenerated into chaos and terror with ravenous locals scrabbling for limited supplies. "This model will not address the deepening hunger. The dystopian 'Hunger Games' cannot become the new reality," Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X. "The UN including @UNRWA have the knowledge, expertise & community trust to provide dignified & safe assistance. Just let the humanitarians do their jobs," he added. Israel has repeatedly called for UNRWA to be disbanded, accusing it of having ties with Hamas. UNRWA has denied this. Besides the GHF distribution effort, Israel is also letting into Gaza trucks carrying flour for the handful of bakeries that are still operating. For the first time in months, Israel allowed humanitarian trucks to enter northern Gaza directly overnight - with 56 trucks carrying supplies from the UN's World Food Programme crossing into the largely devastated region. Israel has accused Hamas militants of killing five Palestinians who worked for the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in an apparent effort to disrupt their food distribution operations. GHF said in a statement that one of its buses was ambushed late on Wednesday as it headed to an aid centre near the southern city of Khan Younis, carrying local men who worked alongside a US team to deliver critical supplies. "Hamas murdered five humanitarian workers from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with others being kidnapped," said COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. "The international community can not ignore Hamas's crimes against humanitarian workers." Hamas declined to comment on the shootings. Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying people affiliated with Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a large clan which has challenged Hamas's supremacy in the enclave and is being armed by Israel. Elsewhere in Gaza, the local health authority said at least 30 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Thursday, as the small coastal enclave continued to be roiled by violence and destruction. The IDF said it had killed three militants who fired an anti-tank missile towards Israeli soldiers. It also said it had arrested several Hamas members in Syria overnight, accusing them of planning to attack Israeli civilians and IDF forces. Israel has fought for more than 20 months to eliminate Hamas after it launched deadly attacks October 7, 2023 that ignited the war. All efforts to end the conflict through negotiations have failed. Despite the bus attack, GHF said it was continuing its distribution efforts on Thursday, handing out food boxes early at one of its sites, before shutting its gates there. The GHF has handed out more than 16 million meals since it started operations in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of food distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 160 people have been killed by Israeli fire near the aid centres, as the aid effort repeatedly degenerated into chaos and terror with ravenous locals scrabbling for limited supplies. "This model will not address the deepening hunger. The dystopian 'Hunger Games' cannot become the new reality," Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X. "The UN including @UNRWA have the knowledge, expertise & community trust to provide dignified & safe assistance. Just let the humanitarians do their jobs," he added. Israel has repeatedly called for UNRWA to be disbanded, accusing it of having ties with Hamas. UNRWA has denied this. Besides the GHF distribution effort, Israel is also letting into Gaza trucks carrying flour for the handful of bakeries that are still operating. For the first time in months, Israel allowed humanitarian trucks to enter northern Gaza directly overnight - with 56 trucks carrying supplies from the UN's World Food Programme crossing into the largely devastated region.
