Latest news with #Al-Shawa
Saba Yemen
03-06-2025
- General
- Saba Yemen
Palestinian body warns of severe famine crisis in Gaza Strip
Gaza - Saba: Amjad Al-Shawa, Director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), stated that famine is worsening at an extremely dangerous rate in the Gaza Strip, warning of its catastrophic effects on the lives of children, women, and the elderly. In a press statement on Tuesday, Al-Shawa added that the Israeli enemy is systematically targeting schools, particularly those affiliated with UNRWA, which have served as shelters for displaced Palestinians amid repeated forced evacuation orders imposed by the enemy's military. He pointed out that 90% of UNRWA schools have been targeted, along with government schools, resulting in the deaths and injuries of thousands of Palestinians. Entire families have been killed in areas where civilians sought refuge, with the Israeli enemy attacking nearly 300 schools in Gaza since the start of the aggression. Al-Shawa emphasized that the Israeli enemy continues to escalate its killing operations against the Palestinian people, whether through bombardment or the humanitarian catastrophe it has imposed on the residents of Gaza. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Saba Yemen
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Intel campaign to reject US Gaza plan: "Starvation Management" instead of cessation of war
Gaza – Saba: Palestinian, Arab, and international organizations have launched a broad campaign to oppose the US plan to manage aid distribution in the Gaza Strip. They consider it a "systematic starvation management" aimed at displacing residents from the north of the Strip to the south and legitimizing the militarization of humanitarian aid. This came during an online symposium organized by the American Communities Network in Washington, Hashd Committee for the Defense of the Palestinian People, and the Center for Political and Development Studies, held Wednesday evening. The symposium was titled "Dimensions and Implications of the US Aid Plan for Gaza," with the participation of intellectual and political elites from within and outside the country. Adnan Abu Hasna, media advisor to UNRWA, revealed repeated Israeli attempts to replace the international organization with local bodies, including "mukhtars" and alternative sectors. He emphasized the failure of these efforts and the UN's categorical rejection of any plan that deviates from its principles. Abu Hasna explained that the United States submitted a 30-page proposal three months ago, which includes the establishment of an alternative organization called the "Gaza Foundation," which would oversee the distribution of aid according to strict security requirements, including a security check for each beneficiary. He explained that the plan stipulates that food be distributed through four points in the southern Gaza Strip, and that each meal provided is limited to 1,400 calories, in complete disregard for broader humanitarian needs. He pointed out that the plan is being managed by security companies, without providing protection for residents forced to travel in harsh conditions to obtain food. He warned that it legitimizes displacement toward Rafah, which cannot accommodate two million Palestinians. For his part, Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network, described the plan as a recycled version of an old scheme proposed last November under the title "Humanitarian Bubbles," considering it a tool for exploiting aid for military and security purposes, under the direct supervision of the enemy army. Al-Shawa explained that the plan promotes a digital system based on facial recognition and directing residents toward Rafah. It is being implemented through international organizations and American companies. In its first phase, it targets half of the Gaza Strip's population, exposing the other half to famine and direct threat. Al-Shawa criticized the plan's limited provision of calories, without providing tents, medical supplies, or infrastructure. He emphasized that the volume of aid does not exceed 100 trucks per day, compared to the 600 trucks that entered during the truce, further complicating the humanitarian crisis. In the same context, Salah Abdel-Ati, head of Hashd Authority, considered the plan a distortion of the principle of aid provision and a deliberate transformation of a political issue into a security-driven humanitarian crisis, with the aim of entrenching an uninhabitable environment in Gaza and pushing residents toward forced displacement. Abdel-Ati stated that the plan constitutes a "war crime" that contradicts international law, the Rome Statute, and the principles of the International Court of Justice. He warned that the involvement of private security companies in relief management constitutes a circumvention of the role of the United Nations and establishes a dangerous international approach in conflict zones. He pointed out that the United States, through its coordination with Israel, is contributing to what he described as a "genocidal crime," calling for the formation of an international humanitarian coalition to enforce the opening of urgent relief corridors and prevent the implementation of the "starvation engineering" plan. For her part, American university professor Rabab Abdul Hadi asserted that Washington is seeking to transform the Palestinian issue from a political conflict into a humanitarian crisis based on "pity," with the aim of whitewashing Israeli crimes and obscuring the essence of the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza. Abdulhadi indicated that the plan contributes to obscuring international awareness by portraying the Palestinians as mere victims, rather than as a people with political and national rights. She noted that the "food for peace" policy has historically been used as a tool of hegemony and foreign intervention. She highlighted the escalating student and popular movement in the United States against American support for Israel, despite the sanctions and loss of scholarships suffered by participants. She emphasized that this struggle carries a powerful voice against the distortion of global awareness. The campaign concluded by calling on all international parties to uphold their moral and legal responsibilities, take urgent action to stop the war, open the crossings, ensure the flow of aid without security conditions, and reject all forms of militarization of humanitarian action or its exploitation in displacement and subjugation projects. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Leaders
08-05-2025
- General
- Leaders
Israel's Aid Blockade Forces Community Kitchens to Close in Gaza
Israel's total blockade on humanitarian aid entry into Gaza forced dozens of community kitchens in the Strip to end their operations on Thursday after they ran out of stock, reported Reuters. Late on Wednesday, the World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based charity, also shut its kitchens after it had run out of necessary supplies to provide free meals to the people of the war-battered enclave. Community Kitchens Closure The lack of supplies, resulting from Israel's aid blockade, has forced most of Gaza's 170 community kitchens to shut down, the director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza, Amjad Al-Shawa, told Reuters. Al-Shawa warned that the closure of community kitchens in Gaza would cut daily free meals by 400,000 to 500,000 for the 2.3 million population. 'Everyone in Gaza today is hungry. The world must act now to save the people here,' he said. 'The remaining kitchens will be closing soon. The hunger catastrophe is beyond words. People are losing their lone source of food,' Al-Shawa told Reuters. Israel's Aid Blockade On March 2, 2025, Israel imposed a total blockade on humanitarian aid entry into Gaza, before resuming its military operations in the Strip on March 18, to increase pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages. The blockade has exacerbated malnutrition and hunger, with rights groups warning that the blockade was a 'starvation tactic' and a potential war crime, according to the Associated Press (AP). Hunger Looming In April, the UN World Food Program said that it had run out of food stocks in Gaza under the Israeli blockade, ending a critical lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza. Moreover, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA warned that more than 2 million people face severe food shortages in Gaza. 'The free meals are usually rice or lentils, that is now also at risk of being suspended within the next week. I am afraid that we may begin to witness deaths among elderly, vulnerable children, pregnant women, and the ill,' Al-Shawa told Reuters. Short link : Post Views: 5
Arab News
03-05-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Terminally ill Syrian woman permitted to enter UK after govt U-turn
LONDON: A Syrian woman dying of cancer will travel to the UK to see her grandchildren, whom she has never met, after a UK Home Office decision. Soaad Al-Shawa, who has liver cancer and has been given just weeks to live by doctors, was initially denied a family-reunion request by the UK government, The Guardian reported. She had asked to travel to Britain to meet up with her daughter Ola Al-Hamwi, son-in-law Mostafa Amonajid, and their three children, aged seven, five and one. The family fled Syria in 2015 — unable to take Al-Shawa with them — and now reside in Glasgow. Since then. Al-Shawa has only communicated with her grandchildren via video calls. She received a terminal cancer diagnosis late last year, and her daughter applied for a refugee family reunion in the UK, which was rejected. The family appealed and, in April, an immigration judge agreed to overturn the decision. However, the UK Home Office later sought permission to appeal the judge's ruling, in a move that may have taken at least eight months. Al-Shawa may not have that long to live, with her daughter saying at the time that the decision was 'breaking her heart.' Now, the Home Office has told the family's lawyer it is withdrawing the decision, meaning Al-Shawa can travel to the UK, and that it will also expedite the issuing of a visa for her. Al-Hamwi hopes that the visa will be processed in Jordan this weekend, and that her husband can travel there to collect her mother. Refugees cannot return to the country they fled from neither Al-Hamwi and Amonajid are able to enter Syria. Al-Hamwi said: 'My mum really perked up when she heard the news and started to eat more. All she wants to do before she dies is to see us and the kids.' Amonajid said: 'I appreciate the Home Office for listening to Ola and me. The kids are so excited they are finally going to meet their grandmother. She will be sleeping in their bedroom and they are fighting over who will sleep next to her.' The family's solicitor, Usman Aslam of Mukhtar & Co, said: 'We welcome the Home Office decision to withdraw from this case and, moreover, to assist in expediting it. 'We now hope that a daughter and mother can spend whatever time the mother has left together. Refugees are no different from anyone else. They, too, have lives, families and dignity.'
Saba Yemen
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Civil Society Organizations Network: Gaza enters advanced stage of famine due to siege
Gaza – Saba: Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Civil Society Organizations Network in the Gaza Strip, warned that the enclave is entering an advanced stage of famine due to the ongoing closure of Gaza's crossings by the Zionist enemy since the beginning of last March. This has caused a severe shortage of food supplies and humanitarian aid. In press statements on Wednesday, Al-Shawa confirmed that most community kitchens (known as "Takyas"), which around 40% of Gaza's population relies on for one daily meal, will cease operations within days due to depleted supplies. He warned of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, especially as malnutrition cases among children and women continue to rise. The term "Takya" refers to a kitchen primarily dedicated to feeding the poor—an ancient communal practice that has flourished during the horrific Zionist aggression on the densely populated Gaza Strip. Nearly a week ago, UNRWA reported that the closure of all crossings has led to the worst humanitarian crisis in Gaza since October 2023, with no humanitarian or commercial supplies entering for over seven weeks—the longest aid blockade since the aggression began. In the same context, the Government Media Office recently warned of the increasing cases of acute malnutrition in Gaza, particularly among children and infants, as the aggression and tightened siege continue to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
