Latest news with #COGAT
India Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
Hamas ready for indirect talks to resolve Gaza deal's 'points of contention'
A day after US envoy Steve Witkoff rejected Hamas's latest proposal, it is now ready to start a new round of indirect negotiations, aiming to reach an agreement on a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel. In a statement on Sunday, the group said it wants the talks to settle "points of contention" and move closer to ending the war in to Hamas, the goal of the talks is to create a deal that "ensures relief for our people and an end to the humanitarian catastrophe, ultimately leading to a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces."A day earlier, Hamas gave an updated proposal to Steve Witkoff. However, Witkoff rejected the new terms, saying the proposal was "totally unacceptable" and "takes us backward." He added that he hoped Hamas would accept his "framework proposal" to start another round of talks this CLEAR SIGN IF HAMAS CHANGED PROPOSAL It remains unclear if Hamas has changed or withdrawn any of the elements of the proposal it made to Witkoff. The group's latest statement does not directly say whether it has changed its wanted the deal to include a rule that would stop Israel from attacking again after the 60-day ceasefire. A similar truce ended in January when the fighting started Israeli officials have approved the ceasefire plan, and US President Donald Trump said negotiators are "nearing a deal" after nearly 20 months of CRISIS IN GAZAGaza's three-month blockade by Israel has pushed more than 2 million people to the brink of starvation. Although Israel has allowed some aid trucks recently, aid organisations say it remains insufficient. According to Israel's coordination body, COGAT, 579 trucks entered last week compared to 600 per day during the previous Watch
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- General
- RTÉ News
Gaza aid: What is getting in and who is distributing it?
In recent days, videos and images showing people in Gaza desperately trying to access food and other humanitarian aid have been circulating across social media. On Wednesday the UN's World Food Programme said two people had been killed after "hordes of hungry people" broke into one of their warehouses in central Gaza, in search of food. They said humanitarian needs had "spiraled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade" of aid into Gaza. The previous day, footage showed a militarised aid compound near the southern town of Rafah being overrun by people trying to access supplies. All this followed controversy around the launch of a US-Israeli backed aid distribution plan which was supposed to ensure aid is dispersed and not stolen by Hamas - as Israel has long claimed happens within the enclave. So what's known about aid the amount of food entering Gaza, and the processes being used to provide it? No aid at all entered Gaza between 2 March and mid-May. On 19 May, Israel began letting a handful of UN aid trucks in. Later that week, several dozen more aid trucks trickled into the enclave. However, the UN and its agencies said it was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed" as children are "being pushed to the brink of starvation". UNRWA has said that between 500-600 trucks per day entered Gaza before 7 October, with food which was needed to meet basic humanitarian needs. The quantity of aid entering Gaza now is vastly insufficient, it says. For its part, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which is part of the Israeli Ministry of Defence, said that so far in May 760 trucks have entered, all through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint in the south - a point where the border of Gaza, Egypt and Israel all meet. In other words, slightly more aid trucks entered Gaza during all of May than used to enter every day. COGAT, however, says "there is no famine in Gaza," adding that the phrase "facing famine" is misleading. UN agencies said on Thursday that in recent days they have submitted 900 truckloads for Israeli approval - about 800 were cleared and just over 500 were cleared for offloading on the Israeli side of Kerem Shalom. However, they noted, their teams inside Gaza have been able to collect only about 200 due to insecurity and restricted access to the places where the offloaded aid is located. UNRWA noted in a statement that "while letting us bring in some nutrition and medical supplies, as well as flour, Israeli authorities have banned most other items, including fuel, cooking gas, shelter and hygiene products." "They also imposed the condition that we could only deliver flour to bakeries and not directly to families. This required people to face large crowds to collect bread from a limited number of bakeries daily." The amount of aid now allowed to enter Gaza after a two-month blockade on all aid, is still horrifyingly low for many, but the distribution process is a further problem. On Monday, a new plan for aid distribution was launched, run by a US and Israel-backed grouped named Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). That day the organisation issued a statement saying deliveries into Gaza had begun without specifying the number of trucks that entered the enclave. Questions and controversy surrounds the GHF, which publicly launched earlier this year and is reportedly run by a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers, and individuals who worked in humanitarian aid. It appears to have been set up to bypass the typical process of aid distribution done through the UN. Israel claims that the UN and its partners' aid is being diverted by Hamas, a claim the UN has said "doesn't hold up to scrutiny." The UN and other international humanitarian groups have refused to work with the GHF saying the distribution hubs risk forcibly displacing Palestinians seeking aid. Three of the GHF distribution centres are in southern Gaza - in areas the Israeli military has encouraged people to move to - there are currently none in Northern Gaza. In a joint statement in recent days, 11 independent humanitarian organisations said the distribution programme was a "project led by politically-connected western security and military figures, coordinated in tandem with the Israeli government, and launched while the people of Gaza remain under total siege." UNRWA for its part said on Thursday "We will not participate in any scheme that undermines neutrality, impartiality, or independence. Aid must not be weaponised." Days before the distribution plan was launched, the GHF's CEO Jake Wood - a former US Marine - announced his resignation citing ethical concerns over the distribution system. "It is clear that it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon," he said in a statement. Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), a private US security contractor, is reportedly guarding the distribution hubs inside Gaza. Israeli investigative outlet Shomrim obtained internal documents allegedly showing that SRS will be conducting intelligence operations aimed at furthering Israeli military objectives. SRS is supposed to process visual data, which it will then use to identify Hamas operatives and other armed individuals, the outlet reported. The Israeli military released a video showing one of a distribution centre in Tel Sultan, west of Rafah. In the videos, rows of fences have been erected, with gates, near the where the aid looks to be set up. At one of these centres on Tuesday, crowds of people came to get aid. A fence erected by the GHF, and the military contractors working for them, began to sag under the weight of the crowd. It soon collapsed and chaos ensued, as people rushed, panicked, to find aid parcels. The UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that it had received information that at least 47 people had been injured. Israel says its troops nearby fired warning shots. Asked about the scenes at the distribution locations on Tuesday, the US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said "approximately 8,000 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for three and a half days, totaling 462,000 meals." Crowds descend on aid distribution point near Rafah. Video: EBU via @yousef_alyan_8 On the shots fired that day, she said "The bottom line is the real story here is that the aid is moving through. And in that kind of an environment it's not surprising that there might be a few issues involved, but the good news is, is that those seeking to get aid to the people of Gaza, which is not Hamas, have succeeded." Commenting on GHF and incidents at the distribution location, Jonathan Whittall, the UN's Head of Humanitarian Affairs for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the new aid programme promotes "engineered scarcity." He added that it was: "A system where those Palestinians who can reach militarised distribution hubs may receive rations… Knowingly designing a plan that falls short of minimum obligations under international law is essentially an admission of guilt." "Nowhere is safe. People are being starved and then drip-fed in the most undignified way possible," he added.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Defense officials debunk UN accusations of halting, impeding aid delivery
The UN acted as if it lacked the capacity to move food to northern Gaza, stalling aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing, defense officials claim. Defense officials accused the United Nations on Friday of undermining efforts to supply food to Gazan civilians, adding to the existing tensions between the international body and Israel. The UN had acted as if it lacked the capacity to move food to northern Gaza, thereby stalling hundreds of aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing point, the officials claimed. Earlier this week, Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said that the UN is reducing cooperation with Israel's food initiative, complicating the distribution of aid and effectively playing into Hamas's hands. On Monday, Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said there are 10,000 aid trucks on the Gaza border, cleared and ready to go. 'We've got 10,000 trucks on the border right now, cleared [and] ready to go, and we'll do everything to get them in and save lives,' Fletcher told CNN's Christine Amanpour on Monday. When she repeated the number back to him incredulously, Fletcher nodded and replied, 'Full of food.' COGAT posted a clip of the interview on X/Twitter, saying, 'Look, it's @UNReliefChief with another libelous lie.' 'There are no 10,000 trucks waiting to go into Gaza. What there are, are hundreds of trucks' worth of aid the UN hasn't picked up from the Gazan side over the last few days, after we gave you plenty of routes you can use to safely distribute the aid throughout Gaza.' On Thursday, COGAT accused UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric of lying about Fletcher's recent visits to Gaza and the UN's framing of the Gaza humanitarian aid issue. COGAT noted that while Dujarric claimed Fletcher had seen Gaza "with his own eyes a few weeks ago," the UN official had actually not visited the enclave since February. "Let's stop focusing on aid that might be in the pipeline, and start collecting the content of the 550 trucks already waiting for you inside Gaza," COGAT wrote. "For a full week now, we've been offering you alternative routes to facilitate pickup. These are areas with active military activities, and coordination is for your own safety. Mathilda Heller contributed to this report.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
COGAT accuses another UN official of lying following claims of 10,000 waiting aid trucks
"Enough with the lies and accusations — let's work together to make sure the aid reaches civilians, not Hamas," COGAT said on X. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) accused UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric of lying about UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher's recent visits to Gaza and the UN's framing of the Gaza humanitarian aid issue. COGAT noted that while Dujarric claimed Fletcher had seen Gaza "with his own eyes a few weeks ago," the UN official had actually not visited the enclave since February. "Let's stop focusing on aid that might be in the pipeline, and start collecting the content of the 550 trucks already waiting for you inside Gaza," COGAT wrote. "For a full week now, we've been offering you alternative routes to facilitate pickup. These are are areas with active military activities, and coordination is for your own safety. "Enough with the lies and accusations — let's work together to make sure the aid reaches civilians, not Hamas." According to the IDF, close to 900 trucks of aid were let through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, but due to the UN and Hamas, the trucks remain sitting there on the Gazan side of the border. The IDF said that because the UN would rather cooperate with Hamas instead of Israel, the aid does not get distributed properly. Fletcher was previously criticized for claiming that aid trucks were piling up outside the Gaza Strip, which COGAT claimed was misinformation and stressed efforts to criticize Israel were coming at the expense of improving the humanitarian conditions within the Gaza Strip. 'We've got 10,000 trucks on the border right now, cleared [and] ready to go, and we'll do everything to get them in and save lives,' Fletcher told CNN's Christine Amanpour in an interview. When she repeated the number back to him incredulously, Fletcher nodded and replied, 'Full of food.' COGAT posted the video on X/Twitter, saying, 'Look, it's @UNReliefChief with another libelous lie.' 'There are no 10,000 trucks waiting to go into Gaza. What there are, are hundreds of trucks' worth of aid the UN hasn't picked up from the Gazan side over the last few days after we gave you plenty of routes you can use to safely distribute the aid throughout Gaza.' Mathilda Heller contributed to this article
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
UN calls Gaza aid station mob rush 'heartbreaking' as org. says 10,000 trucks wait at border
This comes as the IDF claimed that 400 approved aid trucks were waiting for UN distribution in the Gaza Strip. United Nations Spokesperson Stefan Dujarric called the images of Gazans overruning aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip "heartbreaking," in a statement on Tuesday night. 'The images of a Palestinian crowd rushing the food distribution in the Gaza Strip are heartbreaking,' Dujarric said. 'The UN and its partners have a detailed, principled, and effective plan supported by member states to provide assistance to the desperate population." This comes after two large aid distribution centers opened in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Gazan civilians overran the facilities at one point, leading the IDF and US security contractors to fire warning shots in the air to disperse the mob. The incident comes amid significant international controversy over the aid centers. On Tuesday, UN officials claimed that 10,000 trucks were sitting at the Gaza border waiting to be let in. 'We've got 10,000 trucks on the border right now, cleared [and] ready to go, and we'll do everything to get them in and save lives,' Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told CNN. Israeli COGAT officials later accused him of libel and claimed that he misrepresented the situation. 'There are no 10,000 trucks waiting to go into Gaza. What there are, are hundreds of trucks' worth of aid the UN hasn't picked up from the Gazan side over the last few days after we gave you plenty of routes you can use to safely distribute the aid throughout Gaza," COGAT's official X account posted. Additionally, the IDF posted that 400 aid trucks were on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing waiting for UN distribution. "Don't fall for misinformation, the IDF and @cogatonline have adjusted the logistical and security protocols. The @UN still refuses to do its job," the X/Twitter post read.
