Latest news with #EriKaneko
The Sun
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
UN reports 613 killed at Gaza aid sites near humanitarian convoys
GENEVA: The U.N. human rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 613 killings both at aid points run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief groups including the U.N. The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel says had let militants divert aid. The United Nations has called the plan 'inherently unsafe' and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. 'We have recorded 613 killings, both at GHF points and near humanitarian convoys - this is a figure as of June 27. Since then ... there have been further incidents,' Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva. The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May and has repeatedly denied that incidents had occurred at its sites. Of the 613 people killed, 509 were killed near the GHF distribution points, the OHCHR said. The OHCHR said its figure is based on a range of sources such as information from hospitals, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs, and its partners on the ground. It said it is verifying further reports and cannot yet give a breakdown of where they were killed. The GHF previously told Reuters it has delivered more than 52 million meals to hungry Palestinians in five weeks, and said other humanitarian groups had 'nearly all of their aid looted.' Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19. The U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told Reuters that there have been some instances of violent looting and attacks on truck drivers, which it described as unacceptable. 'Israel, as the occupying power, bears responsibility with regards to public order and safety in Gaza. That should include letting in far more essential supplies, through multiple crossings and routes, to meet humanitarian needs,' OCHA spokesperson Eri Kaneko said in a statement to Reuters. COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, was not immediately available for comment. The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians have been harmed at aid distribution centres in Gaza, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions following what it called 'lessons learned'. Israel has repeatedly said its forces operate near the centres in order to prevent the aid from falling into the hands of Palestinian Hamas militants. There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after a nearly two-year-old military campaign by Israel against Hamas militants in Gaza that has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and displaced most of its two million inhabitants. - Reuters
Business Recorder
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
613 killed at Gaza aid distribution sites, near humanitarian covoys, says UN
GENEVA: The U.N. human rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 613 killings both at aid points run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief groups including the U.N. The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel says had let fighters divert aid. The United Nations has called the plan 'inherently unsafe' and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. 'We have recorded 613 killings, both at GHF points and near humanitarian convoys - this is a figure as of June 27. Since then … there have been further incidents,' Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva. The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May and has repeatedly denied that incidents had occurred at its sites. Of the 613 people killed, 509 were killed near the GHF distribution points, the OHCHR said. Over 170 charities call for end to deadly new Gaza aid distribution system The OHCHR said its figure is based on a range of sources such as information from hospitals, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs, and its partners on the ground. It said it is verifying further reports and cannot yet give a breakdown of where they were killed. The GHF previously told Reuters it has delivered more than 52 million meals to hungry Palestinians in five weeks, and said other humanitarian groups had 'nearly all of their aid looted.' Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19. The U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told Reuters that there have been some instances of violent looting and attacks on truck drivers, which it described as unacceptable. 'Israel, as the occupying power, bears responsibility with regards to public order and safety in Gaza. That should include letting in far more essential supplies, through multiple crossings and routes, to meet humanitarian needs,' OCHA spokesperson Eri Kaneko said in a statement to Reuters. COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, was not immediately available for comment. Israeli gunfire kills 17 people near Gaza aid site, health officials say The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians have been harmed at aid distribution centres in Gaza, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions following what it called 'lessons learned'. Israel has repeatedly said its forces operate near the centres in order to prevent the aid from falling into the hands of Hamas. There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after a nearly two-year-old military campaign by Israel against Hamas in Gaza that has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and displaced most of its two million inhabitants.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US blacklisting of Huthis 'devastating' for Yemen, NGOs say
The United States' move to re-classify Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebel group as a foreign terrorist organisation could have "devastating" effects on the country's largely aid-dependent, war-wracked population, humanitarian groups warned on Thursday. The listing, which bans any interaction with the Huthis -- who control large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country -- could push up prices and make it difficult to import essential goods, aid groups said. The United States re-designated the Huthis on Tuesday. The rebels were also briefly placed on the terror list during President Donald Trump's first term in 2021. The Huthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel throughout the Gaza war and waged a campaign against shipping in the vital Red Sea and Gulf of Aden trade route. More than half of Yemen's 38 million-plus population is dependent on aid, according to the United Nations, which says the country is suffering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "Yemen imports around 90 percent of its food, the vast majority through commercial channels," Eri Kaneko, spokesperson of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told AFP. "Constrictions in this supply -- whether intended or incidental -- will have devastating impacts on millions of people." If the supply of essential food and medicine is not preserved, "it would have serious impacts on communities already on the precipice of disaster", Kaneko said. Yemen's Huthi-controlled areas, home to about 70 percent of the population, are already facing rampant food insecurity, Action Against Hunger warned. The full impact of the terror listing is not yet known, Doctors Without Borders said. "But the sanctions will inevitably impact the work of humanitarian organisations and increase the suffering of the population," it said in a statement sent to AFP. Former president Joe Biden removed the Huthis from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations after humanitarian groups protested that they could not get aid to Yemen's needy without dealing with the rebels. Last year under Biden, they were placed on the less-severe list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist groups, which still had the effect of freezing their assets and cutting off sources of financing. saa/th/dv
