Latest news with #Israel
Wall Street Journal
19 minutes ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Food Aid Becomes Main Sticking Point in Gaza Cease-Fire Talks
Control over food has moved to the center of the fight between Israel and Hamas, with cease-fire negotiations now stuck over who distributes humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip once a deal goes into effect, Arab mediators said. Hamas is insisting that the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent control all the aid running into Gaza, the mediators said. The U.S. proposal on the table has those groups participating in distribution, but not in control. The U.S.-designated terrorist group is also demanding that an Israeli-American aid effort, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, be cut out entirely from aid distribution, the mediators said.
Telegraph
19 minutes ago
- Health
- Telegraph
How Gaza's aid crisis broke Hamas and starved the Strip
When Israel launched its controversial US-backed aid plan for Gaza, it aimed to stop Hamas's alleged profiteering from the seizure and sale of humanitarian supplies. The aid delivery plan overseen by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has proved a blood-soaked catastrophe. The Gazan health authorities report that hundreds of people have been killed by gunfire as they queue for food at the GHF aid points controlled by Israeli troops and American contractors. It has also caused Hamas's worst financial crisis in decades, Israeli officials report. The terror group has been unable to pay its fighters or repair its network of tunnels and hideouts beneath the Strip. Cash shortages have also left Hamas reportedly unable to pay salaries for police or ministry employees. Money reserves amassed before, or during the early stages of, the war have run short, while Israeli strikes have devastated the leadership and fractured its grip on the besieged territory. Hamas for years received large sums from Iran, Qatar and others, and was also able to tax cross-border commerce. Israel has long alleged that Hamas also made money by seizing and selling international aid entering Gaza, though this has been denied by the United Nations and aid agencies. That income ended, officials say, when Israel imposed a blockade in March, and then began using the GHF, set up jointly by the US and Israel, to run aid hubs and bypass UN-run distributions. The UN, the European Commission and major international aid organisations have said they have no evidence that Hamas has systematically stolen their aid. The Israeli government has not provided proof. Twenty-eight countries including Britain, this week condemned the new aid arrangements, amid widespread reports of starvation, and hundreds of people being shot as they tried to get food. The countries' joint statement described as 'horrifying' the recent deaths of over 800 Palestinians who were seeking aid, according to the figures released by Gaza's Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, and the UN human rights office. 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' the countries said. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.' Palestinian health officials have said at least 101 people have died of hunger during the conflict, most of them in recent weeks. Food that does arrive in the coastal Strip is often sold and resold at extortionate prices, said Rabiha Abdel Aziz, a 75-year-old mother of nine living in a displacement camp in western Gaza. 'I don't know how people can eat,' she told The Telegraph, explaining that the family can no longer even afford a kilo of flour, which currently costs £26. She said: 'My grandchildren wake up in the morning and ask me for a piece of bread that we don't will we get the money to buy food at this price? We are dying of hunger and bombing.' 'People collapse in the streets' Salem Jehad, a father of four who is living in a camp west of Gaza city, said he was unable to find milk for his newborn son. He said: 'All my children have lost half their weight, and I am the same. Most people don't have money. 'Two years without work during the war, with the crossings closed and aid entering scarcely, people are collapsing in the streets from weakness and hunger. We drink water with salt to satisfy our hunger.' Mr Jehad said access to food had dramatically worsened since GHF took over the distribution and he wanted a return to the previous UN-run model. The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the GHF began operations in May. Aid distributions have been marred by chaotic scenes and frequent reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations. Israel's military has disputed previous death tolls, but has said its troops have at times fired warning shots, and it is investigating accusations of civilian deaths. Mr Jehad said: 'Now we are running into death traps. Gazans are dying to bring a kilo of flour and rice. Hamas's mistake over 'strategy of suffering' Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who leads the Realign for Palestine lobby group, said that Hamas had counted on the humanitarian crisis to bring the war to an end. He told the Post: 'Hamas's strategy relied on the suffering of Gazans. 'But when this strategy failed, it foolishly doubled down on this approach, in large part because it had nothing else in its toolbox to deal with Israel's ferocious reaction to Oct 7 and the world's inability to stop it.' Lior Akerman, the head of national resilience at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at Reichman University, and a former chief of staff in Shin Bet, Israel's MI5, said Hamas had 'almost completely disintegrated in the Gaza Strip'. He said: 'All the senior commanders were killed and all the frameworks of the fighting disintegrated. 'Today, in the absence of commanders, Hamas members in the Gaza Strip are operating like independent, armed militias. 'In every area, the terrorists continue to do the best they can with the weapons they possess, and they are effectively waging a guerrilla war against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 'This type of fighting could last for years and wear down the IDF in a never-ending war.' Truce negotiations held up Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and a hostage release deal. But there has been no sign of a deal yet, and discussions have reportedly been held up by Hamas's negotiators in Doha being unable to reach representatives in Gaza since late last week. Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence analyst, said as Hamas had been degraded in Gaza, the group's centre of gravity had shifted to abroad. He said that with only Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, commander of the Gaza City Brigade, remaining as a senior figure in Gaza, 'a dramatic change has occurred'. 'The centre of gravity shifted from the Strip to Hamas abroad,' he said. 'And in particular to Khalil al-Khayya, who was very much involved in the planning of Oct 7 and continues to lead an extremist line from the Hamas base in Qatar.'
Arab News
20 minutes ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UK FM ‘sickened' by Israel's conduct in Gaza
LONDON: Britain's foreign secretary said he feels 'appalled' and 'sickened' by Israel's actions in Gaza, and that the UK could launch a new wave of sanctions against Tel Aviv if no ceasefire deal is reached. It follows a joint statement from 25 countries on Monday — including the UK, France, Canada and Australia — urging Israel to end its restrictions on aid entering the Palestinian enclave, The Independent reported. David Lammy said that only a 'change in behavior' from Israel would cause the British government to abandon its plan to introduce new sanctions against it. The Israeli military this week launched a new ground operation on Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, which is the primary aid hub for the territory. Lammy was interviewed on 'Good Morning Britain' on Tuesday, a day after releasing the joint statement with his 24 counterparts. He was asked what steps the government would take should Israel fail to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas. 'Well, we've announced a raft of sanctions over the last few months,' he said. 'There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behavior and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end. 'It's important that we continue to work with international partners if we are to have the maximum result. But what I want to see is a ceasefire and it's my assessment that once the Knesset rises on July 28, we are more likely to see a ceasefire come into effect.' Last month, Lammy announced British sanctions against two senior far-right members of the Netanyahu government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have repeatedly incited violence against Palestinians. Monday's 25-nation joint statement condemned Israel and the US's aid model for Gaza, which was designed to replace much of the existing UN aid system in the enclave. The organization at the center of the new model, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has faced intense criticism after scores of Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces at its designated aid sites. Lammy told 'BBC Breakfast' about his reaction to events in Gaza: 'I feel the same as the British public: appalled, sickened. I described what I saw, yesterday in parliament, as grotesque.' He added: 'These are not words that are usually used by a foreign secretary who is attempting to be diplomatic, but when you see innocent children holding out their hand for food, and you see them shot and killed in the way that we have seen in the last few days, of course Britain must call it out.' Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Al Arabiya
20 minutes ago
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Children dying of starvation in Gaza as Israeli assault continues
In this episode of W News Extra, presented by Jono Hayes, we cover a range of stories, including the war in Gaza, where the head of the Palestinian territory's largest hospital says 21 children have died from malnutrition and starvation over the past three days, as Israel continues its devastating assault. Guests: Freddy Gray – Deputy editor, The Spectator
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
All options on the table if Israel does not deliver on Gaza pledges, EU's Kallas says
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -All options are on the table if Israel does not deliver on its pledges to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza, the European Union's top diplomat said on Tuesday. "The killing of civilians seeking aid in Gaza is indefensible," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a post on X, adding that she spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar "to recall our understanding on aid flow and made clear that IDF must stop killing people at distribution points." Earlier this month, Kallas said Israel had agreed to expand humanitarian access to Gaza, including increasing the number of aid trucks, crossing points and routes to distribution hubs. "All options remain on the table if Israel doesn't deliver on its pledges," Kallas said. On Monday, two dozen Western countries called for Israel to immediately end its war in Gaza and criticized what they described as "inhumane killing" of Palestinians, saying it was "horrifying" that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid. Israel's foreign ministry called Monday's statement "disconnected from reality" and said it would send the wrong message to Hamas. Gaza health officials have said more than 59,000 Palestinians have died during the 21-month conflict in Gaza. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
