Latest news with #PalestinianRefugees
The National
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
UNRWA review warns Palestinian aid group could collapse
A review of the operations of the struggling UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has laid out four possibilities for its future, including closure. It comes ahead of a vote by UN member states on whether UNRWA should continue its operations. Commissioned by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the review headed by former senior UN official Ian Martin concluded the discrepancy between UNRWA's mandate and its lack of financial support would mean major changes. The review was prompted by "political and financial pressures" that are preventing UNRWA from fully carrying out its mandate, its director of external relations and communications Tamara Al Rifai told The National. Four options were put forward for the agency. The first was to cut back on services, according to Reuters, which saw the document. The second was to create an executive board to advise and support UNRWA 's commissioner general in an effort to enhance accountability and secure more funding. A third option was to transfer some services to governments and the Palestinian Authority. The final scenario was closure. The UN General Assembly is set to vote on renewing UNRWA's mandate at the end of this year. Only the 193-member assembly can change it. The review of its options has been distributed to all the member states. Created in 1949, UNRWA provides aid, health care and education for millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories as well as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. But in recent months it has lost US funding and been banned by Israel. The organisation is dealing with a deficit of about $200 million as a result of the US pausing funding last year. The deterioration of UNRWA's position has been hastened by an Israeli campaign against the agency in which it accused members of colluding with Hamas in the October 7 attacks. UNRWA launched an investigation into the claim and suspended staff suspected of involvement. Israel's Knesset then passed a vote to ban the work of the agency altogether. "While we continue to implement our mandate given to us by the General Assembly, we never do it comfortably – especially since the war in Gaza ... where Israel has made the dismantling of UNRWA one of its objectives," Ms Al Rifai said.
CNA
08-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
3 dead in north Lebanon strike that Israel says hit Hamas militant
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Lebanon said three people were killed Tuesday (Jul 8) in a strike near Tripoli that the Israeli military said targeted a Hamas militant, the first on the north since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah. The strike came amid ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar and as five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, one of the deadliest days for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory this year. Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite the November truce, mainly hitting what it says are Hezbollah targets but also occasionally targeting Hamas. "A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck a key Hamas terrorist in the area of Tripoli in Lebanon," the Israeli army said in a statement, without providing further details. In an updated toll, Lebanon's health ministry said the strike on a vehicle "killed three people and wounded 13" in an area that is close to a Palestinian refugee camp. An AFP photographer saw a burnt-out car surrounded by the emergency services and onlookers. Hamas claimed attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of cross-border hostilities launched by Hezbollah in October 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally. Israel has struck Hamas operatives in Lebanon, including since the ceasefire. In May, Hamas said one of its commanders was killed in a strike on the southern city of Sidon as Israel said it targeted "the head of operations in Hamas's Western Brigade in Lebanon". Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon remain common, but raids on the north have been rare. In October, Hamas said one of its operatives was killed along with his wife and two daughters in a strike on their home in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli. Israel's military said it targeted "a senior member of Hamas's military wing in Lebanon". In May, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas visited Beirut for talks on disarming militants in refugee camps across Lebanon as the Beirut government seeks to impose its authority across all its territory. The Israeli military said earlier Tuesday that it had killed two Hezbollah operatives in strikes on southern Lebanon a day earlier.
France 24
06-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Israel army bulldozers plough through homes at West Bank camps
The army gave thousands of displaced residents just a few hours to retrieve belongings from their homes before demolishing buildings and clearing wide avenues through the rubble. Now residents fear the clearances will erase not just buildings, but their own status as refugees from lands inhabited by generations of their ancestors in what is now Israel. The "right of return" to those lands, claimed by Palestinian refugees ever since the creation of Israel in 1948, remains one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The army said it would demolish 104 more buildings in the Tulkarem camp this week in the latest stage of an operation that it launched in January during a truce in the Gaza war, billing it as an intensive crackdown on several camps that are strongholds of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel. "We came back to the camp and found our house demolished. No one informed us, no one told us anything," said Abd al-Rahman Ajaj, 62, who had been hoping to collect his belongings on Wednesday. Born in Tulkarem camp after his parents fled what is now the Israeli city of Netanya, about 12 kilometres (seven miles) to the west, Ajaj said he had not foreseen the scale of the Israeli operation. Thousands displaced It began with a raid on the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a longtime stronghold of Palestinian militants, and quickly spread to other cities, including Tulkarem, displacing at least 40,000 people, according to UN figures. Vacating the camp after a warning of a raid, "we would usually come back two or three days later", Ajaj told AFP. Now left without a house, he echoed the sentiments of Palestinians of his parents' generation, who thought their own displacement in 1948 would also be temporary. "The last time, we left and never returned," he said. In Tulkarem, the Israeli army's bulldozers ploughed through the dense patchwork of narrow alleyways that had grown as Palestinian refugees settled in the area over the years. Three wide arteries of concrete now streak the side of Tulkarem camp, allowing easy access for the army. Piles of cinder blocks and concrete line the roadside like snowbanks after a plough's passage. 'Eliminate the refugee issue' Ajaj said the destruction had been gradual, drawn out over the course of the operation, which the army has dubbed "Iron Wall". Beyond the military value of wide access roads, many residents believe Israel is seeking to destroy the idea of the camps themselves, turning them into regular neighbourhoods of the cities they flank. Residents fear this would threaten their refugee status and their "right of return" to the land they or their forebears fled or were expelled from in 1948. The current Israeli government -- and particularly some of its far-right ministers, who demand the outright annexation of the West Bank -- are firmly opposed to this demand, which they see as a demographic threat to Israel's survival as a Jewish state. "The aim is clearly to erase the national symbolism of the refugee camp, to eliminate the refugee issue and the right of return," said Suleiman al-Zuheiri, an advocate for residents of nearby Nur Shams, Tulkarem's other refugee camp, where he also lives. Zuheiri's brother's house was destroyed last week by the bulldozers. "The scene was painful and tragic because a house is not just walls and a roof. It holds memories, dreams, hopes and very important belongings that we couldn't retrieve," he said. Each demolished building housed at least six families on three floors, he added. The land allocated to the camps was limited, so residents have had little choice but to build upwards to gain space, adding an extra storey with each new generation. Explosions rock camp Back at Tulkarem camp, 66-year-old Omar Owfi said he had managed to make two trips into the camp now occupied by Israeli soldiers to retrieve belongings on Wednesday. He feared becoming homeless if his home was demolished. "They don't care what the house is worth. All they care about is demolishing. We're the ones losing. We've lost everything," he told AFP. "They want to erase the camp -- to remove as many buildings as possible and leave just streets." He said he feared for his children and grandchildren, as they dispersed to live with various relatives. The Israeli supreme court froze the military order for mass demolitions in Tulkarem camp on Thursday, giving the state two months to answer a petition against them, said the Palestinian human rights group Adalah, which filed it. But the physical damage has already been done as the army's manhunt for militants continues. As residents retrieved mattresses, wardrobes and air conditioning units from the camp on Wednesday under the surveillance of Israeli troops, gunshots rang out through the streets. A loud explosion echoed across the city, followed by a column of dust rising as another building was apparently blown up, sending the smell of gunpowder wafting in the wind.
Arab News
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans
LONDON: MPs in the UK are calling on the government to launch a visa system for Palestinians in Gaza with family already living in Britain. Sixty-seven politicians have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for a Gaza Family Scheme mirroring the Ukraine Family Scheme established in 2022 to help refugees escape the war with Russia. It allowed Ukrainians to live and work in the UK for up to three years. 'We believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families,' said the letter, seen by Sky News. Signatories include 35 Labour MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as several people currently suspended from the governing party, including its former leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. All four sitting members of the Green Party have also signed, alongside former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Bishop of Chelmsford Dr. Guli Francis-Dehquani. The letter accuses Israel of 'shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement' with Hamas in Gaza, and of conducting a 'campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid.' MP Marsha de Cordova, who helped organize the letter alongside the Gaza Families Reunited campaign, told Sky News that the Ukraine visa scheme 'was the right response to a brutal war,' and that establishing one for Gazans 'would be an extension of those same principles, showing that this government is steadfast in its commitment to helping families experiencing the worst horrors of war. 'It is time for the government to act now to help British Palestinians get their loved ones to safety, enabling them to rebuild their lives.' The letter said the proposed scheme would let Palestinians reunite with 'people they may never see again unless urgent action is taken,' and many Gazans trying to reach the UK 'struggled to navigate the immigration system.' It added that efforts to secure visas have been made 'impossible due to the destruction of the visa application centre in Gaza and blockade of the Rafah crossing.' The letter said the death toll in Gaza, reported by Palestinian authorities as numbering at least 53,000 people, 'is likely to be exponentially higher' due to the collapse of local government and health systems in the enclave. Ghassan Ghaben, spokesperson for Gaza Families Reunited, told Sky News: 'Family unity is an undeniable human right.' He urged more MPs, including Conservatives, to add their names to efforts to help get Palestinians to the UK, saying: 'We are still waiting for the new government to do the right thing. We, as Palestinians in the UK, simply want the opportunity to bring our loved ones from Gaza to safety, until it is safe to return.' A government spokesperson told Sky News: 'The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. Since day one, we have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability. 'There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK.'
MTV Lebanon
28-06-2025
- Health
- MTV Lebanon
UNRWA: Fuel crisis in Gaza threatens lifesaving services
The health sector in the Gaza Strip remains under intense strain, with widespread damage to medical facilities, the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has said. The health crisis in the Gaza Strip was further compounded by ongoing restrictions on the entry of essential medical supplies and fuel, UNRWA said in its latest situation report. 'The fuel crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached deeply worrisome levels. Humanitarian organisations warn that without the immediate entry of fuel, lifesaving and life-sustaining services are at risk of shutting down imminently,' the UN agency said.
