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Hamas to Arab World: Break Gaza Siege, End the Silence
Hamas to Arab World: Break Gaza Siege, End the Silence

Days of Palestine

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Days of Palestine

Hamas to Arab World: Break Gaza Siege, End the Silence

DaysofPal – The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) issued a severe warning on Thursday that famine in Gaza has reached 'dangerous levels,' calling for urgent international and regional intervention to break the Israeli siege and allow humanitarian aid into the Strip. The group accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war in its 22-month-long assault, which has devastated the civilian population and crippled essential infrastructure. In a statement published on Telegram, Hamas condemned the international community's 'shameful silence,' saying it amounted to complicity in a war that has pushed over two million Palestinians into starvation, displacement, and death. 'The famine in the Gaza Strip has reached dangerous levels,' the statement read, urging Arab and Islamic nations to 'take urgent action to break the siege and allow aid to enter.' Hamas also called on the United Nations to fulfill its responsibilities and end what it called 'a vicious cycle of killing, extermination, and starvation.' The group said Israel's deliberate use of hunger and denial of basic necessities constitutes one of 'the most heinous crimes in modern times,' particularly against children. Human rights organizations have consistently warned that Israel's continued obstruction of aid and systematic targeting of civilians may amount to war crimes. The situation on the ground confirms those fears. On Saturday, the Gaza Government Media Office warned that more than 650,000 children under the age of five are at risk of starvation due to the ongoing blockade, now entering its second year. International voices echoed the alarm. At a UN Security Council session on Wednesday, Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, gave a grim account of conditions in Gaza. 'We cannot describe the situation in Gaza with words,' he said. 'Food is running out; those who ask for it risk being shot, people are dying trying to feed their families, and field hospitals are receiving bodies.' Fletcher emphasized that humanitarian needs must be met without endangering the lives of those seeking aid. 'Civilians are facing death, injury, forced displacement, and deprivation of dignity,' he warned. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' spokesperson, added to the sobering picture on Tuesday by stating that at least 875 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to obtain food, with 674 of those deaths occurring close to humanitarian aid centers. Shortlink for this post:

UN: Israel Refuses to Renew Visas of UN Officials in Gaza
UN: Israel Refuses to Renew Visas of UN Officials in Gaza

Saba Yemen

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Saba Yemen

UN: Israel Refuses to Renew Visas of UN Officials in Gaza

New York - Saba: The United Nations said that Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of at least three of its agencies in Gaza, a decision UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher attributed to their efforts to protect Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric confirmed Thursday evening that the visas of the local heads of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have not been renewed in recent months. Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the Security Council on Wednesday that the UN's humanitarian mandate is not limited to delivering aid to civilians in need and reporting on what its staff observe, but extends to advocacy and advocacy for international humanitarian law. He added: "Every time we report what we see, we face threats of further curtailment of our access to the civilians we are trying to assist. Nowhere is the difficulty of reconciling our mandate of humanitarian advocacy for the people of Gaza on the one hand and providing them with assistance on the other more evident than in Gaza." Fletcher explained that Israel explicitly denies or shortens visa renewals in response to our efforts to protect civilians. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print

UN: Disabilities, malnutrition, and fuel blockade worsening Gaza's crisis
UN: Disabilities, malnutrition, and fuel blockade worsening Gaza's crisis

Shafaq News

time2 days ago

  • Health
  • Shafaq News

UN: Disabilities, malnutrition, and fuel blockade worsening Gaza's crisis

Shafaq News – Gaza More than 80 percent of people with disabilities in Gaza have lost their assistive devices, severely restricting their movement and access to essential services, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported, warning of growing risks for this vulnerable population. 'With their mobility restricted, vulnerable people are having to endure many challenges, including the denial of access to humanitarian aid, discrimination, stigmatization, and exposure to explosive ordnance,' the UN body warned. We hold all parties to the standards of international don't have to choose – and we must not choose – between ending the starvation of civilians in #Gaza and demanding the unconditional release of remarks at Security Council: — Tom Fletcher (@UNReliefChief) July 17, 2025 According to the United Nations, Israeli authorities are also blocking the delivery of fuel supplies to hospitals, further crippling Gaza's already overwhelmed health system. Fuel is critical for powering generators that keep intensive care units, incubators, and surgical wards functioning. In a separate update, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported alarming rates of child malnutrition. 'One in every ten children screened in our Gaza clinics is suffering from malnutrition,' the agency stated. In #Gaza, older persons and persons with disabilities are facing escalating protection displacement, lack of care, and collapse of support systems have left many without the basics for survival.🔗 Latest update — OCHA MENA (@ocharomena) July 17, 2025 Since January 2024, more than 240,000 children under the age of five have been examined. 'Before the war, malnutrition in Gaza was extremely rare,' UNRWA noted, adding that medications, nutritional supplements, hygiene supplies, and fuel are running dangerously low. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued intense air and artillery strikes across the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian media, multiple air raids since dawn targeted residential neighborhoods in eastern Gaza City, while drones fired on homes in the Sheikh Radwan area in the north. Hospitals in Gaza received 94 fatalities — including one body recovered from under rubble — and 367 wounded over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in its latest update. #شاهد.. لحظة نقل جرحى؛ جرّاء قصف مسيرة "إسرائيلية" تجمعًا للمدنيين في محيط مجمع الصحابة الطبي، داخل حي الدرج شرق مدينة غزة. — المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) July 17, 2025 The ministry added that many victims remain trapped under debris or lie in streets that rescue teams cannot reach due to ongoing hostilities. Since the outbreak of hostilities on October 7, 2023, the overall death toll from Israeli military operations has reached 58,667, with at least 139,974 wounded, according to the Ministry of Health. At least 26 of those killed in the past 24 hours were civilians attempting to access humanitarian aid, the ministry said, along with more than 32 wounded. The total number of people killed while seeking aid has now risen to 877, with over 5,432 injured.

Israel has refused to renew visas for heads of at least 3 UN agencies in Gaza
Israel has refused to renew visas for heads of at least 3 UN agencies in Gaza

CTV News

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • CTV News

Israel has refused to renew visas for heads of at least 3 UN agencies in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS — Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of at least three United Nations agencies in Gaza, which the UN humanitarian chief blames on their work trying to protect Palestinian civilians in the war-torn territory. Visas for the local leaders of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA; the human rights agency OHCHR; and the agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA, have not been renewed in recent months, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed. Tom Fletcher, UN head of humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council on Wednesday that the UN's humanitarian mandate is not just to provide aid to civilians in need and report what its staff witnesses but to advocate for international humanitarian law. 'Each time we report on what we see, we face threats of further reduced access to the civilians we are trying to serve,' he said. 'Nowhere today is the tension between our advocacy mandate and delivering aid greater than in Gaza.' Fletcher said, 'Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians.' Israel's UN mission did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment about the visa renewals. Israel has been sharply critical of UNRWA, even before Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack in southern Israel — accusing the agency of colluding with Hamas and teaching anti-Israel hatred, which UNRWA vehemently denies. Since then, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies have claimed that UNRWA is deeply infiltrated by Hamas and that its staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel formally banned UNRWA from operating in its territory, and its commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, has been barred from entering Gaza. At Wednesday's Security Council meeting, Fletcher called conditions in Gaza 'beyond vocabulary,' with food running out and Palestinians seeking something to eat being shot. He said Israel, the occupying power in Gaza, is failing in its obligation under the Geneva Conventions to provide for civilian needs. In response, Israel accused OCHA of continuing 'to abandon all semblance of neutrality and impartiality in its statements and actions, despite claiming otherwise.' Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, political coordinator at Israel's UN Mission, told the Security Council that some of its 15 members seem to forget that the Oct. 7 attacks killed about 1,200 people and some 250 were taken hostage, triggering the war in Gaza and the humanitarian situation. 'Instead, we're presented with a narrative that forces Israel into a defendant's chair, while Hamas, the very cause of this conflict and the very instigator of suffering of Israelis but also of Palestinians, goes unmentioned, unchallenged and immune to condemnation,' she said. More than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half were women and children. Ravina Shamdasani, chief spokesperson for the Geneva-based UN human rights body, confirmed Thursday that the head of its office in the occupied Palestinian territories 'has been denied entry into Gaza.' 'The last time he tried to enter was in February 2025 and since then, he has been denied entry,' she told The Associated Press. 'Unfortunately, this is not unusual. Aid workers, UN staff, journalists and others have been denied access to Gaza.' Israel has accused a UN-backed commission probing abuses in Gaza, whose three members just resigned, and the Human Rights Council's independent investigator Francesca Albanese of antisemitism. Albanese has accused Israel of 'genocide' in Gaza, which it and its ally the U.S. vehemently deny. The Trump administration recently issued sanctions against Albanese. Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, told the Security Council that Israel also is not granting 'security clearances' for staff to enter Gaza to continue their work and that UN humanitarian partners are increasingly being denied entry as well. He noted that '56 per cent of the entries denied into Gaza in 2025 were for emergency medical teams — frontline responders who save lives.' 'Hundreds of aid workers have been killed; and those who continue to work endure hunger, danger and loss, like everyone else in the Gaza Strip,' Fletcher said. By Edith M. Lederer. AP writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

Israel has refused to renew visas for heads of at least 3 UN agencies in Gaza
Israel has refused to renew visas for heads of at least 3 UN agencies in Gaza

The Independent

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • The Independent

Israel has refused to renew visas for heads of at least 3 UN agencies in Gaza

Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of at least three United Nations agencies in Gaza, which the U.N. humanitarian chief blames on their work trying to protect Palestinian civilians in the war-torn territory. Visas for the local leaders of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA; the human rights agency OHCHR; and the agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA, have not been renewed in recent months, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed. Tom Fletcher, U.N. head of humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council on Wednesday that the U.N.'s humanitarian mandate is not just to provide aid to civilians in need and report what its staff witnesses but to advocate for international humanitarian law. 'Each time we report on what we see, we face threats of further reduced access to the civilians we are trying to serve,' he said. 'Nowhere today is the tension between our advocacy mandate and delivering aid greater than in Gaza.' Fletcher said, 'Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians.' Israel's U.N. mission did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment about the visa renewals. Israel has been sharply critical of UNRWA, even before Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack in southern Israel — accusing the agency of colluding with Hamas and teaching anti-Israel hatred, which UNRWA vehemently denies. Since then, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies have claimed that UNRWA is deeply infiltrated by Hamas and that its staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel formally banned UNRWA from operating in its territory, and its commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, has been barred from entering Gaza. At Wednesday's Security Council meeting, Fletcher called conditions in Gaza 'beyond vocabulary," with food running out and Palestinians seeking something to eat being shot. He said Israel, the occupying power in Gaza, is failing in its obligation under the Geneva Conventions to provide for civilian needs. In response, Israel accused OCHA of continuing 'to abandon all semblance of neutrality and impartiality in its statements and actions, despite claiming otherwise.' Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, political coordinator at Israel's U.N. Mission, told the Security Council that some of its 15 members seem to forget that the Oct. 7 attacks killed about 1,200 people and some 250 were taken hostage, triggering the war in Gaza and the humanitarian situation. 'Instead, we're presented with a narrative that forces Israel into a defendant's chair, while Hamas, the very cause of this conflict and the very instigator of suffering of Israelis but also of Palestinians, goes unmentioned, unchallenged and immune to condemnation,' she said. More than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half were women and children. Ravina Shamdasani, chief spokesperson for the Geneva-based U.N. human rights body, confirmed Thursday that the head of its office in the occupied Palestinian territories 'has been denied entry into Gaza.' 'The last time he tried to enter was in February 2025 and since then, he has been denied entry,' she told The Associated Press. 'Unfortunately, this is not unusual. Aid workers, U.N. staff, journalists and others have been denied access to Gaza.' Israel has accused a U.N.-backed commission probing abuses in Gaza, whose three members just resigned, and the Human Rights Council's independent investigator Francesca Albanese of antisemitism. Albanese has accused Israel of 'genocide' in Gaza, which it and its ally the U.S. vehemently deny. The Trump administration recently issued sanctions against Albanese. Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, told the Security Council that Israel also is not granting 'security clearances' for staff to enter Gaza to continue their work and that U.N. humanitarian partners are increasingly being denied entry as well. He noted that '56% of the entries denied into Gaza in 2025 were for emergency medical teams — frontline responders who save lives.' 'Hundreds of aid workers have been killed; and those who continue to work endure hunger, danger and loss, like everyone else in the Gaza Strip,' Fletcher said. AP writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

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