Latest news with #humanitarianAid
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
France may toughen stance on Israel if it continues blocking Gaza aid, Macron says
SINGAPORE, May 30 (Reuters) - France could harden its position on Israel if it continues to block humanitarian aid to Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, reiterating that Paris was committed to a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. "The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground," Macron said at a joint press conference in Singapore with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. "And so, if there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position," Macron said, adding that France may consider applying sanctions against Israeli settlers. "But I still hope that the government of Israel will change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has hit back at growing international pressure over the war in Gaza, the deadliest fighting in decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Macron was in Singapore on a state visit and he will also deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier security forum, which runs this year from May 30-June 1. Deep differences between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March. Under growing international pressure, Israel partially ended an 11-week long aid blockade on Gaza 10 days ago. It has allowed a limited amount of relief to be delivered via two avenues - the United Nations or the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The French president said Paris is committed to working towards a political solution and reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Macron is leaning towards recognising a Palestinian state, diplomats and experts say, a move that could infuriate Israel and deepen Western splits. French officials are weighing up the move ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20, to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to a Hamas attack in its south on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 Israelis taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The war since then has killed around 54,000 Palestinians, Palestinian health authorities say, more than in any other of the countless rounds of fighting between the two sides.
The National
2 hours ago
- General
- The National
What is Witkoff's proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal?
Hamas is studying a ceasefire plan presented by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Washington says Israel has already agreed to. Standing beside President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, Mr Witkoff said he was optimistic that the terms would lead to a resolution. 'We are on the precipice of sending out a new term sheet that hopefully will be delivered later on today,' he said. What does this proposal for a truce and the release of hostages entail? Hostage-detainee swap Sources familiar with the talks have told The National that the plan provides for a 60-day truce and the staggered release of 10 hostages. Under the proposal, Hamas would release five hostages during the first week of the truce and another five towards the end of the 60 days. The 10 hostages would be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, but a precise number has yet to be decided, the sources said. According to Israeli media, the bodies of 18 deceased hostages will also be returned. Humanitarian aid If Hamas accepts the agreement, deliveries of aid into Gaza will intensify. The aid distribution mechanism agreed on will remain in place over the course of the 60-day truce. The resumption of humanitarian aid would involve 1,000 lorries a day, a large number intended to quickly address the widespread hunger and acute shortages of medicine and other essentials among Gaza's 2.3 million residents, said the sources. A distribution plan set out by UN experts for its personnel and members of affiliated agencies to jointly put into effect has been handed to Israeli authorities. Post-war Gaza Besides a long-term ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the negotiations proposed to take place during the truce will tackle a range of sensitive issues, including the governing of postwar Gaza, the fate of Hamas's weapons and the exile abroad of its senior officials, said the sources. Hamas has already suggested it would keep away from governing Gaza and any reconstruction effort and has said it is open to laying down and storing its weapons under international supervision, but not surrendering them. It has also indicated that it will agree to some of its senior officials, as well as some from allied groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, leaving Gaza to live in exile – provided they are not attacked later by Israel.
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
If the horrors unfolding in Gaza are not a red line for Australia to take stronger action then I don't know what is
Much has been made this week over Anthony Albanese's strongest comments yet criticising the Netanyahu government's ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza. While welcome, his rhetoric calling this an 'outrage', 'unacceptable' and 'untenable' feels inadequate in the face of what looks like a genocide unfolding in full view of the world. These words have not been matched with any new 'concrete action' of the kind being called for by what feels like just about everyone, and foreshadowed by three of Australia's closest allies, the UK, France and Canada. The prime minister hasn't been able to offer a satisfactory explanation as to why Australia wasn't a signatory to this stronger statement of intent, choosing to move away from the mantle of middle power leader we've worn so proudly in times past. The time for stronger global action is now. For too long the international community has failed to follow up words of condemnation with action. Palestinian people have been killed in their tens of thousands, two million teeter on the brink of starvation and the Israeli government continues to build new settlements in the West Bank. The pleas for help are becoming ever more desperate, like that of Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, who broke down while addressing the security council over the deaths of children in Gaza. In the absence of political leadership we've seen people with moral courage step up. Surgeons armed with smartphones, not only saving lives but broadcasting in real time and in unprecedented detail the trauma that this conflict is inflicting on innocent people, especially children. Earlier this week I hosted an event with one of these medical missionaries, Dr Mohammed Mustafa, a British Australian emergency physician of Palestinian heritage who has completed two rotations on the ground in Gaza, most recently in March this year. More than 1,000 Canberrans packed into parliament's Great Hall to hear him speak, but despite the crowd you could have heard a pin drop. Dr Mo talked about the horrific choices medical personnel face trying to save who they can during the mass casualty events that are all too common. He came with a message of hope and compassion. He read a statement from the family of an Israeli hostage, condemned the attacks of October 7 and articulated the simple truth that 'killing women and children is wrong, no matter if it's Palestinian children and women or Israeli'. Dr Mo also lay down the challenge to the Australian government to step up and help fund a deployable children's hospital, and to engage diplomatically with Israel to facilitate its entry to Gaza. Rebuking the prime minister's assertion that Australia wasn't a 'major player' in the Middle East, he said: 'You don't have to be a major player to feed children. You don't have to be a major player to heal children. We need healers in the Middle East, and Australia can be the healer. It can lead the world.' As Dr Mo spoke I was reminded of one of my heroes, Desmond Tutu. He was constantly urging people to recognise our shared humanity and that 'if you are neutral in times of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor'. This is indeed a time to focus on our shared humanity. And the fact that Jewish people are not Prime Minister Netanyahu, Gazans are not Hamas. Here in Australia we must come together, not turn our frustrations on our fellow Australians. Dr Mo can serve as an example to us all. After what he's seen, he has every right to rage, but chooses instead to see the pain of everyone affected by these horrors. Dr Mo was one of the first to start what he calls 'Doctor diaries', sending content from inside Nasser hospital at great personal risk in a bid to focus global attention on Gaza. It's something we've seen others continue. Everyone knows we cannot end the war alone, but we do have an important role to play as a middle power that believes in an international rules-based order. In June last year I called on the Albanese government to consider targeted sanctions against members of the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces. Almost 12 months and tens of thousands more deaths later, those calls continue to grow, including from within Labor's own ranks. We should have a consistent, values-based approach to how we respond to war and disasters and how we use our humanitarian program. This includes providing an equitable amount of aid and assistance based on need, not politics. Alongside this Australia must stop exporting weapons or parts of weapons that could be used to kill and injure civilians, and start providing emergency visas to the family members of Australians. If the horror unfolding in Gaza is not our country's red line for stronger action then I don't know what is. David Pocock is an independent senator in the ACT
Japan Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
U.S. says Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire plan; Hamas cool to it
Israel has agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal for the Gaza Strip, the White House said on Thursday, and Hamas said it is reviewing the plan although its terms did not meet the group's demands. As a U.S.-backed system for distributing food aid in the shattered enclave expanded, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a deal presented by U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Netanyahu's office did not confirm the reports, but White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington that Israel has signed off on the proposal. She did not detail its contents. But The New York Times quoted an Israeli official familiar with the proposal as saying the initial phase would include a 60-day ceasefire and humanitarian aid flowing through U.N.-run operations. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it was studying the proposal, and senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the group was still discussing it. But Abu Zuhri said its terms echoed Israel's position and do not contain commitments to end the war, withdraw Israeli troops or admit aid as Hamas has demanded. Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March after only two months. Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all 58 hostages still held in Gaza must be returned before it will agree to end the war. Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private group backed by the United States and endorsed by Israel, expanded its aid distribution to a third site on Thursday. Heavily criticized by the United Nations and other aid groups as inadequate and flawed, the group's operation began this week in Gaza, where the U.N. has said 2 million people are at risk of famine after Israel's 11-week blockade on aid entering the enclave. The aid launch was marred by tumultuous scenes on Tuesday when thousands of Palestinians rushed distribution points and forced private security contractors to retreat. The chaotic start to the operation has raised international pressure on Israel to get more food in and halt the fighting in Gaza. GHF has so far supplied about 1.8 million meals and plans to open more sites in the coming weeks. Witkoff told reporters on Wednesday that Washington was close to "sending out a new term sheet" about a ceasefire to the two sides in the conflict that has raged since October 2023. "I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict," Witkoff said then. Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that have normally been reluctant to criticize it openly demanding an end to the war and a major relief effort. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the devastating Hamas attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, and left the enclave in ruins.
CNA
8 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
US says Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire plan; Hamas studying deal
WASHINGTON: Israel has agreed to a US ceasefire proposal for Gaza, the White House said on Thursday (May 29), and Hamas said it was reviewing the plan, although its terms did not meet the group's demands. As a US-backed system for distributing food aid in the shattered enclave expanded, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted a deal presented by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Netanyahu's office did not confirm the reports, but White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington that Israel had signed off on the proposal. She did not detail its contents. But the New York Times quoted an Israeli official familiar with the proposal as saying the initial phase would include a 60-day ceasefire and humanitarian aid flowing through UN-run operations. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it was studying the proposal, and senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the group was still discussing it. But Abu Zuhri said its terms echoed Israel's position and do not contain commitments to end the war, withdraw Israeli troops or admit aid as Hamas has demanded. Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March after only two months. Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all 58 hostages still held in Gaza must be returned before it will agree to end the war. Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war. AID EFFORT EXPANDS The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private group backed by the United States and endorsed by Israel, expanded its aid distribution to a third site on Thursday. Heavily criticised by the United Nations and other aid groups as inadequate and flawed, the group's operation began this week in Gaza, where the UN has said 2 million people are at risk of famine after Israel's 11-week blockade on aid entering the enclave. The aid launch was marred by tumultuous scenes on Tuesday when thousands of Palestinians rushed distribution points and forced private security contractors to retreat. The chaotic start to the operation has raised international pressure on Israel to get more food in and halt the fighting in Gaza. GHF has so far supplied about 1.8 million meals and plans to open more sites in the coming weeks. Witkoff told reporters on Wednesday that Washington was close to "sending out a new term sheet" about a ceasefire to the two sides in the conflict that has raged since October 2023. "I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict," Witkoff said then. Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that have normally been reluctant to criticise it openly demanding an end to the war and a major relief effort. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the devastating Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
