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SvennoJ on 26 February 2024
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Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh resigns

Shtayyeh has handed his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas, reports Reuters. The PM, who has headed the Palestinian Authority’s 18th government since his appointment in March 2019, submitted his resignation at the opening of Monday’s government meeting in Ramallah.

Announcing his resignation, Shtayyeh said he was moved to step down due to the “unprecedented escalation” in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and the “war, genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip”. Shtayyeh noted there are “efforts to make the [Palestinian Authority] an administrative and security authority without political influence, and the PA will continue to struggle to embody the state on the land of Palestine despite the occupation”.

“I see that the next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the new reality in Gaza and the need for a Palestinian-Palestinian consensus based on Palestinian unity,” he added.

Palestinian presidency denounces Netanyahu’s plan to ‘evacuate’ Gaza civilians

Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh says the plan, referenced by the Israeli prime minister in a Sunday interview with CBS, is ultimately aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza and reoccupying the land. He also blamed the US government for supporting Israel as it “continues its aggression” against Palestinians and called on it to change course to stop the “madness … before it is too late”.

Security Council ‘perhaps fatally’ undermined by Gaza inaction: UN chief

Antonio Guterres has criticised the UN Security Council’s failure to counter Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he said had “perhaps fatally” undermined its authority.

Speaking at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, he said: “The council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods.”

Antonio Guterres says a full-scale Israeli military operation on Rafah would deliver a death blow to aid programmes in Gaza, where humanitarian assistance remains “completely insufficient”. He noted that such an offensive “would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes”.

Aid deliveries to Gaza cut in half in February: UNRWA

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees reports that an average of 98 aid trucks have reached Gaza per day in February, far below its target of 500. These deliveries brought in just 50 percent of the amount of aid that was delivered in January, UNRWA said in its latest situation update.

Aid delivery was impeded by “security constraints” and unforeseen closures at the only available border crossings – the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossings. Intense fighting and air strikes have continued to hit UNRWA shelters, threatening displaced Palestinian civilians and UNRWA staff. As of February 25, 158 UNRWA staff have been killed in the Gaza war, the agency said.

Rights chief decries disinformation attacks on the UN

The UN rights chief decried on Monday disinformation and other attacks that aim to “undermine the legitimacy” and work of the United Nations and other institutions, describing them as “profoundly destructive”.

Speaking at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s main annual session, Volker Turk slammed widespread “disinformation that targets UN humanitarian organisations, UN peacekeepers and my office”. “The UN has become a lightning rod for manipulative propaganda and a scapegoat for policy failures,” he warned.

“This is profoundly destructive of the common good, and it callously betrays the many people whose lives rely on it.”

His comments come as the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has come under intense attacks from Israel. More than 150 of its staff have been killed in relentless Israeli attacks since October 7. Israel has also accused the UNRWA staff of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attacks that triggered the Israeli military offensive. The UNRWA chief says Israel has yet to provide proof of its claims.

 

‘Life is not livable in northern Gaza’, say Palestinians

Hundreds of desperately hungry Palestinians from northern Gaza are now heading south to seek food. Several Palestinians told Al Jazeera that a complete lack of food in the north had recently driven them to eat animal feed – and that conditions were the worst they had ever seen.

“Life is not livable in the north,” said one of the men. “We reach moments where we don’t fear Israel any more and we don’t fear the siege. We only fear starvation.”




Israeli strikes target Lebanon’s Baalbek for first time since Gaza war

At least two simultaneous Israeli strikes have hit around the Lebanese city of Baalbek in the first bombardment of eastern Lebanon since regional hostilities erupted following the start of the war in Gaza, security sources confirmed to news agencies.

The Israeli military told Reuters it was “currently striking Hezbollah terror targets deep inside Lebanon” but provided no further details. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

A security source has told the AFP news agency that Israel’s air strike on Lebanon’s Baalbek targeted “a building housing a Hezbollah civilian institution”