Here we go again. How many times does this need to be debunked.
Israel says UN trying to keep quiet on report about Hamas attacks
Israel’s foreign minister says he has recalled the country’s UN ambassador for consultations over alleged attempts by the organisation to keep quiet a report on what he describes as “mass rapes” committed by Hamas.
“I ordered our ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, to return to Israel for immediate consultations regarding the attempt to keep quiet the serious UN report on the mass rapes committed by Hamas and its helpers on October 7,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“Despite the authority granted to him, the UN secretary general did not order the convening of the security council in light of the findings, in order to declare Hamas a terrorist organization and impose sanctions on its supporters,” Katz said.
Israel releases alleged audio files of UNRWA employees amid row
The Israeli military has released short audio files that it alleges are recordings of two employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) who are accused of participating in the October 7 attack.
It claims both worked as teachers in UNRWA schools, were inside Israel and took young women as hostages back to the Gaza Strip.
In January, Israel alleged that a dozen of the agency’s employees were involved in the October 7 attacks on southern Israel. This recording, released over a month later, is some of the first evidence it has presented to the public. Israeli officials have said they wish to dismantle the UN agency, which they claim is heavily infiltrated by Hamas.
Western allies of Israel, including the US, have cut funding to UNRWA – the main organisation delivering aid to Palestinians – at a time when millions in the besieged enclave are in dire need of humanitarian relief.
Israel has also been heavily hampering the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza despite international criticism and condemnation.
UNRWA says Israel authorities tortured detained staff
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has said that Israeli authorities tortured some of its staff members during detention and interrogation.
“Some of our staff have conveyed to UNRWA teams that they were forced to confessions under torture and ill-treatment” while being asked about the October 7 attack on Israel, the agency said in a statement to AFP.
US in support of UN probe into killing of aid seekers
US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller says the US is in support of the UN’s investigation into an attack on Palestinians waiting for aid distribution in Gaza City that killed over 100 and left more than 700 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Elsewhere in the US government, the White House said a temporary ceasefire in Gaza was essential to reaching a deal that would free Israeli captives in Gaza, and called on Hamas to accept the terms currently on the table, as talks to secure a truce were under way in Cairo.
