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SvennoJ on 06 March 2024
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Backed into a corner, lashing out at everyone, that's Israel today

Israel demands UN chief invoke Article 99 for captives

Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, has warned of strict actions if UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres does not invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter regarding Israeli captives held in Gaza and initiate a UN Security Council discussion on alleged sexual crimes committed by Hamas.

“Israel should ‘break the tools’ and take severe actions, including closing the UN headquarters in Jerusalem, deporting senior UN officials from Israel and evacuating UNRWA compounds from Jerusalem,” he said in a post on X.

Article 99 allows the secretary-general to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.

In December, Guterres invoked Article 99, urging the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza. The US vetoed the resulting resolution.

UK’s Cameron tells Israel’s Gantz ‘must change’ aid flow into Gaza

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said he pushed Israel to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, amid a dire humanitarian crisis due to Israel’s policy of blocking aid from getting into the strip and from reaching its most needy. “We are still not seeing improvements on the ground. This must change,” Cameron said he told Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz during a meeting.

Israeli media is also reporting that Gantz met with the UK’s PM Rishi Sunak. The United Nations last week described the likelihood of famine within the Gaza Strip as “almost inevitable” as aid into the small strip of land is choked off under Israel’s siege.

Jordan FM Safadi tells Blinken ‘immediate’ ceasefire needed in Gaza

The call between Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken focused on the efforts made to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in addition to efforts to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid, a statement from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said on X.

“Al-Safadi emphasised the need to reach an immediate and permanent ceasefire, stop the aggression, and open all crossings to bring in enough aid to confront the humanitarian catastrophe facing the [Gaza] Strip,” it added.

Iraq pledges $25m donation to UNRWA: Report

Iraqi government officials told Reuters news agency that the country will donate $25m to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). They did not say when Baghdad will pay the sum, according to Reuters.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told the UN General Assembly on Monday that the agency is “functioning hand-to-mouth” after 16 countries paused a total of $450m in funding when Israel in January accused 12 of its staff of taking part in the October 7 attacks.

Qatar pledges $25m to UNRWA

The Gulf country’s ambassador to the UN, Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, tells the General Assembly that the additional funds are to help meet the emergency needs that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is currently facing, “especially in light of the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip”.

She said Qatar condemns “the systematic targeting campaign aimed at dismantling UNRWA and expresses its regret over the suspension of some donor countries’ funding allocated to the agency”.

The ambassador stressed that there is no alternative to UNRWA, on which five million Palestinians depend, especially in light of the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the besieged coastal enclave.

Qatar also said it urges countries that have suspended their support for the agency to review their decision and resume their funding.


‘Thou shalt not starve’: Aid convoy heading to Gaza crossing

A Palestinian-Jewish social justice group says it will be leading tomorrow morning an aid convoy to the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known to Israelis as Kerem Shalom. “Join us to demand from the Israeli government – stop the mass starvation in Gaza,” the group said in a post on X.

“The collection centres in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva are starting to receive food items for the aid convoy for residents of Gaza tomorrow. We must stop the starvation and allow the entry of humanitarian aid.”

Despair so high any passage of trucks an attraction to hungry people: UNRWA

As we’ve been reporting, the UN has described food shortages in Gaza as a “nutrition crisis” and part of a wider humanitarian catastrophe. Speaking to Al Jazeera from Cairo, UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai said the situation was “so dire” and the despair “so high” that any passage of trucks becomes an attraction to people who are hungry.

“Ninety percent of the population today in Gaza is facing a high level of acute food insecurity,” Alrifai said. “Therefore anyone seeing a convoy of aid trucks going through their part of Gaza will jump on these trucks out of hunger, despair and fear and will try to help themselves onto these convoys – especially as we’re hearing more and more about children under the age of two now dying of hunger-related diseases and dehydration,” she added.

Alrifai also said that accessing northern Gaza has been “a real challenge”. “More than half the requests by the UN altogether to bring much-needed food, medical supplies and clean water to the north have been rejected by the Israeli authorities,” she said, adding that UNRWA has UNRWA has not been permitted to reach the area since January 23.

“That’s almost six weeks of us not being able to bring food and medical supplies to people who are desperate and isolated in the north of Gaza.”

‘Existing land crossings best way to bring aid into Gaza’: UNRWA

The UNRWA spokesperson has also commented on the reported plans of a maritime corridor to bring humanitarian assistance into the besieged and bombarded territory. “The most straightforward way of getting aid into the Gaza Strip is to use the existing crossings, namely Karem Abu Salem [called Kerem Shalom by Israel] and Rafah from Egypt,” Tamara Alrifai told Al Jazeera, saying the existing land crossings are “faster, safer and more economical” than a maritime route and airdropping attempts.

“Why should we reinvent the wheel? Let us use what exists and what has worked before,” Alrifai said, stressing that there are “constant requests for a ceasefire that would allow an influx of humanitarian assistance”.