US pause on funding for UNRWA may become permanent
The Biden administration is preparing for a US pause on funding for UNRWA to become permanent due to opposition in Congress, according to the Reuters news agency. The US is UNRWA’s largest donor, providing up to $400m annually. It halted funding for UNRWA in January after Israel claimed 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza took part in Hamas’s attacks on October 7.
UNRWA says Israel has yet to provide further details of these claims.
Several countries, including Canada and Sweden, have since resumed funding, but bipartisan opposition in the US Congress makes it unlikely that Washington will resume regular donations anytime soon, Reuters reported.
At present, there is a supplemental funding bill in the US Congress that includes military aid to Israel and Ukraine, and contains a provision that would block UNRWA from receiving funds if it becomes law, it said. The Biden administration supports the bill.
While some Democratic senators and some progressive House members have opposed an indefinite ban on funding UNRWA, any new donations need the support of at least some Republicans, who hold a majority in the House of Representatives. Many of them have expressed their opposition to UNRWA.
“UNRWA is a front, plain and simple,” Republican lawmaker Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability, said in a statement. “It masquerades as a relief organization while building the infrastructure to support Hamas … It is literally funneling American tax dollars to terrorism,” Mast said.
‘Very survival of Gaza’s population at stake’, Borrell tells Blinken
The European Union’s foreign policy chief has told his US counterpart that “the very survival of the population in Gaza is at stake today” during a meeting to discuss strengthening their partnership in Washington, DC.
Josep Borrell also stressed the importance of reaching a durable ceasefire and the release of all captives, according to an EU statement. He pointed to the urgent need for unhindered humanitarian access, first and foremost through land-based crossings, and informed Blinken of the resumption of EU funding to UNRWA, the statement said.
While the international community is busy pretending Gaza is a humanitarian crisis, Israel continues to violate international law in total impunity. Humanitarian assistance air drop and a Gaza aid port won't address these violations. And they wont address engineered starvation. https://t.co/WjTQpcPehr
— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) March 13, 2024
Gaza ‘safe zones’ led to displacement, Israeli attacks on civilians: Report
A report published by the research group Forensic Architecture has called into question Israel’s argument at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it had introduced measures to safeguard civilian life in Gaza. The supposed Israeli measures – which include evacuation orders and safe corridors – have been part of Israel’s defence against charges of genocide levelled against it by South Africa at the ICJ for its conduct during its war on Gaza.
But the report by Forensic Architecture said Israel’s “evacuation orders” have “produced mass displacement and forced transfer, and contributed to the killings of civilians throughout Gaza”. It also said that information provided by Israel to Palestinians in Gaza, ostensibly to provide them with access to safe zones, has been confusing, “resulting in cases of targeting and military bombardment of routes and zones designated as ‘safe’ by the Israeli military”.
Israel arrests Fatah official, launches raids across West Bank
Two Palestinian men have been arrested in a town near occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Wafa news agency, as the Israeli military continued its raids and attacks across the West Bank. The men arrested in the town of Abu Dis included Muhammad Rabie, a spokesman for the Fatah movement in Jerusalem, Wafa reported.
It said Israeli military raids also took place in the following West Bank locations:
- The city of Qalqilya
- The towns of Idhna and Yatta in Hebron governorate
- The village of al-Lubban Asharqiya, south of Nablus
- The town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem
- The Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, where Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man
Israel imposing conditions on the return of slain Palestinian teen’s body
Thirteen-year-old Rami al-Halhuli was shot in the chest, and he eventually died in hospital. He was shot while shooting fireworks up in the air during Ramadan.
The Israelis took his body to an Israeli hospital in occupied East Jerusalem. And then the Israeli military took his body. Now, his father has released a statement to Palestinian media saying the Israelis have promised to give his body back on Friday at midnight, but with a major caveat. The first is that only four members of the family can go and collect the body. Then he has to be buried inside the Shu’fat refugee camp.
Now, Shu’fat is on the other side of the Israeli separation wall. Now, he is from this side of the wall and his family burial site is also on this side. So of course they would want to have him buried here. They also said only 15 members of family and friends are allowed to attend the funeral. Usually, we see hundreds, perhaps thousands attending, especially when such a young kid is killed.
Palestinian rights groups say about 245 bodies of dead Palestinians are being held by Israelis at the moment.
