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SvennoJ on 22 March 2024
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War in Gaza is worsening humanitarian conditions in Syria: UN official

Israel’s war on Gaza has increased commodity prices in Syria due to global shipping disruptions, and “a significant increase” in Israeli air attacks against targets in the country, according to the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdelmoula.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah as well as Syrian army positions, but attacks have increased since Israel’s war with Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, began on October 7.

“The targeting of the airports in Syria” has also affected humanitarian air services, Abdelmoula said, adding that “this past year, we had to cancel 49 humanitarian flights”.

The UN official appealed to the international community for about $4bn in humanitarian assistance for Syria, warning funding was almost non-existent and that a lack of support would push more Syrians to emigrate.

Israeli raid destroys house in Lebanon’s Aita al-Shaab: Report

Lebanon’s National News Agency has reported that two air-to-surface missiles targeted a house in the town of Aita al-Shaab, in southern Lebanon, completely destroying it. It did not provide additional information on the number of casualties.

Israeli artillery shelling also targeted Lebanon’s southern towns of Kfarkela, Wadi Al-Asafir and Tallet Al-Hamams, as well as the outskirts of the towns of Al-Adisa and Hula.






Euro-Med Monitor: Israel ‘systematically killing’ Palestinian tech experts

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor says the Israeli army has systematically assassinated dozens of programmers, information technology experts, and computer engineering analysts in the Gaza Strip.

The rights group compiled a list of the hundreds of tech professionals killed by the Israeli military in the past few months It included programmer Haitham al-Nabahin, who was killed with his wife in a house they fled to in Bureji refugee camp.

In addition to killing the experts, the Israeli army has also been destroying the headquarters of communication companies and other technology infrastructure, the organisation reports.

“These crimes appear to be part of Israel’s public policies aimed at making the Gaza Strip uninhabitable by destroying fundamental life structures and eliminating talent. This will certainly lead to a paralysed society incapable of quickly recovering from the disastrous fallout from Israel’s serious crimes committed during that period.”




UN aid chief: ‘We need Israel to lift all impediments to Gaza aid’

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s chief emergency relief coordinator, in a rare move directly names Israel as responsible for “blocking” Gaza aid. He adds Israel needs to “lift all impediments to aid” and to agree to an immediate ceasefire.

“Limits to aid distribution within Gaza are set by those who block the movements of convoys meant to feed tens of thousands of critically hungry people,” he writes on X. “They are set by those who denied the access of every fifth humanitarian mission to northern Gaza in the first half of March. They are set by those who block entry of life-saving supplies for hospitals and water purification.”