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SvennoJ on 16 July 2024
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Prominent relief organisations accuse Israel of blocking aid to Gaza

Thirteen leading NGOs have accused the Israeli military of increasingly blocking access to humanitarian groups that deliver lifesaving aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

They said in a press release outlining their views that Israel’s adoption of a “systematic obstruction of aid and its ongoing attacks on aid operations” meant that only 53 of 115 relief missions they had planned recently were greenlit.

The charities – which include Oxfam, MSF, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council – criticised Israeli attacks on UN schools where displaced Palestinians shelter after at least six schools were hit over the past nine days.

The NGOs pointed out that the Israeli military takeover of the Rafah crossing and the border with Egypt at the beginning of May had brought aid deliveries to a “complete halt”.

In the north of Gaza, which has been isolated from the south and has been under intense siege, aid delivery is “very limited”, they said.

Biden can't stop lying

Biden says he has done ‘more for the Palestinian community than anybody’

US President Joe Biden said that he has been “very supportive of the Palestinians” and has done “more for the Palestinian community than anybody”, in an interview in which he also labelled himself a “Zionist”.

“I’m the guy that opened up all the assets [defunded UNWRA], I’m the guy that made sure that I got the Egyptians to open the border to let goods through [let Israel destroy the Rafah crossing], [like] medicine and food,” he told journalist Speedy Morman on YouTube talk show, 360 With Speedy.

When asked about his support for Israel, including the supply of weapons and military aid, Biden said he has “denied them offensive weapons”. [One small shipment of 2,000 pound bombs, which Israel still had in stock and used in the recent Al-Mawasi massacre]

“I made it real clear, [Israel] cannot use weapons that we provide them, to use in civilian areas,” he said. [clear, how? At many massacres parts from US bombs have been found]

Biden’s claimed support for Palestinians was quickly rebuked online.

“You’d think someone who had 38,000 Palestinian killed under his tenure would have a bit more humility,” one commentator wrote on social media in a repost of Biden’s interview.

Disgusting.



US-Israeli officials discuss Hezbollah, Gaza in White House meeting

Top US and Israeli officials held a session of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group at the White House on Monday, in a meeting that centred on “countering Iran’s threats to Israel and the broader region”.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed to the Israeli delegation, led by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, President Joe Biden’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security”.

The delegations also discussed Gaza ceasefire negotiations, with the Israeli team affirming its “full support for the deal as outlined by President Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council”, according to the White House.

The Consultative Group was scheduled to meet last month, but the US postponed the meeting after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Biden administration of withholding weapons from Israel.

Flattening of UNRWA HQ in Gaza ‘speak volumes’ for disregard of international law

UNRWA head of external relations Tamara al-Rifai said attacks over the past week in Gaza have been some of the bloodiest so far, and the destruction of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza demonstrates Israel’s disregard for law in its war on the territory.

“The last week has been one of the deadliest weeks in Gaza since the war started. The images that are coming out of the UNRWA headquarters are really shocking,” al-Rifai said told Al Jazeera.

“It speaks volumes to the blatant disregard for international humanitarian law because to date 190 – one, nine, zero – of UNRWA’s facilities in Gaza, most of which serve as shelters for displaced people, 190 have been damaged during the conflict, killing more than 500 people inside them,” al-Rifai said.

The people who seek shelter at UNRWA facilities “are looking for protection inside a UN building, under a UN flag”, she said, adding that more than 1,600 people have also been injured in attacks on buildings that are protected by international law.