UK to provide $5m in support to clear unexploded ordnance in Gaza
The British government announced it will provide 4 million pounds ($5.26m) towards international efforts to clear an estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions in Gaza.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the funding for the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) will help to send in a “surge” of experts to clear the munitions dropped during the course of the war.
It added that removing the unexploded ordnance to allow for more aid into Gaza is “a vital component” of the ceasefire agreement.
“The situation in Gaza is desperate without the vital humanitarian support they need,” said Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who is expected to visit the Middle East this week.
“We must do everything we can to flood Gaza with aid,” she added.
The new funding for UNMAS is part of 116 million pounds ($152.4m) of overseas aid pledged by the UK for occupied Palestinian territory this financial year.
You're part responsible for leaving that ordnance in Gaza, so get to cleaning it up.
US report finds hundreds of possible Israeli rights violations: Washington Post
A classified US government watchdog report has found “many hundreds” of possible human rights violations by Israeli military units in Gaza that would take the State Department years to investigate, The Washington Post is exclusively reporting.
“The findings by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General mark the first time a US government report has acknowledged the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza that fall under the purview of Leahy Laws,” the Post said.
That, in turn, has raised concerns about the prospect of accountability for Israeli rights violations, the newspaper reported. The Leahy Laws prohibit the US government from providing assistance to foreign military units that commit gross violations of human rights.
But Washington has refused to apply the laws to Israel, with both Trump and his predecessor, former US President Joe Biden, continuing to funnel military assistance to Israel despite widespread reports of abuses in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
For more on the Leahy Laws, check out this explainer from last year.
