Aid groups petition Israeli court to let them keep working in Gaza after ban over new rules
https://www.wral.com/news/ap/bcf1a-aid-groups-petition-israeli-court-to-let-them-keep-working-in-gaza-after-ban-over-new-rules/
Seventeen international aid groups said Tuesday they have petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to allow them to keep working in the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian areas, where Israel is set to bar them for refusing to comply with new rules.
Israel says it will ban 37 aid groups by March 1. The rules announced last year require aid groups to register the names and contact information of employees, and to provide details about their funding and operations. The groups view the rules as invasive and arbitrary, and say the ban would hinder critical assistance to people in war-ravaged Gaza.
Aid groups that refuse to comply say they fear what Israel might do with the personal data of their employees, noting that hundreds of aid workers have been killed in Israeli strikes during the war.
They have appealed for an urgent interim order that would halt the process until a final ruling, they said in a joint statement Tuesday. The government has until Wednesday afternoon to respond, according to a court document.
The statement said that stopping the groups' activities will lead to a “humanitarian collapse and irreparable harm” for hundreds of thousands of people in need. They say the ban violates Israel's obligations as an occupying power and shows “extreme unreasonableness and lack of proportionality.”
The petition argues that the new rules violate international law, that Israel, as an occupying power, has the obligation to ensure food and medicine reach people. It also says Israel does not have the authority to shutter organizations in areas under the nominal control of the Palestinian Authority.
The banned organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam and Medical Aid for Palestinians, are some of the most well-known of the more than 100 independent aid groups working in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders is the largest provider of medical supplies after U.N. agencies and the Red Cross. The group, known by its French acronym MSF, said it hasn't been able to bring in any supplies — including antibiotics, pain medication, anesthetics and wound dressings — since the start of January, shortly after the ban was announced.
MSF said it has reserves of essential supplies for up to three months. It's working with the U.N. and other aid groups to get supplies into Gaza, but Nadimpalli said there is pressure on licensed groups not to bring in materials on behalf of unregistered ones. If it's unable to get enough supplies it might have to suspend or shutter its operations, which include two Gaza field hospitals, he said.
The restrictions have also hampered the group's activities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where it had to end one project and roll back two others.
Last year, Israel imposed a ban on the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the largest aid provider in Gaza, that has hindered its activities. Israel accused UNRWA of having allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas, allegations denied by the agency, which says it takes extensive measures to ensure its neutrality and acts quickly to remove any known militants from its staff.
Turkish deputy FM labels Gaza crisis 'genocide' urges global action
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/turkish-deputy-fm-labels-gaza-crisis-genocide-urges-global-action/news
Displaced people gather for their fast-breaking iftar meal during Ramadan amid the rubble of destroyed buildings at a refugee camp, Gaza, Palestine, Feb. 23
The deputy foreign minister Monday urged the international community not to remain silent in the face of the genocide in Gaza continuing "in front of our eyes," warning that the global human rights system is under mounting strain amid deep geopolitical fractures.
Mehmet Kemal Bozay, Türkiye’s deputy foreign minister and head of European Union affairs, delivered a video message at the opening of the 61st session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC), saying the world was witnessing “an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.
“Gaza has witnessed an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe since Oct. 7, 2023,” Bozay said. “The magnitude of civilian suffering, the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the continuous obstruction of humanitarian aid constitute grave violations of international human rights.”
He added that the council “must not remain silent in the face of a genocide taking place in front of our eyes.”
Bozay said the international community bears responsibility to actively support recovery and reconstruction efforts in Gaza and argued that a just and lasting peace can only be achieved through the establishment of an independent, sovereign and unified Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
