Frankly Speaking: What hope is there for Gaza’s children?

1 Could UNICEF avert a humanitarian catastrophe?
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2 No child should endure what has been inflicted on Gaza
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Updated 01 April 2024
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Frankly Speaking: What hope is there for Gaza’s children?

  • UNICEF spokesperson says averting famine in Gaza hinges on immediate ceasefire, unrestricted aid access
  • Says Gaza is “potentially the most dangerous place in the world” for aid workers and recipients

DUBAI: Is there any hope for the children of Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, restrictions on aid access, and a looming famine in the north of the enclave?

According to UN Children’s Fund spokesperson James Elder, who recently toured the length of Gaza, only an immediate ceasefire can turn the humanitarian situation around.

Appearing on the Arab News current affairs show “Frankly Speaking” via video link from Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, Elder said that opening multiple entry points and delivering sufficient aid could help save the most vulnerable, including the one in three children under the age of two in the north of Gaza who are suffering from acute malnutrition.




Speaking to “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen from Rafah, James Elder lauded the irreplaceable role played in the humanitarian response by UNRWA and highlighted Israel’s unmet obligations under international law to allow sufficient aid to enter Gaza. (AN photo)

“The ability to scale out, to get aid across an area, is what UNICEF does,” Elder told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen.

“We have the world’s largest humanitarian supply hub in Denmark. We airlift, we ship, we do everything. We have warehouses here in the region as well. So, multiple warehouses … consistently ready to bring in that aid.”

However, until Israel lifts its restrictions on how much aid is permitted to enter the embattled enclave, enabling UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies to deliver much-needed relief, many fear the extreme food insecurity already endured by Palestinians will escalate into a full-blown famine.

In the wide-ranging interview, Elder described the irreplaceable role played in the humanitarian response by the cash-strapped UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, and highlighted Israel’s unmet obligations under international law to allow sufficient aid to enter Gaza.




Speaking to “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen from Rafah, James Elder lauded the irreplaceable role played in the humanitarian response by UNRWA and highlighted Israel’s unmet obligations under international law to allow sufficient aid to enter Gaza. (AN photo)

Elder also spoke about the “annihilation” of Gazan cities and the threats posed to UN workers and aid recipients amid the fighting, which had made the Palestinian territory “potentially the most dangerous place on the planet.”

A UN-backed report released in March warned that unless the hostilities are halted and unrestricted aid is allowed to flow into the Gaza Strip, famine could occur by the end of May. The report said 70 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million-strong population is experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger and food insecurity.

The International Court of Justice at The Hague warned on Thursday that “famine is setting in” as a result of Israel’s continued restrictions on the flow of aid.

In a unanimous ruling, the UN’s highest court ordered Israel to take “all the necessary and effective action” to ensure basic food supplies reach the Palestinian people without delay.

And while saving people in Gaza from starvation is achievable, it will take longer to address “things like disease, the devastation to the health system, to hospitals, to water systems, to sewerage,” said Elder.

Since Israel launched its Gaza operation in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, the enclave has become a graveyard for at least 13,000 children, according to UN figures.

Acute malnutrition now affects 31 percent of children under the age of two in the northern governorates, while at least 23 children have already died of starvation and dehydration.

Creating these conditions could amount to a war crime, the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, told the BBC on Thursday, adding that there was a “plausible” case that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

“International humanitarian law is very clear on proportionalities and on what warring factions can do,” said Elder. “We have seen so many breaches in this war, and for children it seems to make no difference right now. Children don’t understand whether international law is being abided by or not.

“Right now, all they are doing is facing the severity of something that no child ever, ever should have to endure.”

In the initial months of the conflict, the bulk of aid distribution and relief work was carried out by UNRWA, which has supported Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon since 1949.




UN workers prepare humanitarian food aid at a UNRWA warehouse/distribution center in Rafah for distribution to Palestinian refugees amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The warehouse was partially hit by an Israeli strike on March 13, 2024. (AFP)

However, in January, more than a dozen countries suspended funding for UNRWA after Israel claimed that 12 of the UN agency’s staff had participated in the October 7 attack, while 450 others were “military operatives in terror groups.”

Although an internal investigation and a separate independent investigation have been launched to examine the allegations, the bulk of UNRWA’s funding is still yet to be restored, bringing its operations in Gaza to the brink of collapse.

Elder said UNICEF and other aid agencies are in no position to assume UNRWA’s responsibilities if it goes under.

“UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “UNRWA has got thousands and thousands of very brave workers, of teachers, of doctors, of pharmacists, of nurses, of you name it.

“UNICEF has deep specialties in child protection and nutrition and so forth, but in terms of that full manpower across the Gaza Strip, the people of Gaza need UNRWA.”

He added: “Fifty percent of food aid getting to those civilians in the north was delivered by UNRWA. That has now been blocked. That’s fast-tracking catastrophe.”




Israeli demonstrators gather by the border fence with Egypt at the Nitzana border crossing in southern Israel on February 18, 2024, as they attempt to block humanitarian aid trucks from entering into Israel on their way to the Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Gaza has become an extremely dangerous place for aid agencies to operate.

“People have been killed receiving aid, aid workers — more aid workers, more of my United Nations colleagues killed in this war than in any time since the advent of the United Nations. This is the reality that people are dealing with,” said Elder.

“Now the UN does work in very dangerous places. That’s what we do. Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, here in Gaza. But we need to be very clear. International humanitarian law is unequivocal. Israel has a legal obligation to facilitate aid, not just getting in, but then to ensure it is safely distributed to those most in need.”

During his journey along the length of the Gaza Strip, Elder was appalled by the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe. While traveling through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, he saw “hundreds of trucks blocked there with life-saving aid on the wrong side of the border.”

“We are not getting nearly enough aid in,” he added.

Later, during his visit to northern Gaza, he saw “people hanging on to life, children and families who urgently need food.” And yet, “there are crossings there that could be opened, old crossings where you would have aid within 10 or 15 minutes.”

With road access into Gaza limited by Israeli forces, aid agencies have been examining options for a maritime corridor. In mid-March, the Open Arms set sail from Cyprus towing 200 tonnes of flour, protein, and rice bound for Gaza.




The Open Arms, a rescue vessel owned by a Spanish NGO, departs with humanitarian aid for Gaza from Larnaca, Cyprus, on March 30, 2024. (REUTERS)

“Any aid is useful aid, but the ship had the equivalent of around 12 trucks,” said Elder. “There’s 50 times 12 trucks on the other side of the border.”

Another aid access workaround pursued by the US, Jordan and Egypt is airdrops, parachuting aid into Gaza.

However, airdrops are usually used “when people are massively cut off from humanitarian assistance — a flood or a natural disaster,” said Elder. “Here, they’re not cut off. There’s a road network. Road is the efficient, effective way. Roads are what will turn around this humanitarian catastrophe with a ceasefire.”




Jordan, along with the US, German and other European countries had been delivering food aid to Gaza by parachutes, but the scale of starvation in the Israeli-besieged enclave is barely enough, according to humanitarian agencies. (AFP)

Echoing criticism of Israel’s limits on the flow of aid, Elder said: “We need to be very clear. International humanitarian law is unequivocal. Israel has a legal obligation to facilitate aid, not just getting in, but then to ensure it is safely distributed to those most in need.”

On March 25, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ends in less than a fortnight.

Elder said the resolution must be “substantive and not symbolic” because a ceasefire “allows the United Nations to flood the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid and we can turn this imminent famine around.”




A United Nations vehicle drives by as Palestinian girls share a food ration in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 31, 2024. (AFP)

A ceasefire, said Elder, would also allow Israel to bring home its citizens who have been held hostage in Gaza since October 7. “There are children here somewhere underground or whatever horrendous torment they are enduring,” he said. “End the torment, get hostages home.”

He added: “A ceasefire means families — a mother and a child can go to bed with absolute certainty that they will wake up. They haven’t had that for many months.”
In November and December last year, Elder said he visited Al-Nasr Hospital in Khan Younis, where the “incredible” health workers were “doing 24-36-hour shifts in a war zone.”

“They were doing the work that they knew they love to do, and they were born to do as some had said, but they were terrified because their families were outside.”




Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 29, 2024. (REUTERS)

Returning to Khan Younis in recent days, Elder said: “I went through it now and it’s just annihilated, street after street, rubble everywhere. I have not seen that level of devastation, which in my mind segued to here, to Rafah, and why we cannot see that happen here.”

Now, it is as though Khan Younis and Gaza City no longer exist. “Just cracked rubble and steel as far as you can see and stunned looking people, because home after home has been destroyed,” he said.

Rafah, meanwhile, “is a city of tents. It’s a city of children. This is where families were meant to go to stay safe. And there’s a desperation here, but there is a solidarity. People do what they can for each other.”

He added: “I’ve been across the Gaza Strip. In the north is a level of suffering that I can’t say defies words, but it is getting to a point where, well, we’re seeing children die of malnutrition, of dehydration.”




A mourner carries the body of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 29, 2024. (REUTERS)

“You see parents in tears over a child’s cot, a child who is paper thin. This is a mother who’s done everything she can to protect her child from these relentless … bombardments. And now she’s trying to protect her child from starvation.

“These mothers and fathers are learning that the real decisions about the safety of their children are being made by people elsewhere. So, there is a level of stress and anxiety across the Gaza Strip.”

Elder said the situation in Gaza “speaks to the mental trauma here of more than a million children.

“As a child psychologist said to me, we are in uncharted territory here when it comes to the mental health of girls and boys in Gaza.”
 

 


Yemen’s Houthis say five killed in US strike on Sanaa province

Updated 13 April 2025
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Yemen’s Houthis say five killed in US strike on Sanaa province

  • US strikes targeted various other areas in Yemen, including in the Saada and Hodeida provinces

SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi group said on Sunday that a US strike in Sanaa province had killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others.
“The death toll from the US aggression on the Al-Sawari factory in the Matna area of Bani Matar has risen to 18, including five martyrs and 13 wounded, in a preliminary toll,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement.
Houthi media also reported that US strikes targeted various other areas in the country Sunday, including in the Saada and Hodeida provinces.
The rebels added that US strikes targeted various other areas in the country on Sunday, including in the Saada and Hodeida provinces.
Rebel-held areas of Yemen have seen near-daily strikes blamed on the United States since Washington launched an air campaign against the Houthis on March 15 to force them to stop threatening vessels in key maritime routes.
Since then, the Houthis have also launched attacks targeting US military ships and Israel, claiming to be acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The rebels began targeting ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as Israeli territory, after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, pausing the attacks during a January ceasefire.
Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza at the start of March, and resumed its offensive on the Palestinian territory on March 18, ending the short-lived truce.
The new US campaign followed Houthi threats to resume attacks on vessels over Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
The Houthi attacks had crippled the vital Red Sea route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to make a much longer detour around the tip of southern Africa.


Syrian, UAE presidents hold talks in Abu Dhabi

Updated 14 April 2025
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Syrian, UAE presidents hold talks in Abu Dhabi

  • President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes second trip to Gulf after visiting Saudi Arabia in February
  • UAE leader reaffirms support for Syrian rebuild efforts

LONDON: President Ahmed Al-Sharaa of the Syrian Arab Republic arrived in Abu Dhabi on Sunday for talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

The sheikh wished Al-Sharaa success in leading Syria and in fulfilling his people’s hopes for development, security and stability, the Emirates News Agency reported.

He also reaffirmed the UAE’s support for Syria’s efforts to rebuild and commitment to its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, which he said were essential to the broader region.

Al-Sharaa was welcomed at Al-Bateen Airport by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and other senior officials. Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani, who visited the UAE earlier this year, was also present at the meeting.

Al-Sharaa visited Saudi Arabia in February on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January. The Syrian leader is keen to strengthen ties with Arab and Western governments and turn a new page in his nation’s diplomatic relations following the collapse of the Assad regime in December.

Last week, Syria and South Korea formally established diplomatic relations and agreed to open embassies in each other’s countries. Syria was the only UN member without diplomatic ties to South Korea.

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Israeli military says missile fired from Yemen

Palestinian children hold their feet on a missile fragment after a Houthi missile launch toward Israel, near Hebron.
Updated 13 April 2025
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Israeli military says missile fired from Yemen

  • “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel… it has been determined that one missile was launched from Yemen,” Israeli military said

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said a missile was launched from Yemen on Sunday and was likely intercepted, shortly before the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, after review, it has been determined that one missile was launched from Yemen,” the military said.
“Interception attempts were carried out, and the missile was likely successfully intercepted,” it added.
AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard the sirens, which were followed by muffled blasts.
In a separate statement issued in Hebrew, the military had said that “apparently, two missiles were launched from Yemen.”
Israeli police said sirens were also activated in Tel Aviv.
Yemen’s Houthis later claimed responsibility for missile fire at Israel.
In a statement, the group said it had carried out a “military operation with two ballistic missiles... targeting the Sdot Micha base in the area east of occupied Ashdod, and the other... targeting Ben Gurion Airport.”
The Iran-backed group has regularly fired missiles and drones on Israel since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023 following an attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
The Houthis, who have also targeted shipping vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.


Armed faction in southern Syria to integrate into government forces

Updated 13 April 2025
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Armed faction in southern Syria to integrate into government forces

DAMASCUS: A powerful armed faction in southern Syrian Arab Republic led by defected military officer Ahmed Al-Awdeh announced on Sunday that it was dissolving itself and integrating into the government’s armed forces.

The Eighth Brigade, the most prominent armed faction in southern Syria, announced its dissolution and placed its weapons and personnel at the disposal of the Syrian Defense Ministry, according to a statement read by the official spokesman on Sunday in a video recording.

“We, members, soldiers and officers of what was previously known as the Eighth Brigade, officially announce the dissolution of this formation and handing over all its military and human capacities to the Defense Ministry,” said Col. Mohamed Al-Hourani.

“This decision stems from our commitment to national unity and enhancing security and stability and adherence to state sovereignty,” said Hourani.

The Eighth Brigade is part of the Southern Operations Room, a coalition of armed groups, also led by Awdeh, from the southern province of Daraa formed on Dec. 6 to help topple Bashar Assad.

Assad was toppled two days later following a lightning offensive by rebels led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS.

Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who led HTS, has since been named Syria’s interim president and appointed a cabinet last month.

The SOR was notably absent from a Dec. 25 meeting during which other militant factions agreed to disband and join a future army.

Awdeh’s forces, including the Eighth Brigade, held on to their weapons and maintained their presence on the ground.

Sunday’s announcement comes after two days of unrest between the forces of the Eighth Brigade and those of the new authorities.


Israel PM says Macron ‘gravely mistaken’ in promoting Palestinian state

France’s President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of humanitarian aid destined to Gaza.
Updated 13 April 2025
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Israel PM says Macron ‘gravely mistaken’ in promoting Palestinian state

  • “President Macron is gravely mistaken in continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our land,” Netanyahu said

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron over his plans to recognize a Palestinian state.
“President Macron is gravely mistaken in continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our land — a state whose sole aspiration is the destruction of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
He was addressing Macron’s remarks earlier this week in which he said that France could recognize a Palestinian state within months.
“To this day, not a single figure in Hamas or the Palestinian Authority has condemned the horrors of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” Netanyahu said, referring to the October 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas on Israel.
He described this as “a silence that reveals their true attitude toward the Jewish state.
“We will not endanger our existence over illusions detached from reality, and we will not accept moral lectures about establishing a Palestinian state that would threaten Israel’s survival — especially not from those who oppose granting independence to Corsica, New Caledonia, French Guiana, and other territories, whose independence would pose no threat to France whatsoever.”
His remarks echoed those of his son Yair, who struck out at Macron in an earlier post on X.
“Screw you!” Yair Netanyahu wrote in English late on Saturday.
“Yes to independence of New Caledonia! Yes to independence to French Polynesia! Yes to independence of Corsica! Yes to independence of the Basque Country! Yes to independence of French Guinea!” he added, apparently confusing it with French Guiana.
Macron, in an interview to France 5 broadcast on Wednesday, stated that France could take the step during a UN conference in New York in June, saying he hoped this would trigger a reciprocal recognition of Israel by Arab countries.
“We must move toward recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron said.
“I will do it because I believe that at some point it will be right and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, which many of them do not do.”
His remarks sparked a wave of criticism from right-wing groups in France, after which Macron appeared to clarify his initial remarks on Friday.
“I support the legitimate right of Palestinians to a state and to peace, just as I support the right of Israelis to live in peace and security, both recognized by their neighbors,” he said on X.
“I am doing everything I can with our partners to reach this goal of peace. We truly need it,” he said.
Relations between Israel and France have deteriorated in recent months.
France has long championed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including after the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.
But formal recognition by Paris of a Palestinian state would mark a major policy switch and risk antagonizing Israel, which insists such moves by foreign states are premature.
France would be the most significant European power to recognize a Palestinian state, a move the United States has also long resisted. Hamas welcomed Macron’s statement.
Nearly 150 countries recognize a Palestinian state.
Last May, Ireland, Norway and Spain announced recognition, followed by Slovenia in June, moves partly fueled by condemnation of Israel’s bombing of Gaza that followed the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.