Israeli PM Netanyahu’s party steps up pressure for Shin Bet head to go

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations on Thursday ruled out involvement with a new US-backed foundation for aid to Gaza, as Israel’s months-long blockade brings severe shortages to the war-battered territory.
“I made it clear that we participate in aid operations if they are in accordance with our basic principles,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
“As we’ve stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this,” he added.
The US State Department said last week the non-governmental foundation would soon announce its plans, effectively sidelining the UN.
Israel has imposed a blockade for over two months on Gaza, leading UN agencies and other humanitarian groups to warn of shrinking fuel and medicine supplies to the territory of 2.4 million Palestinians.
Since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump has stopped the vast majority of the country’s international assistance.
Israel has already leveled most of Gaza’s buildings following militants’ unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on the country.
But it has rejected claims that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding and has vowed to increase pressure on Hamas.
Israel has long criticized involvement of the UN, seeing it as biased, and has banned work of the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees.
Little is known about the new organization, although a listing in Switzerland showed the establishment in February of the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.”
Swiss newspaper Le Temps earlier reported that the foundation was looking to hire “mercenaries” to work in the distribution of aid, sparking alarm in Amnesty International’s Swiss chapter.
Haq said: “The UN have a plan, an excellent plan, that is ready to be implemented as soon as we’re allowed to do our work.”
“I’ve talked about how we have trucks ready to go. We have more than 171,000 metric tons of food, on top of other life-saving supplies, and they’re ready to go the minute that Israel opens the gates,” he added.
But Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to “recalculate” the body’s approach to what would be a “major” operation.
He added that Israel would not be contributing to its costs, but would allow it to go ahead.
“We will not fund those efforts. We will facilitate them,” he said.
“We will enable them. Some of them will have to cross through territory that we operate, but we will definitely not fund them.”

LONDON: Israel has started building distribution hubs in southern and central Gaza under plans to control aid supplies in the territory, the BBC reported on Thursday. 

Satellite images showed four sites being prepared in Gaza, including three near Rafah in the south.

Israel cut off all aid supplies into Gaza in March after ending a ceasefire and resuming widespread bombing of the devastated territory.

Israel said that it will only allow aid into Gaza once it has prepared its new distribution system and taken over operations from the UN and aid groups. 

Aid agencies warned last week that the Israeli plans will increase suffering and death in Gaza. The plan is also staunchly opposed by Arab and European governments.

The report by BBC Verify said that analyzes of the satellite images showed land had been cleared, with new roads and staging areas prepared in recent weeks.

The sites are similar in size and design to existing distribution hubs in Gaza. 

One of the sites in the south is near a new Israeli military base, and images from early April showed a large staging area and new road surrounded by defensive berms 650 meters from the border with Egypt.

An image from May 8 showed earth-moving machinery working on an eight-hectare area of land.

Images from May 11 and May 12 showed the three other sites expanding, with one located half a kilometer from UN warehouses. 

An imagery intelligence analyst told the BBC that the sites were likely to be secure distribution centers and that some were in “close proximity to IDF forward operating bases, which ties in with the IDF wishing to have some control over the sites.”

The newly created US-backed NGO, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, said on Wednesday that it would begin work distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month but has urged Israel to resume aid flow immediately through the existing distribution systems.

The Israeli plans to focus the distribution hubs in the south has led to accusations that Israel aims to force the Palestinian population into that area.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation has become even more desperate, with food security experts warning this week that Gaza will soon descend into famine if the blockade is not lifted.