NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Wednesday warned that a record 18 million people in Sudan, more than a third of the country’s population, are facing acute food insecurity.
The rapid slide into this “catastrophic” state of affairs is driven by a relentless civil war that has been raging between rival military factions for 11 months across the country. It has caused severe damage to livelihoods and food infrastructure, disrupted flow of trade, caused prices to rise sharply, placed constraints on humanitarian access, and caused the largest displacement crisis in the world, affecting more than 8 million people, the UN said.
“Sudan is one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory” and is on course to become “the world’s worst hunger crisis,” said Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy at the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
She was briefing a meeting of the Security Council called by council members Guyana and Switzerland, along with Sierra Leone and Slovenia, to discuss food insecurity in Sudan.
It followed a so-called “white note” alert sent by OCHA to council members highlighting the quickly deteriorating situation. It warned that the populations most affected by food insecurity are concentrated in areas of most-active conflict, including Al-Jazirah, Darfur, Khartoum and Kordofan.
Maurizio Martina, the deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, told council members the spread of the conflict to Al-Jazirah state in particular poses a “significant threat to national food production.”
This region is considered Sudan’s “breadbasket” because it produces about 50 percent of the nation’s wheat and 10 percent of its sorghum, which are essential crops. It is also the location of the Gezira Scheme, the country’s most important irrigation project and one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Experts warn that women, children and internally displaced people are at greatest risk from the food crisis in Sudan. The OCHA said projections suggest 730,000 children, including 240,000 in
Darfur, will suffer the most severe form of childhood malnutrition if the situation does not improve.
As well as describing to the Security Council the ways in which the civil war is driving the food crisis, Wosornu also highlighted accounts of sexual violence and ethnically motivated attacks in conflict hot spots.
“It is truly the stuff of nightmares,” she said. “There are reports of mass graves, gang rapes, shockingly indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas and many more horrors.”
In Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan, which are home to about 90 percent of the people facing emergency-level acute food insecurity, Wosornu said there had been “no respite from the fierce fighting for 340 days.”
This has resulted in “extensive damage, looting and widespread destruction of critical infrastructure, including food and nutrition manufacturing facilities, once the pride of Sudan,” she added.
“Farmers have been forced to abandon their farmlands. National cereal production has dropped by almost half since last year. And the supply of animal-sourced food, such as milk, has plummeted, contributing to spiraling levels of malnutrition.
“Meanwhile the conflict has driven up prices of basic food commodities by a staggering 83 percent compared to the pre-crisis period.”
Wosornu warned that by the time the lean season arrives in May, people in some parts of Darfur could be facing “catastrophic” levels of acute food insecurity.
“Malnutrition is soaring to alarming levels and is already claiming children’s (lives),” she said. “One child is dying every two hours in Zamzam camp in El-Fasher, North Darfur.”
Humanitarian officials estimate that in the weeks and months ahead, somewhere in the region of 222,000 children could die from malnutrition. With 70 percent of health facilities not functional, children who are malnourished are at greater risk of dying from preventable diseases.
“It seems utterly unfathomable that this tragedy could be allowed to happen. It keeps us all up at night and will do so for a long time,” said Wosornu.
She lamented the continuing lack of access for humanitarian workers to the most vulnerable parts of the country, despite a recent Security Council resolution calling warring sides in Sudan to allow the unhindered flow of aid.
On Feb. 21, the Sudanese government announced the suspension of cross-border aid deliveries from eastern Chad through the Adre border crossing, which has limited the UN’s humanitarian operations in Darfur.
On March 5, the government announced it would facilitate the delivery of aid supplies via other routes: from Chad using the Tine border crossing; from South Sudan through the Renk border crossing; and by allowing aircraft carrying aid to access airports in the cities of Al-Fasher, Kadugli and Al-Obeid.
While she welcomed these provisions, Wosornu said they were “far from enough in the face of looming famine,” and called for more entry points to be provided “as soon as possible and kept open for as long as they are needed; one-off arrangements are not sufficient.”
She also emphasized the need for immediate approval of deliveries of aid from Port Sudan that cross the battle lines of the conflict.
“We have not been able to cross conflict lines into parts of Khartoum since October 2023 due to insecurity and lack of timely approvals,” Wosornu said.
She also called on all involved in the war to protect humanitarian workers and the supplies they deliver. Since the outbreak of hostilities, 20 aid workers have been killed and 33 injured. About 150 warehouses and offices used by humanitarian operations have been looted.
In December in Al-Jazirah State, for example, an armed group looted a warehouse containing food supplies in an area controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, one of the factions locked in conflict. Wosornu said the attack affected supplies that could have fed 1.5 million acutely food-insecure people for a month.
Meanwhile, of the $2.7 billion needed to fund aid efforts in Sudan this year, only $131 million, less than 5 percent, has so far been received.
“A humanitarian travesty is playing out in Sudan under a veil of international inattention and inaction,” Wosornu told the council. “Simply put, we are failing the people of Sudan.”
She once again called on the international community to ensure all of those involved in the conflict “respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the prohibition of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, and the protection of vital goods, infrastructure and services needed for food systems and production, (and that they facilitate) cross-line and cross-border humanitarian access.”
She also called for the scaling up of funding for humanitarian operations, and of efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire and peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“These recommendations are only as good as the action taken on them,” Wosornu said.
“As we approach the one-year anniversary of the conflict, we cannot make clearer the desperation that civilians are facing in Sudan. We cannot explain in greater terms the catastrophic situation. And we cannot underscore more the need for Council action.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US permanent representative to the UN, said members of both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the opposing forces in the conflict, have committed war crimes.
She urged “regional powers to immediately end the provision of weapons to the parties in Sudan,” reminding them that “there is a binding UN arms embargo in place in Darfur.”
She also underscored “the prohibition on starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and said that if the SAF does not reverse its decision to limit cross-border access as a matter of urgency, “the Security Council must take swift action to ensure life-saving aid is delivered and distributed, and consider all tools at its disposal, including authorizing a cross-border mechanism.”
Sudan heading toward world’s worst hunger crisis, UN Security Council warned
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Sudan heading toward world’s worst hunger crisis, UN Security Council warned
- 18 million people face acute food insecurity in the midst of a civil war that has been raging for 11 months
- Experts describe the humanitarian crisis in the country as a ‘travesty’ and the ‘stuff of nightmares’
Hezbollah attacks Israeli barracks after party members killed in drone strike
- Gallant threatens ‘open war’ against Lebanon, warns troops to prepare for ‘hot summer’
BEIRUT: Hezbollah launched several attacks on Israeli military targets across Lebanon’s border on Thursday after four of its members were killed in Israeli strikes, security sources said.
Israeli drones on Thursday had struck a car in Bafliyeh, Tyre — 99 km from Beirut — that was transporting Hezbollah members.
The group announced the death of two of its members, followed by a third who died from severe injuries.
Although Bafliyeh is located south of the Litani Line, it has never been targeted over the past seven months, making the attack a violation of the rules of engagement.
The town is located in a vital area, close to Tyre and surrounded by villages where UNIFIL forces operate.
A security source said that four Israeli drones hovered over several towns in the vicinity of Tyre and chased a car on the Bafliyeh-Arzoun road.
The drones then fired several missiles at the vehicle, destroying it.
Lebanon’s civil defense rescue force said that its members extinguished a fire inside a car that Israeli drones had struck.
It said that the bodies of the victims were pulled out of the car by the rescue force and transferred to hospital.
Hezbollah announced the death of Ali Ahmad Hamza, born in 1958, from Debaal, southern Lebanon, as well as Ahmad Hassan Maatouk, born in 1989, from the Lebanese southern village of Sir Al-Gharbiyeh.
It later confirmed the death of Hussein Ahmad Hamdan from Burj Al-Barajneh, located in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Hezbollah responded to the assassination by striking Israeli military sites, including destroying “technical systems” developed in the Israeli Ramia outpost.
It also struck a new command center in the Natur settlement with artillery as well as a “group of soldiers in the Al-Jerdah site, killing and injuring them.”
The escalation on the southern Lebanese front coincided with further Israeli threats of open war against Lebanon.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “We will achieve our goals in the north and south. We will paralyze Hamas, destroy Hezbollah and achieve security.”
Hezbollah struck Israeli military sites and settlements in the north with dozens of missiles on Wednesday evening after Gallant visited his army’s positions in the north.
Gallant addressed the reserve forces of the 91st Division (affiliated with the Northern Command and responsible for the front with Lebanon, from Ras Naqoura to Mount Hermon) at the Branit Barracks.
The minister warned troops to be “prepared for a hot summer.”
Gallant said that Tel Aviv “is determined to return the residents of the northern areas that were evacuated amid the ongoing border confrontations with Hezbollah.”
He added that “the mission is not accomplished” in the area.
According to Israeli media, Hezbollah missiles “targeted the headquarters of the 91st Division” shortly after Gallant left.
According to an Israeli statement, Gallant, during his visit, was briefed on “operations to adapt operational activities in confronting Hezbollah forces.”
Hezbollah said in a statement that its members targeted the headquarters of the 91st Division in the Branit Barracks “with a heavy-caliber Burkan missile, causing a direct hit.”
Israeli shelling and airstrikes on the border area on Wednesday night led to the killing of five members of Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad movement.
Hezbollah mourned Hassan Mohammed Ismail (born in 1993) from Kfarkela in the south and Mustafa Ali Issa (born in 1988) from Dlafy in western Bekaa.
Also on Thursday, the Lebanese branch of the Al-Quds Brigades — the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement — mourned Mahmoud Mohammed Balawni, Ahmed Mohammed Halawa and Mohammed Hussein Joud from the Martyr Ali Al-Aswad Brigade — Syrian Square.
Israeli threats emerged after Lebanon received warnings from European sources about the potential for escalation in southern Lebanon over the coming months.
A political observer said that several Lebanese officials who visited Paris had conveyed warning messages regarding the situation.
In Beirut, the parliamentary foreign affairs committee listened to a report from Human Rights Watch on documented Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon.
MP Fadi Alame spoke of “war crimes committed, especially the deliberate shelling of journalists and the martyrdom of some, the use of white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon and the resulting damages, and the type of weapons used to kill paramedics.”
He said: “The government submitted a report through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting the international court to conduct necessary investigations into violations and war crimes, and the foreign affairs committee is coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the effectiveness and speed of action.
“This is Lebanon’s right to demand (compensation) for the damage incurred.”
Israel strikes eastern Rafah as ceasefire talks end with no deal
- Ceasefire talks make some headway, but no deal, say Egyptian security sources
- Israeli official said operation in Rafah to proceed as planned
- Rafah residents fear a full invasion
CAIRO/RAFAH/WASHINGTON: Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, Palestinian residents said, after President Joe Biden said the United States would withhold weapons from Israel if its forces mount a major invasion of the southern Gaza city.
A senior Israeli official said that the latest round of indirect negotiations in Cairo to halt hostilities had ended and Israel would proceed with its operation in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip as planned.
Israel has submitted to mediators its reservations about a Hamas proposal for a hostage release deal and the Israeli delegation was returning from the Egyptian capital, the official added.
In Gaza, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters fired anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks massed on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Residents and medics in Rafah, the biggest urban area in Gaza not yet overrun by Israeli ground forces, said an Israeli attack by a mosque killed at least three people and wounded others in the eastern Brazil neighborhood.
Video footage from the scene showed the minaret lying in the rubble, two bodies wrapped in blankets and a wounded man being carried away.
On the city’s eastern edge, residents said a helicopter opened fire, while drones hovered above houses in several areas, some close to rooftops.
Israel says Hamas militants are hiding in Rafah, where the population has been swelled by hundreds of thousands of Gazans seeking refuge from bombardments elsewhere in the coastal enclave, and it needs to eliminate them for its own security.
One of the displaced, Mohammad Abder-Rahman, said he feared the Israeli bombardments presaged an invasion of the city.
“It reminds me of what happened before Israeli tanks stormed our residential areas in Gaza City, heavy bombardment usually allows tanks to roll toward places they intend to invade,” the 42-year-old told Reuters via a messaging app.
Ceasefire talks in Egypt’s capital made some headway but no deal was reached, according to two Egyptian security sources.
The Hamas delegation left for Doha for consultations, blaming Israel for the lack of agreement so far.
Israel has said it is open to a truce, but has rejected demands for an end to the war as it has vowed to demolish Hamas.
Biden, who says Israel has not produced a convincing plan to safeguard civilians in Rafah, issued his starkest warning yet against a full ground invasion.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, ... I’m not supplying the weapons,” Biden told CNN in an interview on Wednesday.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 80,000, most of them civilians, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.
It launched its offensive in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas militants on Israel on Oct. 7 in which they killed about 1,200 people and abducted 252. Some 128 hostages remain in Gaza and 36 have been declared dead, according to the latest Israeli figures.
80,000 PALESTINIANS FLEE AGAIN THIS WEEK
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and forcing 80,000 people to flee the city this week, according to the United Nations.
“The toll on these families is unbearable. Nowhere is safe,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post on X.
An Israeli military statement on Gaza operations on Thursday morning did not refer to Rafah.
The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Biden acknowledged that US bombs have killed Palestinian civilians in the seven-month-old offensive.
US officials have said Washington paused delivery of a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel because of the risk to civilians in Gaza.
Israel’s United Nations ambassador Gilad Erdan said the US decision to pause some weapons deliveries to Israel would significantly impair the country’s ability to neutralize Hamas’ power, according to Israeli public radio.
But Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Israel’s “enemies and friends” it would do whatever necessary achieve its war aims in Gaza, underlining the scale of the standoff.
Israel kept up tank and aerial strikes across Gaza and tanks advanced in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City in the north, forcing hundreds of families to flee, residents said. The Israeli military said it was securing Zeitoun, starting with a series of intelligence-based aerial strikes on approximately 25 “terror targets.”
Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza was heaving with people who had fled Rafah in recent days. Palestinian medics said two people, including a woman, were killed when a drone fired a missile at a group of people there.
CIA DIRECTOR SHUTTLES BETWEEN JERUSALEM AND CAIRO
In Cairo, delegations from Hamas, Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar had been meeting since Tuesday. CIA Director William Burns has shuttled between Cairo and Jerusalem, meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.
Izzat El-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political office in Qatar, said the Hamas delegation had left Cairo, having reaffirmed its approval the mediators’ ceasefire proposal. The plan entails the release of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza and a number of Palestinians jailed by Israel.
MEDICAL SECTOR COLLAPSED
The closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt has prevented the evacuation of the wounded and sick and the entry of medical supplies, food trucks and fuel needed to operate hospitals, the Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.
The only kidney dialysis center in the Rafah area had stopped operating due to the shelling.
“There used to be medical aid coming in, and now there is no medical aid,” said Ali Abu Khurma, a Jordanian surgeon volunteering at Al Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah.
“The entire medical sector has collapsed.”
Turkiye, Kuwait deals signal rise of ‘nonaligned axis’ in region
- Partnerships with Gulf countries ‘are win-win moves economically, politically’ for Ankara, analyst tells Arab News
- Visit is significant as it is Sheikh Meshal’s first to a non-Arab country since taking office in December
ANKARA: Turkiye and Kuwait recently strengthened their bilateral relations by signing six cooperation agreements in the fields of defense, trade, energy, tourism, health and diplomacy during Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s visit to Ankara, where he was received by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a grand state ceremony.
These agreements, including a protocol on defense procurement and a memorandum of understanding on strategic dialogue, followed discussions between the leaders and their delegations.
The visit is significant as it is Sheikh Meshal’s first to a non-Arab country since taking office in December, and coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkiye and Kuwait.
Eyup Ersoy, a visiting fellow in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said that the progress in bilateral relations is bound to have an impact on regional politics.
“There is a recently revived Turkish interest in developing its relations with the states of the region which are keen to adopt a neutral position in the polarized regional geopolitics. Accordingly, there seems to be a cluster of countries in the Middle East that are trying to stay out of the entanglements of regional geopolitics,” he told Arab News.
“With the consolidation of Turkish-Kuwaiti relations, this nonaligned axis is expected to establish itself as a third alternative in the polarized region. In this regard, the signing of a strategic dialogue agreement signifies the commitment of the two states to align their regional policies.”
According to Turkiye’s Ambassador to Kuwait, Tuba Nur Sonmez, who spoke to Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA, the visit included discussions on bilateral relations and regional issues such as the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Both countries aim to increase their trade volume to $1 billion from $688 million last year, with Turkish exports to Kuwait exceeding $583 million last year. In addition, Kuwait sealed a $367 million deal with Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar to buy TB2 armed drones in 2023.
According to Ersoy, the defense industry supply agreement signed during the visit indicates a mutual interest in advancing defense industry cooperation between the two states.
“The content of the actual transactions will be determined by the Kuwaiti leadership’s assessment of Kuwait’s defense industry needs and the extent to which Turkiye could supply relevant defense industry products,” he said.
However, Ersoy said that trade volume between the two countries is not high compared with their other trading partners.
“For example, in 2022, Turkiye ranked 19th among Kuwait’s export destinations, while Kuwait ranked only 56th for Turkish exports,” he said.
“Therefore, both sides are keen to strengthen their trade relations, as indicated by the statement during the visit on the need to revitalize the Joint Economic Commission.
“In addition, Kuwait’s leadership is seeking to diversify its economy in line with its Vision 2035 strategy, as its revenues are almost entirely based on the export of hydrocarbons. Increased trade with Turkiye has the potential to contribute to this ambitious macroeconomic goal,” Ersoy said.
Kuwaiti direct investment flow in Turkiye, which stood at $2 billion last year, has also continued, reaching $1.5 billion so far this year.
“More Kuwaiti participation in the Turkish economy, especially through direct and portfolio investment, is imminent,” said Ersoy.
Kuwait is also expected to take steps to reduce its trade imbalance with Turkiye, he added.
In the tourism sector, Istanbul broke a 10-year record last year with a surge of Gulf tourists visiting the city. Trabzon, Bodrum, and Izmir are other top destinations for Kuwaiti tourists visiting Turkiye during the summer.
However, Arab visitors have been the targets of sporadic attacks amid anti-Arab sentiment in Turkiye. Last year, a Kuwaiti tourist was attacked in the northern city of Trabzon.
Betul Dogan Akkas, an assistant professor of international relations at Ankara University, said bilateral relations between Turkiye and Kuwait were based on mutual respect and trust, stemming from a historical and diplomatic legacy.
“There is capital in these relations to promote cooperation, especially in the economic sphere, including the defense industry,” she told Arab News.
“Kuwait is open to consolidating its trade, and for Ankara, partnerships with Gulf countries are win-win moves both economically and politically.
“The key aspect in analyzing these relations is the current willingness of both sides to build long-term goals. So far, we have seen mostly reactionary or short-term economic and political moves,“ Dogan Akkas said.
“Now is the right time for relations to institutionalize diplomatic capital. This requires leadership support, and both parties have it, as the emir of Kuwait visited Turkiye as his first non-Arab trip.”
Dogan Akkas also believes that the level of success and structure of political decision-making are crucial to strengthening relations.
She said that Turkiye’s ambassador to Kuwait is using her position to “achieve a comprehensive and well-structured long-term goal.”
Another question about this visit is the significance of its timing.
Ersoy believes that the Turkish president’s recent visit to Iraq appears to have eased a source of tension in Gulf politics by demonstrating Ankara’s willingness to cultivate more constructive and cordial relations with a critical neighbor of Kuwait.
“Turkiye’s receptiveness to regional political dialogue and economic prosperity has shaped the Kuwaiti leadership’s assessments in strengthening Kuwait’s ties with Turkiye,” he said.
Kuwait recently showed unease at being left out of the development road project linking Iraq to Turkiye and the Gulf states. During Erdogan’s recent visit to Iraq, Ankara secured the signing of a quadrilateral memorandum of understanding between Iraq, Qatar, the UAE, and Turkiye.
However, the project, which will significantly boost regional transport, will be launched from Iraq’s Faw port, adjacent to Kuwait’s Mubarek port, whose delayed completion has been criticized in Kuwait.
But there was no mention of this unease during the visit to Ankara.
In addition, Ersoy said, national security imperatives appear to have contributed to the recent visit.
“Kuwait’s neutrality in the regional struggle does not guarantee immunity from coercive diplomacy or punitive strategies in a militarized and highly volatile region,” he said.
“Therefore, exploring and building a security partnership with Turkiye appears prudent for the Kuwaiti leadership, which is another reason for the recent high-level visit.”
In this context, Dogan Akkas underlined the importance of the regionalizing their cooperation.
“If Kuwait and Turkiye take their cooperation to a regional or subregional level, as leaders in certain regional affairs, the political capital will be properly implemented,” she said.
Biden says US will withhold weapons from Israel if it invades Rafah
- Biden’s comments represent his strongest public language to date in effort to deter Israeli assault on Rafah
- Remarks underscore a growing rift on Gaza war between the US and its strongest ally in the Middle East
President Joe Biden on Wednesday publicly warned Israel for the first time that the US would stop supplying it weapons if Israeli forces make a major invasion of Rafah, a refugee-packed city in southern Gaza.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah ..., I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said in an interview with CNN.
Biden’s comments represent his strongest public language to date in his effort to deter an Israeli assault on Rafah while underscoring a growing rift between the US and its strongest ally in the Middle East.
Biden acknowledged US weapons have been used by Israel to kill civilians in Gaza, where Israel has mounted a seven-month-old offensive aimed at annihilating Hamas. Israel’s campaign has so far killed 34,789 Palestinians, mostly civilians, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” he said when asked about 2,000-pound bombs sent to Israel.
Israel this week attacked Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge, but Biden said he did not consider Israel’s strikes a full-scale invasion because they have not struck “population centers.”
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah and as a result paused a shipment consisting of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs.
The interview was released hours after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III acknowledged publicly Biden’s decision last week to hold up the delivery of thousands of heavy bombs was taken out of concern for Rafah, where Washington opposes a major Israeli invasion without civilian safeguards.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza was triggered by Hamas ‘ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. That killed about 1,200 people with about 250 others abducted, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Biden said the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system.
“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he said. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to – we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”
First shipment of aid to the US-built floating pier in Gaza departs from Cyprus
- The US vessel, loaded with much needed humanitarian assistance, departed from the Larnaca port
NICOSIA, Cyprus: A shipment of humanitarian aid has left a port in Cyprus and is on its way to the US-built pier in Gaza, the first delivery to the newly built ramp, Cyprus’ foreign minister said Thursday.
The US vessel, loaded with much needed humanitarian assistance, departed from the Larnaca port with the aim of transferring as much aid to Gaza as possible through the maritime corridor, said Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos.
The trip comes some two months after US President Joe Biden gave the order to build the large floating platform several miles off the Gaza coast that will be the launching pad for deliveries.
The relief is desperately needed, with the United Nations saying people in Gaza are on the brink of famine and as Israeli troops ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from Gaza’s southern city of Rafah.
Earlier this week, Israel sent tanks to seize the nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt, shutting down a vital crossing needed to get assistance into the battered enclave.
It remains uncertain whether Israel will launch an all-out invasion of Rafah as international efforts for a ceasefire continue. Israel has said an assault on Rafah is crucial to its goal of destroying Hamas after the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 dead and 250 as hostages in Gaza.
The United States, which opposes a Rafah invasion, has said Israel has not provided a credible plan for evacuating and protecting civilians. The war has killed over 34,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and has driven some 80 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes.
Humanitarians said aid coming by sea won’t be enough to alleviate the dire humanitarian suffering in Gaza and that the most effective way to get assistance in is by land.
The closure of the Rafah crossing and the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing this week cut off the entry of food, supplies, and fuel for aid trucks and generators. Aid groups warn they have only a few days of fuel before humanitarian operations and hospitals around Gaza begin to shut down.
Israel said Wednesday it reopened Kerem Shalom, which was shut after Hamas mortars killed four Israeli soldiers nearby, but aid groups said no trucks were entering the Gaza side.
Trucks let through from Israel must be unloaded and the cargo reloaded onto trucks in Gaza, but no workers in Gaza can get to the facility to do so because it is too dangerous, the UN says.
