NITZANA: Even as the threat of famine stalks the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, Israeli protesters have gathered repeatedly to stop desperately needed aid from getting into the Palestinian territory.
“You might say it’s not acceptable to block food and water going in,” said one protester, David Rudman, at the Nitzana border post between Israel and Egypt.
“But, given the situation we’re in, it’s acceptable,” he argued as the Gaza war, siege and hostage crisis have continued into a fifth month.
The latest protest on Sunday came as Hamas threatened to suspend talks to free hostages unless more aid gets in.
Despite those threats, just over 100 people gathered at Nitzana, where the Egyptian Sinai meets Israel’s Negev desert, with some saying they were hoping to pile pressure on in a bid to free the captives.
Rudman, 35, drove three hours from Jerusalem to prevent food, fuel and medicine from getting into Gaza, which Israel has been shelling since Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Undeterred by concrete blocks across the road and armed soldiers on patrol, the protesters reached the terminal where aid from Egypt is checked before the trucks continue toward Gaza.
As a result, trucks waiting on the Egyptian side were unable to cross into Israel.
“Our aim is to get the hostages back,” said Rudman.
“There hasn’t been any progress for weeks, and you’re going to see more and more people coming here,” he predicted.
The war began with Hamas’s attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed more than 29,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Some 300,000 people remain in northern Gaza, where increasingly desperate conditions have forced some to grind bird feed for flour.
A first truce at the end of November saw the release of 108 hostages out of the more than 250 kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. Israel says 130 captives are still in Gaza but 30 may be dead.
“One of my best friends is a hostage in Gaza,” said Rudman, without naming the captive. “We hope he’s still alive in Gaza but we don’t know for sure.
“It makes no sense at all. On the one hand we give them water, medicine and food but on the other we don’t even have a list” of who is being held and their condition.
Families of the hostages have taken to the streets every week to push the Israeli government to accept a deal for their release.
This weekend said they would block the terminal at Nitzana or one further north at Kerem Shalom.
But at Nitzana on Sunday only one member of the hostages’ families turned up and refused to talk, out of fear of reprisals for those being held.
A survey for Israel’s Channel 12 television at the end of January suggested 72 percent of Israelis believed Gaza should not receive any aid while hostages are still being held.
The UN says the protests at Nitzana and Kerem Shalom are blocking trucks from going into Gaza, hitting dwindling stocks.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society on Sunday evening said 123 trucks made it into Gaza via Kerem Shalom, but none had passed through Nitzana because of the protest.
Nili Naouri, head of the far-right group “Israel is Forever,” said that “it’s completely immoral to force Israel to send humanitarian convoys of trucks to people that support Hamas, who are holding our people hostage, and are collaborating with the enemy.”
On Sunday, members of the organization turned up to block aid, calling it “unhumanitarian.”
“Hamas aren’t going to gladly free our hostages if we allow aid trucks in for the civilian population of Gaza,” said Naouri.
Her solution is simple: “Let Gazans leave Gaza” if they want help from the international community.
Hamas, she charged, diverts aid for its own ends.
Some 1.4 million Palestinians have been sheltering in Rafah in the far south of Gaza, many having been displaced several times in a bid to find safety since the start of the war.
With neighboring Egypt repeatedly rejecting the mass displacement of Palestinians, they have nowhere to go as Israel’s planned ground offensive of Rafah looms.
But David Ickowicz, 39, a regular at the aid blockades, is convinced that his “civil disobedience” serves a purpose.
“Hamas’s leaders live in the tunnels. But to live underground and breathe oxygen you need electricity produced by fuel,” he reasoned.
“Cut off fuel supplies and we’ll get them out of the tunnels.”
Israeli protesters block aid convoys bound for Gaza
https://arab.news/8zyts
Israeli protesters block aid convoys bound for Gaza
- Protesters reached the terminal where aid from Egypt is checked before the trucks continue toward Gaza
- As a result, trucks waiting on the Egyptian side were unable to cross into Israel
Jordanian food exporters set sights on UK and beyond at exhibition in London
- Companies hope 3-day International Food and Drink Event will be a key platform for promoting wide range of products to international buyers and distributors
- ‘UK’s autonomy in trade policy, coupled with its substantial Arab and Muslim consumer base, presents a unique opportunity,’ says Jordan Exporters Association boss
LONDON: Food manufacturers from Jordan are showcasing their products at the International Food and Drink Event in London this week, as they make a concerted push to enter the potentially lucrative UK market.
The Jordanian delegation views the three-day exhibition, which began on Monday and concludes on Wednesday, as a key platform on which to promote a diverse range of products, including confectionery, baked goods, spices, nuts and specialty items, to a global audience of buyers and distributors, the Jordan News Agency reported.
Ahmad Khudari, president of the Jordan Exporters Association, which is spearheading the country’s participation at the exhibition, said the event has an important role to play in fostering new trade relationships.
“Our objective is to establish direct channels with international buyers and distributors, highlighting the competitive edge and superior quality of Jordanian food products,” he said.
The aim is to expand Jordan’s presence in the growing halal food sector and broader international markets, he said, adding: “Expanding our market reach is essential for stimulating domestic production, fostering industrial expansion, attracting foreign investment, and strengthening our trade balance.”
Halim Abu Rahma, the association’s general manager, said there has been strong interest from international buyers during the event in London.
“The exhibition has drawn significant attention from key buyers, offering Jordanian companies a valuable opportunity to highlight their product innovation and quality,” he said.
“The UK’s autonomy in trade policy, coupled with its substantial Arab and Muslim consumer base, presents a unique opportunity for Jordanian food manufacturers to establish a strong foothold,” he added as he stressed the strategic significance of the British market, particularly in the post-Brexit trade landscape, and urged businesses to leverage the terms of the free trade deal between Jordan and the UK.
The agreement, which came into effect in 2021, aims to bolster bilateral trade by granting Jordanian products tariff-free entry into the UK, mirroring a similar trade deal between Jordan and the EU.
In 2023, trade between Jordan and the UK was worth about 303 million dinars ($427 million), with Jordanian exports accounting for 62 million dinars of the total.
The International Food and Drink Event 2025 features 1,500 exhibitors from around the world, and was expected to attract about 30,000 buyers and distributors from more than 105 countries.
Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled to Lebanon: report
- Violence erupted on Syria’s coast — the heartland of former president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority — with attacks on security forces that were blamed on gunmen loyal to the toppled president
BEIRUT: Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled across the borders to Lebanon since sectarian massacres on the Syrian coast earlier this month, Lebanese authorities said on Tuesday.
A report from Lebanon’s Disaster Risk Management Unit said 12,798 Syrians had arrived and settled in 23 different villages and towns in Lebanon’s northern Akkar region, adding that most were living in family homes or makeshift accommodation centers.
Violence erupted on Syria’s coast — the heartland of former president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority — with attacks on security forces that were blamed on gunmen loyal to the toppled president.
According to the latest toll from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, Syrian security forces and allied groups subsequently killed at least 1,557 civilians, the vast majority Alawites.
Thousands of coastal residents took refuge in Russia’s Hmeimim air base, calling for protection, while others fled south to neighboring Lebanon.
Israel is ramping up annexation of West Bank, UN rights chief says
- ‘The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime’
GENEVA: Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said in a report on Tuesday.
The report, based on research between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024, said there had been a “significant” expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and cited reports by Israeli NGOs of tens of thousands of planned housing units in new or existing settlements.
The findings will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council this month and come amid growing fears of annexation among Palestinians, as US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts are put down in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.
“The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime,” UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action.
“Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers,” he said.
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Israel captured in 1967. Most countries consider Israel’s settlements on territory seized in war to be illegal.
Israel’s military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.
Plans for the further provision of Israeli government services in these settlements “further institutionalize(s) long-standing patterns of systematic discrimination, segregation, oppression, domination, violence and other inhumane acts against the Palestinian people,” the report said.
War monitor says Israel strikes central Syria military site
- According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “Israeli air strikes targeted a missile battalion” near Homs city
- Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since December
BEIRUT: A Syrian Arab Republic war monitor said Israeli jets struck a military site in central Syria on Tuesday, the latest such attack in recent days.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “Israeli air strikes targeted a missile battalion” near Homs city, reporting explosions in the area with no immediate word of casualties.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since the December overthrow of president Bashar Assad, saying it was acting to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities whom it considers jihadists.
On Monday Israel struck the area of the southern city of Daraa, killing three civilians according to the authorities.
Last week, an Israeli air strike on Damascus hit a “command center” of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, the military said. The Observatory reported one fatality.
In addition to the air strikes, since Assad’s fall, Israel has also deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights and called for the complete demilitarization of southern Syria, near its territory.
Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo
- Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire on Tuesday
- Peace talks between the two countries were unexpectedly canceled in December
DAKAR: The presidents of Congo and neighboring Rwanda met Tuesday in Qatar for their first direct talks since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in mineral-rich eastern Congo earlier this year, the three governments said.
The meeting between Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame to discuss the insurgency was mediated by Qatar, the three governments said in a joint statement.
The summit came as a previous attempt to bring Congo’s government and M23 leaders together for ceasefire negotiations on Tuesday failed. The rebels pulled out Monday after the European Union announced sanctions on rebel leaders.
Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire during the meeting in Qatar on Tuesday.
Peace talks between Congo and Rwanda were unexpectedly canceled in December after Rwanda made the signing of a peace agreement conditional on a direct dialogue between Congo and the M23 rebels, which Congo refused at the time.
The conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu in February.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east.
The UN Human Rights Council last month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to “summary executions” by both sides.
