Gaza mediators urge Israel, Hamas to accept truce plan; Netanyahu allies threaten to leave

Update Gaza mediators urge Israel, Hamas to accept truce plan; Netanyahu allies threaten to leave
Palestinians transport some salvaged belongings as they leave the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip after they returned briefly to check on their homes on May 31, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 02 June 2024
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Gaza mediators urge Israel, Hamas to accept truce plan; Netanyahu allies threaten to leave

Gaza mediators urge Israel, Hamas to accept truce plan; Netanyahu allies threaten to leave
  • The three governments have been engaged in months of talks aimed at securing a truce between Israel and Hamas
  • The US president said on Friday that Israel was offering a new three-stage roadmap toward a full ceasefire

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories: Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators called on Israel and Hamas Saturday to “finalize” the truce deal outlined by US President Joe Biden, as Israeli forces pounded Rafah in southern Gaza.

Fighting has raged in the besieged Gaza Strip since Biden said Israel was offering a new roadmap toward a full ceasefire.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since insisted his country would pursue the war until it had achieved all its aims.
He reiterated that position on Saturday, saying that “Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”
Hamas, meanwhile, said it “views positively” the Israeli plan laid out by Biden on Friday.
In a joint statement, Qatar, the United States and Egypt said that “as mediators in the ongoing discussions to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages and detainees,” they “call on both Hamas and Israel to finalize the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Joe Biden.”




A protester holds a placard during a demonstration organized by Kanaks, Urgence Palestine group and anti-fascist movements, in solidarity with Palestinians, at the Place de la Republique in Paris on June 1, 2024. (AFP)

The US president said Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.
It would see the “release of a number of hostages” in exchange for “hundreds of Palestinian prisoners” held in Israeli jails.
Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue so long as talks are ongoing, Biden said.
“It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday to press the deal, and on Saturday spoke with the Qatari, Egyptian and Emirati ministers.
UN chief Antonio Guterres “strongly hopes” the latest development “will lead to an agreement by the parties for lasting peace,” a spokesman said.

Israeli opposition endorse plan, Netanyahu allies object
Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation of what was on the table, insisting that according to the “exact outline proposed by Israel,” the transition from one stage to the next was “conditional” and crafted to allow it to maintain its war aims.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government “cannot ignore Biden’s important speech” and should accept the proposed deal, vowing to back Netanyahu if his far-right coalition partners quit over it.
“I remind Netanyahu that he has our safety net for a hostage deal,” Lapid said on the X platform, the former Twitter.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leaders of the two extreme-right parties in parliament, said they would leave the government if it endorses the truce proposal.
Ben Gvir said on X his party would “dissolve the government,” while Smotrich said: “We demand the continuation of the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages return.”
Smotrich added he opposes the return of displaced Gazans to the territory’s north and the “wholesale release of terrorists” in a prisoner swap.
War cabinet member Benny Gantz, a centrist politician, had threatened to resign unless Netanyahu approves a post-war plan for Gaza by June 8.
Netanyahu has faced increasing domestic pressure over the fate of hostages and from a resurgent anti-government movement, with Israelis rallying again on Saturday near military headquarters in Tel Aviv.




Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 31, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)

Israeli rampage continues
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,379 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah in early May, ignoring concerns for displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city on the Egyptian border.
On Saturday, residents reported tank fire in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood in west Rafah, while witnesses in the east and center described intense shelling.
Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.
Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.
The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic aid deliveries for Gaza’s 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory’s main exit point.
Egyptian state-linked Al-Qahera News said Cairo will host a meeting with Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss reopening the Rafah crossing.
In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia, troops had ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanun to evacuate ahead of an assault.
The Israeli army said troops “completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparation for continued operations in the Gaza Strip.”
In parallel to the Gaza onslaught, Israel has also stepped up security operations in the occupied West Bank. The official WAFA Palestinian news agency said a 15-year-old boy was killed by Israeli forces on Saturday near Jericho.
The Israeli military said it had opened fire on two suspects who had thrown petrol bombs at a neighboring Israeli settlement.
At least 520 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since October 7, according to Palestinian authorities. Fourteen Israelis have died, according to an AFP tally.
 


Strike on Sudan’s Darfur kills 14 members of one family: rescuers

Strike on Sudan’s Darfur kills 14 members of one family: rescuers
Updated 9 sec ago
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Strike on Sudan’s Darfur kills 14 members of one family: rescuers

Strike on Sudan’s Darfur kills 14 members of one family: rescuers

PORT SUDAN: At least 14 members of the same family were killed in an air strike on a displacement camp in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, a rescue group said Saturday, blaming paramilitaries.
The Abu Shouk camp “was the target of intense bombardment by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Friday evening,” said the group of volunteer aid workers, which also reported wounded.
The camp is located near the city of El-Fasher, the last state capital in Darfur still out of the RSF’s control.


UN’s top anti-racism body calls for immediate Gaza aid access

UN’s top anti-racism body calls for immediate Gaza aid access
Updated 09 May 2025
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UN’s top anti-racism body calls for immediate Gaza aid access

UN’s top anti-racism body calls for immediate Gaza aid access
  • Civilian population ‘at imminent risk of famine, disease and death,’ statement warns
  • Israel has blocked humanitarian aid entering Gaza since March in bid to ‘pressurize Hamas’

NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s top anti-racism body has called for immediate humanitarian access to Gaza in a bid to avoid “catastrophic consequences” for its civilian population.

The statement by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination — comprised of independent experts — came hours after the World Central Kitchen charity said it was forced to end operations in Gaza due to a lack of food.

It also follows a commitment by Israel to “conquer” almost all of the enclave, as well as disputes involving Israel, the UN and US over the appropriate way to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians there.

The CERD committee is convening in Geneva for its latest session, ending today.

Gaza’s civilian population, “especially vulnerable groups such as children, women, the elderly and persons with disabilities,” are “at imminent risk of famine, disease and death,” the committee said.

The warning follows an earlier appeal by the World Food Programme, the UN’s food agency, which said that almost all food aid operations in Gaza had collapsed.

Late last month, the agency announced that the entirety of its food reserves in the enclave had been depleted.

Since March, Israel has blocked humanitarian aid into Gaza in a bid to build pressure on Hamas, which still holds Israeli hostages.

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said last week: “Two months ago, the Israeli authorities took a deliberate decision to block all aid to Gaza and halt our efforts to save survivors of their military offensive.

“They have been bracingly honest that this policy is to pressurize Hamas.”

Expanded military operations by Israel in Gaza over the past two months “have dramatically worsened the humanitarian crisis and severely endangered the civilian population,” Friday’s CERD statement said.

The committee called on Israel to “lift all barriers to humanitarian access, allow the immediate and unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid, and cease all actions obstructing the provision of essential services to the civilian population in Gaza.”

The statement also highlighted worsening conditions across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including in East Jerusalem, where Israel closed six UNRWA schools this week.

Philippe Lazzarini, the Palestinian refugee agency’s chief, reacted with fury over the move, describing it as an “assault on children.”

The CERD statement called on all UN states to “cooperate to bring an end to the violations that are taking place and to prevent war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, including by ceasing any military assistance.”


UN committee warns of ‘another Nakba’ in Palestinian territories

UN committee warns of ‘another Nakba’ in Palestinian territories
Updated 09 May 2025
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UN committee warns of ‘another Nakba’ in Palestinian territories

UN committee warns of ‘another Nakba’ in Palestinian territories
  • During the 1948 war, around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in what became known as “the Nakba”

GENEVA: The world could be witnessing “another Nakba” expulsion of Palestinians, a United Nations committee warned Friday, accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and saying it was inflicting “unimaginable suffering” on Palestinians.

For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba,” or catastrophe — the mass displacement in the war that accompanied to Israel’s creation in 1948.

“Israel continues to inflict unimaginable suffering on the people living under its occupation, whilst rapidly expanding confiscation of land as part of its wider colonial aspirations,” warned a UN committee tasked with probing Israeli practices affecting Palestinian rights.

“What we are witnessing could very well be another Nakba,” it said, after concluding an annual mission to Amman.

During the 1948 war, around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in what became known as “the Nakba.”

The descendants of some 160,000 Palestinians who managed to remain in what became Israel presently make about 20 percent of its population.

The UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1968.

The committee is currently composed of the Sri Lankan, Malaysian and Senegalese ambassadors to the UN in New York.

“What the world is witnessing could very well be a second Nakba. The goal of wider colonial expansion is clearly the priority of the government of Israel,” they said in their report.

“Security operations are used as a smokescreen for rapid land grabbing, mass displacement, dispossession, demolitions, forced evictions and ethnic cleansing, in order to replace the Palestinian communities with Jewish settlers.”


Iran, US to resume nuclear talks on Sunday after postponement

Iran, US to resume nuclear talks on Sunday after postponement
Updated 09 May 2025
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Iran, US to resume nuclear talks on Sunday after postponement

Iran, US to resume nuclear talks on Sunday after postponement
  • Fourth round of indirect negotiations, initially set for May 3 in Rome, postponed due to ‘logistical reasons’

DUBAI: Iran has agreed to hold a fourth round of nuclear talks with the United States on Sunday in Oman, Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said on Friday, adding that the negotiations were advancing.

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew Washington from a 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers meant to curb its nuclear activity, has threatened to bomb Iran if no new deal is reached to resolve the long unresolved dispute.

Western countries say Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran accelerated after the US walkout from the now moribund 2015 accord, is geared toward producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.

“The negotiations are moving forward, and naturally, the further we go, the more consultations and reviews are needed,” Aragchi said in remarks carried by Iranian state media.

“The delegations require more time to examine the issues that are raised. But what is important is that we are on a forward-moving path and gradually entering into the details.”

The fourth round of indirect negotiations, initially scheduled for May 3 in Rome, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing “logistical reasons.”

Aragchi said a planned visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Saturday was in line with “continuous consultations” with neighboring countries to “address their concerns and mutual interests” about the nuclear issue. 


No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon

No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Updated 09 May 2025
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No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon

No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon
  • Merhi and her family are among the millions of people affected by Trump’s decision to freeze USAID funding to humanitarian programs
  • Since the freeze, the UNHCR and WFP have had to limit the amount of aid they provide

BEIRUT: Amal Al-Merhi’s twin 10-month-old daughters often go without milk or diapers.

She feeds them a mix of cornstarch and water, because milk is too expensive. Instead of diapers, Merhi ties plastic bags around her babies’ waists.

The effect of their poverty is clear, she said.

“If you see one of the twins, you would not believe she is 10-months-old,” Merhi said in a phone interview. “She is so small and soft.”

The 20-year-old Syrian mother lives in a tent with her family of five in an informal camp in Bar Elias in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

She fled Syria’s civil war in 2013 and has been relying on cash assistance from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR to get by.

But that has ended.

Merhi and her family are among the millions of people affected by US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze USAID funding to humanitarian programs.

Since the freeze, the UNHCR and the World Food Program (WFP) have had to limit the amount of aid they provide to some of the world’s most vulnerable people in countries from Lebanon to Chad and Ukraine.

In February, the WFP was forced to cut the number of Syrian refugees receiving cash assistance to 660,000 from 830,000, meaning the organization is reaching 76 percent of the people it planned to target, a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the WFP’s shock responsive safety net that supports Lebanese citizens cut its beneficiaries to 40,000 from 162,000 people, the spokesperson added.

The UNHCR has been forced to reduce all aspects of its operations in Lebanon, said Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR’s country representative, in an interview.

The agency cut 347,000 people from the UNHCR component of a WFP-UNHCR joint program as of April, a spokesperson said. Every family had been receiving $45 monthly from UNHCR, they added.

The group can support 206,000 Syrian refugees until June, when funds will dry up, they also said.

“We need to be very honest to everyone that the UNHCR of the past that could be totally on top of issues in a very expedient manner with lots of quality and resources — that is no longer the case,” Freijsen said. “We regret that sincerely.”

BAD TO WORSE
By the end of March, the UNHCR had enough money to cover only 17 percent of its planned global operations, and the budget for Lebanon is only 14 percent funded.

Lebanon is home to the largest refugee population per capita in the world.

Roughly 1.5 million Syrians, half of whom are formally registered with the UNHCR, live alongside some 4 million Lebanese.

Islamist-led rebels ousted former Syrian leader Bashar Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces. Since then there have been outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence, and fears among minorities are rising.

In March, hundreds of Syrians fled to Lebanon after killings targeted the minority Alawite sect.

Lebanon has been in the grips of unyielding crises since its economy imploded in 2019. The war between Israel and armed group Hezbollah is expected to wipe billions of dollars from the national wealth as well, the United Nations has said.

Economic malaise has meant fewer jobs for everyone, including Syrian refugees.

“My husband works one day and then sits at home for 10,” Merhi said. “We need help. I just want milk and diapers for my kids.”

DANGEROUS CHOICES
The UNHCR has been struggling with funding cuts for years, but the current cuts are “much more rapid and sizeable” and uncertainty prevails, said Freijsen.

“A lot of other questions are still to be answered, like, what will be the priorities? What will still be funded?” Freijsen asked.

Syrian refugees and vulnerable communities in Lebanon might be forced to make risky or dangerous choices, he said.

Some may take out loans. Already about 80 percent of Syrian refugees are in debt to pay for rent, groceries and medical bills, Freijsen said. Children may also be forced to work.

“Women may be forced into commercial sex work,” he added.

Issa Idris, a 50-year-old father of three, has not received any cash assistance from UNHCR since February and has been forced to take on debt to buy food.

“They cut us off with no warning,” he said.

He now owes a total of $3,750, used to pay for food, rent and medicine, and he has no idea how he will pay it back.

He cannot work because of an injury, but his 18-year-old son sometimes finds work as a day laborer.

“We are lucky. We have someone who can work. Many do not,” he said.

Merhi too has fallen into debt. The local grocer is refusing to lend her any more money, and last month power was cut until the family paid the utility bill

She and her husband collect and sell scrap metal to buy food.

“We are adults. We can eat anything,” she said, her voice breaking. “The kids cannot. It is not their fault.”