JERUSALEM: For the last four months, Ahmed Al-Kurdi, his wife and three children have been stranded in Jordan, where they traveled from their home in the Gaza Strip for life-saving medical treatment for his 2-year-old daughter.
At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has led to border closures and travel restrictions, they find themselves stuck, not because of quarantine measures, but because of a dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
They need an Israeli permit to return to Gaza through the occupied West Bank and Israel, which would normally be facilitated by the PA’s civil affairs division. But the Palestinians officially cut off all ties with Israel in May to protest its plans to annex parts of the West Bank, making it even more complicated to get permission to travel.
The Palestinians had hoped to pressure Israel by forcing it to assume more of the burden of its half-century occupation of the territory. Instead, the decision has mainly hurt ordinary Palestinians, underscoring the control Israel exerts over nearly every facet of their lives.
Al-Kurd and his wife, who left Gaza with their children last December, have been on unpaid leave, relying on relatives to pay rent and support them in Amman, Jordan’s capital, where prices are much higher than in Gaza. They are among dozens of families who left Gaza for health or other reasons and cannot return.
They applied for a permit through the Palestinian Embassy in Amman but were told it is no longer in contact with Israel.
“It’s very hard, not just for us but for the other Gazans in Jordan who want to go back and can’t,” he said. “This is a humanitarian situation. The political situation shouldn’t enter into it.”
Gaza has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power from Palestinian security forces in 2007. Israel, which considers Hamas a terrorist group, allows Gazans to travel for humanitarian reasons, but requires them to coordinate requests through the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank.
Gisha, an Israeli group that advocates for Palestinian freedom of movement, has been able to help some families obtain permits outside the normal channels. But it says Israel is ultimately responsible for allowing Gazans to return home.
“Israel’s ongoing control over Gaza comes with legal obligations to uphold the rights of Gaza residents, including to freedom of movement,” it said in a statement. “Returning to one’s home is a fundamental human right that cannot be withheld using procedural excuses.”
The Israeli military body that oversees Palestinian civilian affairs, known as COGAT, said that under past agreements the PA must submit requests for residents to enter Israel through the established channels. COGAT said it is prepared to process such requests but has not received any from the PA since it cut off contact.
COGAT “is constantly working, together with the appropriate offices — despite the suspension of coordination by the Civil Committee, and despite the outbreak of the coronavirus — to provide the best possible response to the various humanitarian needs of the Gaza Strip residents,” it said in a statement.
In theory, Palestinians have the option of bypassing Israel altogether and entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. But Egypt only opens the crossing sporadically, and getting there requires flying to Cairo and then traveling overland across the northern Sinai Peninsula, where Egyptian troops are battling insurgents from a Daesh affiliate.
The Al-Kurdi family departed through Rafah after several delays in getting an exit permit from Israel, which was ultimately granted. But that was late last year, before the pandemic.
“My daughter’s condition does not allow us to travel by way of Rafah. You have to take a car from Cairo and it can take 11 hours with all the checkpoints,” Al-Kurdi said. “My daughter is immunocompromised.”
The decision to cut ties with Israel has affected ordinary Palestinians in other ways.
The dispute has halted the transfer of tax and customs duties Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, forcing it to slash the salaries of civil servants.
The boycott has also affected the registration of Palestinian births, leaving more than 30,000 babies essentially stateless.
Under agreements reached in the 1990s, during the now-moribund peace process, the Palestinian Authority issues birth certificates and passports. But these must be registered with Israel, which controls all access to the West Bank. The unregistered babies are therefore unable to travel.
Palestinian Deputy Interior Minister Yousef Harb says more than 33,000 babies have been born in the West Bank since the Palestinians cut ties on May 19, and at least six families have been unable to travel abroad for work because they can’t bring their babies with them.
“The entire world recognizes the documents issued by PA, except for Israel,” he said.
Palestinian officials say they have reached out to international organizations to facilitate travel but that Israel insists on direct coordination.
“Why on earth should we give our citizen records to Israel? The entire world recognizes us, why don’t they?” said Ahmad Majdalani, a senior Palestinian official.
The Palestinian Authority appears to be in a holding pattern, hoping a new US administration will discard President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan, which strongly favors Israel and would allow it to annex up to 30% of the West Bank.
In the meantime, Palestinians stranded outside the country are stuck in limbo.
Dr. Mohammed Ayesh left Gaza in the summer of 2019 to do a medical specialization in Ukraine. After he completed his course his student visa expired, but he was unable to return via Jordan because he cannot get an Israeli permit. Instead, he flew to Dubai, where he has been stranded for more than two months. He hasn’t seen his three children in more than a year.
“Their birthdays are all in the summer, in June, August and September ... I missed them all,” he said. “My daughter calls me a liar. She says you promised you would return before I went back to school and you aren’t here.”
As a highly trained physician, he could find lucrative work in the United Arab Emirates, far from the crippling conditions of the Gaza blockade. But he’s homesick.
“People ask me why I can’t return, if it’s because of the coronavirus, and I say no, it’s because of the Israeli military and the Israeli government,” he said. “They won’t let me come back.”
Gazans left stranded abroad by Israeli-Palestinian standoff
https://arab.news/jkp8a
Gazans left stranded abroad by Israeli-Palestinian standoff
- Palestinians officially cut off all ties with Israel in May to protest its plans to annex parts of the West Bank
- The Palestinians had hoped to pressure Israel by forcing it to assume more of the burden of its half-century occupation of the territory
Druze near Damascus resist demand to turn in arms as tensions boil
Syrian authorities have negotiated deals to allow Druze fighters to protect their own areas
JARAMANA, Syria: Druze residents near Syrian Arab Republic’s capital are resisting a demand by the Islamist-led government to hand in their light weapons, saying authorities have yet to address fears of new attacks by Sunni Muslim militants after days of sectarian violence.
Clashes last week pitted Sunni fighters against armed Druze residents of the town of Jaramana southeast of Damascus, later spreading to another district near the capital and then south to the predominantly Druze province of Sweida.
Such violence threatens the new government’s control of Syria, where armed gangs are attacking religious minorities and Israel is stepping up its military intervention under the banner of protecting the Druze community.
Syrian authorities have negotiated deals to allow Druze fighters to protect their own areas as enlisted members of Syria’s security forces, but this week asked that all weapons held by residents of these areas be turned in to the state.
“We told them, as soon as there is a state capable of regulating its forces, we’ll have no problem handing in our weapons,” said Makram Obeid, a member of the Jaramana committee that is negotiating with the Syrian government.
Obeid said his committee had told government officials it would be better for them to focus on disarming the gangs now harassing minorities.
“It’s our right to be scared, because we saw what happened in other areas,” he told Reuters, an apparent reference to killings in March of hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority to which former President Bashar Assad belongs.
It was the deadliest episode of sectarian violence in years in Syria, where a 14-year war ended last December when rebels toppled Assad, who fled to Russia.
“People want to feel safe. It’s enough to have (more than) 11 years of killing, strikes, and worries,” Obeid said. “And we’re coming to another phase that we thought, with the collapse of the regime, would leave us in a much better place. But until now, we don’t feel reassured.”
Fahad Haydar, a resident of Jaramana, echoed those fears.
“These weapons that are turned against us — that’s what we’re afraid of. If those weapons get handed in, then we’ll hand in ours,” he told Reuters.
SEEKING GUARANTEES
Mowaffaq Abu Shash, a Druze cleric in Jaramana, said the Druze had already compromised enough.
“We take one step, they ask for a second. We take the second step, they ask for a third,” he said. “We ask for a guarantee that what happened on the coast will not happen to us.”
One influential Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hajjri, has called for international intervention to protect his community from Syria’s leaders, whom he has branded “terrorists.”
The Druze, an Arab minority sect who practice a religion originally derived from Islam, live in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel has vowed to protect Syria’s Druze militarily if they face threats.
Last week’s violence was ignited by a voice recording purportedly cursing the Prophet Muhammad, which Sunni militants suspect was made by a Druze. More than a dozen people were killed in Jaramana before the violence spread west and south.
It also drew in Israel, which carried out a drone strike on what it said were fighters preparing to attack Druze in the town of Sahnaya, west of Jaramana. A Syrian security source told Reuters one member of the security forces was killed in the strike.
As the clashes reached Sweida province, Israel bombed near the presidential palace in Damascus — the clearest sign yet of its hostility toward Syria’s new leaders.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa once headed a branch of Al-Qaeda before renouncing ties to the group in 2016.
Israeli military issues evacuation warning for area around Yemen’s international airport
- “We urge you to immediately evacuate the area of the airport,” Adraee wrote
- Israel’s military targeted Hodeida on Monday with airstrikes
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military has issued a warning on social media for people in the area of Yemen’s international airport to evacuate immediately.
The warning by spokesperson Avichay Adraee on Tuesday came a day after Israel launched strikes against the Yemen-based Houthi militants in retaliation for a missile strike on Israel’s international airport near Tel Aviv on Sunday.
“We urge you to immediately evacuate the area of the airport and to warn anyone nearby to distance themselves immediately,” Adraee wrote, attaching a map of the Sanaa International Airport. “Failure to evacuate the area endangers your lives.”
Israel’s military targeted the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen’s Red Sea province of Hodeida on Monday with airstrikes, killing at least one person and wounding 35. The militants’ media office said at least six strikes hit the crucial Hodeida port. Other strikes hit a cement factory in Bajil district 55 kilometers (34 miles) northeast of Hodeida, the militants said. The extent of damage was not immediately clear.
Gazans desperately need food, water — ‘they’re getting bombs’: UN
GENEVA: The UN on Tuesday accused Israel of trying to “weaponize” the flow of aid into Gaza, leaving the population desperate for food and water while delivering them “bombs” instead.
The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA decried the worsening situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory after nearly nine weeks of a total Israeli blockade on Gaza.
“The bottom line is that there’s no aid to distribute anymore because the aid operation has been strangled... There’s no more to give,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.
In Gaza, “there’s a desperate need for food getting in; they’re getting bombs,” he said.
“They need water; they’re getting bombs. They need health care; they’re getting bombs.”
He voiced outrage at Israel’s recent verbal update to representatives of a grouping of around 15 UN agencies and 200 NGOs indicating plans to “shut down the existing aid distribution system” that the organizations run in Gaza.
“The Israelis have asked them to instead deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military,” Laerke said.
The UN had flatly rejected that proposal, he said, stressing that such a plan would “not live up to the core fundamental humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality and independent delivery of aid.”
Aid, he insisted, must be given “based on needs and nothing else.”
“It appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid,” he said, adding that the proposed system seemed “designed to further control and restrict supplies, which is the opposite of what is needed.”
Instead, what was required to alleviate the suffering was for Israel to allow border crossings to reopen and for life-saving aid to go through, said Laerke.
“We have aid pre-positioned outside of Gaza, ready to go in,” he added.
Colleagues on the ground were describing people “rummaging through garbage trying to find something edible,” he said, slamming the “harsh, brutal, inhuman reality” in the territory.
He said that despite the towering challenges in Gaza since the war erupted 18 months ago, the UN and its partners have largely managed to deliver aid, provide health care, and roll out vaccination campaigns.
“The great frustration of all this is that it is possible, and it can be done,” he said.
Laerke’s comments came a day after Israel’s military said expanded operations in Gaza would include displacing “most” of its residents, after the country’s security cabinet approved a plan that an Israeli official said would entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories.”
Nearly all of Gaza’s inhabitants have already been displaced, often multiple times, since the start of the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
“Forced relocations of people: they’re not helpful, obviously,” Laerke said.
“You need to know where people are in order to be able to provide aid to them... it’s another blow.”
Houthis say four killed in latest Israeli strikes on Yemen
- Strikes came after a Houthi missile penetrated the perimeter of Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv for the first time
- The latest Israeli attacks on Houthi territory came as regional tensions soar anew over Israel’s plan to expand operations in Gaza and displace much of its population
SANAA: Yemen’s Houthis on Tuesday said four people were killed and 39 wounded in Israeli air raids that followed a missile strike by the group on Israel’s main airport.
The latest Israeli attacks on Houthi territory came as regional tensions soar anew over Israel’s plan to expand operations in Gaza and displace much of its population.
“Three citizens were killed and 35 others wounded” at a cement factory in Bajil, while one person died and four were wounded at Hodeida port, the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV station said, quoting the health ministry.
The Houthis blamed both the United States and Israel for the attack, but while Israel confirmed it had carried out the strikes, an American official denied US involvement.
Monday’s strikes came after a Houthi missile penetrated the perimeter of Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv for the first time, leaving a large crater.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024, with Houthi authorities reporting a total of 29 people killed. Israel’s army regularly intercepts missiles from Yemen.
The Israeli army said it hit Hodeida port because it was used for the transfer of Iranian weapons and equipment, while the cement factory was a “significant economic resource” for the rebels.
Earlier on Monday, Israel’s security cabinet approved stepped-up military operations in Gaza, including the territory’s “conquest.”
The Houthis claimed responsibility for Sunday’s “hypersonic ballistic missile” attack and threatened fresh missile strikes on Israel’s airports.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen including Sanaa, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war that began in October 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.
US strikes against the Houthis began under former president Joe Biden but have intensified under his successor Donald Trump.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed a tough response against the Houthis, as well as its main backer Iran, over the airport attack.
In a video published on Telegram, Netanyahu said Israel had “acted against” the Houthis in the past and “will act in the future.”
“It will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs,” he added.
On social media platform X, Netanyahu said Israel would also respond to Iran at “a time and place of our choosing.”
Iran on Monday denied supporting the attack, calling it an “independent decision” by the Houthis taken in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Reacting to Netanyahu’s threats, the Islamic republic warned it would retaliate against any attack on its territory.
“Iran underlines (its) firm determination... to defend itself,” the Iranian foreign ministry said, warning Israel and the United States of “consequences.”
An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that Sunday’s attack was “the first time” that a missile has directly struck inside the airport perimeter.
An AFP journalist inside the airport during the attack said he heard a “loud bang” at around 9:35 am (0635 GMT), adding that the “reverberation was very strong.”
Flights resumed after being halted briefly, with the aviation authority saying on Sunday that Ben Gurion was “open and operational.”
Some international airlines have canceled flights, including SWISS which extended its suspension until Sunday.
Israeli plan to seize Gaza alarms many: ‘What’s left for you to bomb?’
- Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials
DEIR AL-BALAH: An Israeli plan to seize the Gaza Strip and expand the military operation has alarmed many in the region. Palestinians are exhausted and hopeless, pummeled by 19 months of heavy bombing. Families of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza are terrified that the possibility of a ceasefire is slipping further away.
“What’s left for you to bomb?” asked Moaz Kahlout, a displaced man from Gaza City who said many resort to GPS to locate the rubble of homes wiped out in the war.
Israeli officials said Monday that Cabinet ministers approved the plan to seize Gaza and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time — news that came hours after the military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.
Details of the plan were not formally announced, and its exact timing and implementation were not clear. It may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, about 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
“They destroyed us, displaced us and killed us,” said Enshirah Bahloul, a woman from the southern city of Khan Younis. “We want safety and peace in this world. We do not want to remain homeless, hungry, and thirsty.”
Some Israelis are also opposed to the plan. Hundreds of people protested outside the parliament Monday as the government opened for its summer session. One person was arrested.
Families of hostages held in Gaza are afraid of what an expanded military operation or seizure could mean for their relatives.
“I don’t see the expansion of the war as a solution — it led us absolutely nowhere before. It feels like déjà vu from the year ago,” said Adi Alexander, father of Israeli-American Edan Alexander, a soldier captured in the Oct. 7 attack.
The father is pinning some hopes on US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, set for next week. Israeli leaders have said they don’t plan to expand the operation in Gaza until after Trump’s visit, leaving the door open for a possible deal. Trump isn’t expected to visit Israel, but he and other American officials have frequently spoken about Edan Alexander, the last American-Israeli held in Gaza who is still believed to be alive.
Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Omri Miran, 48, the oldest hostage still believed to be alive, said the family was concerned about the plan.
“We hope it’s merely a signal to Hamas that Israel is serious in its goal to dismantle its governmental and military capabilities as a leverage for negotiations, but it’s unclear whether this is an end or a means,” he said.
Meanwhile, every day, dozens of Palestinians gather outside a charity kitchen that distributes hot meals to displaced families in southern Gaza. Children thrust pots or buckets forward, pushing and shoving in an desperate attempt to bring food to their families.
“What should we do?” asked Sara Younis, a woman from the southernmost city of Rafah, as she waited for a hot meal for her children. “There’s no food, no flour, nothing.”
Israel cut off Gaza from all imports in early March, leading to dire shortages of food, medicine and other supplies. Israel says the goal is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining hostages.
Aid organizations have warned that malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in Gaza. The United Nations says the vast majority of the population relies on aid.
Aid groups have expressed concerns that gains to avert famine made during this year’s ceasefire have been diminishing.
Like most aid groups in Gaza, Tikeya has run out of most food and has cooked almost exclusively pasta for the past two weeks.
Nidal Abu Helal, a displaced man from Rafah who works at the charity, said that the group is increasingly concerned that people, especially children, will die of starvation.
“We’re not afraid of dying from missiles,” he said. “We’re afraid that our children will die of hunger in front of us.”
