Israel must step in if it bans the UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza, UN says

Israel must step in if it bans the UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza, UN says
Palestinians queue to receive medicine at the UNRWA Japanese Health Center in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP)
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Updated 30 October 2024
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Israel must step in if it bans the UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza, UN says

Israel must step in if it bans the UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza, UN says
  • Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff members in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, which sparked the war in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations stressed Tuesday that if Israel puts in place new laws cutting ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the Israeli government will have to meet their needs under international law.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there is no other UN alternative to the agency, known as UNRWA. It has been a lifeline during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and the Israeli legislation “will have a devastating impact on the humanitarian situation” in the Palestinian territories, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The UN agencies for children, health and migration also stressed that UNRWA is the “backbone” of the world body’s operations in Gaza, where people rely on emergency food aid during the more than yearlong war , which has killed tens of thousands and left much of the enclave in ruins.

The United Nations is heartened by statements of support for UNRWA from all quarters and countries that often disagree with one another, Dujarric said, and “we would very much appreciate efforts by any member state to help us get over this hurdle.”

Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff members in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, which sparked the war in Gaza. It also has accused hundreds of UNRWA staff of having militant ties and said it has found Hamas military assets in or under the agency’s facilities.

Israel passed two laws Monday that could prevent UNRWA from continuing its work, which isolated it among the UN’s 193 member nations. Even the United States, its closest ally, joined many governments and humanitarian organizations in opposing the Israeli legislation, which doesn’t take effect for three months.

Guterres sent a letter Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlining his concerns and “the issues of international law that have been raised,” Dujarric said.

As an occupying power, under international humanitarian law, Israel is required to ensure the needs of the Palestinians are met, including for food, health care and education, the UN spokesman said. And if Israel isn’t in a position to meet those needs, “it has an obligation to allow and to facilitate the activities of the UN, including UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies, to meet those needs.”

“Should UNRWA cease to operate — and for us there is no alternative — Israel would have to fill the vacuum,” Dujarric said. “Otherwise, it would be in violation of international law.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded to the secretary-general’s letter to Netanyahu by saying, “Rather than condemning UNRWA for turning a blind eye to terrorism and in some cases participating in terrorism, the UN instead condemns Israel.”

He claimed in a statement that UNRWA isn’t interested in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling it “nothing but an arm of Hamas operating under the guise of the United Nations.”

“Israel will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza according to international law,” Danon said, “but UNRWA has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job.”

World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said UNRWA health workers have provided over 6 million medical consultations over the past year. They also have offered immunizations, disease surveillance and screening for malnutrition, and UNRWA’s work “couldn’t be matched by any agency — including WHO,” he said.

Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the UN human rights office, said that “without UNRWA, the delivery of food, shelter, health care, education, among other things, to most of Gaza’s population would grind to a halt.”

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment, as well as their descendants.

At the UN’s regular Security Council meeting on the Middle East — this month open to all UN members — speakers supported UNRWA and denounced Israel’s wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, virtually all calling for immediate ceasefires.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed deep concern at the Israeli legislation, saying, “right now there is no alternative to UNRWA when it comes to delivering food and other life-saving aid in Gaza.”

She called on Guterres “to create a mechanism to review and address allegations that UNRWA personnel have ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.”

UN spokesman Dujarric, asked about this request, said the UN’s internal watchdog is working on these issues. He said a letter from the Israeli government last week raising specific undisclosed issues is also being looked at “extremely seriously.”

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller went further, warning that the Israeli legislation “poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services.”

Miller reiterated that the US opposes the legislation and will be discussing it with Israel in the days ahead. He says there may be consequences under US law and policy if it takes effect, referencing a letter that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent to their Israeli counterparts saying humanitarian aid must increase or the country risks losing military assistance.


Five civilians, three gunmen killed in ‘terrorist’ attack in southeast Iran

Five civilians, three gunmen killed in ‘terrorist’ attack in southeast Iran
Updated 2 min 18 sec ago
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Five civilians, three gunmen killed in ‘terrorist’ attack in southeast Iran

Five civilians, three gunmen killed in ‘terrorist’ attack in southeast Iran
  • Jaish Al-Adl group, operating from borderlands between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, claimed the attack
  • The region has been the scene of recurring clashes between Iranian security forces, various militant outfits

TEHRAN: Gunmen killed five civilians during a “terrorist attack” on a judiciary building in southeast Iran on Saturday before being killed themselves, state media reported.

“Unknown gunmen attacked the judiciary center in Zahedan,” the capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, the judiciary’s Mizan Online said.

“Five people have been killed and 13 injured in this terrorist attack,” the report said while adding that the counts are “preliminary” and the toll may rise.

Separately, the official IRNA news agency reported that three of the attackers were killed during the assault, citing the regional headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to Alireza Daliri, deputy police commander of Sistan-Baluchistan province, the attackers attempted to enter the building disguised as visitors.

The assailants threw a grenade into the building, Daliri said, killing several people inside, including a one-year-old baby and the child’s mother.

Jaish Al-Adl (Arabic for ‘Army of Justice’), a Baloch militant group operating from the borderlands between Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, mainly the Sistan-Balochistan triangle, but active inside Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Located about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, the restive province shares a long border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The area has been the scene of recurring clashes between Iranian security forces, including the IRGC, and rebels from the Baluch minority, radical Sunni groups, and drug traffickers.

In one of the deadliest incidents in the region, ten police officers were killed in October in what authorities also described as a “terrorist” attack.


At least 25 people killed by Israeli gunshots and strikes in Gaza, some while seeking aid

At least 25 people killed by Israeli gunshots and strikes in Gaza, some while seeking aid
Updated 33 sec ago
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At least 25 people killed by Israeli gunshots and strikes in Gaza, some while seeking aid

At least 25 people killed by Israeli gunshots and strikes in Gaza, some while seeking aid
  • Majority of victims were killed by gunfire as they waited for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel
  • Israel’s army did not respond to request for comments about the latest shootings

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: At least 25 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes and gunshots overnight, according to health officials and the ambulance service on Saturday, as ceasefire talks appear to have stalled and Palestinians in Gaza face famine.

The majority of victims were killed by gunfire as they waited for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel, said staff at Shifa hospital, where the bodies were brought.

Israel’s army didn’t respond to request for comments about the latest shootings.

Those killed in strikes include four people in an apartment building in Gaza City among others, hospital staff and the ambulance service said.

The strikes come as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have hit a standstill after the US and Israel recalled their negotiating teams on Thursday, throwing the future of the talks into further uncertainty.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks with Hamas. His comments came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic.

Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating the talks alongside the United States, said the pause was only temporary and that talks would resume, though they did not say when.

For desperate Palestinians a ceasefire can’t come soon enough.

The United Nations and experts say that Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, with reports of increasing numbers of people dying from causes related to malnutrition. While Israel’s army says it’s allowing aid into the enclave with no limit on the number of trucks that can enter, the UN says it is hampered by Israeli military restrictions on its movements and incidents of criminal looting.

The Zikim crossing shootings come days after at least 79 Palestinians were killed trying to reach aid entering through the same crossing. Israel’s military said at the time its soldiers shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians who posed a threat, and that it was aware of some casualties.

Israel is facing increased international pressure to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza. More than two dozen Western-aligned countries and more than 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticizing Israel’s blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out.

The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to get enough food

For the first time in months Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by Jordan. A Jordanian official said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote in a newspaper article on Saturday that the UK was “working urgently” with Jordan to get British aid into Gaza.

Aid group the World Central Kitchen said on Friday that it was resuming limited cooking operations in Deir Al-Balah after being forced to halt due to a lack of food supplies.

It said it’s trying to serve 60,000 meals daily through its field kitchen and partner community kitchens, less than half of what it’s cooked over the previous month.


Five killed in courthouse attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, Iranian media report

Five killed in courthouse attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, Iranian media report
Updated 46 min 47 sec ago
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Five killed in courthouse attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, Iranian media report

Five killed in courthouse attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, Iranian media report
  • Jaish Al-Adl took responsibility for the attack and urged “all civilians to immediately evacuate the area of clashes for their safety”

An armed attack by the Sunni Jaish Al-Adl Baluch group on a courthouse in Iran’s restive southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province killed at least five people and injured 13, Iranian media reported.

Three assailants were also killed in the ensuing clashes with security forces, a senior police official told the state news agency IRNA.

He said a mother and child were among those killed by the gunmen who threw a hand grenade into the building in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan.

In a statement posted on its Telegram account, Jaish Al-Adl took responsibility for the attack and urged “all civilians to immediately evacuate the area of clashes for their safety.”

The Baluch human rights group HAALVSH, quoting eyewitnesses, said several judiciary staff members and security personnel were killed or wounded when the assailants stormed the judges’ chambers.

Sistan-Baluchestan province, near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to Iran’s Sunni Muslim Baluch minority, who have long complained of economic marginalization and political exclusion.

The province frequently sees clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy. The Iranian government accuses some of them of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.


Israeli military says ‘projectile’ fired at Israel from Gaza Strip

Israeli military says ‘projectile’ fired at Israel from Gaza Strip
Updated 26 July 2025
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Israeli military says ‘projectile’ fired at Israel from Gaza Strip

Israeli military says ‘projectile’ fired at Israel from Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said a “projectile” was fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel on Saturday.

“A projectile was identified crossing the Gaza Strip from the south and most likely falling in an open area,” the military said in a statement, adding that there were no injuries reported.


UN gathering eyes solution to deadlocked Palestinian question

UN gathering eyes solution to deadlocked Palestinian question
Updated 26 July 2025
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UN gathering eyes solution to deadlocked Palestinian question

UN gathering eyes solution to deadlocked Palestinian question
  • In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, into two independent states — one Jewish and the other Arab
  • But with the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements and Israeli plans to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible

UNITED NATIONS: Fired by France’s imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood, UN members meet next week to breathe life into the push for a two-state solution as Israel, expected to be absent, presses its war in Gaza.

Days before the July 28-30 conference on fostering Israeli and Palestinian states living peacefully side-by-side to be co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would formally recognize the State of Palestine in September.

His declaration “will breathe new life into a conference that seemed destined to irrelevance,” said Richard Gowan, an analyst at International Crisis Group.

“Macron’s announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognize Palestine.”

According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states — including France — now recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.

In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states — one Jewish and the other Arab.

The following year, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and for several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution: Israeli and Palestinian, living side-by-side peacefully and securely.

But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and senior Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible.

The war in Gaza started following a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.

The New York conference is a response to the crisis, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world expected to attend.

The meeting comes as a two-state solution is “more threatened than it has ever been (but) even more necessary than before, because we see very clearly that there is no alternative,” said a French diplomatic source.

Beyond facilitating conditions for recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will have three other focuses — reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so.

The diplomatic source warned that no announcement of new normalization deals was expected next week.

Ahead of the conference, which was delayed from June, Britain said it would not recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally and would wait for “a wider plan” for peace in the region.

Macron has also not yet persuaded Germany to follow suit and recognize a Palestinian state in the short term.

The conference “offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples,” said the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, calling for “courage” from participants.

Israel and the United States will not take part in the meeting.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon “has announced that Israel will not be taking part in this conference, which doesn’t first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages,” according to embassy spokesman Jonathan Harounoff.

As international pressure continues to mount on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe in the ravaged coastal territory is expected to dominate speeches by representatives of more than 100 countries as they take to the podium from Monday to Wednesday.

Gowan said he expected “very fierce criticism of Israel.”

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