Fuel enters Gaza to restore phone links after two days without aid

Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli strike on Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. (AP)
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Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli strike on Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. (AP)
Fuel enters Gaza to restore phone links after two days without aid
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Israel’s war cabinet has allowed the delivery of two tankers of diesel fuel daily to the embattled Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said Friday, as hospitals and aid schemes shut down over fuel shortages. (AP/File)
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Updated 18 November 2023
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Fuel enters Gaza to restore phone links after two days without aid

Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli strike on Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. (AP)
  • The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said 70 percent of people have no access to clean water in south Gaza, where raw sewage had started to flow on the streets
  • Israel has come under increasing international pressure

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: A first consignment of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt late Friday after Israel agreed to a US request to allow limited deliveries to end a communications blackout that has halted aid convoys for two days.
UN agencies have spoken of an increasingly desperate situation for the 2.4 million Palestinians trapped inside the besieged enclave, which Israel has been pounding by land and air for the past six weeks.
The fuel delivery came as troops combed Gaza’s largest hospital in a search for the Hamas operations center that Israel says lies hidden in bunkers beneath.
Israel has vowed to “crush” Hamas in response to the group’s October 7 attack, when it broke through Gaza’s militarised border to kill about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and take about 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
The army’s air and ground campaign has killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
In response to a US request, Israel’s war cabinet unanimously agreed to “provide two tankers of fuel a day to run the wastewater treatment facilities... which are facing collapse due to the lack of electricity,” national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.
“We took that decision to prevent the spread of epidemics. We don’t need epidemics that will harm civilians or our fighters,” he said.
A senior US official said Washington had exerted huge pressure on Israel for weeks to allow fuel in through the Rafah crossing from Egypt, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken making clear Israel needed to act immediately to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.
Israel has repeatedly demanded assurances that any fuel delivered to Gaza will not be diverted by Hamas for military purposes.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said 70 percent of people have no access to clean water in south Gaza, where raw sewage had started to flow on the streets.
Under the deal, 140,000 liters (37,000 gallons) of fuel will be allowed in every 48 hours, of which 20,000 liters will be earmarked for generators to restore the phone network, the US official said.
A first consignment of some 17,000 liters (about 4,500 gallons) of fuel for telecommunications company Paltel passed through the Rafah crossing from Egypt late Friday, a Palestinian border official said.
It comes after aid trucks were unable to enter Gaza from Egypt for two straight days due to the near-total communications blackout, UNRWA said.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said fuel was “critical for the onward distribution of aid throughout Gaza, and for the functioning of vital services.”
He told the UN General Assembly that the fuel currently being provided to UNRWA to distribute aid was “welcome but is a fraction of what is needed to meet the minimum of our humanitarian responsibilities.”

As Israeli troops kept up their search operation at Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital Friday, the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled enclave said that 24 patients had died in the space of 48 hours due to the lack of fuel for generators.
Hamas rejects an Israeli charge that it has a command center under the hospital, where thousands of people, including wounded patients and premature babies, are believed to be inside. The hospital also denies the claim.
“Twenty-four patients... have died over the last 48 hours as vital medical equipment has stopped functioning because of the power outage,” health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said.
Israel has defended its Al-Shifa operation, with the military saying it found rifles, ammunition, explosives and the entrance to a tunnel shaft at the hospital complex.
Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, alleged hostages may even have been held at the medical facility.
“We had strong indications that they were held in the Shifa Hospital, which is one of the reasons we entered the hospital,” he told “CBS Evening News.”
“If they were, they were taken out,” he said.
Israel said its forces were searching Al-Shifa “one building at a time.”
The military also said troops had recovered the remains of kidnapped woman soldier Noa Marciano, 19, “from a structure adjacent to Al-Shifa hospital.”
On Thursday, the army said soldiers near Al-Shifa found the body of another hostage. Yehudit Weiss, 65, had been kidnapped from the kibbutz community of Beeri.

Israel has come under increasing pressure to back up its allegations that Hamas is using hospitals as command centers.
The United States has stood behind its ally, however, with President Joe Biden this week saying he had asked Israel to be “incredibly careful” in its military moves around Gaza hospitals.
More than half of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functional due to combat, damage or shortages, and Israel’s raid on Al-Shifa left extensive damage to the radiology, burns and dialysis units, Hamas said.
AFPTV video showed Palestinian children waiting in ambulances at Deir Al-Balah for evacuation to the United Arab Emirates via the Rafah crossing to Egypt.
“In the beginning they told (us) she would be martyred. She has fractures in her skull, pelvis and the thigh,” said Adam Al-Madhoun, father of four-year-old Kenza who already had her right hand amputated after an attack on the Jabalia refugee camp.
Conditions for Palestinian civilians are rapidly deteriorating, the UN warned.
More than 1.5 million people have been internally displaced, and Israel’s blockade of the territory means “civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation,” World Food Programme head Cindy McCain said.

Israel’s ground operation has so far focused on north Gaza, where it has announced the seizure of key buildings and a port. It says 51 of its troops have been killed.
Alongside the war in Gaza, there is growing concern about violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have surged.
Raids by Israel’s military, which says it is responding to “a significant rise in terrorist attacks,” have also multiplied and the Palestinian death toll has soared.
The Israeli army said on Friday it had killed at least seven militants in two separate confrontations in the West Bank.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Israel to take “urgent” action to “de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, including by confronting rising levels of settler extremist violence,” the State Department said.
 

 


Yemen’s Houthis will keep blockade on Israeli vessels after asset sale reports

Sarea said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel.
Sarea said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel.
Updated 56 min 36 sec ago
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Yemen’s Houthis will keep blockade on Israeli vessels after asset sale reports

Sarea said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel.
  • “Intelligence information confirms many companies operating in maritime shipping affiliated to the Israeli enemy are working to sell their assets”: Spokesperson

CAIRO: Yemen’s Houthis said on Sunday they would maintain their maritime blockade against Israeli vessels in response to “intelligence information” regarding Israeli shipping companies selling their assets to other companies.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have said they are intensifying their attacks to support Hamas and Hezbollah in their resistance against Israeli actions in the region.
“Intelligence information confirms that many companies operating in maritime shipping affiliated to the Israeli enemy are working to sell their assets and transfer their properties from shipping and maritime transport ships to other companies,” said Yahya Sarea, military spokesperson of the group.
The Houthis will not recognize any changes of ownership and warned against any collaboration with these companies, Sarea said in a televised address.
Sarea also said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel and would target any ships belonging to, linked to, or heading to Israel.
He said the blockade would continue until “the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted and the aggression on Lebanon stops.”


Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel

Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel
Updated 03 November 2024
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Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel

Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel
  • Since the strikes last month, Israel has warned Iran against retaliating
  • Supreme Leader said the Islamic republic would retaliate

TEHRAN: Iran’s president said Sunday a potential ceasefire between its allies and Israel “could affect the intensity” of Tehran’s response to Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian military sites.
“If they (the Israelis) reconsider their behavior, accept a ceasefire and stop massacring the oppressed and innocent people of the region, it could affect the intensity and type of our response,” Masoud Pezeshkian said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
He added that Iran “will not leave unanswered any aggression against its sovereignty and security,” according to the news agency.
Israeli warplanes carried out the Oct. 26 strikes in what Israel said was retaliation for Tehran’s October 1 missile barrage.
Iran had in turn described that attack as a reprisal for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.
Since the strikes last month, Israel has warned Iran against retaliating, while Tehran vowed to respond.
On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of the state, said the Islamic republic would retaliate.
“The enemies, both the USA and the Zionist regime, should know that they will definitely receive a tooth-breaking response to what they are doing against Iran, the Iranian nation, and the resistance front,” Khamenei said in a speech to students in Tehran.
He was referring to the alliance of Tehran-backed armed groups that include Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
After the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they “hit Iran’s defense capabilities and missile production.”
Iran’s armed forces said the attack killed four military personnel and caused “limited damage” to a few radar systems. Iranian media said a civilian was also killed.


Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference

Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference
Updated 03 November 2024
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Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference

Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference
  • JCC’s President Khalil Haj Tawfiq speaks of collaborative spirit of event

LONDON: The Jordan Chamber of Commerce will host the inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference on Dec. 4, the Jordan News Agency reported on Sunday.

Held in alignment with Jordan’s Economic Modernization Vision, the event is the latest bid to boost economic cooperation between Jordan and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) in conjunction with the Gulf-Jordanian Economic Forum, which held its third edition in 2023.

The conference will coincide with the 65th meeting of the Federation of Chambers of the GCC’s Board of Directors — the first such gathering held outside the GCC states.

The JCC President Khalil Haj Tawfiq told of the collaborative spirit of the conference in a statement on Sunday.

He said: “Through this conference we aspire to establish an integrated economic framework that will strengthen trade and investment cooperation, allowing us to better navigate global economic challenges and attract further investment.”

Key figures expected at the conference include the Secretary-General of the GCC Jasem Al-Budaiwi, leaders of Gulf chambers, board members, prominent Gulf investors, and representatives of economic and financial institutions from Jordan and the Gulf region.

The agenda will feature in-depth discussions on investment opportunities, success stories of Gulf investments in Jordan, and sector-focused dialogues with Jordanian ministers.

Priority sectors include energy, mining, transportation, logistics, tourism investment, food security, agricultural production, information technology, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Tawfiq highlighted the timeliness of the event, given the current economic challenges facing the region.

He praised King Abdullah II for fostering stability and creating an investor-friendly environment, adding: “This conference is pivotal for Gulf-Jordanian economic integration, especially as global economic crises continue to affect us all.”


Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families

Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families
Updated 03 November 2024
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Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families

Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families
  • Fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: After over a year of war in Gaza, Palestinian fishermen gather along the coastline, desperately casting their nets in hopes of catching enough for their families amid widespread hunger.
Since Israel began a military onslaught in Gaza after Hamas’ October 2023 attack, Israeli restrictions in the waters off the enclave have made life almost impossible for fishermen, who no longer sail out to sea and instead must stay by the shore.
In Khan Younis, Ibrahim Ghurab, 71, and Waseem Al Masry, 24, fish for sardines from the shoreline in front of a encampment of tents and makeshift shelters for those displaced by the war.
“Life is difficult,” Ghurab said. “One tries to secure food. There is no aid, we don’t receive anything anymore. In the beginning there was some (humanitarian) aid, very little, but now there is no more.”
Fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families. There is rarely any fish left over from a daily haul to be sold to others.
Fishing was an important part of daily life in Gaza before the war, helping people eke out a living by selling their daily hauls in the market and feed the population.
But scant aid is reaching Gaza amid Israeli restrictions and frequent fighting, and many people have no income. The price of simple goods are largely out of reach for most.
“We have to come here and risk our lives,” Al Masry said, describing shootings by the Israeli military from the sea that he accused of targeting fisherman on the beach in Khan Younis.
Ghurab similarly said that Israeli military boats had fired upon fisherman at Khan Younis.
The Israeli military did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the claims the military had shot at fishermen.
Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas for the Islamist militant group’s deadly, cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023 has devastated densely populated Gaza and displaced most of the 2.3 million population.


Israel says nabbed Syrian spy working for Iran

This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon.
This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon.
Updated 03 November 2024
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Israel says nabbed Syrian spy working for Iran

This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon.
  • The military named the “Iranian terror network operative” as Ali Soleiman Al-Assi, a Syrian citizen living in the area of the southern village of Saida

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Sunday it had captured a Syrian spy for Iran in recent months, thwarting a planned attack by what it described as Iranian terror networks.
The military named the “Iranian terror network operative” as Ali Soleiman Al-Assi, a Syrian citizen living in the area of the southern village of Saida.
“His activities included gathering intelligence on IDF (Israeli military) troops in the border area for future terror activity of the network,” it said in a statement.
The military said the operation took place “in recent months,” adding that the Syrian citizen “was detained and transferred for interrogation in Israel.”
The operation “prevented a future attack and led to the exposure of the operational methods of Iranian terror networks located near the (occupied) Golan Heights.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, had previously reported that Israel had seized a Syrian man on July 19.
“Israeli forces detained a citizen who worked as a driver to transport milk to the capital Damascus,” the war monitor said in July.
It added that the Syrian was detained in the village of Al-Razatiya, in a southern province bordering the Golan Heights annexed by Israel.
“An Israeli military force of three cars and an armored vehicle crossed the border, entered the village and took the man to the occupied Golan Heights,” the observatory said.
Since late September Israel has been engaged in full-scale war against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah began launching cross-border attacks last year, saying it was acting in support of Palestinian militants Hamas, whose unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
Iran-aligned groups in Yemen, Iraq and Syria have also been drawn into the fighting, and Iran and Israel have themselves attacked each other, heightening fears of even wider conflict.