US criticizes Israel on Gaza civilian toll as UN to hear ceasefire demand

Update A man walks among the rubble of a building destroyed destroyed Israeli bombardment overnight in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on December 7, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP)
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A man walks among the rubble of a building destroyed destroyed Israeli bombardment overnight in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on December 7, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP)
Update US criticizes Israel on Gaza civilian toll as UN to hear ceasefire demand
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Israeli navy soldiers prepare ammunition and ships before setting out to the Mediterranean sea waters around the Gaza Strip, at the Israeli naval base in Ashdod, on December 7, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP)
Update US criticizes Israel on Gaza civilian toll as UN to hear ceasefire demand
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An Israeli military fighter aircraft flies near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, December 7, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 08 December 2023
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US criticizes Israel on Gaza civilian toll as UN to hear ceasefire demand

US criticizes Israel on Gaza civilian toll as UN to hear ceasefire demand
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken: ‘It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection’
  • ‘And there does remain a gap between... the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground’

GAZA/WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government’s declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

“As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south... it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,” Blinken told a press conference after meeting British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Washington on Thursday.

“And there does remain a gap between... the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.”

Israel says it must wipe out the Hamas militant group after its attack on Israel two months ago and is doing everything possible to get civilians out of harm’s way, including warnings about military operations.

US President Joe Biden spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah on Thursday. Biden “emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities,” the White House said.

More than 17,170 Palestinians have been killed and 46,000 wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry, since Oct. 7, when Israel began bombarding Gaza in response to a cross-border rampage by Iran-backed Hamas militants, who control the enclave. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, with 240 people taken hostage, according to Israel’s tally.

The Israeli military on Friday said 92 of its soldiers had been killed in Gaza fighting since its ground incursions began on Oct. 20.

CEASEFIRE DEMAND AT UN AS GAZA FIGHTING RAGES

Hundreds more Palestinians were killed as Israel fought Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip’s biggest cities on Thursday — 350 people, according to Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra. Israel said its forces killed a number of gunmen in Khan Younis, including two who emerged firing from a tunnel.

Arab states have renewed their push for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, with United Arab Emirates asking the UN Security Council to vote on Friday morning on a draft resolution.

The United States and ally Israel oppose a cease-fire, saying it would only benefit Hamas. Blinken is due to meet top diplomats from Arab states, including Egypt, on Friday in Washington.

The draft was amended to say both “the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law” and to “demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, France or Britain — to be adopted. The US does not support any further action by the council at this time.

As pressure mounts on Israel over the civilian toll of its war to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian Authority is working with US officials on a plan to run Gaza after the war is over, Bloomberg News reported.

Citing Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, it said the preferred outcome would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), helping to build a new independent state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

“If they (Hamas) are ready to come to an agreement and accept the political platform of the PLO, then there will be room for talk. Palestinians should not be divided,” Shtayyeh said, adding that Israel’s aim to fully defeat Hamas is unrealistic.

KEREM SHALOM BORDER CROSSING TO OPEN

In a development that should help smooth the way for more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, Israel agreed to a US request to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing for the inspection of trucks and their cargo, a US official said on Thursday.

Egypt, along with the United Nations, has been lobbying Israel to speed up an inspection process, which requires the vehicles to drive to Egypt’s border with Israel before looping back to Rafah. The number of trucks crossing daily has dropped to fewer than 100, from nearly 200 during a Nov. 24-Dec. 1 truce, according to the United Nations.

Kerem Shalom sits at Gaza’s southern border with Israel and Egypt and the crossing was used to carry more than 60 percent of the truckloads going into Gaza before war erupted two months ago.

With no end in sight to the fighting, a top White House national security aide, Jon Finer, said the United States had not given Israel a firm deadline to end major combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

There are many “legitimate military targets” remaining in south Gaza, including “much if not most” of the Hamas leadership, Finer said at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington.

Meanwhile, hostages still held by Hamas have been kept incommunicado in Gaza despite Israel’s calls on the Red Cross to arrange visits and verify their wellbeing.

Marking two months since Hamas’ attack, the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah was a solemn moment for many in Israel.

Idit Ohel, whose son Alon, 22, was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen from an outdoor music festival where 364 people were killed, said she was hoping for a miracle.

“He doesn’t know it’s Hanukkah. I don’t think he knows the days, what’s day, what’s night,” said Ohel. “But he’s in our hearts all the time.”


Netanyahu says Israel offering $5 mn reward for each Gaza hostage freed

Netanyahu says Israel offering $5 mn reward for each Gaza hostage freed
Updated 20 November 2024
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Netanyahu says Israel offering $5 mn reward for each Gaza hostage freed

Netanyahu says Israel offering $5 mn reward for each Gaza hostage freed
  • “Anybody who brings out a hostage will find with us a secure way for them and their family to leave” Gaza, Netanyahu says

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel was offering a reward of $5 million to anybody who brings out a hostage held in Gaza.
“Anybody who brings out a hostage will find with us a secure way for them and their family to leave” Gaza, Netanyahu said in a video filmed inside the Palestinian territory, according to his office.
“We will also give them a reward of $5 million for each hostage.”
Wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof jacket, Netanyahu spoke with his back to the Mediterranean in the Netzarim Corridor, Israel’s main military supply route which carves the Gaza Strip in two just south of Gaza City.
“Anyone who dares to do harm to our hostages is considered dead — we will pursue you and we will catch up with you,” he said.
Accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Netanyahu underlined that one of Israel’s war aims remained that “Hamas does not rule in Gaza.”
“We are also making efforts to locate the hostages and bring them home. We won’t give up. We will continue until we’ve found them all, alive or dead.”
During Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack which triggered the war in Gaza, militants took 251 hostages. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead.


Turkiye’s Erdogan says Israel’s Herzog was denied airspace en route to Azerbaijan

Turkiye’s Erdogan says Israel’s Herzog was denied airspace en route to Azerbaijan
Updated 20 November 2024
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Turkiye’s Erdogan says Israel’s Herzog was denied airspace en route to Azerbaijan

Turkiye’s Erdogan says Israel’s Herzog was denied airspace en route to Azerbaijan
  • “In light of the situation assessment and for security reasons, the President of the State has decided to cancel his trip to the Climate Conference in Azerbaijan,” the Israeli presidency said

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkiye refused to allow Israeli President Isaac Herzog to use its airspace to attend the COP climate summit in Azerbaijan, highlighting Ankara’s stance amid tensions with Israel.
“We did not allow the Israeli president to use our airspace to attend the COP summit. We suggested alternative routes and other options,” Erdogan told reporters at the G20 Summit in Brazil.
Herzog ended up canceling the visit.
“In light of the situation assessment and for security reasons, the President of the State has decided to cancel his trip to the Climate Conference in Azerbaijan,” the Israeli presidency said. Israel launched a devastating war against Hamas in Gaza a year ago after the Palestinian Islamist group’s deadly cross-border attack.
Turkiye withdrew its ambassador in Israel for consultations after the Gaza war broke out, but has not officially severed its ties with Israel and its embassy remains open and operational.
“But whether he was able to go or not, I honestly don’t know,” Erdogan said on Herzog’s visit to Baku.
“On certain matters, as Turkiye, we are compelled to take a stand, and we will continue to do so,” he said.

 


Hospital chief decries ‘extreme catastrophe’ in north Gaza

Hospital chief decries ‘extreme catastrophe’ in north Gaza
Updated 19 November 2024
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Hospital chief decries ‘extreme catastrophe’ in north Gaza

Hospital chief decries ‘extreme catastrophe’ in north Gaza
  • Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hossam Abu Safiyeh told AFP by phone: “The situation in northern Gaza is that of an extreme catastrophe

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The World Health Organization expressed grave concern on Tuesday for hospitals still partly operating in war-stricken northern Gaza, where one hospital director described the situation as an “extreme catastrophe.”
“We are very, very concerned, and it’s getting harder and harder to get the aid in. It’s getting harder and harder to get the specialist personnel in at a time when there is greater and greater need,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told journalists in Geneva.
She said the organization was “particularly concerned about Kamal Adwan Hospital” in Beit Lahia, where Israeli forces launched an offensive against Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups last month.
Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hossam Abu Safiyeh told AFP by phone: “The situation in northern Gaza is that of an extreme catastrophe.
“We’re beginning to lose patients because we lack medical supplies and personnel,” he said.
Abu Safiyeh added that his hospital had been “targeted many times by the occupation forces, most recently” on Monday.
“A large number of children and elderly people continue to arrive suffering from malnutrition,” the doctor said.
He accused Israel of “blocking the entry of food, water, medical staff and materials destined for the north” of the Gaza Strip.
The WHO’s Harris estimated that between November 8 and 16, “four WHO missions we were trying to get up to go were denied.”
“There’s a lack of food and drinking water, shortage of medical supplies. There’s really only enough for two weeks at the very best,” she said.
A statement from COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said Tuesday: “COGAT-led humanitarian efforts in the medical field continue.”
It said that on Monday, “1,000 blood units were transferred” to Al-Sahaba hospital in Gaza City, outside the area where Israel’s military operations are taking place.
In its latest update on the situation in northern Gaza, the UN humanitarian office OCHA said Tuesday that “access to the Kamal Adwan, Al Awda and Indonesian hospitals remains severely restricted amid severe shortages of medical supplies, fuel and blood units.”
 

 


Turkiye asks export group to help snuff out Israel trade

Turkiye asks export group to help snuff out Israel trade
Updated 19 November 2024
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Turkiye asks export group to help snuff out Israel trade

Turkiye asks export group to help snuff out Israel trade
  • Ankara has faced public criticism that trade may be continuing with Israel since a ban in May

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s government has asked one of the country’s top export associations to help enforce a ban on trade with Israel, slowing the flow of goods in recent weeks, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Ankara has faced public criticism that trade may be continuing with Israel given a spike in exports to the Palestinian territories since the ban in May. So it turned to the Central Anatolian Exporters’ Association, the sources said.

The Trade Ministry has asked the association to require more checks and approvals of proposed shipments, including vetting with Palestinian authorities, they said.

One of the sources, from an export association, said the new system began in mid-October, causing an initial backlog. The “main concern was goods still going to Israel, so there is a procedural change in exports to Palestine,” he said.

In response to a query, the Trade Ministry said goods were only shipped if approved by Palestinian authorities under a bilateral trade mechanism. “The destination is Palestine and the importer is a Palestinian,” it said.

According to official Turkish Statistical Institute data, Turkiye, among the fiercest critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, has cut exports there to zero since May, from a monthly average of $380 million in the first four months of the year.

But at the same time exports to Palestinian territories — which must flow through Israel — jumped around 10-fold to a monthly average of $127 million in June-September, from only $12 million in the first four months of the year, the data show.

The top goods leaving Turkish ports and earmarked for Palestinian territories in recent months are steel, cement, machinery, and chemicals, according to the Turkish Exporters Assembly, also known as TIM.

The jump in such exports raised suspicions the trade ban was being circumvented, sparking street protests that questioned one of the main policies President Tayyip Erdogan’s government imposed to oppose Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Opposition lawmakers have also sought answers in parliament.

Trade Minister Omer Bolat said this month that, before the ban, some $2 billion of Turkiye’s $6.5 billion annual trade with Israel was goods ultimately purchased by Palestinian buyers.

Last week, Bolat told parliament that the Palestinian Economy Ministry vetted all shipments. Turkiye’s Trade Ministry said that Palestinian confirmations then run through an electronic system, after which customs declarations require a separate approval.

The Central Anatolian Exporters’ Association is an umbrella body for sector-specific export groups. In the past, they all usually quickly approved shipments with little question, the sources said.

Under the new instructions from the government, the association is the main approval body, two sources said. It must first confirm receipt of information about the proposed export including the Palestinian authorities’ approval, and then approve a separate application for export, they said.

The first source said the system was working now, but slower than in the past due to relevant checks.

In the first 10 months of the year, exports to Palestinian territories were up 543 percent from a year earlier, TIM data show. In the first four months, before the Israel ban was imposed, they were up only 35 percent.


Lebanon’s first responders caught in the line of Israel-Hezbollah fire

Lebanon’s first responders caught in the line of Israel-Hezbollah fire
Updated 19 November 2024
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Lebanon’s first responders caught in the line of Israel-Hezbollah fire

Lebanon’s first responders caught in the line of Israel-Hezbollah fire
  • Israeli military claims Iran-backed Lebanese militia is using ambulances to transport arms and fighters
  • Rights group says civil defense workers, even if affiliated with Hezbollah, are protected under laws of war

LONDON: Since tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah flared up on Oct. 8 last year, paramedics and rescue workers in south Lebanon have found themselves in the line of fire, despite their protected status under international humanitarian law.

In the latest deadly incident, at least 13 people were killed on Thursday in an Israeli strike that hit the main civil defense center in the eastern Baalbek area, according to Lebanon’s General Directorate of Civil Defense.

Bachir Khodr, the regional governor, was quoted by BBC News as saying that the facility belonged to the Lebanese government and that among the victims was the city’s civil defense chief

In a post on X, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said the “EU strongly condemns” the loss of life and that the pattern of attack “mirrors appalling trends in other conflicts, from Syria to Ukraine or Sudan.”

As of Oct. 31, 2024, Israeli military strikes had killed at least 173 emergency workers, injured 277 others, and damaged 243 medical vehicles and 55 hospitals, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally. (AFP)



Humanitarian organizations and rights groups have joined the ministry in condemning attacks on first responders, their facilities, and ambulances.

“The killing of first responders in south Lebanon is a heartbreaking violation, not just of international law, but of basic humanity,” Tania Baban, the Lebanon country director of the US-based charity MedGlobal, told Arab News.

The media office of the Lebanese Civil Defense earlier shared with Arab News a list documenting 13 personnel and volunteers killed in Israeli strikes while performing their duties. The document, received on Nov. 13, detailed the victims’ names, positions and place of death.

Six of the deaths occurred in the southern governorate of Nabatieh, which has come under regular bombardment since mid-September, while six others occurred in the town of Dardaghia, east of Tyre, and one in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

An Israeli strike directly hit the civil defense center in Dardaghia on Oct. 9, leaving it “completely destroyed” and killing five of its staff, according to the organization’s media office.

Since the conflict began, at least 3,189 people — more than 770 of them women and children — have been killed. (AFP)



The document provided by the Lebanese Civil Defense also listed 70 personnel and volunteers injured in Israeli attacks while carrying out their duties. Injuries ranged in severity and included burns, head trauma, and inhalation of toxic fumes.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry condemned “the continued targeting of emergency medical teams by occupation forces,” calling on the international community “to put an end to this series of ongoing war crimes.”

The statement came after an airstrike on an ambulance in Zefta, a town in Nabatieh, reportedly killed a paramedic and injured two others on the morning of Oct. 31. According to the ministry, the vehicle belonged to the Al-Risala Emergency Medical Association.

“These are people who willingly risk their lives to help others, driven by a duty to save lives, often under extreme conditions. To see them become targets is devastating,” MedGlobal’s Baban said, referring to the first responders.

She said such attacks “undermine the very core of humanitarian work,” stressing that “medics are meant to be neutral, protected under international law.”

INNUMBERS

• 173+ First responders killed in Lebanon since October 2023.

• 243+ Emergency vehicles damaged across Lebanon.

• 55+ Healthcare facilities damaged.

(Source: Lebanese MOPH)


Indeed, Article 18 of the First Geneva Convention, Articles 16(1) and 17(1) of Protocol I, and Article 10(1) of Protocol II prohibit harming or punishing anyone performing medical activities, regardless of the person benefiting from them.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Oct. 30 that it had documented three direct Israeli attacks on “medical personnel, transports, and facilities” in Lebanon, which it said constituted “apparent war crimes.”

The three reported attacks involved a civil defense center in central Beirut on Oct. 3, as well as an ambulance and a hospital in southern Lebanon on Oct. 4, which killed 14 paramedics.

As of Oct. 31, 2024, Israeli military strikes had killed at least 173 emergency workers. (AFP)



In a statement on Oct. 11, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said the conflict had killed more than 100 medics and emergency workers across Lebanon within the past year.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said at least “27 attacks targeted ambulances used by first responders” since early October last year.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally. Israel retaliated, sparking a year-long exchange of fire along the shared Israel-Lebanon border.

However, this tit-for-tat suddenly escalated in September, with Israel mounting a wave of air and ground attacks against Hezbollah’s communications network, weapons caches, and leadership, eliminating the group’s secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27.

Residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs have not been spared, nor have villages in south Lebanon, including Ayta Al-Shab, Ramyeh, Kfar Kila, and Mhaybib, according to an analysis of satellite data by The Washington Post.

Some 1.2 million people have been displaced from southern and eastern Lebanon, according to UN figures. As of Oct. 12, more than 283,000 of them — most of them Syrian nationals — had crossed the border into war-torn Syria.

Since the conflict began, at least 3,189 people — more than 770 of them women and children — have been killed, while some 14,078 others have been wounded, according to the Ministry of Public Health.

A document provided by the Lebanese Civil Defense also listed 70 personnel and volunteers injured in Israeli attacks while carrying out their duties. (AFP)



In Israel, 72 people have been killed by Hezbollah attacks, including 30 soldiers, according to the prime minister’s office. More than 60,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

The Israeli military has not denied targeting ambulances in south Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold that has become a battleground between Israeli forces and Lebanese and Palestinian armed groups. On Oct. 12, it even threatened to target medical vehicles.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-speaking spokesperson, said: “Hezbollah operatives are using ambulances to transport fighters and arms.”

In a post on the social media platform X on Oct. 12, he warned that “action will be taken (by the Israeli military) against any vehicle carrying armed men, regardless of its type.”

Israel mounting a wave of air and ground attacks against Hezbollah’s communications network, weapons caches, and leadership. (AP)



Prior to Adraee’s statement, on Oct. 3, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that Israel had struck a civil defense center in central Beirut belonging to the Islamic Health Committee, which is affiliated with Hezbollah.

The following day, the BBC reported that an Islamic Health Committee ambulance was struck near the entrance of Marjayoun Hospital in southern Lebanon, killing seven paramedics and forcing the facility to close.

Human Rights Watch said in its Oct. 30 statement that “membership or affiliation with Hezbollah, or other political movements with armed wings, is not a sufficient basis for determining an individual to be a lawful military target.”

“Medical personnel affiliated with Hezbollah, including those assigned to civil defense organizations, are protected under the laws of war,” the rights monitor added.

Article 18 of the First Geneva Convention, Articles 16(1) and 17(1) of Protocol I, and Article 10(1) of Protocol II prohibit harming or punishing anyone performing medical activities. (AFP)



It called on the Israeli military to “immediately halt unlawful attacks on medical workers and health care facilities,” urging Israel’s allies to “suspend the transfer of arms to Israel given the real risk that they will be used to commit grave abuses.”

MedGlobal’s Baban said the targeting of first responders in Lebanon “leaves communities even more vulnerable, depriving families and neighborhoods of essential care and support at a time when they need it most.”

“Every attack on medical staff not only steals lives but shakes the hope and resilience of those they serve,” she said. “We must continue to demand respect and safety for all who work to heal and protect in these conflict zones.”