UN chief says no alternative to UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres declared on Friday that there is no alternative to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and 118 countries backed the relief organization as indispensable. (Screenshot/UNTV)
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres declared on Friday that there is no alternative to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and 118 countries backed the relief organization as indispensable. (Screenshot/UNTV)
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Updated 12 July 2024
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UN chief says no alternative to UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA

UN chief says no alternative to UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA
  • Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long-called for UNRWA to be dismantled

NEW YORK: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres declared on Friday that there is no alternative to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and 118 countries backed the relief organization as indispensable, amid stepped up efforts by Israel to dismantle it.
The UN Relief and Works Agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Since war erupted nine months ago between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, UN officials have stressed UNRWA is the backbone of aid operations.
“My appeal to everyone is this: Protect UNRWA, protect UNRWA staff, and protect UNRWA’s mandate — including through funding,” Guterres told an UNRWA pledging conference in New York on Friday. “Let me be clear: there is no alternative to UNRWA.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long-called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement, and Israel’s parliament is currently considering designating UNRWA as a terrorist organization.
Several countries halted their funding to UNRWA following accusations by Israel that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war. Most donors have since resumed their funding, while the UN is conducting an internal investigation.
UNRWA has been hit hard during the conflict in Gaza — 195 staff have been killed.
“UNRWA is also being targeted in other ways,” Guterres said. “Staff have been the subject of increasingly violent protests and virulent misinformation and disinformation campaigns.”
“Some have been detained by Israeli security forces, and subsequently reported mistreatment and even torture,” he said, adding that in the West Bank the presence and movements of UNRWA staff have also been severely restricted by Israel.
The Israeli military has said it acts according to Israeli and international law and those it arrests get access to food, water, medication and proper clothing.
Israel accuses UNRWA of complicity with Hamas, saying the militant Islamist group was embedded within the UN agency’s infrastructure.
UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war. Jordan’s UN Ambassador Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud said on Friday ahead of the pledging event that 118 countries had signed on to a joint statement supporting UNRWA and its work.
The statement underlined “that UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza, and recognizing that no organization can replace or substitute UNRWA’s capacity.”


Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp
Updated 6 sec ago
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Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp
  • Overnight strikes kill at least 11, as Israeli tanks push into central Gaza
  • Israel is focusing its operations in the north and center
CAIRO: Israeli forces sent tanks into the western side of Gaza’s Nuseirat camp on Monday in a new incursion into the enclave’s central area, and Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes had killed at least 11 people since Sunday night.
Residents said Israeli tanks opened fire as they rolled into that sector of the camp, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee sites, causing panic among the population and displaced families.
One resident, Zaik Mohammad, said the tanks’ advance was a complete surprise.
“Some people couldn’t leave and remained trapped inside their homes, appealing to be allowed out, while others rushed out with whatever they could carry as they fled,” Mohammad, 25, who lives one kilometer away from the targeted area, told Reuters via a chat app.
With the war in Gaza now in its 14th month, Israel is focusing its operations in the north and center in what it says is a campaign to stop Hamas militants waging attacks and to prevent them from regrouping.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian residents have been told to evacuate the areas, fueling fears that they may never be allowed to return.
The already slim chances of a ceasefire receded further at the weekend when mediator Qatar said it was suspending its efforts until both Israel and Hamas showed greater willingness to reach an agreement.
In attacks overnight and into Monday, medics said seven people were killed in Nuseirat in two separate Israeli airstrikes, one that hit a tent encampment.
In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, where Israeli forces have operated since Oct. 5, medics said four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya, medics said Israeli fire from a drone wounded three medical workers in the facility.
There was no Israeli comment on Monday’s violence.
The Israeli military said it killed a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas, Mohammad Abu Skhail, in a strike on Saturday at a command center inside a compound that previously served as a school in Gaza City. Palestinian medics said the attack killed six people.

Hospital Siege
Israeli forces have besieged the three hospitals in and around Jabalia for several weeks and hospital officials have refused orders to evacuate the facilities or leave their patients unattended despite the lack of food, medical, and fuel supplies.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of exploiting Gaza’s civilian population for military purposes, a charge the militant group denies.
The army sent tanks into Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia camp in northern Gaza over a month ago. It said it had killed hundreds of militants in Jabalia and around it since the raids began.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters carried out ambushes, mortar fire, and anti-tank rocket attacks, claiming to have killed many Israeli soldiers in recent weeks.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it had expanded the “humanitarian zone” in the enclave. It also said it would allow more tents, shelter materials, food, water, and medical supplies to enter.
Its forces “will continue to work to achieve the war’s objectives, including dismantling Hamas and returning all the abductees,” it said.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, home to more than 2.1 million people and now largely in ruins.
The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing another 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel’s military campaign has leveled much of Gaza and killed around 43,500 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say.

Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire
Updated 10 min 42 sec ago
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Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday said there had been “certain progress” on a ceasefire in Lebanon after the Israeli army launched an operation in the country targeting Hezbollah.
“There is certain progress,” Saar said in response to a question about a possible ceasefire. “We are working with the Americans on the issue,” he told reporters in Jerusalem.


Initial reports of Israeli attack on Syria’s Homs countryside, Syrian state news agency reports

Initial reports of Israeli attack on Syria’s Homs countryside, Syrian state news agency reports
Updated 18 min 41 sec ago
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Initial reports of Israeli attack on Syria’s Homs countryside, Syrian state news agency reports

Initial reports of Israeli attack on Syria’s Homs countryside, Syrian state news agency reports

DUBAI: Syrian state news agency SANA said on Monday that there were initial reports of an Israeli attack on the Chenchar area in Homs’ southern countryside in central Syria.


Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says

Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says
Updated 44 min 4 sec ago
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Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says

Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says
  • Iran does not recognize second nationalities and treats dual nationals solely as Iranian

DUBAI: Iran’s foreign ministry is aware of reports about the arrest of Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh in Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that Reza Valizadeh, an Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster, was believed to have been detained by Iran for some months.
“We are aware of reports regarding the arrest of one Iranian national, he is an Iranian national and I do not have information on his second citizenship. We are in contact with relevant institutions to follow up on the case,” Baghaei said when asked about Valizadeh in a press conference.
Iran does not recognize second nationalities and treats dual nationals solely as Iranians.
The US State Department had earlier acknowledged the imprisonment of Valizadeh, who previously worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that is overseen by the US Agency for Global Media.


Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack near Jerusalem

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack near Jerusalem
Updated 11 November 2024
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Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack near Jerusalem

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack near Jerusalem
  • Houthis fired missiles targeting military base in area of Israel's Tel Aviv, spokesperson says
  • Israeli military said interception of projectile from Yemen caused fires in Bet Shemesh

JERUSALEM: Yemen’s Houthi militants said they conducted an attack Monday on central Israel, after the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from the Arabian Peninsula country.

In a statement, the Iran-backed Houthis said they carried out a “military operation targeting the Nahal Sorek military base” southeast of Jaffa, adding the “hit was accurate and led to a fire”.

Israeli firefighters were battling blazes west of Jerusalem, with the army saying the fires were sparked by debris from an intercepted missile fired from Yemen.
Firefighters were working to douse the blazes, conducting scans around Beit Shemesh to rule out more fires and “damage from interceptor/missile shrapnel,” the Jerusalem region fire service said.

In a statement, it said: “Following the sirens that sounded in the Shfelat Yehuda, Yehuda, and Lakhish areas of central Israel, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) intercepted one projectile that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen.
“The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.”
Yemen’s Houthi militants, part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States, have periodically fired drones and missiles at Israel since the start of the Gaza war.
The Houthis have also waged a harassment campaign against shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, severely disrupting the vital trade route.