US says it will not limit Israel arms transfers after some improvements in flow of aid to Gaza

US says it will not limit Israel arms transfers after some improvements in flow of aid to Gaza
The Biden administration says Israel has made good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and it will not limit arms transfers to Israel as it had threatened to a month ago if the situation had not improved. (Reuters/File)
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US says it will not limit Israel arms transfers after some improvements in flow of aid to Gaza

US says it will not limit Israel arms transfers after some improvements in flow of aid to Gaza
  • State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday the progress to date must be supplemented and sustained
  • “We are not giving Israel a pass,” Patel said, adding that “we want to see the totality of the humanitarian situation improve”

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration says Israel has made good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza and it will not limit arms transfers to Israel as it had threatened to a month ago if the situation had not improved.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday the progress to date must be supplemented and sustained but “we at this time have not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of US law.” It requires recipients of military assistance to adhere to international humanitarian law and not impede the provision of such aid.
“We are not giving Israel a pass,” Patel said, adding that “we want to see the totality of the humanitarian situation improve, and we think some of these steps will allow the conditions for that to continue to progress.”
The decision from the US, Israel’s key ally and largest provider of arms and other military aid, comes despite international aid organizations declaring that Israel has failed to meet the US demands to allow greater humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, where conditions are worse than at any point in the 13-month-old war.
The Biden administration last month set a deadline expiring Tuesday for Israel to “surge” more food and other emergency aid into the Palestinian territory or risk the possibility of scaled-back military support as Israel wages offensives against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top national security adviser, Ron Dermer, in Washington a day earlier to go over the steps that Israel has taken since Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned in mid-October of possible repercussions if the aid situation had not improved in 30 days.
Blinken stressed “the importance of ensuring those changes lead to an actual improvement in the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, including through the delivery of additional assistance to civilians throughout Gaza,” the State Department said.
The obstacles facing aid distribution were on this display this week. Even after the military gave permission for a delivery to the northernmost part of Gaza — virtually cut off from food for more than a month by an Israeli siege — the United Nations said it couldn’t deliver most of it because of turmoil and restrictions from Israeli troops on the ground.
Hunger experts have warned the north may already be experiencing famine.
Meanwhile, in the south, hundreds of truckloads of aid are sitting on the Gaza side of the border because the UN says it cannot reach them to distribute the aid — again because of the threat of lawlessness, theft and Israeli military restrictions.
Israel has announced a series of steps — though their effect was unclear. On Tuesday, it opened a new crossing in central Gaza, outside the city of Deir Al-Balah, for aid to enter. It also announced a small expansion of its coastal “humanitarian zone,” where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering in tent camps. It connected electricity for a desalination plant in Deir Al-Balah.
US officials haven’t said whether they will take any action. President Joe Biden met Tuesday at the White House with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who said a “major objective” for the US should be reining in Iran and its proxies. Herzog also called for the return of the hostages taken from Israel in the Hamas attack that started the war, to which Biden said, “I agree.”
A day earlier, Israel’s new foreign minister, Gideon Saar, appeared to downplay the deadline, telling reporters that he was confident “the issue would be solved.” The Biden administration may have less leverage after Donald Trump won the presidential election — he was a staunch supporter of Israel in his first term.
Eight international aid organization said in their report Tuesday that “Israel not only failed to meet the US criteria” but also took actions “that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza. … That situation is in an even more dire state today than a month ago.”
The report listed 19 measures of compliance with the US demands. It said Israel had failed to comply with 15 and only partially complied with four. The report was co-signed by Anera, Care, MedGlobal, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children.
In an Oct. 13 letter, the US gave Israel 30 days to, among other things, allow a minimum of 350 truckloads of goods into Gaza each day; open a fifth crossing; allow people in coastal tent camps to move inland before the winter; and ensure access for aid groups to northern Gaza. It also called on Israel to halt legislation that would hinder operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
Aid levels remain far below the US benchmarks. Access to northern Gaza remains restricted, and Israel has pressed ahead with its laws against UNRWA.
Israel launched a major offensive last month in the north, where it says Hamas militants had regrouped. The operation has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.
Through October and the first days of November, Israel allowed no food to enter the area, where tens of thousands of civilians have stayed despite evacuation orders.
Last week, Israel allowed 11 trucks to go to Beit Hanoun, one of the north’s hardest-hit towns. But the World Food Organization said troops at a checkpoint forced its trucks to unload their cargo before reaching shelters in the town.
On Tuesday, COGAT — the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza — announced it allowed a new delivery of food and water to Beit Hanoun a day earlier. Again, the WFP said that while it tried to send 14 trucks, only three made it to the town “due to delays in receiving authorization for movement and crowds along the route.” When it tried to deliver the rest Tuesday, Israel denied it permission, it said.
Aid into all of Gaza plummeted in October, when just 34,000 tons of food entered, only a third of the previous month, according to Israeli data.
UN agencies say even less actually gets through because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and lawlessness that makes it difficult to collect and distribute aid on the Gaza side.
In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, and 75 a day so far in November, according to Israel’s official figures. The UN says it only received 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October.
COGAT said 900 truckloads of aid are sitting uncollected on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.
“Before the organizations give out grades, they should focus on distributing the aid that awaits them,” COGAT said in response to the aid groups’ report.
Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, said the miliary was not coordinating movements for aid trucks to reach the stacked-up cargos. “If we are not provided a safe passage to go and collect it ... it will not reach the people who need it,” she said.
COGAT blamed the drop in October on closures of the crossings for the Jewish high holidays and memorials marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion have killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities, who don’t say how many of those killed were militants. Around 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced, and hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps, with little food, water or hygiene facilities.
The United States has rushed billions of dollars in military aid to Israel during the war, while pressing it to allow more aid into Gaza.
Trump has promised to end the wars in the Middle East without saying how. He was a staunch defender of Israel during his previous term, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says they have spoken three times since his reelection last week.


Humanitarian chiefs say Israel failed to meet US deadline for allowing aid into Gaza

Humanitarian chiefs say Israel failed to meet US deadline for allowing aid into Gaza
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Humanitarian chiefs say Israel failed to meet US deadline for allowing aid into Gaza

Humanitarian chiefs say Israel failed to meet US deadline for allowing aid into Gaza
  • Aid organizations call on Washington to suspend arms sales to Israel and impose security restrictions, as required by US law
  • Oxfam America accuses Israeli authorities of a ‘campaign of ethnic cleansing’ in northern Gaza

NEW YORK CITY: Israel has failed to meet critical Gaza-related humanitarian demands set by the US government, according to a report published jointly by eight major humanitarian organizations.
The failure comes “at an enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians” in the enclave, where the humanitarian situation “is now at its worst point” since the war began in October 2023, they said.
Their assessment comes a month after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israeli officials demanding the implementation of concrete measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days.
This deadline passed on Tuesday with no significant signs of progress. Instead, Israeli forces have accelerated their efforts “to bombard, depopulate, deprive and erase the Palestinian population of the North Gaza governorate,” said Abby Maxman, the president of Oxfam America.
“We are witnessing a campaign of ethnic cleansing,” she added. “Oxfam and partner organizations are unable to provide any support to the remaining civilians in the North Gaza governorate, where people are dying every day.
“Access to the rest of Gaza is also severely restricted, with civilians facing starvation and relentless violence. The US must finally make this overdue call to suspend deadly arms sales to Israel or be complicit in the horrific atrocities unfolding before our eyes.”
The aid organizations that contributed to the report, which also include Refugees International, Save the Children and MedGlobal, called on Washington to make an “immediate determination” that Israel is in violation of its assurances under US and international law, and to suspend arms sales and impose restrictions on security cooperation, as required by US law.
The report also urges the American government to press for immediate humanitarian pauses in military operations, the opening of more routes for deliveries of aid, and efforts to ensure civilians and medical facilities are protected.
“With experts again projecting imminent famine in northern Gaza, there is no time to lose,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International. The report “clearly demonstrates that the Israeli government is violating its obligations (to) facilitate humanitarian relief for suffering Palestinians in Gaza,” he added.
Zaher Sahloul, the president and co-founder of MedGlobal, said the organization’s local medical teams and international volunteers in Gaza have personally witnessed “the complete failure by the Israeli authorities to ensure the delivery of critical supplies, including food, water and medicines, and to protect civilians and medical spaces.”
He added: “Our teams are living through the relentless bombing of hospitals, and our medics continue to treat wounded women and children every day. These are egregious violations of the cornerstone principle of international humanitarian law, which protects civilians in time of war.”
Sahloul called on the Biden administration to “do everything possible to push for the full provision of aid to Gaza’s desperate people.”
In addition to the medical crisis, the blockade of Gaza has severely limited the ability of humanitarian organizations to deliver aid. The report says convoys are still often blocked, delayed or looted, and access to key parts of the territory, especially in the north, remains severely restricted.
“I witnessed during my visit to Gaza last week the deliberate starvation of almost 2 million civilians, while the bombardment continues,” said Jan Egelan, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“There is barely any aid crossing into Gaza. The little that does get through is often looted, as the occupying power has obliterated the Palestinian police and refuses to secure, or provide secure access routes to, places where humanitarian organizations could distribute aid to a starving population.”
Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, the CEO of Mercy Corps, said the US government must do “everything in its power to ensure the unfettered provision of essential aid to people in desperate need.”
The report highlights the dire food insecurity among the population of Gaza. Janti Soeripto, the president of Save the Children, said: “Systemic impediments to the humanitarian system are making a deadly conflict even deadlier.
“Enough is enough. The facts are there. Adults have been failing children for over a year. What more will it take?”
With winter and famine looming, the organizations warned that children in particular are at imminent risk, with many of them already suffering the effects of malnutrition.
Sean Carroll, the president and CEO of American Near East Refugee Aid, said the organization’s “humanitarian workers in Gaza have spent the past year expending superhuman effort in subhuman conditions to provide assistance to civilians.”
He added: “In the past month, we’ve seen families throughout Gaza, and particularly in the north, subjected to increasingly horrific conditions. This is a damning indictment of Israel’s failure to follow international humanitarian law and to respond to the critical and reasonable demands of its greatest ally, the United States. The consequences will be more innocent lives ended and destroyed.
“They should also include restrictions on Israel’s ability to continue prosecution of this war in a manner that is increasingly being seen as consistent with ethnic cleansing.”
The report warns that with more than 2 million civilians in Gaza facing starvation, daily bombardments and lack of access to the basic necessities of life, the humanitarian situation in the territory is on the brink of catastrophe.
“There is no time to lose,” it concludes.


US defense contractor ordered to pay $42m to Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib

US defense contractor ordered to pay $42m to Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib
Updated 9 min 29 sec ago
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US defense contractor ordered to pay $42m to Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib

US defense contractor ordered to pay $42m to Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib
  • Virginia-based CACI Premier Technology was found liable for its role in the torture

WASHINGTON: A federal jury on Tuesday ordered a US defense contractor to pay $42 million in damages to three Iraqi men who were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison, their lawyers said.
Virginia-based CACI Premier Technology was found liable for its role in the torture of the men at the prison in 2003 and 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights said.


Sudan is experiencing some of the most extreme violence in 18 months of war, UN warns

Sudan is experiencing some of the most extreme violence in 18 months of war, UN warns
Updated 52 min 20 sec ago
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Sudan is experiencing some of the most extreme violence in 18 months of war, UN warns

Sudan is experiencing some of the most extreme violence in 18 months of war, UN warns
  • Need for international unity to help end the civil war is ‘blindingly clear,’ says organization’s political chief 
  • At least 20,000 people have been killed during the conflict, thousands more injured and millions displaced 

NEW YORK CITY: The UN warned on Tuesday that the civil war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, continues to inflict “unrelenting violence and suffering” on millions of civilians in the country. 

It said that as clashes between two rival factions of the military government, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, continue unabated, the latest wave of attacks by the latter in the eastern state of Al-Gazira has been marked by “some of the most extreme violence witnessed in the past 18 months.” 

Rosemarie DiCarlo, the UN’s undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, told a meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday, that Sudan is “trapped in a nightmare,” as she condemned recent atrocities that have resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths. 

During more than a year-and-a-half of conflict, at least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 33,000 injured. The war has created the worst displacement crisis in the world; more than 11 million people have fled their homes to other parts of Sudan, and 3 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries. 

Human rights groups have reported horrific violations of international law as the warring factions continue to wreak havoc across the country, including widespread sexual violence primarily targeting women and girls. 

Describing the violence as “appalling,” DiCarlo condemned relentless attacks by the RSF and indiscriminate SAF airstrikes on populated areas. 

“This is a man-made disaster. Both warring parties bear responsibility for the atrocities and must be held accountable,” she said as she called for an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians. 

Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned of widespread food insecurity in the war-ravaged country.  

Conditions are particularly troubling in Darfur and Khartoum, he said, where thousands have died and malnutrition rates are surging, especially among children. 

According to his office, there are rising levels of malnutrition in the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, which was already facing famine conditions, affecting 34 percent of children, 10 percent of whom are severely malnourished. 

Rajasingham stressed the urgent need for improved humanitarian access, as many conflict zones remain completely cut off or are difficult to reach because of difficult or delayed procedures. While the opening of the Adre border crossing from Chad has helped to provide “vital relief,” he said this alone is not sufficient given the scale of the crisis. 

Humanitarian organizations require safe, unimpeded access so that they can deliver aid, he added as he called for agreements on humanitarian pauses in the fighting so that assistance can be delivered and civilians can move safely out of conflict zones. 

Rajasingham also urged the international community to provide flexible financial support for relief operations, and to push for a ceasefire agreement. 

“The conditions are there for the conflict to claim even more lives,” he warned as he called for an “immediate shift” in the way the international community is responding to the unfolding crisis. 

Despite international pressure, there has been little progress toward peace talks. Both the RSF and the SAF continue to escalate their military operations, bolstered by external support including a steady flow of weapons into the country. 

“Certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan,” DiCarlo said as she called for this “unconscionable and illegal” external support that is fueling the violence to end. 

Efforts to mediate the conflict have been fragmented to date. The international community has struggled to present a unified front and the warring factions have profited from this lack of unity. 

However, DiCarlo pointed to a glimmer of hope in the form of ongoing efforts by the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to restore a process for political dialogue and facilitate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. 

She also acknowledged the work being done by the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group to promote key peace initiatives, including the Jeddah Declaration, which aims to establish mechanisms for protect civilians. 

“The need for greater convergence is blindingly clear,” DiCarlo said. With the conflict showing no sign of abating, she also called for the implementation of local ceasefire agreements to offer some respite to civilians. 

The UN has also proposed the establishment of a compliance mechanism, she added, to hold the warring parties accountable for their commitments to the protection of civilians under the Jeddah Declaration.


Lebanon rocket fire kills two in Israel: first responders

Lebanon rocket fire kills two in Israel: first responders
Updated 12 November 2024
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Lebanon rocket fire kills two in Israel: first responders

Lebanon rocket fire kills two in Israel: first responders
  • Emergency medic Dor Vakinin said a rocket hit a warehouse and that emergency teams arrived on the scene “quickly“
  • “There was a lot of destruction and an active fire,” he said

JERUSALEM: Rocket fire from Lebanon on Tuesday killed two men in their 40s in northern Israel, close to the town of Nahariya, first responders said.
Emergency medic Dor Vakinin said a rocket hit a warehouse and that emergency teams arrived on the scene “quickly.”
“There was a lot of destruction and an active fire,” he said. “We performed medical examinations on two men who were lying unconscious and suffering from severe injuries to their bodies. Unfortunately their injuries were too severe and after the examinations, we had to determine the death of both of them.”
The Israeli military said a barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, some of which were intercepted, while “others fell in the area.”
It said sirens had sounded in central Israel, including in Tel Aviv and at Ben Gurion airport. Three projectiles that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted, it said.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said it had fired missiles at an Israeli air base south of Tel Aviv.
The rocket fire came as Israel again pounded Hezbollah strongholds in south Beirut and south Lebanon, the military said.
Israeli and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since Hamas militants from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Fighting has escalated since Israel launched an air and ground offensive against Hezbollah in September.


UN force says Israeli work on so-called Alpha Line with Syria saw ‘severe violations’ of ceasefire

UN force says Israeli work on so-called Alpha Line with Syria saw ‘severe violations’ of ceasefire
Updated 12 November 2024
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UN force says Israeli work on so-called Alpha Line with Syria saw ‘severe violations’ of ceasefire

UN force says Israeli work on so-called Alpha Line with Syria saw ‘severe violations’ of ceasefire
  • The Israel military also has begun demolishing villages in Lebanon, where other UN peacekeepers have come under fire
  • “Such severe violations of the (demilitarized zone) have the potential to increase tensions in the area and is being closely monitored by UNDOF,” it added
The Israel military also has begun demolishing villages in Lebanon, where other UN peacekeepers have come under fire
“Such severe violations of the (demilitarized zone) have the potential to increase tensions in the area and is being closely monitored by UNDOF,” it added

DUBAI: United Nations peacekeepers warned Tuesday that the Israeli military has committed “severe violations” of a ceasefire deal with Syria as its military continues a major construction project along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria.
The comments from the UN Disengagement Observer Force, which has patrolled the area since 1974, come after an Associated Press report Monday that published satellite imagery showing the extent of the works along the frontier.
The work, which UNDOF said began in July, follows the completion by the Israeli military of new roadways and what appears to be a buffer zone along the Gaza Strip’s frontier with Israel. The Israel military also has begun demolishing villages in Lebanon, where other UN peacekeepers have come under fire.
While such violence hasn’t broken out along the Alpha Line, UNDOF warned Tuesday the work risked further inflaming tensions in the region.
“Such severe violations of the (demilitarized zone) have the potential to increase tensions in the area and is being closely monitored by UNDOF,” it added.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Syrian officials have declined to comment on the construction, though UNDOF described Syrian officials as having “strongly protested” the work.
As Israel conducted the construction work, which UNDOF described as “extensive engineering groundwork activities,” it has protected earth-moving equipment with armored vehicles and main battle tanks, the peacekeepers said. Troops and earth-moving equipment have crossed the Alpha Line into the demilitarized zone in Syria, known to UNDOF as the “area of separation.”
“Violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement have occurred where engineering works have encroached into the AOS,” the peacekeepers said in a statement, using an acronym for the area. “There have been several violations by (Israel) in the form of their presence in the AoS because of these activities.”
UNDOF has repeatedly protested the work, which it described as violating the ceasefire deal over the months of construction so far.
“Based on the engagement, (Israel) has indicated that the current earthworks are being carried out for defensive purpose to prevent unauthorized crossing and violations by civilians,” the peacekeepers added.
Israel sent a 71-page letter in June to the UN outlining what it described as “Syrian violations of the Alpha Line and armed presence in the area of separation (that) occur daily.” The letter cited numerous Israeli-alleged violations by Syrian civilians crossing the line.
Syria has constantly accused Israel of launching attacks against it from territory it occupies in the Golan Heights. Israel has frequently struck Syria over the years, particularly after the start of the Mideast wars following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel.
Israel seized control of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. The UN Secretary Council voted to create UNDOF to patrol a roughly 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) demilitarized zone and maintain the peace there after the 1973 Mideast war. A second demarcation, known as the Bravo Line, marks the limit of where the Syrian military can operate.
UNDOF has around 1,100 troops, mostly from Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Uruguay, who patrol the area.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 — a move criticized by a UN resolution declaring Israel’s action as “null and void and without international legal effect.” The territory, some 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) in size, is a strategic high ground that overlooks both Israel and Syria.
Around 50,000 Jewish settlers and Arabs who are mostly members of the Druze sect of Shiite Islam live there.
In 2019, President Donald Trump unilaterally announced that the United States would “fully recognize” Israel’s control of the territory, a decision that has been unchanged by the Biden administration. However, it’s the only other country to do so, as the rest of the world views it as occupied Syrian territory.