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Russia Accuses Turkey of Bringing in Mercenaries into Libya

In this May 21, 2019 file photo, GNA forces clash with LNA forces, south of the capital Tripoli, Libya. (AP)
In this May 21, 2019 file photo, GNA forces clash with LNA forces, south of the capital Tripoli, Libya. (AP)
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Russia Accuses Turkey of Bringing in Mercenaries into Libya

In this May 21, 2019 file photo, GNA forces clash with LNA forces, south of the capital Tripoli, Libya. (AP)
In this May 21, 2019 file photo, GNA forces clash with LNA forces, south of the capital Tripoli, Libya. (AP)

Russia accused on Wednesday Turkey of bringing in foreign fighters into the North African country.

Interfax cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as making the allegation.

Libyan Foreign Minister in the East Abdulhadi Lahweej made similar charges, saying the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) was using revenues from oil to pay for thousands of mercenaries coming from Syria to help it.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) launched in April an offensive against Tripoli to rid it of criminal and terrorist militias loyal to the GNA.

Turkey and the GNA signed last year a military cooperation deal and Ankara has since sent troops and allied Syrian fighters there.

On the oil blockade in Libya, Lahweej said his government, parallel to the GNA, could not force pro-LNA tribesmen to lift the embargo that he said was a "popular decision".

"We cannot use our power to lift the blockade," he told journalists in Geneva.

He also reiterated that his side, led by LNA commander Khalifa Haftar, would not participate in political talks due to begin in Geneva on Wednesday, saying there was no agreement with the UN mission on the composition of their delegation.

"The participation for the moment is suspended," he said.

The United Nations had planned to bring together lawmakers from both sides of Libya's conflict on Wednesday to end the fighting over Tripoli as part of a dialogue encompassing military, political and economic strands.

Moreover, Lahweej took aim several times at GNA Fayez al-Sarraj, who earlier this week called Haftar a "war criminal" at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"The war criminal is the one who accepts mercenaries to kill people and accepts pilots who kill civilians," Lahweej said.

On Sunday, the LNA said it had killed 16 Turkish soldiers in recent weeks, accusing Ankara of continuing to provide military support to militias loyal to the GNA.

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Arab World

Only Three Days of Fuel for Health Services in South of Gaza, Says WHO

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
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Only Three Days of Fuel for Health Services in South of Gaza, Says WHO

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)

There is only enough fuel to run health services in the south of Gaza for three more days, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge in the south of Gaza from combat further north in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel has threatened a major assault on the southern city of Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there, and its troops are now battling the Islamist group on Rafah's outskirts.

The WHO said a delivery of fuel to the area had been denied on Wednesday.

It also said that Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah was already no longer functional, one of three hospitals in the city. Some of its equipment has been moved to field hospitals, WHO said.

"WHO has pre-positioned some supplies in warehouses and hospitals, but without more aid flowing into Gaza, we cannot sustain our life-saving support to hospitals," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that WHO would remain in the area to provide health services.

Arab World

Main Maternity Hospital in Rafah Stops Admitting Patients

An Israeli military vehicle fires near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in southern Israel, May 8, 2024. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle fires near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in southern Israel, May 8, 2024. (Reuters)
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Main Maternity Hospital in Rafah Stops Admitting Patients

An Israeli military vehicle fires near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in southern Israel, May 8, 2024. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle fires near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in southern Israel, May 8, 2024. (Reuters)

The main maternity hospital in the Gaza Strip's crowded southern city of Rafah has stopped admitting patients, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) told Reuters on Wednesday.

The UNFPA told Reuters that the hospital, Emirati Maternity Hospital, had been handling some 85 out of a daily total of 180 births in Gaza prior to an escalation of fighting between Hamas and Israeli troops on Rafah's outskirts.

Around half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been crowded into Rafah after fleeing other parts of the enclave during seven months of war.

Emirati Hospital has only five delivery beds. But following the mass influx of people into Rafah that began in December due to Israeli airstrikes and fighting further north, the hospital became the main place for women to give birth in Rafah, Dominic Allen, the UNFPA’s top official for the occupied Palestinian territories, said in an interview with Reuters last month.

Other hospitals in the city, like Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, have for months been admitting war wounded and directing women in labor to Emirati.

It was not immediately clear where women in Rafah trying to deliver in a hospital would be able to do so.

"Humanitarian partners, in coordination with the Ministry of Health, have set up alternative health facilities that can provide different levels of care", the UNFPA statement to Reuters read.

Arab World

Russia Says Gaza War Is Escalating and No Sign of Any Peace Settlement 

Israeli soldiers move on armored personnel carriers (APC) near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
Israeli soldiers move on armored personnel carriers (APC) near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
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Russia Says Gaza War Is Escalating and No Sign of Any Peace Settlement 

Israeli soldiers move on armored personnel carriers (APC) near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
Israeli soldiers move on armored personnel carriers (APC) near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)

Russia said on Wednesday that the war in Gaza was escalating due to Israel's incursion into Rafah and that Moscow so far saw no prospect for a peace settlement in Gaza or the wider Middle East.

Israel invaded Rafah, a southern Gazan city where more than one million displaced Palestinian civilians have sought shelter from Israel's offensive throughout the tiny territory.

"An additional destabilizing factor, including for the entire region, was the launch of an Israeli military ground operation in Rafah," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

"About one and a half million Palestinian civilians are concentrated there. In this regard, we demand strict compliance with the provisions of international humanitarian law."

Speaking more broadly about efforts to find a lasting settlement in the Middle East, Zakharova said: "I would like to call it a settlement, but, alas, it is far from a settlement."

"There are no prospects for resolving the situation in the Gaza Strip. On the contrary, the situation in the conflict zone is escalating daily."

The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting about 250 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's offensive has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, in the conflict, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Arab World

Sudanese Army Denies Link to Disembowelment Video

Sudanese drink from water extracted from an underground well in eastern Sudan. (AFP)
Sudanese drink from water extracted from an underground well in eastern Sudan. (AFP)
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Sudanese Army Denies Link to Disembowelment Video

Sudanese drink from water extracted from an underground well in eastern Sudan. (AFP)
Sudanese drink from water extracted from an underground well in eastern Sudan. (AFP)

The Sudanese army has distanced itself from a widely circulated disturbing video showing two people in military clothing disemboweling another person.

The army rejected any link between its forces and the individuals shown in the video, who were said to be associated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Nabil Abdullah, the army’s official spokesperson, said media affiliated with the RSF “terrorist militia” tried to blame the military for the crime.

The army clarified that the people in the video were not part of their forces and weren’t wearing military uniforms.

The spokesperson said this was not the first time the RSF and its allies have attempted to fabricate such lies.

In a statement, the army reaffirmed its commitment to respecting international humanitarian laws and the rules of war.

Last Sunday, a video circulated on Sudanese social media purportedly showing individuals dressed in Sudanese military fatigues disemboweling an alleged RSF member. The victim was killed and his body desecrated.

RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo condemned the “horrific” video, rejecting such barbaric acts targeting innocents based on their identity and tribe. He assured that his forces would not engage in such behavior and would uphold international humanitarian laws and the Geneva conventions.

Several months ago, the army pledged to investigate an incident involving beheadings allegedly carried out by some of its members against three RSF members. The results of the probe are still pending.

Arab World

Israel Says It Reopened Key Gaza Crossing After Rocket Attack but UN Says No Aid Has Entered 

This handout satellite picture obtained from Planet Labs PBC and taken on May 3, 2024 shows a wide view of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Planet Labs Inc. / AFP) /
This handout satellite picture obtained from Planet Labs PBC and taken on May 3, 2024 shows a wide view of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Planet Labs Inc. / AFP) /
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Israel Says It Reopened Key Gaza Crossing After Rocket Attack but UN Says No Aid Has Entered 

This handout satellite picture obtained from Planet Labs PBC and taken on May 3, 2024 shows a wide view of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Planet Labs Inc. / AFP) /
This handout satellite picture obtained from Planet Labs PBC and taken on May 3, 2024 shows a wide view of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Planet Labs Inc. / AFP) /

The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, a key terminal for the entry of humanitarian aid that was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby. 

But the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said no aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side. Workers fled during an incursion by an Israeli tank brigade on Tuesday that captured the nearby Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which remains closed. 

That limited incursion did not appear to be the start of the full-scale invasion of Rafah that Israel has repeatedly promised. But the prolonged closure of the two main crossings could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN says a “full-blown famine” is already underway in the north. 

The United States paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on Rafah, in a further widening of divisions between the two close allies. 

The US says it is concerned over the fate of around 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into Rafah, most of whom fled fighting elsewhere. Israel says Rafah is Hamas' last stronghold and that a wider offensive there is needed to dismantle the group's military and governing capabilities. 

The US, Egypt and Qatar are meanwhile ramping up efforts to close the gaps in a possible agreement for at least a temporary ceasefire and the release of some of the scores of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. Israel has linked the threatened Rafah operation to the fate of those negotiations. 

The Rafah crossing has been a vital conduit for humanitarian aid since the start of the war and is the only place where people can enter and exit. Kerem Shalom is Gaza's main cargo terminal. Israel now controls all of Gaza’s crossings for the first time since it withdrew troops and settlers from the territory nearly two decades ago, though it has maintained a blockade for most of that time. 

Associated Press journalists heard sporadic explosions and gunfire in the area of the Rafah crossing overnight, including two large blasts early Wednesday. The Israeli military reported six launches from Rafah toward the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday. 

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, said the Kerem Shalom crossing reopened early Wednesday. But Juliette Touma, the director of communications for UNRWA, said no aid had entered as of midday Wednesday and that the UN agency had been forced to ration fuel, which is imported through Rafah. 

Gaza’s Health Ministry meanwhile said at least 46 patients and wounded people who had been scheduled to leave Tuesday for medical treatment have been left stranded. 

UN agencies and aid groups have ramped up humanitarian assistance in recent weeks as Israel has lifted some restrictions and opened an additional crossing in the north under pressure from the United States, its closest ally. 

But aid workers say the closure of Rafah, which is the only gateway for the entry of fuel for trucks and generators, could have severe repercussions, and the UN says northern Gaza is already in a state of “full-blown famine.” 

COGAT said 60 aid trucks entered through the northern crossing on Tuesday. Some 500 trucks entered Gaza every day before the war. 

The war began when Hamas fighters breached Israel's defenses on Oct. 7 and swept through nearby army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Hamas is still believed to be holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others after most of the rest were released during a November ceasefire. 

The war has killed over 34,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and has driven some 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. Israel's military campaign has been one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, reducing large parts of Gaza to rubble. 

Biden has repeatedly warned Netanyahu against launching an invasion of Rafah. But Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he calls off an offensive or makes too many concessions in the ceasefire talks. 

The US has historically provided Israel enormous amounts of military aid, which has only accelerated since the start of the war. 

The paused shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 smaller ones, with the US concern focused on how the larger bombs could be used in a dense urban setting, a US official said Tuesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The official said no final decision had been made yet on proceeding with the shipment. 

Arab World

UN Warns of Four-Month Lean Period in Yemen

The number of households experiencing inadequate food consumption has increased to 49 percent across Yemen, said a FAO report. (Local media)
The number of households experiencing inadequate food consumption has increased to 49 percent across Yemen, said a FAO report. (Local media)
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UN Warns of Four-Month Lean Period in Yemen

The number of households experiencing inadequate food consumption has increased to 49 percent across Yemen, said a FAO report. (Local media)
The number of households experiencing inadequate food consumption has increased to 49 percent across Yemen, said a FAO report. (Local media)

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that Yemen would be facing a lean period from June to September due to a decrease in humanitarian food assistance in Houthi-controlled areas and a projected increase in food prices in areas held by the legitimate government.

In its quarterly food security update, the FAO said that despite a brief relief experienced from mid-March through April this year due to augmented social support (zakat) during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, food security is anticipated to deteriorate from June to September, marking “the peak of the lean period in the country.”

FAO noted that during the first quarter of 2024, the food security situation deteriorated compared to the same period last year.

Therefore, the number of households experiencing inadequate food consumption has increased to 49 percent nationwide.

The organization expected these deteriorations to persist, adding that household purchasing power has significantly decreased due to the decline in seasonal agricultural and casual labor opportunities. In addition, civil servants are facing extreme delayed salary payments amid a challenging economic outlook while reduced humanitarian food assistance is increasing dependence on markets, it showed.

The report noted that despite increased disruptions in the Red Sea, the importation of food and fuel imports continue normally, ensuring sufficient food supplies in the markets.

Moreover, the report said political violence fell to historic lows as the attention has been shifted to the Red Sea and consequently, there was a drop in new internal displacements of people.

According to FAO High Frequency Monitoring, the proportion of households with inadequate food consumption nationally rose to 49 percent in March 2024, up from 43 percent in the last quarter and 47 percent during the same month last year.

In Houthi-controlled areas, inadequate food consumption in March 2024 showed an increase from 6 to 8 percent higher than in the same quarter of 2023.

In the first quarter of 2024, the FAO report said most of the governorates experiencing the largest declines in food consumption are in Houthi-controlled areas, including Al-Jawf, Hajja, Taiz, Saadah, Marib and Raymah, compared to Aden and Hadramout in government-controlled areas.

Field reports also indicated a surge in the number of malnourished children during the period under review.

The cholera situation in Yemen, spanning from March 14 to April 2, 2024, continues to raise concerns, FAO said.

The Ministry of Health counted a total of 7,364 suspected cases. Among these, there are 260 confirmed cases and 66 deaths. The primary sources of contamination are raw vegetables and fruits (67%) and water (33%).

Approximately 71.4 percent of surveyed households reported a decline in their primary income, a significant increase from the 61 percent recorded during the same period in 2023, the FAO report noted.

It added that in March 2024, agricultural casual labor income decreased for 71% of households in SBA areas, compared to 60.3% in the same month in 2023.

And despite an average increase in agricultural and casual labor rates by 13-14% in the government areas in March, these rates remained relatively stable in Houthi-controlled areas.

Meanwhile, labor opportunities have decreased year on year, leading to reduced household income in March 2024, as indicated by 26% of households reporting reduced income as a major shock, a significant rise from 12.4% the previous year, relatively higher in Houthi-controlled areas (28%) than in the legitimate government areas (20%).

The report said various regions, including Al-Bayda, Sanaa, Dhamar, Hadramout, Hajjah, Lahj, Raymah, Shabwah and Taiz, reported higher income reductions than during the same period the year before.

Arab World

US Paused Bomb Shipment to Israel to Signal Concerns Over Rafah Invasion, Official Says 

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP)
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US Paused Bomb Shipment to Israel to Signal Concerns Over Rafah Invasion, Official Says 

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP)

The US paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the US, a senior administration official said Tuesday.

The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, with the focus of US concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting.

More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel's war on Hamas, which came after the armed group's deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

The US has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid for Israel. That has only accelerated in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 in Israel and led to about 250 being taken captive by fighters. The pausing of the aid shipment is the most striking manifestation of the growing daylight between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the administration of President Joe Biden, which has called on Israel to do far more to protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.

It also comes as the Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on delivery of aid have violated international and US laws designed to spare civilians from the worst horrors of war. A decision against Israel would further add to pressure on Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military.

Biden’s administration in April began reviewing future transfers of military assistance as Netanyahu’s government appeared to move closer toward an invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House. The official said the decision to pause the shipment was made last week and no final decision had been made yet on whether to proceed with the shipment at a later date.

US officials had declined for days to comment on the halted transfer, word of which came as Biden on Tuesday described US support for Israel as “ironclad, even when we disagree.”

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to square the arms holdup with Biden's rhetoric in support of Israel, saying only, “Two things could be true.”

Israeli troops on Tuesday seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing in what the White House described as a limited operation that stopped short of the full-on Israeli invasion of the city that Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds, most recently in a Monday call with Netanyahu.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city. Israeli forces have also carried out what it describes as “targeted strikes” on the eastern part of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a critical conduit for the flow of humanitarian aid along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Privately, concern has mounted inside the White House about what’s unfolding in Rafah, but publicly administration officials have stressed that they did not think the operations had defied Biden’s warnings against a widescale operation in the city.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel described the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah as “an operation of limited scale and duration” aimed at cutting off Hamas arms smuggling, but also said the US would monitor the fighting.

Just last month, Congress passed a $95 billion national security bill that included funding for Ukraine, Israel and other allies. The package included more than $14 billion in military aid for Israel, though the stalled transfer was not related to that measure.

The State Department is separately considering whether to approve the continued transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which place precision guidance systems onto bombs, to Israel, but the review didn't pertain to imminent shipments.

The US dropped the 2,000-pound bomb sparingly in its long war against the ISIS extremist group. Israel, by contrast, has used the bomb frequently in the seven-month Gaza war. Experts say the use of the weapon, in part, has helped drive the enormous Palestinian casualty count that the Hamas-run health ministry puts at more than 34,000 dead, though it doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians.

The US-Israel relationship has been close through both Democratic and Republican administrations. But there have been other moments of deep tension since the founding in which US leaders have threatened to hold up aid in attempt to sway Israeli leadership.

President Dwight Eisenhower pressured Israel with the threat of sanctions into withdrawing from the Sinai in 1957 in the midst of the Suez Crisis. Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel at a time of escalating violence in the Middle East. President George H.W. Bush held up $10 billion in loan guarantees to force the cessation of Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.

Arab World

Türkiye Says Israel’s Rafah Operation Is Another War Crime 

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Türkiye Says Israel’s Rafah Operation Is Another War Crime 

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

The Israeli operation in Gaza's Rafah city a day after Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal marks another war crime by Israel, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Tuesday.

"By carrying out a ground attack on Rafah, just a day after Hamas approved Qatar and Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire deal, Israel has added another to the war crimes it has committed in Palestinian territories since October 7," Yilmaz said on social media platform X.

Ankara would continue working for the Israeli leadership to be legally punished, he added.

Arab World

UN Agencies: Gaza is 'Choked Off' from Aid Since Crossing Closures

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day. (Photo by AFP)
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UN Agencies: Gaza is 'Choked Off' from Aid Since Crossing Closures

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day. (Photo by AFP)

UN agencies said on Tuesday the two main crossings into the southern Gaza Strip remained shut, virtually cutting off the Palestinian enclave from outside aid with few stocks positioned inside. 

The global agency's humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists Israel had shut both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of its military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people are sheltering. 

The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which governs the besieged Palestinian territory. 

"The two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off," Laerke said, adding UN agencies had very low stocks inside the Gaza Strip since humanitarian supplies were consumed immediately. The enclave has just a one-day buffer of fuel stocks, he said. 

"If no fuel comes in for a prolonged period of time it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave," he said. 

A World Health Organization spokesperson said in response to a journalist's question that no exceptions were being made for sick and injured patients. 

While some non-fuel supplies have entered Gaza via the northern Erez crossing in recent days, the UN agencies said this was insufficient and difficult to deliver to Rafah since it meant crossing active combat zones. 

"Erez will simply not be enough," said James Elder, a spokesperson for the United Nations children's agency. "If Rafah gate closes for an extended period, it's hard to see how famine in Gaza can be averted," he said. 

Even before the latest escalation in the seven-month-old conflict, the United Nations has repeatedly accused Israel of restricting aid access despite famine warnings. Faced with growing international pressure, Israel had pledged to improve access but says UN agencies are to blame for not distributing aid more efficiently within the enclave. 

UN agencies said they had pre-stocked some aid within Rafah but said there were very low supplies of water and high-energy nutrition supplies needed to treat malnourished children. 

Arab World

HRW: Israel Attack on Lebanon Rescuers was 'Unlawful'

The March 27 strike levelled the emergency services center in the Lebanese village of Habariyeh. Rabih DAHER / AFP/File
The March 27 strike levelled the emergency services center in the Lebanese village of Habariyeh. Rabih DAHER / AFP/File
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HRW: Israel Attack on Lebanon Rescuers was 'Unlawful'

The March 27 strike levelled the emergency services center in the Lebanese village of Habariyeh. Rabih DAHER / AFP/File
The March 27 strike levelled the emergency services center in the Lebanese village of Habariyeh. Rabih DAHER / AFP/File

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday an Israeli strike in Lebanon that killed seven first responders was "an unlawful attack on civilians", and urged Washington to suspend weapons sales to Israel.
The Israel-Lebanon border area has witnessed near-daily exchanges between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah since the Palestinian group attacked southern Israel on October 7 sparking war in Gaza.
"An Israeli strike on an emergency and relief center" in the southern village of Habariyeh on March 27 "killed seven emergency and relief volunteers" and constituted an "unlawful attack on civilians that failed to take all necessary precautions", HRW said in a statement.
"If the attack on civilians was carried out intentionally or recklessly, it should be investigated as an apparent war crime," it added.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP.
But at the time the military said the target was "a military compound" and that the strike killed a "significant terrorist operative" from Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group close to Hamas, and other "terrorists".
HRW said in the statement that it found "no evidence of a military target at the site", and said the Israeli strike "targeted a residential structure that housed the Emergency and Relief Corps of the Lebanese Succour Association, a non-governmental humanitarian organization".
Jamaa Islamiya later denied it was connected to the emergency responders, and the association told AFP it had no affiliation with any Lebanese political organization.
HRW said "the Israeli military's admission" it had targeted the center in Habariyeh indicated a "failure to take all feasible precautions to verify that the target was military and avoid loss of civilian life... making the strike unlawful".
The rights group said those killed were volunteers, adding that 18-year-old twin brothers were among the dead.
"Family members... the Lebanese Succour Association, and the civil defense all said that the seven men were civilians and not affiliated with any armed group," it added.
However, it noted that social media content suggested at least two of those killed "may have been supporters" of Jamaa Islamiya.
HRW said images of weapons parts found at the site included the remains of an Israeli bomb and remnants of a "guidance kit produced by the US-based Boeing Company".
"Israeli forces used a US weapon to conduct a strike that killed seven civilian relief workers in Lebanon who were merely doing their jobs," HRW's Lebanon researcher, Ramzi Kaiss, said.
The rights group urged the United States to "immediately suspend arms sales and military assistance to Israel given evidence that the Israeli military is using US weapons unlawfully".