Palestine-Israel war
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Humanitarian airdrops help Israel’s ‘blockade strategy’: Refugees International chief
Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, has said that the amount of aid delivered in airdrops is so “negligible” that it helps “perpetuate the overall blockade strategy”.
“Facilitating airdrops – and driving media coverage around them – gives the public appearance that Israel is cooperating with humanitarian efforts,” said Konyndyk, who is also a former USAID official.
“The fact that they need be considered is a major policy failure,” he said, in a post on social media.
The Israeli army has said “160 packages of food and medical equipment were airdropped into southern Gaza” as part of a joint mission with the US, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt and France.
According to UNRWA, the number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip has dropped by half in February compared to January.
Canada considers airdropping humanitarian aid into Gaza: Minister
Canada’s International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen has said that the country is exploring options for delivering humanitarian aid, and “airdrops of aid into Gaza, in partnership with like-minded countries like Jordan”, were possible.
Hussen, who visited Egypt and Jordan last week, said that drawn-out Israeli inspections on aid trucks at the border with Rafah mean that nowhere near enough aid is entering Gaza.
Ottawa has provided 100 million Canadian dollars ($74m), including 40 million Canadian dollars ($30m) in January alone, towards aid in Gaza since Israel’s ground invasion began.
“I just came back from the region, and Canadian aid is making a difference,” he told reporters.
Israel refuses to recognise Palestinian villages it plans to confiscate
Israel is building a town exclusively for Jewish Israelis. To do so, it is building over homes it destroyed in Umm al-Hiran, a Palestinian Bedouin village in southern Israel.
In January 2017, security forces stormed the village to bulldoze homes and evict inhabitants.
Most of the villagers were forced to leave their land and relocate to Hurra, a larger Bedouin village nearby.
But some 200 people refused to leave their homes and remained in Umm al-Hiran, which is one of 35 towns “unrecognised” by Israel.
“We’re fighting for our rights,” said 23-year-old Mourad Mohamed. “We’re hoping to eventually come to an agreement with the government … to remain here.”
Israeli plan to expand settlements helped trigger US shift in language
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel's plan to add thousands more homes to settlements in the occupied West Bank announced last week was the final push the Biden administration needed to declare them "inconsistent" with international law, sources and US officials familiar with the move told Reuters.
Rather than the carefully choreographed policy rollout typical in Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the reversal in response to a question at a news conference in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires.
Palestinian FM says Hamas knows it cannot be in new govt
GENEVA (AFP) – Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said Wednesday he believes Hamas understands why it should not be part of a new government in the Palestinian territories.
Maliki told a press conference that a "technocratic" government was needed, without the Islamist group which is fighting a bitter war against Israel.
"The time now is not for a national coalition government," Maliki said.
US urges Israel to let Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday urged Israel to allow Muslims to worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan, after a far-right minister proposed barring Palestinians from the occupied West Bank from praying there.
"As it pertains to Al-Aqsa, we continue to urge Israel to facilitate access to Temple Mount for peaceful worshippers during Ramadan consistent with past practice," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, using the Jewish term for the site, the holiest in Judaism.
Hamas raises stakes in Gaza truce talks by calling for Ramadan march to Al-Aqsa Mosque
CAIRO/DUBAI/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hamas called on Wednesday (Feb 28) for Palestinians to march to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque at the start of Ramadan, raising the stakes in ongoing negotiations for a truce in Gaza, which US President Joe Biden hopes will be in place by then.
The call by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh followed comments by Biden that an agreement could be reached between Israel and Hamas as soon as next week for a ceasefire during the Muslim fasting month expected to start this year on Mar 10.
