Tag: Humanitarian Crises

Gaza fighting continues despite Israeli ‘pauses’ announcement: UNRWA | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israeli forces battled with Palestinian groups in Rafah and elsewhere in southern Gaza despite the Israeli military’s announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid to enter, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticised plans announced by the military to hold daily pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into the besieged Palestinian enclave that has been under relentless Israeli bombardment for more than eight months.

Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the main organisation delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, said that there had been no pause in the fighting.

“There has been information that such a decision has been taken, but the political level says none of this decision has been taken,” Lazzarini told a press conference on Monday.

“So for the time being, I can tell you that hostilities continue in Rafah and in the south of Gaza. And that operationally, nothing has changed yet.”

The Israeli military said on Monday that its forces were continuing operations in the Rafah area, which included ground fighting.

Residents said Israeli forces were advancing deeper into the central and western areas of Rafah. Hamas forces were fighting from close range inside the Shaboura camp in the heart of Rafah, according to the group’s armed wing and residents, who reported hearing sounds of non-stop explosions and gunfire.

The Israeli military had announced at the weekend the daily pauses from 05:00 GMT until 16:00 GMT in the area from the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.

It later clarified that operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its ongoing assault in southern Gaza.

International humanitarian officials have repeatedly said that Israeli inspections, ongoing fighting, and looting by desperate residents have impeded aid deliveries. Israeli ground troops have been operating in the southern city of Rafah since early May. They have since sealed shut the vital Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Before the Rafah ground operation, there was already an inadequate flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip’s south stood in the hundreds – not nearly enough to sustain the daily needs of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million.

‘Hell on earth’

“As we have reiterated, humanitarian operations in Gaza must be fully facilitated, and all impediments must be lifted,” UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told The Associated Press on Monday. “We need to be able to deliver aid safely throughout Gaza.”

With the Israeli assault on Gaza in its ninth month, Haq said, displaced Palestinians in the territory urgently need food, water, sanitation, shelter and healthcare, “with many living near piles of solid waste, heightening health risks”.

He said Israel needs to ensure that the movement of aid convoys and staff members through checkpoints is expedited, that all roads are operational, and that fuel – which is in critically short supply – enters Gaza regularly.

Meanwhile, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip has been turned into “hell on earth” as famine looms.

He said humanitarian aid is obstructed and politicised while hunger and disease spread, “and humanitarian workers, health care workers, and journalists have all endured unacceptable losses”.

Echoing his remarks, Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israel and the United States of “purposefully” worsening famine-like conditions in Gaza by “withholding humanitarian aid as a tool for political pressure”.

In a statement on Monday, the media office accused Israel and the US administration of “deliberately aggravating the humanitarian situation” in Gaza to achieve political goals.

Separately on Monday, Norway said that it was increasing its funding to UNRWA by 100 million kroner ($9.3m).

UNRWA was plunged into a crisis in January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

The allegations prompted several countries, including top donor the US, to suspend funding to the agency, though many have since resumed payments.

“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza,” Norway’s Minister for International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim said in a statement.

“The war, accusations made by Israel, continuous attacks on the organisation and funds withheld by major donors have put UNRWA in an extremely difficult financial situation,” she said.

An independent review of UNRWA, led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its main allegations.

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Israel’s targeting of Gaza schools ‘eroding foundation for societal growth’ | Israel-Palestine conflict News

More than 76 percent of schools in Gaza require “full reconstruction or major rehabilitation” to be functional following Israel’s months-long onslaught, according to a new assessment shared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Based on satellite imagery collected in May, the new Education Cluster assessment highlights a “continuous spike in the direct targeting of schools” in the besieged and bombarded territory.

Of the school buildings used as shelters for displaced people in Gaza, 69 percent have been directly hit or damaged in attacks and more than 96 percent of the schools directly attacked – 296 in total – were located in areas subject to Israeli military evacuation orders, it added.

Israeli attacks on educational institutes in Gaza have not only “disrupted immediate educational activities but also eroded the foundation for sustained societal growth and development”, Talal al-Hathal, director of the Al Fakhoura Programme at Education Above All Foundation in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.

“Targeting critical educational infrastructure dismantles hope for many Palestinians in Gaza where education is an important and critical tool for survivability and equality, contributing to better outcomes for Palestinians in their future life,” al-Hathal said.

“Education serves as a critical tool for survival, empowerment, and long-term development in the region, offering a pathway to a more stable and prosperous future.

“By targeting educational facilities, the aggressors strip away the prospects of enlightenment, opportunity and progress, deepening the cycle of despair and deprivation in the region.”

In April, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said eight out of 10 schools in Gaza are damaged or destroyed with an estimated 620,000 students out of school. Nearly half of Gaza’s population is under 18, and its education system was already struggling after several wars and escalations since 2008.

“To be able to learn, you need to be in a safe space. Most kids in Gaza at the moment have brains that are functioning under trauma,” said child psychiatrist Audrey McMahon of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF). Younger children could develop lifelong cognitive disabilities from malnutrition, while teenagers are likely to feel anger at the injustice they have suffered, she said.

“The challenges they will have to face are immense and will take a long time to heal.”

A video screengrab shows the destruction of Israa University in Gaza City in what appears to be a controlled demolition [File: Al Jazeera]

Al-Hathal called the targeting of educational institutes across Gaza “shameful as we consider the global education crisis where we see that more than 250 million children are out of school globally”.

In addition to the destruction of the buildings, students and teachers have also been killed in the attacks that have ravaged educational infrastructure and caused mental trauma to thousands of beleaguered students.

“The war will undoubtedly leave educational institutions, access to critical infrastructure, and the regularity of the education process in Gaza in a worse state than before the war,” al-Hathal said.

“With almost 400 school buildings in Gaza sustaining damage, the war has exacerbated the plight of the educational sector. This damage is compounded by the internal displacement with these schools now serving as shelters and hosting nearly four times their intended capacity, further burdening the already strained educational infrastructure.”

It is not just schools that have borne the brunt of the Israeli onslaught. Centres of higher education, including universities, have been completely paralysed.

Israa University, located in the south of Gaza city, was demolished by Israeli forces, as evident from a video released by Israeli media in January. The university authorities said Israel occupied and used the campus as a military base and detention facility for months before destroying it.

“Community partnerships, mental health support, technology assistance and education advocacy are a number of initiatives that can help students and teachers in Gaza overcome the current challenges,” al-Hathal said.

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US sanctions Israeli group for attacking Gaza aid convoys | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Washington, DC – The United States has imposed sanctions on a “violent extremist” Israeli group for blocking and damaging humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza as the risk of famine increases in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The administration of President Joe Biden on Friday targeted Tzav 9, a group whose stated aim is to prevent any assistance from entering Gaza. It accused the group of looting and setting fire to aid trucks.

“The provision of humanitarian assistance is vital to preventing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from worsening and to mitigating the risk of famine,” the Department of State said in a statement.

“The government of Israel has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian convoys transiting Israel and the West Bank en route to Gaza. We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance.”

The sanctions were announced a day after Israeli media outlets cited Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai as saying far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir pushed to prevent law enforcement from protecting aid convoys to Gaza.

For months, right-wing Israelis have been protesting and blocking roads to prevent aid shipments from reaching Gaza, which is under a suffocating Israeli blockade. The efforts have further strained the flow of desperately needed aid to the territory.

In recent weeks, the protesters have stepped up their attacks on convoys, especially as they go through the occupied West Bank. Last month, they set two aid trucks alight in the Hebron Hills area, an attack the US State Department blamed on Tzav 9.

The sanctions block the group’s assets in the US and largely prohibit American citizens from engaging in transactions with them. They were imposed under an executive order (EO) issued by Biden that set up a legal framework for US penalties against individuals and entities “undermining peace, security and stability” in the occupied West Bank.

Last week, the Biden administration invoked the same order to sanction the Lion’s Den, a Palestinian armed group.

Still, Washington has resisted calls to penalise Israeli officials responsible for abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, including Ben-Gvir and ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

This month, US Senator Chris Van Hollen urged the Biden administration to use the executive order to target Smotrich.

“In my view, Smotrich should be subject to sanctions under this EO,” Van Hollen said.

The finance minister has withheld taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority, and in March, he declared 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the West Bank to be Israeli state land.

“You’ve got this person whose stated goal is for essentially Israel to take over the entire West Bank,” Van Hollen told the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an advocacy organisation that recommended sanctioning Tzav 9, welcomed Friday’s measures and called on Biden to target entities and individuals that help fund and enable the group as well.

“Recent revelations that Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to stand down and allow Tzav 9 to block humanitarian aid convoys show how this despicable strategy of starvation is coordinated from young settler activists all the way up to the highest levels of the Israeli government,” Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director of research for Israel-Palestine at DAWN, said in a statement.

“The US should not continue to ignore Israeli government involvement in these crimes and should apply sanctions to Ben-Gvir next.”

Rights advocates also called on Washington to pressure Israel to lift its siege on Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that Israel has taken “important steps” in recent months to remove obstacles to aid deliveries in Gaza, but he acknowledged it “can and must do more”.

“It is crucial to speed up the inspection of trucks and reduce backlogs, to provide greater clarity on – and shorten the list of – prohibited goods, to increase visas for aid workers and to process them more quickly,” he said at a Gaza aid conference in Jordan on Tuesday.

Blinken also urged “clearer, more effective channels” to protect humanitarian workers from military operations.

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Palestinian teen dies from starvation | Humanitarian Crises

NewsFeed

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy died from starvation in northern Gaza where over 200 children are at risk of death. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud was with the family in Deir el-Balah as they prepared to bury their child.

Published On 14 Jun 2024

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Significant part of Gaza facing ‘famine-like conditions’, WHO says | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza have been diagnosed with malnutrition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, as Israel continues to severely restrict supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel to the territory.

“A significant proportion of Gaza’s population is now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Wednesday.

“Despite reports of increased delivery of food, there is currently no evidence that those who need it most are receiving sufficient quantity and quality of food.”

Tedros said 8,000 children under five years old have been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition in Gaza.

“However, due to insecurity and lack of access, only two stabilisation centres for severely malnourished patients can operate,” the WHO chief added.

Tedros said 32 deaths in the besieged Palestinian enclave have been attributed to malnutrition.

United Nations officials have warned of the risk of famine as Israel continues its war on Gaza. In January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “ensure the delivery of basic services and essential humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza”.

The UN’s top court reasserted that ruling in March, demanding that Israel take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay… the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.

Some of Israel’s closest allies, including the United States, have also called for more aid to enter Gaza and reach people in need.

Last month, Israel seized and shut down the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which had served as a major gateway for aid and humanitarian workers.

Last month, International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of alleged war crimes, including using “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”.

A UN-backed independent commission also accused Israel of inflicting hunger on Palestinians.

“In relation to Israeli military operations and attacks in Gaza, the Commission found that Israeli authorities are responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity,” the panel said in a report on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this week that Israel has taken “important steps” in recent months to remove obstacles to aid delivery in Gaza, but he acknowledged that it “can and must do more”.

“It is crucial to speed up the inspection of trucks and reduce backlogs; to provide greater clarity on – and shorten the list of – prohibited goods; to increase visas for aid workers and to process them more quickly,” he said at a Gaza aid conference in Jordan on Tuesday.

Blinken, who announced $404m in new assistance to Palestinians, also called for “clearer, more effective channels” to protect humanitarian workers from military operations.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 270 aid workers in Gaza, including seven World Central Kitchen employees in April – an incident that sparked global outrage.

Aid organisations have been stressing that even the inadequate aid that gets into Gaza often fails to reach people who need it most because of the Israeli offensive.

“The US’s latest humanitarian package for Gaza is a welcome step,” the International Rescue Committee said on Wednesday. “However, the effective delivery of any financial package depends wholly on unfettered access for aid and the ability for aid workers to operate seamlessly.”

Beyond Gaza, the WHO’s Tedros highlighted a growing health crisis in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people since the outbreak of the war.

“WHO has documented 480 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank since the seventh of October last year, resulting in 16 deaths and 95 injuries,” he said.

In one major incident, undercover Israeli forces raided a hospital in Jenin and killed three people inside the medical centre.

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US Gaza aid pier not used in Israel’s captives rescue mission: Pentagon | Israel-Palestine conflict News

US says it is ‘incidental’ that deadly Israeli operation took place near floating dock built to deliver aid to Gaza.

The United States has stressed that its temporary aid pier in Gaza was not used in the Israeli captive rescue operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that killed more than 270 people.

The Pentagon said on Monday that reports linking the pier to Saturday’s Israeli assault that resulted in the freeing of four captives held by Hamas are “inaccurate”.

“It was near, but I think it’s incidental. Again, the pier, the equipment, the personnel all supporting that humanitarian effort had nothing to do with the [Israeli military] rescue operation,” Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder told reporters.

He added that the Israeli operation – despite its proximity to the US floating dock –  does not put American personnel at a “greater risk”.

“To underscore, the temporary pier on the coast of Gaza was put in place for one purpose only: to help move additional urgently-needed lifesaving assistance to Gaza,” Ryder said.

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the Israeli military used a helicopter on a beach “not far from” the US pier to evacuate three of the captives and the soldiers who freed them.

The Israeli military intensively bombed the Nuseirat area during the operation, killing at least 274 people, including dozens of women and children, according to Palestinian authorities in Gaza.

The administration of President Joe Biden lauded the rescue of the captives.

“​​We welcome the rescue of four hostages who after eight months of captivity have finally been reunited with their families in Israel. The United States will not rest until every hostage is returned home,” the Department of State said in a statement on Saturday.

While the US military has denied involvement in the attack, several international media outlets, including The New York Times, have reported that American officials provided intelligence that helped with the operation.

Hamas decried Washington’s purported involvement in the mission, saying it “proves once again the complicity of the US administration and its full participation in the war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip”.

The Palestinian group said the attack also raises questions over the professed US concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Biden announced the decision to build the humanitarian pier in March amid the Israeli blockade on Gaza, which has sparked fears of famine.

The floating US dock was completed in May, but within weeks, it sustained damage from bad weather, requiring repairs. The pier was reassembled on Friday.

Aid groups have argued for weeks that the US dock is not an adequate substitute to delivering humanitarian assistance via land routes.

Late in May, 20 aid organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, called the US-installed dock part of “cosmetic changes” that fail to address the crisis adequately.

“As Israeli attacks intensify on Rafah, the unpredictable trickle of aid into Gaza has created a mirage of improved access while the humanitarian response is in reality on the verge of collapse,” the groups said in a statement.

The Nuseirat attack could further deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) paused its aid deliveries in Gaza after the operation.

“Two of our warehouses were rocketed yesterday, so we’ve stepped back just for the moment to make sure that we’re on safe terms and on safe ground before we’ll restart,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain told CBS News on Sunday.

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Dozens killed near Sudan’s capital as UN warns of soaring displacement | Conflict News

Attack in Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman comes as UN says internal displacement across Sudan is nearing 10 million.

Pro-democracy activists in Sudan say about 40 people have been killed in “violent artillery fire” by paramilitary forces in the twin city of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, as fighting and displacement intensify across the war-ravaged country.

The Karari Resistance Committee, one of hundreds of grassroots organisations that coordinate aid across Sudan, said on Friday that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group was behind the deadly attack on Omdurman a day earlier.

“So far, the death toll is estimated at 40 civilians and there are more than 50 injured, some seriously,” the Karari Resistance Committee said in a statement posted on social media.

“There is still no precise count of the number of victims,” it said, adding that bodies were received by Al Nao university hospital and other private health facilities or were buried by relatives.

The report has come just days after an RSF attack on a village in Sudan’s central Gezira state killed at least 100 people, according to local activists.

War erupted in Sudan in mid-April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis and leaving at least 15,500 people dead, according to United Nations estimates.

The deadly assault on the village of Wad al-Noura on Wednesday drew widespread condemnation this week, including from UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell, who said at least 35 children were reported killed and more than 20 others injured.

“This is yet another grim reminder of how the children of Sudan are paying the price for the brutal violence,” Russell said in a statement on Thursday.

“Over the past year, thousands of children have been killed and injured. Children have been recruited, abducted and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence. Over five million children have been forced from their homes.”

Fighting continues daily, including in the capital of Khartoum, with both sides accused of war crimes including the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid.

Another flashpoint is the city of el-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur region, where RSF paramilitary forces recently launched a deadly assault.

More than 800,000 civilians are trapped in el-Fasher as violence rages, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), and healthcare and other services have collapsed.

“Crucial roads out of el-Fasher are blocked, preventing civilians from reaching safer areas, while at the same time limiting the amount of food and other humanitarian aid coming into the city,” Othman Belbeisi, IOM’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said on Thursday.

The IOM also warned that internal displacement across Sudan could soon top 10 million.

The agency said 9.9 million people were internally displaced across the country’s 18 states; more than half of those displaced are women and more than a quarter are children under age five.

“Imagine a city the size of London being displaced. That’s what it’s like, but it’s happening with the constant threat of crossfire, with famine, disease and brutal ethnic and gender-based violence,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope.

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The forgotten crisis in Burkina Faso | Humanitarian Crises News

Kongoussi, Burkina Faso – The refugee crisis in Burkina Faso, which has been engulfed in conflict since 2019, is the deepest of a number of neglected crises across Africa, according to a new report.

The West African country tops the list for neglected crises for the second year running, a report released by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Monday showed.

With a record-high 707,000 new displacements within the country’s borders, the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso continued unabated in 2023, while hundreds of thousands of people were cut off from aid.

The number of people killed in violence doubled last year, with over 8,400 deaths. Meanwhile, the number of Burkinabe refugees seeking safety in neighbouring countries almost tripled, reaching a total of 148,317 according to UNHCR figures.

An unprecedented 42,000 people suffered catastrophic levels of food insecurity and up to two million civilians were trapped in 36 blockaded towns across the country by the year’s end. As armed groups imposed movement bans, little to no humanitarian assistance reached some of these areas. At least half a million people were cornered into a near-total “aid blind spot”.

With over 6,100 schools closed by spring 2023, Burkina Faso was home to nearly half of all closed schools in Central and West Africa. Up to 400 health facilities were shut down, and about as many were only able to provide minimal services, leaving 3.6 million people without access to healthcare – a 70 percent increase from 2022.

On February 8, 2023, two staff members at Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, were murdered by an armed group in northwestern Burkina Faso. This was the first time since the start of the conflict that national aid workers of an international NGO were killed while providing life-saving aid.

As road access to many areas remained plagued by security incidents, humanitarian organisations increasingly relied on limited air transport, escalating operational costs and further restricting the amount of assistance reaching people in need. Funding dwindled, which aggravated the financial strain on humanitarian organisations. Only 39 percent of the response plan funding was covered in 2023, down from 43 percent in 2022.

Independent media coverage decreased as several international news outlets and journalists were banned from working in Burkina Faso in 2023. Additionally, the domestic press corps shied away from sensitive topics due to the heightened risks.

An all-time high of 6.3 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2024 and more than two million remain internally displaced. While some have started to return home, concerns are growing about the protection of civilians. Returns, which the Kampala Convention states must be voluntary, dignified and safe, are set to be a major humanitarian issue for 2024.

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Israel has encroached on 32% of Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation shows | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Gaza’s territory has been shrunk by a buffer zone that winds around its boundary and wide axis torn through its centre.

Israel has taken over some 32 percent of Gaza’s area by “systematically demolishing neighbourhoods” to create a buffer zone and a central axis dividing it, according to Al Jazeera’s Sanad Verification Agency.

This does not include the area of the Philadelphi Corridor on Egypt’s border, which Israel declared it had taken control of on Thursday.

The complete destruction of areas in Gaza has come fast and slow, via air raids, artillery attacks and bulldozers.

“There is no safe place in Gaza” and dignified human life is “a near impossibility”, Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said.

“Even if people were able to return home, many no longer have homes to go to.”

Approximately 85 percent of Gaza’s population, or 1.9 million people, have been displaced, according to the UN. Half of them were displaced this month alone.

During the Nakba in 1948, some 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and villages by Zionist gangs to make way for the creation of the state of Israel.

More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, already more than double the number killed during the years 1947-1949. Many more are thought to be dead under the rubble and destruction.

[Al Jazeera]

Sanad’s analysis of satellite imagery showed 80-90 percent destruction rates in the 120sq km (46 square miles) Israel has taken.

With Israel’s assault on Gaza not yet over, the territory could be further diminished.

A map constructed by Sanad shows that Gaza’s boundaries have been pushed inward and a 1.5km-wide (0.93-mile) strip that runs 6.5km (four miles) across the middle in the Juhor ad-Dik area, known as the Nezarim axis.

It also identifies the depth of destruction and bulldozing the Israeli military has conducted in border areas and across central Gaza.

The analysis shows that areas in the embattled and besieged strip have been “completely bulldozed and demolished” and that “removal operations took place in a regular pattern” to turn what the UN once called “danger zones” into a buffer zone.

In the northern governorate, Sanad found that the area of destruction committed by Israeli forces in Beit Hanoon city stretched 2.5km (1.5 miles) from Gaza’s boundary, while five kilometres (3.1 miles) has been eaten away in Beit Lahiya and three kilometres (1.9 miles) in Jabalia camp.

 

Destruction at the Bureij refugee camp and the Maghazi camp have reached 1.7km (one mile) and two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the border respectively.

The southern governorate is the most affected so far.

The Kissufim and Bani Suhaila areas, both east of Khan Younis, have seen the destruction stretch 3.7 (2.3 miles) and four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the border respectively.

In Rafah city, destruction stretches 5.1km (3.2 miles) from the border to the as-Salam neighbourhood.

The Israeli military has claimed they are trying to disarm Hamas, but has given little indication or verifiable evidence that their efforts are having any strategic impact.

On January 23, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the US opposed any permanent change in the territorial composition of Gaza and rejected the permanent displacement of its population.

However, extensive bulldozing and removal operations continue. Israel has previously requested 100 D9 bulldozers to expand and accelerate the establishment of the buffer zone.

“These findings and facts reveal the colonialist methodology that the Israeli army is working on, by shrinking the area of Gaza, creating new borders within the borders, and imposing them as a new reality inside and outside the besieged Gaza Strip,” Sanad said.

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Haiti transitional council names Conille prime minister amid gang violence | Government News

Garry Conille, who briefly served in the role from 2011 to 2012, has since worked as a regional director for UNICEF.

A nine-member council in charge of overseeing Haiti’s political transition has named politician Garry Conille as the Caribbean nation’s next prime minister.

Tuesday’s decision comes amid a period of turmoil for the country, which has seen gangs seize control over much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Conille is a familiar face in the role of prime minister: He served for four months, from October 2011 to February 2012, and resigned after clashing with then-President Michel Martelly.

He now takes over for interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was appointed to the role after the previous prime minister, Ariel Henry, formally resigned in late April.

The process of selecting a new prime minister was a rocky one, complete with false starts and controversy.

Since the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moise in July 2021, Haiti has not held a federal election.

Henry, an unelected official chosen days before the assassination, served as acting president in Moise’s stead after his shooting death.

But Henry’s failure to call a vote to replace Moise has heightened tensions in the country. In January 2023, the last elected federal officials – 10 senators – saw their terms expire.

In the meantime, the country’s gangs sought to fill the power vacuum, asserting power over upwards of 80 percent of Port-au-Prince, including roadways in and out of the city.

The United Nations estimates more than 362,000 Haitians have been displaced by the ensuing bloodshed. During the first three months of 2024 alone, gang violence has killed more than 1,500 people and injured hundreds more.

In March, Henry announced his decision to step down as prime minister, amid international and domestic pressure to do so.

He had recently travelled to Kenya to shore up support for an international security mission to help bolster Haiti’s police. But while Henry was abroad, gangs attacked key prisons and police stations, as well as the capital’s airport, leaving him stranded outside of the country.

In the aftermath, a regional cooperation bloc known as the Caribbean Community or CARICOM negotiated the creation of a transitional council to restore Haiti’s democracy.

Nine members were chosen, seven of whom would have voting powers. The council is set to be dissolved in 2026, after a new presidential election is held.

Conille’s appointment as prime minister came as the result of a six-to-one vote. Since 2023, he has served as a Latin America regional director for UNICEF, a UN agency that offers humanitarian aid to children.

But confusion has accompanied the process of choosing a new prime minister.

Last month, four of the transitional council’s seven voting members chose a former sport minister, Fritz Belizaire, to fill the post, only to walk back the announcement after critics said the proper protocols had not been followed.

Even Tuesday’s announcement was received with scepticism. Line Balthazar, the president of the Tet Kale party, told a local radio station on Monday that the selection process had thus far appeared to be improvised.

The Montana Accord, a Haitian civil society group, also questioned the transitional council’s commitment to transparency, noting it had not shared how it came to its decision.

“The suffering of the people is getting worse, while the gangs are taking control of more territory and committing more crimes,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday, urging “consequential measures” to restore stability in Haiti.

Meanwhile, gang leaders have warned they will not necessarily accept the transitional council or its choices.

“We’re not going to recognise the decisions that CARICOM takes,” Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, the leader of the G9 Family and Allies gang, told Al Jazeera in March.

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