Prosecutors cite ‘strong public interest’ for resolving major case against disgraced crypto exchange founder.
United States prosecutors have chosen not to pursue a second trial for FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who has already been found guilty of fraud and money laundering, and proceed instead to sentencing.
Prosecutors said in a letter filed in a New York court on Friday that pursuing a second trial for the disgraced tycoon would only serve to delay the case against him, which is already strong enough.
“Given that practical reality, and the strong public interest in a prompt resolution of this matter, the Government intends to proceed to sentencing on the counts for which the defendant was convicted at trial,” prosecutors said in the letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over Bankman-Fried’s first criminal trial last year.
In November, a jury found Bankman-Fried guilty of seven counts of fraud, embezzlement and criminal conspiracy, among other charges.
The 31-year-old was accused of using billions of dollars from customer deposits on FTX to cover losses at his hedge fund, pay off loans and buy luxury real estate, among other large personal expenses.
At the trial, he had admitted to making “mistakes” that ended up hurting people, but pleaded not guilty to the charges as he claimed he never meant to steal.
Billions of dollars were lost after Bankman-Fried’s crimes came to light in 2022, something that also contributed to deepening a crypto market downturn that had started earlier that year.
Federal prosecutors have previously described the case as “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”.
Bankman-Fried is slated to be sentenced on March 28, when he could face up to 110 years in prison.
Prosecutors argued that much of the evidence that could be offered at a second trial was already presented at the first trial, and that a second trial would not affect how much time he could face in prison.
They also said victims would not benefit from forfeiture or restitution orders if sentencing is delayed.
Bankman-Fried is expected to file an appeal against his conviction.
He was previously extradited from the Bahamas, where his companies were based.
The US and the Bahamas have since been clashing over which country’s prosecutors have the legal jurisdiction and right to prosecute him. US prosecutors on Friday wrote that the US government “does not have a timeline for when the Bahamas may respond to its request”.
Bankman-Fried, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been in jail since August, and had his bail revoked after a judge concluded that he had likely tampered with prospective trial witnesses.
As the war enters its 675th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Saturday, December 30, 2023.
Fighting and human impact
Ukrainian officials have said that at least 30 people have been killed and more than 140 wounded after Russia targeted cities across the war-torn country with a massive salvo of missiles and drones in one of the largest aerial assaults of the war.
Russia’s defence ministry has said its forces downed 32 Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk and Moscow regions overnight.
Polish military authorities have said that a Russian missile briefly passed through the country’s airspace on Friday, prompting concern from the country that borders Ukraine.
Diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council has criticised Russia for carrying out a massive air assault on Ukraine at a meeting on Friday. But Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said that Moscow had “exclusively only targeted military infrastructure in Ukraine”.
The Polish Foreign Ministry has summoned Russian charge d’affaires Andrei Ordasz after a Russian missile entered Polish airspace during the morning attack against Ukraine.
The administration of United States President Joe Biden has once again bypassed Congress to greenlight an emergency weapons sale to Israel, which has only intensified and broadened its attacks on the Gaza Strip despite growing international outrage.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress that he had made a second emergency determination in less than a month, covering a $147.5m sale of equipment to Israel, the State Department said on Friday.
“Given the urgency of Israel’s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer,” it said.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to ensure Israel is able to defend itself against the threats it faces.”
The package includes ancillary items, including fuses, charges and primers that Israel would require to make the 155mm shells that it had previously purchased, function.
Friday’s emergency determination, which is rare but has been used by at least four previous US administrations, means that a requirement for a potentially lengthy congressional review for foreign military sales will be bypassed.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane said it was important to point out the broader context of the messaging.
“We’ve been hearing from all the top Biden administration officials for weeks that it is time for Israel to move to a lower-intensity conflict. In essence, stop the mass bombing. Stop the mass deaths of civilians,” she said.
“So, in that context – knowing that is what they say they want – they are now selling to Israel the exaction munitions they need to continue a high-intensity campaign.”
Culhane reported that Israel will also be purchasing 155mm M107 projectiles, which are artillery shells that will cause widespread destruction in a densely populated area such as Gaza.
“They didn’t say exactly how many [shells] were going to be in this $147.5m package. But, in previous packages, it really does mean that thousands and thousands of bombs will be going to Israel.”
On December 9, the administration made another emergency determination to approve the sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106m.
This comes as Biden’s request for an enormous $106bn package that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and other perceived national security needs has yet to pass Congress, as it is entangled in a debate over US immigration and border security policies.
The Biden administration has tried to counter criticism over the mounting death toll in Gaza and continued US arms sales to Israel by saying it constantly maintains contact with Israel to stress the importance of minimising civilian casualties.
However, Luciana Zaccara, an associate professor of Gulf politics at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera it was pursuing a “dual-track” approach when it comes to the war.
“On the one hand they are trying to convince the public opinion that the US is really concerned about civilian casualties but also they keep sustaining Israel (militarily),” he said. “It is totally contradicting … it is hard to understand how this is in the national interest.”
The policy was especially perplexing in light of “mounting pressure” in the US, including among Democrats, against the war as civilian casualties in Gaza continue to rise, Zaccara said.
Some Democratic lawmakers have suggested further significant aid to Israel should be contingent on concrete promises by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to curb civilian casualties in Gaza.
More than 21,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the besieged enclave since October 7, most of them children and women, in what has been widely described as collective punishment. Thousands more are missing.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said on Saturday that Israeli authorities continue to impose “severe restrictions” on humanitarian access despite deliveries of aid from Egypt and through the Rafah crossing.
He also said they are “creating a stream of baseless misinformation” to accuse aid agencies over gaps in deliveries.
South Africa files case of genocide against Israel, as attacks on Gaza, occupied West Bank and southern Lebanon continue – here is the latest.
Here’s how things stand on Saturday, December 30, 2023:
Latest updates and human impact
Israeli ground forces and tanks are pushing into the eastern, southern and northern outskirts of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. But they have not yet reached the western side and Hamas fighters are resisting the incursion.
Israel’s bombardment of southern Gaza has intensified with the Israeli army, navy and air force targeting multiple locations in Khan Younis and Rafah. Israel has hit residential areas and civilian infrastructure, resulting in a large number of deaths. According to the United Nations, between Thursday and Friday afternoon, 187 Palestinians were killed and 312 wounded in these attacks.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) released video footage of its emergency ambulance crews evacuating seriously wounded children in Khan Younis city following an attack on a residential apartment building amid continuing Israeli bombing raids.
Israel’s military has claimed to have destroyed a network of tunnels and a hideout belonging to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza.
Israel’s military says two more Hezbollah sites have been hit in southern Lebanon, after an Israeli official at the United Nations Security Council on Friday promised “full-scale war” on Hezbollah if attacks on Israel’s north continue.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestine relief agency (UNRWA), has accused Israeli officials and media outlets of “creating a stream of baseless misinformation” about gaps in aid deliveries to Gaza. His comments come amid Israeli attacks on aid convoys.
In Gaza, at least 21,507 people have been killed and 55,915 injured in Israeli attacks since October 7. The revised death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at 1,139.
Diplomacy
South Africa has initiated proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying its operations in Gaza amount to “genocide”- a move that has been welcomed by the Palestinian foreign ministry.
Israel has rejected South Africa’s move as a “blood libel”. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said on X that the claim “lacks both a factual and a legal basis”.
Israeli officials see it as a “positive sign” that Hamas may be open to new talks on captives. Speaking anonymously, the officials said they are approaching it with an abundance of caution, but that it is a step in the right direction, according to Al Jazeera correspondents reporting from Jerusalem.
United States President Joe Biden’s administration has bypassed Congress to approve a possible “emergency” weapons sale to Israel.
At the UN Security Council, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the UN has warned that “many more” people will die in Gaza without humanitarian action.
Escalation in occupied West Bank
Israeli forces have arrested 14 Palestinians from the Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, as raids in the territory intensify.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health has said that a 17-year-old boy who was shot in the chest by Israeli forces on Friday has been detained in the occupied West Bank. The teen was arrested in an ambulance at a checkpoint while he was being moved to a medical facility.
Israeli authorities barred Palestinians from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for the 12th consecutive Friday.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Israeli police set up barriers at the entrances to the Old City and allowed only the elderly to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Israeli police also set up checkpoints at the outer gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound – Islam’s third holiest site.
Hundreds of people performed Friday prayers in the streets near the Old City, after they were prevented from reaching the mosque.
A large number of Israeli forces were also deployed in the Wadi al-Joz neighbourhood near the Old City, and prevented worshipers from reaching the mosque, witnesses added. Israeli forces sprayed “skunk water” and used tear gas canisters against worshippers, the Wafa news agency reported.
The move is the latest shift in economic and foreign policy by newly elected hard-right President Javier Milei.
Argentina has announced that it will not join the BRICS bloc of developing economies, fulfilling a campaign promise by newly elected far-right President Javier Milei who has pledged to pursue closer ties with the West.
In a letter dated December 22 but released on Friday, Milei told the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that the timing for Argentina’s membership in the bloc was not opportune.
Milei said in his letter that his approach to foreign affairs “differs in many aspects from that of the previous government. In this sense, some decisions made by the previous administration will be reviewed.”
Argentina’s new president, a self-described anarcho-libertarian who has pushed forward a series of radical economic reforms since taking office in December, has said that he will pursue a foreign policy that aligns with Western countries, moving away from the previous administration’s efforts to build ties with other developing countries.
Former centre-left President Alberto Fernandez had promoted Argentina’s inclusion in BRICS as a way to foster economic relations with the bloc, whose members account for about 25 percent of world GDP. Argentina had been set to join on January 1, 2024.
Reporting from the capital city of Buenos Aires, Al Jazeera correspondent Monica Yanakiew said that Milei has already issued sweeping changes during his three weeks in office.
“He has already made dramatic changes in all walks of life, from expediting divorce procedures to deregulating prices to eliminating subsidies, everything is changing here now,” she said.
During his campaign, Milei railed against countries ruled “by communism” such as China and neighbouring economic power Brazil and said he would pursue greater alignment with “free nations of the West” such as Israel and the US in his economic and foreign policy.
However, in his letter to the BRICS leaders, Milei said that Argentina would seek to “intensify bilateral ties” in order to increase “trade and investment flows” without joining the group.
Domestically, Milei is also facing substantial pushback from the country’s powerful organised labour groups as he embarks on a programme of economic “shock therapy” and deregulation as Argentina reels from sky-high inflation.
An overnight barrage of Russian missiles and drones ripped across Ukraine, killing at least 30 people and injuring many more. Officials said the hours-long bombardment involved 122 missiles and dozens of drones. Ukraine’s Air Force commander called it ‘the most massive aerial attack’ since Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
South Africa has filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza after nearly three months of relentless Israeli bombardment has killed more than 21,500 people and caused widespread destruction in the besieged enclave.
In an application to the court on Friday, South Africa described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.
“The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction,” the application said.
The ICJ, also called the World Court, is a UN civil court that adjudicates disputes between countries. It is distinct from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which prosecutes individuals for war crimes.
As members of the UN, both South Africa and Israel are bound by the court.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank with his country’s past apartheid regime of racial segregation imposed by the white-minority rule that ended in 1994.
Several human rights organisations have said that Israeli policies towards Palestinians amount to apartheid.
South Africa said Israel’s conduct, particularly since the war began on October 7, violates the UN’s Genocide Convention, and called for an expedited hearing. The application also requests the court to indicate provisional measures to “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people” under the Convention.
“South Africa is gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants,” a statement from South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said, adding that the country has “repeatedly stated that it condemns all violence and attacks against all civilians, including Israelis.”
“South Africa has continuously called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the resumption of talks that will end the violence arising from the continued belligerent occupation of Palestine,” the statement added.
Israel has rejected global calls for a ceasefire saying the war would not stop until the Hamas group, whose October 7 attack triggered the current phase of the conflict, was destroyed. Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack in Israel. The Palestinian group has said its attack was against Israel’s 16-year-old blockade of Gaza and expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In the latest development in Israel’s war on Gaza, tens of thousands of newly displaced Palestinians in the centre of the Palestinian enclave on Friday were forced to flee as Israel expanded its ground and air offensive in the centre of the enclave.
Israel has faced global condemnation for the mounting toll and destruction and accused of meting out collective punishment on Palestinian people.
‘A very important step’
The court application is the latest move by South Africa, a vociferous critic of Israel’s war, to ratchet up pressure after its lawmakers last month voted in favour of closing down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspending all diplomatic relations until a ceasefire was agreed in Israel’s war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from the United Nations headquarters in New York, said the move was “clearly a very important step to try to hold some accountability to Israel.”
“Now that South Africa is pushing this to the ICJ, it will be on [the UN’s] agenda to try to make a ruling on this very important question,” he added.
On November 16, a group of 36 UN experts called on the international community to “prevent genocide against the Palestinian people”, calling Israel’s actions since October 7 a “genocide in the making”.
“We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire. We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments for Israel’s strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilise to prevent genocide,” the experts said in a statement.
Israel has rejected South Africa’s move as “baseless”, calling it “blood libel.”
“South Africa’s claim lacks both a factual and a legal basis, and constitutes despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the Court,” Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, Lior Haiat, said in a statement posted on X.
“Israel has made it clear that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not the enemy, and is making every effort to limit harm to the non-involved and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip,” the statement added.
“It does rally public opinion to the reality of what’s going on in Palestine, not just in Gaza but also in the West Bank,” said Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara.
According to Article 2 of the Genocide Convention, genocide involves acts committed with the “intent to destroy, either in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”
“Where the disagreement lies is whether there is intent or no intent,” Bishara said.
“The three leading Israeli officials have declared the intent, starting with Israeli President Herzog when he said there are ‘no innocents’ in Gaza, the defence minister who said Israel will impose collective punishment on the people of Gaza because they are ‘human animals’,” Bishara said, adding that prime minister Netanyahu also used a biblical analogy in a statement widely interpreted as a genocidal call.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says organisation is ‘monitoring the situation’ as Poland says it has confirmed incident.
Polish military authorities have said that a Russian missile briefly passed through the country’s airspace before leaving, prompting concern from the country that borders Ukraine on the day Russia carried out attacks across several Ukrainian cities killing at least 30 people.
Poland, a member of the NATO military alliance, says that the object entered from the direction of Ukraine on Friday morning, entering about 40 kilometers (24 miles) before leaving after about three minutes.
“Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace,” said Poland’s defence chief, General Wieslaw Kukula. “It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from [NATO] allies.”
Russian officials have yet to comment on the incident, which comes at a time of high tensions between Russia and European nations located near Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.
Spoke with President @AndrzejDuda about the missile incident in #Poland. #NATO stands in solidarity with our valued Ally, is monitoring the situation & we will remain in contact as the facts are established. NATO remains vigilant.
Polish officials say they are working to further verify their findings and rule out the possibility of a technical malfunction.
In a social media post on Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the security alliance is monitoring the situation and communicating with Polish officials.
“I spoke with President Andrzej Duda about the missile incident in Poland. NATO stands in solidarity with our valued ally, is monitoring the situation and we will remain in contact as the facts are established. NATO remains vigilant,” Stoltenberg said.
Operational commander of the Polish army Maciej Klisz said that the country’s air defence network had been on high alert due to recent Russian missile and drone attacks in Ukraine and that fighter jets were sent to intercept the missile before it left Polish territory.
The military also said that a ground search was being carried out in the area where the missile disappeared off the radar.
The White House on Friday said that US President Joe Biden was closely following the development in Poland. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan “expressed the United States’ solidarity with Poland, our close NATO ally” and pledged technical assistance as needed in a call with Polish Secretary of State Jacek Siewiera, according to a statement from the White House.
The incident is not the first time that the war in Ukraine has threatened to spill over into Polish territory. In November 2022, an errant Ukrainian air defence missile killed two civilians when it landed in the border village of Przewodow.
Poland’s newly elected Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who won the election with a bloc of pro-EU and pro-Ukraine parties that overthrew the country’s far-right government after eight years in power, has promised full support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
That war has ground on for nearly two years, with little end in sight as Ukraine fights to expel Russian forces that have established strong defences along the captured territory.
While Ukraine still has substantial support from many Western governments, schisms have started to emerge over the provision of further military assistance, including in the US, which has provided more support than any other country.
On Friday, the British defence ministry said that it would send 200 air defence missiles to Ukraine, which is currently under heavy bombardment from Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that he visited Avdiivka, an eastern town near the front line that has seen heavy fighting.
“This is one of the most difficult areas of the front line,” he wrote on Telegram along with a video of him in front of a sign with the name of the town, giving medals to soldiers.
“I thank all those who are at the first line [of fire] for their service, for this year during which the entire country survived thanks to its soldiers,” he said.
Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to flee again towards the south after Israel intensified assaults in the centre of the besieged enclave killing more than 180 people in the past 24 hours.
The Israeli army on Friday said in a post on X that it was “expanding the operation in the Khan Younis area” of Gaza, previously sheltering hundreds of thousands of people displaced from the north – initially the focus of Israel’s ground assault.
Israeli shelling near El Amal hospital in Khan Younis killed 41 people over the past two days, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Thursday, adding that the casualties in repeated Israeli attacks near the facility include “displaced persons seeking shelter”.
The UN humanitarian office said an estimated 100,000 more displaced people had arrived in the already-teeming southern border city of Rafah in recent days following the intensification of fighting around both Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis to its south.
Earlier this week, Israeli forces ordered Palestinians out of the crowded central districts of Bureij, Maghazi and Nuseirat, as tanks advanced from the north and east.
Attacks on those areas have intensified in recent days, with many residents fleeing to the already-crowded Deir el-Balah, pitching makeshift tents made from sheets of plastic on whatever open ground they could find.
“We suffered a lot. We had the whole night without shelter, under rain and it was cold, we were with our kids and elderly women,” Um Hamdi, a woman cooking porridge over an open woodfire, surrounded by children, told the news agency Reuters.
Nearby, grey-bearded Abdel Nasser Awadallah stood inside a wooden frame set up to be wrapped in plastic to make a tent, and spoke of the family he had lost.
“I buried my children, a child 16-year-old, another one aged 18. Something I really can’t believe, I buried my children at 6:00am while their bodies were still warm. Also my nephew was two years old, I buried him, I buried my wife,” he said.
‘Death or displacement’
Addressing the UN Security Council on Friday, the Palestinian UN envoy Majed Bamya said the widescale destruction of Gaza by Israeli operations has made it clear their sole goal is forced displacement.
“They want to make sure that Palestinians in Gaza have no homes to return to,” he said. “They want to make sure they have no life to return.”
“They want to make sure that life in Gaza is no longer possible, with one aim, what they call ‘voluntary migration’ … the codename for forced displacement. These are the options for Palestinians: Destruction or displacement, death or displacement,” he said.
On Christmas Eve, the Maghazi refugee camp witnessed one of the deadliest attacks since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7. While the official number of those who were killed stands at 90, residents of the camp near Deir el-Balah told Al Jazeera that in reality, the figure is much higher as entire residential blocks were wiped out.
Israel issued a rare apology on Thursday for killing civilians in the massive air raid that triggered one of the biggest exoduses of the war so far, saying the munitions used were not appropriate for a packed refugee camp and that the high death toll “could have been avoided”.
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli attacks, shelter in a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, December 29, 2023. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]
Rafah hit ahead of Egypt talks
The UN says more than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, and many are now fleeing for the third or fourth time.
Many now live in cramped shelters in the 365sq km (141sq miles) of land or in makeshift tents around the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt – which has also not been immune from Israeli attacks.
Rafah was hit by new air raids on Friday as Egypt prepared to host a high-level Hamas delegation for talks to try and end the nearly 12-week war that has devastated the besieged Palestinian territory.
Reuters journalists at the scene of one air raid that obliterated a building in Rafah saw the head of a buried toddler sticking out of the rubble.
The child screamed as a rescue worker shielded his head with a hand, while another swung a sledgehammer at a chisel, trying to break up a slab of concrete to free him.
Neighbour Sanad Abu Tabet said the two-storey house had been crowded with displaced people. After morning broke, relatives came to collect the dead wrapped up in white shrouds.
Israel’s relentless aerial bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza have killed at least 21,507 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Egypt has taken more of a leading role in pushing for a ceasefire, including introducing a plan to end the fighting. It includes captive and prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas.
Egypt’s State Information Services chief Dia Rashwan said the plan was “intended to bring together the views of all parties concerned, with the aim of ending the shedding of Palestinian blood”.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Thursday that the group will not release more Israeli captives without a “complete and full ceasing of aggressive activities against our people through negotiations that are aligned with our people’s interest”.
#Gaza – Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from Northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli Army – our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage – aid workers should never be a target.@UNRWA
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (UNRWA), Thomas White, said on Friday that a UN aid convoy had come under fire by the Israeli military on Thursday. While there were no casualties, White condemned the attack on humanitarian workers.
“Essentially, we are delivering aid under fire,” White told Al Jazeera, explaining that the incident took place as a convoy was returning from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli Army.
“They took that route, they encountered some tanks, and those tanks used heavy machine guns to fire at the vehicles,” White said, adding that while there was some damage to one of the vehicles, UNRWA staff was not injured.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UNRWA, on Friday slammed Israeli forces for firing at the aid convoy. In a post on X, Lazzarini said “shooting” and “other attacks” on aid workers and convoys obstruct “lifesaving” operations in the Strip.
A “total siege” imposed by Israel since the war began on October 7, and following years of crippling blockade, has deprived Palestinians in Gaza of food, water, fuel and medicine.
The severe shortages have been only sporadically eased by humanitarian aid convoys entering primarily via Egypt.
International bodies say supplies being let in through Israeli inspections are a small fraction of the enclave’s vast needs. Last week Israel bowed to international pressure to open a second crossing it said would double the number of supply trucks daily to 200, but just 76 were able to enter on Thursday, according to the United Nations, compared with 500 before the war.
Last week, a UN-backed report warned that the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger, with 576,600 people at catastrophic – or starvation – levels.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths described on social media what he called “an impossible situation for the people of Gaza, and for those trying to help them”.
“You think getting aid into Gaza is easy? Think again,” he wrote Friday on X.
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