GAZA CITY: Israel allowed the Palestinian Authority to deliver the first coronavirus vaccines to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday despite objections from Israeli lawmakers who suggested they be used as a bargaining chip for the release of captives held by the territory’s Hamas rulers.
Israel has faced international criticism for largely excluding Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza from its highly successful vaccination campaign. It held up the shipment for two days as the government faced questioning from a parliamentary committee before ultimately approving it.
The dispute highlights the Palestinians’ reliance on Israel even as they struggle to combat the pandemic on their own. It’s also a potent example of global inequality in the rollout of vaccines, most of which have been scooped up by wealthy countries.
The shipment finally arrived midday Wednesday at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila said the PA sent 2,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine — enough to inoculate only 1,000 people in an impoverished territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians.
Gaza has been under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power from PA forces in 2007. Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported more than 53,000 cases and at least 538 deaths since the start of the pandemic, and authorities have been reluctant to impose widespread lockdowns because the territory is already mired in poverty.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars and numerous skirmishes since they took control of Gaza.
In an interview Wednesday with Israel’s army radio station, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was working on bringing captive Israelis back from Gaza, but did not link the issue to vaccines. He noted the vaccines were from Palestinian supplies, and said it was important that Palestinians be vaccinated because the virus can easily cross into Israel.
“This is not from Israeli supplies,” he said. “I am committed to bringing back the prisoners and the missing in action at any price. We are working on this these days, but the epidemiological issue is not connected.”
During Monday’s parliamentary debate, Zvi Hauser, chair of the foreign affairs and defense committee, argued that the vaccine delivery should be linked to progress on the release of two Israeli captives held by Hamas and the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in a 2014 war. He also expressed concern that vaccines would go to Hamas members rather than medics.
Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of parliament, called the discussion “shameful,” saying: “In 20 years, your children will also be ashamed of this position of vaccination prevention.”
The Palestinian Authority said the first doses would go to front-line medical workers. But Ashraf Al-Qedra, spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, said they would be administered in two phases, first to vulnerable patients and then to health care workers.
“The amount is very small and not enough to cover all 12,000 medical workers,” he said. “We think it’s better to first inoculate vulnerable patients, such as organ transplant and dialysis patients.”
The ministry said vaccinations would begin Sunday due to inclement winter weather that could make it dangerous for patients to travel to hospitals.
Israel has launched one of the world’s most successful vaccination programs, inoculating more than a third of its population of 9.3 million since December after securing millions of doses from pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna.
Rights groups say it has an obligation as an occupying power to share its vaccines with the Palestinians. Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for their future state.
Israel denies having such an obligation and says its priority is its own citizens. It is vaccinating Palestinian residents of annexed east Jerusalem, which it considers part of its capital. Israel withdrew troops from Gaza in 2005, and it says the Palestinian Authority is responsible for health care in the territories it administers according to interim peace agreements.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, has not publicly requested vaccines from Israel and says it has secured its own supply through the World Health Organization and agreements with drug makers.
Still, Israel provided 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the PA earlier this month, allowing it to begin vaccinating medical workers, and the PA says it independently acquired 10,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.
Hamas is believed to be holding two captives, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent who entered Gaza shortly after the 2014 war, and an Arab Bedouin citizen of Israel. In exchange, Hamas is likely to demand the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including individuals implicated in deadly attacks.
After delay, Israel allows vaccines into Hamas-run Gaza
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After delay, Israel allows vaccines into Hamas-run Gaza
- Gaza, which has a population of two million, has reported more than 53,000 cases of the coronavirus and 538 deaths
1 case dismissed, 4 on hold in UN investigation into Oct. 7 allegations against UNRWA staff
- Investigators have been looking into cases of 12 agency workers accused by Israel in January of participating in attacks by Hamas, and 7 others named later
- 14 cases remain under investigation but the others were dismissed or suspended due to lack of evidence; UN’s internal investigators due to visit Israel again in May
NEW YORK CITY: UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that the organization’s internal oversight body has been investigating 19 employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees over allegations that they were affiliated with Hamas and other militant groups.
Israeli authorities alleged in January that 12 UNRWA workers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel.
The agency immediately cut ties with the named individuals, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in consultation with UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, ordered an independent review to evaluate the measures taken by the agency to ensure adherence to the principle of neutrality and how it responds to allegations of breaches of neutrality, particularly in the challenging context of the situation in Gaza.
In a wide-ranging report published this week, the investigators, led by Catherine Colonna, a former foreign minister of France, said Israeli authorities have yet to provide any evidence to support the allegations against UNRWA workers. They also noted that Israel had not previously raised concerns about any individuals named on the agency staffing lists it has been receiving since 2011.
They stated in the report: “In the absence of a political solution between Israel and the Palestinians, UNRWA remains pivotal in providing life-saving humanitarian aid and essential social services, particularly in health and education, to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.
“As such, UNRWA is irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians’ human and economic development. In addition, many view UNRWA as a humanitarian lifeline.”
Guterres also ordered a separate investigation by the UN’s own Office of Internal Oversight Services to determine the accuracy of the Israeli allegations. The mandate of the OIOS, an independent office within the UN Secretariat, is to assist the secretary-general in the handling of UN resources and staff through the provision of internal audit, investigation, inspection and evaluation services.
Dujarric said the 19 members of UNRWA staff under investigation included the 12 named by the Israeli allegations in January, whose contracts were immediately terminated, and seven others the UN subsequently received information about, five in March and two in April.
Of the 12 employees identified by Israeli authorities in January, eight remain under OIOS investigation, Dujarric said. One case was dismissed for lack of evidence and corrective administrative action is being explored, he added, and three cases were suspended because “the information provided by Israel is not sufficient for OIOS to proceed with an investigation. UNRWA is considering what administrative action to take while they are under investigation.”
Regarding the seven additional cases brought to the attention of the UN, one has been suspended “pending receipt of additional supporting evidence,” Dujarric said.
“The remaining six of those cases are currently under investigation by OIOS. OIOS has informed us that its investigators had traveled to Israel for discussions with the Israeli authorities and will undertake another visit during May.
“These discussions are continuing and have so far been productive and have enabled progress on the investigations.”
The initial allegations against some members of its staff threw the agency, which provides aid and other services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and across the region, into crisis. The US, the biggest single funder of UNRWA, and several other major donors put their contributions to the organization on hold.
In all, 16 UN member states suspended or paused donations, while others imposed conditions on further contributions, putting the future of the agency in doubt. Many of the countries, including Germany, later said their funding would resume. However, US donations remain on hold.
37 million tonnes of debris in Gaza could take years to clear: UN
- “We do know that we estimated 37 million tonnes of debris, which is approximately 300 kg per square meter,” Lodhammar added
GENEVA: There are some 37 million tonnes of debris to clear away in Gaza once the Israeli offensive is over, a senior official with the UN Mine Action Service said on Friday.
And unexploded ordnance buried in the rubble would complicate that work, said UNMAS’ Pehr Lodhammar, who has run mine programs in countries such as Iraq.
It was impossible to say how much of the ammunition fired in Gaza remained live, said Lodhammar.
“We know that typically there is a failure rate of at least 10 percent of land service ammunition,” he told journalists in Geneva.
“We do know that we estimated 37 million tonnes of debris, which is approximately 300 kg per square meter,” he added.
He said that starting from a hypothetical number of 100 trucks would take 14 years to clear away.
Lodhammar was speaking as UNMAS launched its 2023 annual report on Friday.
The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas erupted when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Also on Friday, the head of an aid group warned that an Israeli assault on southern Gaza’s Rafah area would spell disaster for civilians, not only in Gaza but across the Middle East,
Jan Egeland said the region faced a “countdown to an even bigger conflict.”
Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, also said that 1.3 million civilians seeking refuge in Rafah — including his aid group’s staff — were living in “indescribable fear” of an Israeli offensive.
Egeland urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to proceed with the operation.
“Netanyahu, stop this. It is a disaster not only for the Palestinians, it would be a disaster for Israel. You will have a stain on the Israeli conscience and history forever,” he said.
The NRC head spoke to Reuters in Lebanon, where he visited southern villages that he said were caught in a “horrific crossfire” between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.
“I am just scared that we haven’t learned from 2006,” said Egeland, referring to the month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel that was the two foes’ last bloody confrontation, during which he headed the UN’s relief operations.
“We do not need another war in the Middle East. At the moment, I’m feeling like (this is a) countdown to an even bigger conflict,” he said.
Turkiye’s Erdogan postpones tentative White House visit, sources say
- A new date will soon be set due to a change in Erdogan’s schedule, the Turkish official said
- The source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unclear what prompted the postponement
WASHINGTON/ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has postponed a White House meeting with President Joe Biden, a source familiar with the situation and a Turkish official said on Friday of a visit that had been tentatively planned for May 9.
A White House spokesperson, while not confirming the May 9 date, said: “We look forward to hosting President Erdogan at the White House at a mutually convenient time, but we have not been able to align our schedules and do not have any visit to announce at this time.”
A new date will soon be set due to a change in Erdogan’s schedule, the Turkish official said, requesting anonymity. The source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unclear what prompted the postponement.
The White House never formally announced the visit but a US official told Reuters in late March that following Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to Washington, the White House offered and Ankara had accepted May 9 for a meeting between Biden and Erdogan.
That would have been the first bilateral visit to Washington since 2019 when Erdogan met with then President Donald Trump, a Republican. He and Biden have met a few times at international summits and spoken by phone since the Democratic US president took office in January 2021.
Ties between the US and Turkiye have been long strained by differences on a range of issues. While they have thawed since Ankara ratified Sweden’s NATO membership bid earlier this year, tensions persist over Syria and Russia and the war in Gaza.
Erdogan visited neighboring Iraq this week. Last weekend, he met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul, the first meeting between Erdogan and a Hamas delegation headed by Haniyeh since Israel began its military offensive in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Netherlands will consider resuming support to Palestinian UNRWA agency
- The decision follows an investigation by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna
- The Colonna-led review of the agency’s neutrality concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations
AMSTERDAM: The Dutch government on Friday said it would consider resuming funding for the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza if the agency implements recommendations to strengthen its neutrality.
The decision follows an investigation by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna released on Monday into whether some UNRWA employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
The Colonna-led review of the agency’s neutrality concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations that hundreds of UNRWA staff were operatives in Gaza terrorist groups.
The Dutch government said it had already given its yearly donation to UNRWA in January, before the accusations against the agency came to light. It was one of several European countries that paused funding for the agency after the allegations were levied.
It said it did not foresee any additional donations in the near future, but would consider UNRWA as a potential partner if requests for aid were made.
150 shells hit Lebanese border towns in response to Israeli’s killing
- 200 days of Israeli attacks against Lebanon have resulted in 1,359 casualties, including 344 deaths, ministry of health says
BEIRUT: The Israeli army responded on Friday to the combined operation carried out by Hezbollah in the occupied Shebaa Farms district — also known as Har Dov — with artillery shelling and airstrikes targeting the Tumat Niha area on the outskirts of Western Bekaa.
An Israeli was killed near the country’s northern border in a Hezbollah attack.
Israeli forces launched an airstrike on the outskirts of Shebaa and fired artillery shells on the outskirts of the town of Kfarchouba at dawn.
The outskirts of Shebaa, Kfarchouba and Helta were targeted with more than 150 Israeli shells.
BACKGROUND
Hezbollah has been trading almost-daily fire with the Israeli army since the day after Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah members set up on Thursday night a “combined ambush of guided missiles, artillery, and rocket weapons targeting an Israeli motorized convoy near the Ruwaizat Al-Alam site, in the occupied Lebanese Kfarchouba hills.”
When the convoy arrived at the ambush point, according to Hezbollah’s statement, “it was targeted with guided weapons, artillery and rockets, destroying two vehicles.”
The party said that the Israeli army created a “smokescreen to retrieve losses.”
Hezbollah announced “targeting an Israeli force as it made it to the entrance of Al-Malikiyah site with artillery fire, and it was directly hit.”
The Israeli army confirmed the killing of a truck driver, Sharif Sawaed — a resident of Wadi Salameh — by an anti-tank shell fired by Hezbollah toward Shebaa Farms.
The Israeli army said that Sawaed was carrying out infrastructure work in the area targeted by the shell, where efforts are underway to set up a barrier on the border.
The Israeli army said that it “succeeded in retrieving the body of the dead soldier after a complex operation that lasted for hours under fire.”
The Israeli army said that warplanes later shelled Hezbollah positions in the villages of Kfarchouba and Ain Al-Tineh, a weapons depot, and a Hezbollah rocket launch pad in the Markaba area in southern Lebanon, and that two anti-tank shells were observed from Lebanese territory toward Shebaa Farms.
Israeli airstrikes led to the destruction of a house in Shebaa, two houses in Kfarchouba, and damage to more than 35 houses. One house was destroyed in Yarine, and another was destroyed in Dhayra.
Israeli artillery shelling targeted the area between the border towns of Yarine and Jebbayn.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Israeli army launched an investigation into the Har Dov incident, as the engineering force was supposed to operate in the dark to avoid being targeted by Hezbollah’s missiles.
Israeli army spokesperson described what happened in the Shebaa Farms as “a difficult security incident on the Lebanese border.”
This was the first confrontation during which the Israeli army revealed details of casualties and the developments taking place at the target site.
The head of the Israeli Metula settlement council said: “It is insane how we lose houses and infrastructure every day,” adding that “Hezbollah is systematically and deliberately hurting the people of the north by doing so.”
He said that Hezbollah had “successfully deepened the security belt here after it made us flee the northern settlements.”
The Israeli army’s radio station has reported the death of 20 settlers on the Lebanese border since the start of the war more than 200 days ago.
An Israeli military drone struck a car on the Dhahira–Zalloutieh road in the border region.
The Israeli attacks against Lebanon, which have continued for 200 days, resulted in “1,359 casualties, including 344 dead people, most of whom are men,” according to a report published by the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Israeli media outlets stated that “4,000 missiles were launched toward northern Israel from Lebanon since the beginning of the Gaza war, according to the Israeli army’s estimations.”
Hezbollah provided a detailed overview of the course of the military operations on the Lebanese southern border, stating that “it killed and wounded 2,000 Israeli soldiers, and carried out 1,650 diverse attacks, including downing five drones and targeting 67 command centers and two military factories.”
The group added that it carried out 55 aerial attacks and forced 230,000 settlers to evacuate 43 northern settlements.
