WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated veteran Democratic Party official Thomas Nides to be US ambassador to Israel, filling the post two days after the formation of a new government eager to renew ties.
Nides, a former top banker at Morgan Stanley who has spent his adult life in Democratic politics, served in the US State Department when Barack Obama was president and defended funding for the Palestinians.
He would mark a sharp departure from the last US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a forceful advocate for hawkish Israeli policies who was tapped by former president Donald Trump after serving his company as a bankruptcy lawyer.
Nides grew up in a Jewish home in Duluth, Minnesota, where his father was temple president. He is not known as an ideological figure on the Middle East or other issues.
While serving as deputy secretary of state for management and resources, Nides fought attempts by Republicans in Congress to stop US funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees -- a step taken by Trump but reversed by Biden.
Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington, wrote in a 2011 book that Nides once called him to argue passionately - and profanely - against attempts in Congress to defund the UN cultural agency UNESCO after it admitted Palestine as a member state.
Nides, Oren wrote, said with colorful language that Israel would not want to defund UNESCO as it has played a role in education about the Holocaust.
Nides, whose nomination had been rumored for weeks, needs to be confirmed by the Senate, where the Democrats are narrowly in control.
His nomination was announced two days after the fall from power from Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving prime minister who had toxic relations with Democrats after he rallied against Obama's Iran policy, rejected moves for a Palestinian state and aligned himself with Republicans.
Biden has quickly congratulated Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is a staunch defender of Jewish settlement in the West Bank but governs in coalition with centrists and leftists.
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Biden names Israel ambassador days after new government
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Biden names Israel ambassador days after new government
Children dying from cold as storm batters Gaza, killing 13
- Three children die from exposure as winter rains flood displacement camps
- Wet weather causes war-damaged buildings and walls to collapse, killing 10
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency on Friday said at least 13 people had died in the last 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a winter storm batters the territory.
Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the territory’s residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war.
Gaza’s civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, told AFP three children had died from exposure to the cold — two in Gaza City and one in Khan Yunis in the south.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of Hadeel Al-Masri, aged nine, and Taim Al-Khawaja, who it said was just several months old.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar had died in the nearby tented encampment of Al-Mawasi due to the cold.
With most of Gaza’s buildings destroyed or damaged, thousands of tents and homemade shelters now line areas cleared of rubble.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people died when a house collapsed in the Bir Al-Naja area of the northern Gaza Strip.
Four others died when walls collapsed in multiple separate incidents, he said.
In a statement, the civil defense said its teams had responded to calls from “13 houses that collapsed due to heavy rains and strong winds, mostly in Gaza City and the north.”
No dry clothes
Under gloomy skies in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinians used bowls, buckets and hoes to try and remove the water that had pooled around their tents made of plastic sheeting.
Young children, some barefoot and others wearing open sandals, trudged and hopped through ponds of muddy water as the rain continued to fall.
“The mattress has been soaked since this morning, and the children slept in wet bedding last night,” Umm Muhammad Joudah told AFP.
“We don’t have any dry clothes to change into.”
Saif Ayman, a 17-year-old who was on crutches due to a leg injury, said his tent had also been submerged.
“In this tent we have no blankets. There are six of us sleeping on one mattress, and we cover ourselves with our clothes,” he said.
The Hamas-run interior and national security ministry gave a preliminary toll of 14 dead due to the effects of the winter rains since Wednesday.
A ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hamas that took effect in October has partially eased restrictions on goods and aid entering into the Gaza Strip.
But supplies have entered in insufficient quantities, according to the United Nations, and the humanitarian needs are still immense.
The UN’s World Health Organization warned on Friday that thousands of families were “sheltering in low-lying or debris-filled coastal areas with no drainage or protective barriers.”
“Winter conditions, combined with poor water and sanitation, are expected to drive a surge in acute respiratory infections,” it added.
Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the territory’s residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war.
Gaza’s civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, told AFP three children had died from exposure to the cold — two in Gaza City and one in Khan Yunis in the south.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of Hadeel Al-Masri, aged nine, and Taim Al-Khawaja, who it said was just several months old.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar had died in the nearby tented encampment of Al-Mawasi due to the cold.
With most of Gaza’s buildings destroyed or damaged, thousands of tents and homemade shelters now line areas cleared of rubble.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people died when a house collapsed in the Bir Al-Naja area of the northern Gaza Strip.
Four others died when walls collapsed in multiple separate incidents, he said.
In a statement, the civil defense said its teams had responded to calls from “13 houses that collapsed due to heavy rains and strong winds, mostly in Gaza City and the north.”
No dry clothes
Under gloomy skies in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinians used bowls, buckets and hoes to try and remove the water that had pooled around their tents made of plastic sheeting.
Young children, some barefoot and others wearing open sandals, trudged and hopped through ponds of muddy water as the rain continued to fall.
“The mattress has been soaked since this morning, and the children slept in wet bedding last night,” Umm Muhammad Joudah told AFP.
“We don’t have any dry clothes to change into.”
Saif Ayman, a 17-year-old who was on crutches due to a leg injury, said his tent had also been submerged.
“In this tent we have no blankets. There are six of us sleeping on one mattress, and we cover ourselves with our clothes,” he said.
The Hamas-run interior and national security ministry gave a preliminary toll of 14 dead due to the effects of the winter rains since Wednesday.
A ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hamas that took effect in October has partially eased restrictions on goods and aid entering into the Gaza Strip.
But supplies have entered in insufficient quantities, according to the United Nations, and the humanitarian needs are still immense.
The UN’s World Health Organization warned on Friday that thousands of families were “sheltering in low-lying or debris-filled coastal areas with no drainage or protective barriers.”
“Winter conditions, combined with poor water and sanitation, are expected to drive a surge in acute respiratory infections,” it added.
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