RABAT: Morocco has begun sending 40 tons of medical aid to Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, the Moroccan foreign ministry said on Monday.
The aid includes surgery equipment and supplies to treat burns and fractures as well as medicine for children, it said.
The aid was transported by air and will be loaded into Palestinian red crescent trucks at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which was first used by Morocco to deliver aid in March, a senior diplomatic source told Reuters.
Moroccan authorities say they are using their ties to Israel to promote peace and defend the rights of Palestinians, but there have been many protests in Moroccan cities criticizing these ties since the onset of the war in Gaza.
Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza was triggered after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli offensive in retaliation has killed more than 37,600 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left much of Gaza in ruins.
Morocco sends 40 tons of medical aid to Gaza
https://arab.news/pwtn3
Morocco sends 40 tons of medical aid to Gaza
- The aid includes surgery equipment and supplies to treat burns and fractures as well as medicine for children
- Moroccan authorities say they are using their ties to Israel to promote peace and defend the rights of Palestinians
Gaza access: Foreign press group welcomes Israel court deadline
- The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition to the Supreme Court last year, seeking immediate access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip
JERUSALEM: The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem on Sunday welcomed the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to set Jan. 4 as the deadline for Israel to respond to its petition seeking media access to Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, sparked by the attack on Israel, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory.
Israel has instead allowed, on a case-by-case basis, a handful of reporters to accompany its troops into the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition to the Supreme Court last year, seeking immediate access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip.
On Oct. 23, the court held its first hearing in the case and gave Israeli authorities one month to develop a plan to grant access.
Since then, the court has granted several extensions to the Israeli authorities to develop their plan, but on Saturday, it set Jan. 4 as the final deadline.
“If the respondents (Israeli authorities) do not inform us of their position by that date, a decision on the request for a conditional order will be made on the basis of the material in the case file,” the court said.
The FPA welcomed the court’s latest directive.
“After two years of the state’s delay tactics, we are pleased that the court’s patience has finally run out,” the association said in a statement.
“We renew our call for the state of Israel to immediately grant journalists free and unfettered access to the Gaza Strip.
“And should the government continue to obstruct press freedoms, we hope that the Supreme Court will recognize and uphold those freedoms,” it added.
An AFP journalist serves on the FPA board.
Meanwhile, US Senator Lindsey Graham accused Hamas of rearming during a visit to Israel on Sunday, and charged that the Palestinian group was also consolidating power in Gaza.
“My impression is that Hamas is not disarming, they are rearming,” Graham said in a video statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“It’s my impression that they are trying to consolidate power (and) not give it up in Gaza.”
Graham’s remarks came a day after mediators the US, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkiye urged both sides in the Gaza war to uphold the ceasefire.
Hamas has called on the mediators and Washington to stop Israeli “violations” of the ceasefire.
On Friday, six people, including two children, were killed in an Israeli bombing of a school serving as a shelter for displaced people, according to the civil defense agency in Gaza.
