UNITED NATIONS: The US ambassador to the United Nations on Monday accused Israel’s military of striking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza in a sign of growing American frustration with its close ally as the war approaches its first anniversary.
Israel has repeatedly said it targets Hamas militants, who often hide with civilians and use them as human shields, in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military at a UN Security Council meeting, saying many of the strikes in recent weeks that injured or killed UN personnel and humanitarian workers “were preventable.”
Many council members cited last week’s Israeli strike on a former school turned civilian shelter run by the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, in which six UNRWA staffers were among at least 18 people killed, including women and children.
Israel said it targeted a Hamas command-and-control center in the compound, and Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, asserted Monday that Hamas militants were killed in the strike. He named four, claiming to the council that they worked for UNRWA during the day and Hamas at night.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation.
Thomas-Greenfield told council members that the US will keep raising the need for Israel to facilitate humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territory and protect humanitarian workers and facilities like the UNRWA shelter.
She also reiterated US “outrage” at the death of Turkish American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was shot and killed during a protest in the West Bank last week. Israeli Defense Forces said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government has begun a criminal investigation.
“The IDF is a professional military and knows well how to ensure that incidents such as these do not happen,” the US envoy said.
Thomas-Greenfield said the United States expects Israeli military leaders to implement “fundamental changes” in their operations — including to their rules of engagement and procedures to ensure that military operations do not conflict with humanitarian activities and do not target schools and other civilian facilities.
“We have also been unequivocal in communicating to Israel that there is no basis — absolutely none — for its forces to be opening fire on clearly marked UN vehicles as recently occurred on numerous occasions,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
At the same time, she said Hamas is also hiding in — and in some cases, taking over or using — civilian sites, which poses “an ongoing threat.”
She said it underscores the urgency of reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. While the United States works with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to try to get both sides “to agree that enough is enough,” she said, “this is ultimately a question of political will” and difficult compromises.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt this week for talks partly about refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas.
The United States urges “all council members with influence over Hamas to join others in pressing its leaders to stop stalling, make these compromises, and accept the deal without delay,” Thomas-Greenfield.
She spoke after the top UN humanitarian official in Gaza said the territory is “hell on Earth” for its more than 2 million people, calling the lack of effective protection for civilians “unconscionable.”
Sigrid Kaag, the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told council members and reporters that the war has turned the territory “into the abyss.”
Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Humanitarian operations are being impeded by lawlessness, Israeli evacuation orders, fighting and difficult conditions for aid workers that include Israeli denials of access, delays, a lack of safety and security, and “poor logistical infrastructure,” Kaag said.
Danon insisted that Israel’s humanitarian efforts “are unparalleled” for a country forced to go to war and urged the Security Council and the UN “to speak to the facts.”
Over 1 million tons of aid have been delivered via more than 50,000 trucks and nearly 1 million land crossings, he said, adding that hardly a fraction have been stopped.
When asked about Danon’s statement, Kaag pointed to recent strikes on humanitarian convoys and schools and health facilities where Israel had received prior notification.
“It’s not about trucks. It’s about what people need,” she said. “We’re way, way off what people need, not only daily, but also what we would all consider a dignified human life.”
US airs frustration with Israel’s military about strikes in Gaza
https://arab.news/zey9x
US airs frustration with Israel’s military about strikes in Gaza
- Thomas-Greenfield said the United States expects Israeli military leaders to implement “fundamental changes” in their operations
Aoun hails disarmament progress: ‘Lebanon achieved in 1 year what it had not seen in 4 decades’
- President Joseph Aoun highlights achievements during first year in office despite many challenges
- Army announced this month it had successfully disarmed Hezbollah in the south of the country
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed on Tuesday that the country’s armed forces “are now the sole operational authority south of the Litani River, despite doubts, accusations of treason, insults and slander.”
Speaking at the Presidential Palace in Baabda during a traditional New Year meeting with members of the diplomatic corps and the heads of international missions, he highlighted what he viewed as Lebanon’s achievements since he took office on Jan. 9, 2025.
The government’s approval in August and September last year of plans to bring all weapons in the country under state control, and ensure the authority of the state across all Lebanese territory using its own forces, was “no minor detail,” he said.
“Lebanon achieved in one year what it had not seen in four decades,” he added, as he recalled taking office in a “deeply wounded state” that has suffered decades of institutional paralysis and economic crises.
Despite campaigns of distortion, intimidation and misinformation, and Israel’s failure to abide by the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, the changed reality on the ground over the past 12 months speaks for itself, he said.
“The truth is what you see, not what you hear,” Aoun said, pointing out that “not a single bullet was fired from Lebanon during my first year in office, except for two specific incidents recorded last March, the perpetrators of which were swiftly arrested by official authorities.”
The army carried out “extensive operations” to clear large areas of the country of illegal weapons regardless of who controlled them, the president continued, in line with the terms of the Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement with Israel, which he described as “an accord Lebanon respects and that was unanimously endorsed by the country’s political forces.”
These efforts reflected a determination to spare the country a return to the “suicidal conflicts that have come at a heavy cost in the past,” he added.
Aoun stressed his commitment during the second year of his presidency to restoring control of all Lebanese territory to the exclusive authority of the state, securing the release of prisoners, and the reconstruction of war-ravaged areas.
He said that southern Lebanon, like all of the country’s international borders, would fall under the sole control of the Lebanese Armed Forces, putting a definitive end to any attempts “to draw us into the conflicts of others, even as those same parties pursue dialogue, negotiations and compromises in pursuit of their own national interests.”
The Lebanese Army Command announced early this month the completion of the first phase of its plans to disarm nonstate groups south of the Litani River. The government is now awaiting an army report next month detailing its next steps.
Gen. Rodolphe Haykal, the army’s commander, has said that the plan “does not have a specific time frame for completing this phase, which encompasses all Lebanese regions.”
A Lebanese official confirmed to Arab News that the army now has exclusive control of territory south of the Litani River, and no other armed forces or military factions have a presence there.
Aoun’s affirmation of his determination to “stay on course” came two days after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem gave a sharply worded speech that delivered both implicit and explicit rebukes aimed at the president and Foreign Minister Youssef Raji.
His criticisms focused on their efforts to take control of weapons north of the Litani River, following a declaration by Aoun that “the time for arms is over,” a position that Hezbollah vehemently rejects in what appears to be an attempt to derail the gradual, phased disarmament strategy embraced by the Lebanese government and the international community.
Progress in the efforts of the military to take control of all weapons in the country hinges on securing vital logistical support for the country’s armed forces, a condition tied to the International Conference for Supporting the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces, which is due to take place on March 5 in Paris.
Aoun told the diplomats that the conference is the result of efforts led by the international Quintet Committee supporting Lebanon: the US, Saudi Arabia, France, Qatar and Egypt.
Archbishop Paolo Borgia, the papal ambassador to Lebanon, speaking in his role as dean of the diplomatic corps, said that the current crisis in the country serves “as a harsh test” that must remind political leaders of their duty to prevent history from repeating itself.
He called for respect for all electoral processes as a vital part of any nation’s democratic life, and for “genuine peace without weapons, one that can disarm enemies through the convincing power of goodness and the strength of meeting and dialogue.”
He added: “Those holding the highest public offices must give special attention to rebuilding political relationships peacefully, both nationally and globally, a process grounded in mutual trust, honest negotiations and faithful adherence to commitments made.”
