WASHINGTON: The US State Department warned on Monday that humanitarian assistance was not getting to people that need it in Jabalia in northern Gaza, which spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US does not accept.
“That’s one of our assessments, is that the food and water and medicine that needs to get to people in Jabalia, they aren’t getting it right now. And we want to see that change,” Miller said.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. Reuters could not verify the number independently.
The emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the north, an area where the military said it had wiped out Hamas combat forces earlier in the year-long war.
Israeli forces began the recent operation in the north with the declared aim of preventing Hamas from regrouping. The operation has intensified since the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar over a week ago.
Miller said Washington would clearly reject any effort to create a siege, starve civilians or wall northern Gaza off from the rest of the enclave.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised with Israel a so-called “generals plan,” published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, suggesting Palestinian civilians would be instructed to evacuate northern Gaza, which would then be declared a closed military zone.
Israel told the US they are not carrying out the plan, Miller said.
But he warned that Israel was not meeting all of the conditions laid out in a letter the US sent to Israel earlier this month urging it to take steps in 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid, according to US officials.
“They have not fully implemented all of the changes that we called for in that letter,” he said, adding that the US would wait until the expiration of the 30 days before offering a final assessment.
The Israeli parliament passed a law on Monday to ban UN relief agency UNRWA from operating inside the country. Miller, before the passage of the law, said the US has made it clear to Israel it is deeply concerned by the legislation, as UNRWA has an irreplaceable role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza
https://arab.news/na6pw
US warns humanitarian assistance not getting to people who need it in north Gaza
- The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies
’We can’t make ends meet’: civil servants protest in Ankara
- Some 800 civil servants from the Confederation of Public Employees’ Unions joined a march to the labor ministry
- “The increase in rents is almost three times higher than the pay rise we received,” Kocak told demonstrators
ANKARA: Hundreds of angry civil servants marched through Ankara Wednesday demanding a realistic pay rise as they battle poverty amid the soaring prices and double-digit inflation.
Some 800 civil servants from the Confederation of Public Employees’ Unions (KESK) joined a march to the labor ministry in the Turkish capital, carrying banners demanding an immediate pay rise.
“The increase in rents is almost three times higher than the pay rise we received, meaning our salaries are not even enough to cover the rent increases alone,” Ayfer Kocak, KESK’s co-chair, told demonstrators outside the ministry.
“We are experiencing growing poverty and insecurity.”
Turkiye’s annual inflation rate fell to 30.89 percent in December from 44.38 percent a year earlier, official figures showed, but independent economists and unions say real numbers remain much higher.
According to December figures released by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TURK-IS), the absolute minimum needed to feed a family of four was just over 30,000 liras ($690).
At the same time, Turkiye’s poverty threshold — the sum required to cover the basic needs for a family of that size — had risen to 98,000 liras ($2,270), it said.
Food inflation approached 43 percent annually, it added.
- ‘We can’t make ends meet’ -
“The government is condemning civil servants to live in degrading conditions by relying on misleading data” from the official statistics agency TUIK, Tulay Yildirim, head of a local teachers’ union branch, told AFP.
“We workers’ voices to be heard, saying we can no longer make ends meet and want to receive our fair share of a budget created through taxes paid by all citizens,” she added.
Earlier this month, public sector wages were hiked by 18.6 percent for the next six months, an increase unions said was insufficient.
“There are not only workers here, but also pensioners. The salary increase granted falls below the poverty line,” said Osman Seheri, head of a local branch of the municipal workers’ union.
“We cannot even afford proper clothes to go to work, let alone a suit and tie. With such wages, it is impossible to live in a major city.”
According to the independent Inflation Research Group (ENAG), which challenges the official data, annual inflation in Turkiye reached 56.14 percent in December 2025, with prices rising 2.11 percent in December alone.
