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53479 |
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Date: March 24, 2024 at 15:42:21
From: chatillon, [DNS_Address]
Subject: All Food Convoys Denied Access to North Gaza This Week’ – UNRWA Chief |
URL: https://www.palestinechronicle.com/all-food-convoys-denied-access-to-north-gaza-this-week-unrwa-chief/ |
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“With unimpeded access this man made starvation can
still be averted.”
Israel blocked all food convoys from entering the
northern Gaza Strip this week, the commissioner-general
of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA),
Philippe Lazzarini, has said.
“All our food convoys have been denied access to North
Gaza this week. With unimpeded access this man made
starvation can still be averted,” Lazzarini said on X on
Saturday.
His statement comes after Israel denied for a second
time this week a food convoy to the north.
The last time UNRWA was able to send food aid to the
north “was nearly 2 months ago,” Lazzarani stated. “I’ve
said it many times: this is a man made hunger & looming
famine which can still be averted.”
The UNRWA chief emphasized that the Israeli authorities
“must allow delivering food aid at scale to the north
including via UNRWA, the largest humanitarian
organisation in Gaza.”
“Meanwhile, children will continue to die of
malnutrition & dehydration under our watch. The
unbearable cannot become the new normal,” Lazzarini
added.
‘Act to Save Lives’
The World Food Programme (WFP) has also reiterated the
need for “An immediate stop to the fighting” as well as
“Full access for aid organizations to reach the entire
civilian population.”
“A declaration of #famine means it’s too late. We must
act now to save thousands of lives,” the world’s largest
humanitarian organization said on X.
During a visit to the Egyptian side of the Rafah
crossing on Saturday, UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres said that the long line of blocked trucks is “a
moral outrage.”
Guterres reportedly said Israel should give an “ironclad
commitment” for access to humanitarian aid while
renewing his call for an immediate humanitarian
ceasefire.
“Here from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and
heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief
trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of
starvation on the other,” he said.
Guterres’ visit came as Israel faces global pressure to
allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, amid spreading
famine in the besieged enclave.
‘Intentional Campaign of Starvation’
The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael
Fakhri, said earlier this month “There is no doubt that
this is genocide and that this is a campaign and
intentional campaign of starvation by Israel against the
Palestinian people in Gaza.”
At least 15 children have died from malnutrition and
dehydration at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, according to
Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
“When the war broke out, we saw people go hungry in
unprecedented ways. We have never seen any community
made to go hungry so quickly. Now what we are seeing is
famine. Children are dying from malnutrition, and
dehydration,” Fakhri stated.
“We have never seen children pushed into malnutrition so
quickly in any conflict in modern history,” he added.
“We see children dying from malnutrition, and
dehydration, this is a stage of horror.”
Over 32,000 Killed
Currently on trial before the International Court of
Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has
been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,226
Palestinians have been killed, and 74,518 wounded in
Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for,
presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout
the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the
majority of those killed and wounded are women and
children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful
displacement of nearly two million people from all over
the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced
forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah
near the border with Egypt – in what has become
Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were
killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7.
Israeli media published reports suggesting that many
Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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Responses:
[53490] |
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53490 |
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Date: March 26, 2024 at 06:24:13
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: while US Lies: U.S. Finds Israel in Compliance With Biden's Demands |
URL: https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-03-25/ty-article/.premium/u-s-finds-israel-in-compliance-with-military-aid-law-state-department-says/0000018e-76c4-dfab-afdf-7fc783630000?lts=1711415628217 |
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U.S. Finds Israel in Compliance With Biden's Demands on International Law,
Humanitarian Aid
Haaretz | U.S. News
U.S. Finds Israel in Compliance With Biden's Demands on International Law,
Humanitarian Aid
'We have not found them to be in violation, either when it comes to the
conduct of the war or the provision of humanitarian assistance,' the State
Department said
A USAF C-17 brings artillery shells from Ramstein air base in Germany to
Israel, October 2023.Credit: U.S. Air Force / Edgar Grimaldo
Ben Samuels
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Mar 25, 2024 8:44 pm IST
WASHINGTON - The U.S. has deemed Israel in compliance with U.S.
President Joe Biden's national security memorandum stipulating that
recipients of U.S. weapons must be in compliance with international law, nor
may they block the provision of humanitarian assistance.
Israel was obliged to provide written assurances by Sunday, via a "credible
high level official who has the ability and authority to make decisions and
commitments about the issues at the heart of the assurances," State
Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
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The U.S. State Department now has until May 8 to provide Congress with a
report on its compliance.
Former officials urge Biden: Mull restricting assistance to Israel if it blocks
Gaza aid
Netanyahu cancels Washington delegation after U.S. abstains from UN Gaza
cease-fire vote
The U.S. is changing its approach to Israel, which continues to ignore its
warnings
"These assurances are prospective, but of course our view of them is
informed by our ongoing assessments of Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza,"
Miller continued.
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"We've had ongoing assessments of Israel's compliance with international
humanitarian law. We have not found them to be in violation, either when it
comes to the conduct of the war or the provision of humanitarian assistance.
We view those assurances through that ongoing work we have done," he
added.
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Dozens of Congressional Democrats, as well as leading international NGOs,
have warned that Israel is not in compliance with the memorandum. Leading
State Department and USAID officials similarly insisted that Israel's
assurances — as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew's endorsement
— failed to account for realities on the ground.
"When it comes to finding a violation of international humanitarian law, that
requires a fact-intensive analysis of relevant factors related to international
humanitarian law," Miller noted.
"We have ongoing processes to look at those things, and those were
processes that started before this memorandum was signed by the
president," he said. "But as of yet, we have not made a conclusion that Israel
is in violation of international humanitarian law."
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who was perhaps the leading advocate in Congress
pushing for such accountability measures, is seeking clarification from the
State Department on the findings. An official familiar says Van Hollen's office
was informed earlier Monday that a final decision had not been made and the
process was ongoing, and that the Israeli assurances were "credible and
reliable" — despite the warnings from 17 Senate Democrats to the contrary.
The Biden administration issued the national security memorandum in
February.
The memo marks a number of firsts — including the mandated credible and
written assurances from countries prior to weapons transfers, as well as
assurances that they won't deny or restrict aid efforts in conflict areas where
U.S.-purchased weapons are being used, to guarantee they will not violate
human rights with weapons purchased from the U.S.
It further requires the State Department and the Defense Department to
send a report to Congress within 90 days of the use of U.S. weapons in
armed conflict areas since January 2023.
The memo further creates an enforcement mechanism for holding
accountable countries that violate U.S., international or humanitarian law – or
used in manners inconsistent with mitigating civilian harm.
It does not apply to air defense systems or any strictly defensive or non-
lethal defense articles.
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Bernie Sanders, the senior United States senator from Vermont, said that
"the State Department's position makes a mockery of U.S. law."
In a statement, Sanders said that "32,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been
killed and almost 75,000 injured, two-thirds of whom are women and
children. Some 60 percent of the housing units have been damaged or
destroyed, and almost all medical facilities have been made inoperable.
Today, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children are facing starvation
because Netanyahu won't let in sufficient humanitarian aid, while thousands
of trucks are waiting to get into Gaza. To pretend that Israel is not violating
international law or interfering with U.S. humanitarian aid is absurd on its
face. The State Department's position makes a mockery of U.S. law and
assurances provided to Congress.""
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