Israel/Palästina

Amid reports of yet another deadly attack on a school in Gaza on Wednesday, the UN’s top aid official Tom Fletcher welcomed growing international calls for lifesaving aid work by established agencies to resume in the war-torn enclave. “We value the support of more and more Member States who are joining our call: Let us work,” Mr. Fletcher said, his comments coinciding with the announcement that the US and Israeli-backed aid hub in southern Gaza operating independently of the UN had been suspended on Wednesday.

A draft resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza failed to pass in the UN Security Council on Wednesday after the United States cast its veto – blocking the initiative backed by all ten elected members of the Council. The text, co-sponsored by Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia – collectively known as the E-10 – received 14 votes in favour, with the US casting the lone vote against.

In Gaza, dozens of Palestinians have been reportedly injured and shot trying to collect aid from the new US and Israeli-backed aid distribution facility operating independently of the UN. … Meanwhile, UN aid teams have continued to appeal to Israel for access to Gaza to deliver and distribute thousands of tonnes of food, medicine and other basic items waiting just outside Gaza.

Diplomats convened at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday to lay the groundwork for a crucial international conference in June, aimed at advancing global efforts towards achieving a two-State solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The preparatory session brought together UN Member States to align expectations and finalise arrangements for eight thematic roundtables that will help shape the conference’s outcome.

The Israeli military issued an Arabic-language statement on Thursday to announce it was “operating with intense force” in 14 areas in the northern Gaza Strip, warning inhabitants to evacuate and accusing “terrorist organisations” of operating there. 

The UN has called for an investigation following reports that Israeli forces opened fire on a diplomatic delegation near the Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. 

The UN humanitarian affairs chief has welcomed Israel’s decision to allow limited aid to cross into Gaza after 11 weeks of complete blockade – but significantly more is needed “starting tomorrow morning”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will “take control” of the whole of Gaza, as the military pressed a newly intensified campaign in the war-ravaged territory. After Israel announced it would let limited aid into Gaza, the head of the World Health Organization issued a stark warning on the humanitarian crisis in the territory, saying that “two million people are starving.”

The United Nations has said it will not take part in a US-backed humanitarian operation in Gaza because it is not impartial, neutral or independent, as Israel pledged to facilitate the effort without being involved in aid deliveries. … Speaking to reporters in Antalya, Turkiye, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday acknowledged the criticisms and said Washington was open to any alternative plan to get aid to civilians “without Hamas being able to steal it”.

[…] Nothing has entered Gaza for more than 10 weeks, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced and the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Strip face the risk of famine.