DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Middle East Crisis U.N. Says About 300,000 Gazans Have Fled Rafah
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-12 | by ( Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

There has been intense bombardment and fighting around Rafah since Monday, when Israel seized control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, largely halting the flow of aid. Dozens of people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Rafah since then, local health officials say. Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over parts of Rafah and over a part of northern Gaza on Saturday that ordered people to flee. “Forcing civilians to evacuate Rafah to unsafe zones is intolerable,” Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s top diplomat, wrote late Saturday on the social media platform X. Several countries and international aid groups have condemned the prospect of a full-scale Rafah invasion, saying it would be catastrophic for civilians.

Persons: Gazans, Israel, ” Josep Borrell Fontelles, Biden Organizations: United Nations, Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Egypt, Al, Israel, United

Around 300,000 Palestinians in southern and northern Gaza are being forced to flee once again, the United Nations says, as Israel issued new and expanded evacuation orders on Saturday. But many are unsure where to find secure shelter in a place devastated by war. The expanded evacuation orders apply to the city of Rafah at Gaza’s southernmost tip, where more than a million Gazans have gathered after fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere over the past seven months. Some 150,000 people have already fled Rafah over the past six days, according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians. “Fear, confusion, oppression, anxiety is eating away at people.”

Persons: “, ”, Mohammad al, Masri Organizations: Nations, United Nations Locations: Gaza, Israel, Rafah

☆ Satellite imagery shows Palestinians fleeing Rafah’s tent cities as threat of major attack looms
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Paul P. Murphy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

A satellite image shows tent camps in Rafah, Gaza, on May 5. Planet Labs, PBC A satellite image shows tent camps in Rafah, Gaza, on May 8. Planet Labs, PBC Satellite images show tent camps in Rafah, Gaza, on May 5 and May 8. Planet Labs, PBC A satellite image shows tent camps in Rafah, Gaza, on May 8. Planet Labs, PBC Satellite images show tent camps in Rafah, Gaza, on May 5 and May 8.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden, shockwaves, Netanyahu, Gazans, Al Mawasi Organizations: CNN, Planet Labs, PBC, United Nations, Israel Defense Forces Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israel, Al, Rafah –

☆ Israel’s Closures of 2 Gaza Border Crossings Prompt Alarm Over Humanitarian Aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Cassandra Vinograd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With its seizure of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, Israel has now closed two key crossings for aid into Gaza, drawing sharp warnings from international agencies and officials who said the moves could exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis in the enclave. Since the start of the war, Israel had limited aid entering the Gaza Strip to the two tightly controlled border crossings: Kerem Shalom and Rafah, which both access the enclave’s south. But Israel closed the Kerem Shalom crossing after a Hamas attack on Sunday killed four soldiers in the area, then mounted an incursion on Tuesday that closed the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian office, said in a news briefing that Israel had “choked off” the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza. Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the Rafah operation “in the strongest terms,” saying on Tuesday afternoon that Israeli control over the crossing jeopardized humanitarian aid deliveries as well as the ability of Gazans to leave the strip for medical treatment.

Persons: Jens Laerke, Israel, “ Organizations: Sunday, United Nations Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Egypt, Israel, Kerem Shalom

☆ Middle East Crisis Israel Welcomes Senate Passage of Aid Bill
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Matt Surman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

An additional $2.4 billion is directed to U.S. military operations in the Middle East. Another $9 billion would go to “worldwide humanitarian aid,” including for civilians in Gaza. The package bars any of the funding from going to UNRWA, the main United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinians in Gaza. The aid that is getting into Gaza is falling far short of the needs of its desperate population. Countries including the United States have tried to find air and sea routes to get more relief supplies in.

Persons: Israel Katz, “, Biden, Catie Edmondson, Robert Jimison Organizations: Wednesday, U.S . Senate, Ukraine, UNRWA, United Nations, United, Democrats, Democratic, U.S Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, Rafah, U.S

A photo taken by Abdallah Dalee in the early hours of February 29 shows a crowd of people waiting by firelight for the aid trucks to cross into northern Gaza. Mark Regev, the Israeli prime minister’s special adviser, initially told CNN that Israeli forces had not been involved. “Most of the people that were killed were rammed by the aid trucks during the chaos and while trying to escape the Israeli gunfire,” Al Za’anoun said. The footage shows hundreds of people gathering around aid trucks on Al Rashid Street. People mourn outside Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City over one of the Palestinians killed during the aid delivery on February 29.

Persons: Abu Watfa, ” Abu Watfa, ’, ”, Al Rashid, Abdallah Dalee, firelight, Abdallah Dalee Gazan, Mark Regev, Daniel Hagari, Al Za’anoun, ” Al Za’anoun, Rashid, Belal, Robert Maher, Richard Weir, Weir, Al Jazeera, “, Abd Rabu, Hamouda Zamil, Dr, Amjad Aliwa, Georgios Petropoulos, ” Mohammed Ahmed, I’ve, ” Ahmed, Ahmed Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Israel Defense Forces ’, IDF, Montana State University, Human Rights Watch, Al, AFP, Getty, Welfare Trust, Welfare, Ummah Welfare, UN Office, Human Rights Locations: Gaza City, Gaza, Israel, Al, United States, Bolton, England, “, Al Nabulsi, Al Kuwaiti

☆ Middle East Crisis As Ramadan Nears Its End, Relief Remains Elusive in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Israeli airstrikes a week ago killed seven aid workers who had been delivering food in Gaza, renewing the international focus on the hunger crisis there. But UNRWA, the primary United Nations agency aiding Palestinians, said that 103 aid trucks crossed into Gaza on Sunday. Until now, almost all aid for Gaza has entered through two southern border crossings, at Rafah and Kerem Shalom. Before the conflict, around 500 commercial and aid trucks entered Gaza each day. Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, said that Gaza needs 500 trucks of aid each day, for weeks and months, to remedy the crisis.

Persons: Israel, Biden, COGAT, Matthew Miller, Miller, Benjamin Netanyahu, Juliette Touma, Michael Crowley Organizations: UNRWA, United, State Department, Israel, Food, United States Central Command Locations: Gaza, COGAT, United Nations, Rafah, Kerem Shalom, Israel, Ashdod, United States

☆ A First Step Toward a Global Price on Carbon
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Manuela Andreoni | Max Bearak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It didn’t make many headlines, but last week, at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization, something potentially world-changing happened. The United Nations agency, which regulates the shipping industry, essentially committed to creating the world’s first global carbon price. “I’m very confident that there is going to be an economic pricing mechanism by this time next year,” Arsenio Dominguez, the Secretary General of the maritime organization, said. “What form it is going to have and what the name is going to be, I don’t know.”The proposal would require shipping companies to pay a fee for every ton of carbon they emit by burning fuel. In other words, it’s a tax.

Persons: ” Arsenio Dominguez Organizations: International Maritime Organization, United Nations

☆ This Ramadan, American Muslims say they feel urgent need to send aid to Gaza as threat of mass starvation looms
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Monica Haider | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

On Friday, the European Union announced it’s opening an emergency maritime aid corridor from Cyprus to Gaza with allies including the US. The day prior, President Joe Biden announced the US Military is planning to build a temporary port along the Gaza coast to try to deliver much-needed humanitarian relief. In 2023, the nonprofit Islamic Relief raised more than $30 million in online donations during Ramadan, according to a spokesman for the organization. The charity, Human Appeal, has provided humanitarian relief in Gaza since 1991, according to Samina Taj, the organization’s associate director of communications. Since the start of the war in Gaza, Taj said their teams have mobilized to try to meet the desperate need for aid.

Persons: Nadia Duwaik, Duwaik, Joe Biden, Israel, Rashid, Dawoud Abo, Jad Shaheen, they’re, ”, ” Duwaik, she’s, Awrad Saleh, “, ” Saleh, Khan, It’s, it’s, Allah, Nasma, Shehadeh, ” Shehadeh, Ashraf Amra, Taj, Ramadan, Noor Traina, Traina Organizations: CNN, Ministry of Health, United Nations, European Union, Military, Dawoud Abo Alkas, Anadolu Agency, Getty, West Bank, Palestinian Children’s Relief, United Nations Agency, Islamic Relief, Islamic, The United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees Locations: Israel, Gaza, United, Cyprus, al, Gaza City, Palestinian American, West, Palestine, Khan Yunis, Rafah, Bethlehem, New York, East, Egypt, Washington , DC, Libya

☆ Plan to Deliver Aid by Sea Faces Big Hurdles
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Gaya Gupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“It constitutes tacit consent and encouragement on the part of the governments of Canada and Sweden to continue to ignore the involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorist activity,” the statement said. In a government statement on Saturday, Sweden said that it would disburse a conditional first payment of some $20 million. The United Nations has also commissioned an external review. The United States and other countries announced plans this week to try to get aid into northern Gaza by sea through the Mediterranean coast. In recent weeks, nations have been sending in aid via airdrops attached to parachutes.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, ” Philippe Lazzarini, Aaron Boxerman Organizations: United Nations, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNRWA, Nations, European Union, United, Palestinian Locations: Canada, Sweden, Gaza, Israel, United States, Jerusalem

CNN —The war in Sudan is “triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis,” with more than 25 million people “trapped in a spiral” of food insecurity, a United Nations agency has warned. The war, which has also created the world’s largest displacement crisis, according to the UN, has left 18 million people “acutely food insecure” in Sudan and millions more in neighboring South Sudan and Chad. “Twenty years ago, Darfur was the world’s largest hunger crisis, and the world rallied to respond. Nearly a year into a war that has sent Sudan to the verge of collapse, the vast majority of its people are going hungry, the UN's World Food Programme says. Armed transfers that must stop,” she said, remarking that the international community “is not doing nearly enough” to address the crisis.

Persons: “, ”, Cindy McCain, –, Abdel Fattah al, Burhan, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, EBRAHIM HAMID, United Nations Linda Thomas, Greenfield, Thomas Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Food Program, UN, Sudan’s Armed Forces, SAF, Rapid Support Forces, WFP “, WFP, Getty, Thomas, West Darfur “ Locations: Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Darfur, East, Sudan’s, Gedaref, AFP, West Darfur

☆ Middle East Crisis Head of U.N. Aid Agency Says Israel Is Trying to Undermine Its Work
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

He warned on Monday that the worst might be yet to come in Gaza if humanitarian services collapse. The head of the United Nations agency providing aid for Palestinians in Gaza has said that his organization was being targeted with a “deliberate and concerted campaign” to undermine its operations when its services are most needed. Israel’s accusations in January prompted 16 donor countries, including the United States, to suspend about $450 million in funding. The court, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, has ordered Israel to take immediate steps to facilitate the aid Gaza desperately needs and is weighing whether Israel has committed genocide in its war in Gaza. Israel has a long history of friction with UNRWA, which was founded in 1949 and is one of the oldest U.N. agencies.

Persons: Philippe Lazzarini, Lazzarini, Israel, ”, ” Mr, Benjamin Netanyahu, Matthew Miller, Biden, “ Organizations: UNRWA, United Nations, United Nations Relief, Works Agency, General Assembly, International Court of Justice, Palestinian, U.S . State Department Locations: Geneva, Gaza, New York, Israel, United States

☆ U.N. Aid Agency Researchers Allege Abuse of Gazans in Israeli Detention
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Monika Pronczuk | Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An unpublished investigation by the main United Nations agency for Palestinian affairs accuses Israel of abusing hundreds of Gazans captured during the war with Hamas, according to a copy of the report reviewed by The New York Times. The authors of the report allege that the detainees, including at least 1,000 civilians later released without charge, were held at three military sites inside Israel. The report said the detainees included males and females whose ages ranged from 6 to 82. Some, the report said, died in detention. The document includes accounts from detainees who said they were beaten, stripped, robbed, blindfolded, sexually abused and denied access to lawyers and doctors, often for more than a month.

Persons: Israel, Gazans Organizations: United Nations, The New York Times, UNRWA Locations: Israel

☆ The eyes have it: The intriguing history of kohl
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Zahra Hankir | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

A Palestinian woman Hadeya Qudaih applying traditional kohl eyeliner to her granddaughter in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in March 2020. Hadeya Qudaih makes and sells traditional kohl eyeliner for medical and cosmetic purposes (photograph taken in February 2020). A Bedouin man wearing traditional kohl, photographed in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. Kohl is so commonly worn in the area that girls are sometimes named or nicknamed Kahla by their parents or friends, roughly meaning “the girl who appears to have kohl around her eyes.” Kohl is also a feature of many millennia-old myths, rituals, and legends. “Even if she doesn’t (make kohl) anymore, I will for sure continue to do this myself,” Abu Issa said.

Persons: CNN — Kohl, kohl, Hadeya, kohl eyeliner, Khan Younis, Majdi, Tamam Farhan Abu Issa, Deir al Balah, “, Abu Issa, ”, ” Abu Issa, Issa, Qudaih, Hassan Jedi, Prophet Muhammad —, Alessandro Bigazzi, Jack Sparrow, eyeliner, Kohl, ” Kohl, Zarqa, TikTok, “ Blinkaria Kohl, tightlining, Eyeliner, Fatima Shbair, “ Kohl, I’ve Organizations: CNN, Crusaders, UNESCO, United, kohl, Quds Net News, ZUMA Press, UAE General Authority of Islamic Affairs, Endowments Locations: East, North Africa, Egypt, Europe, Lebanon, Gaza, Gaza’s, Deir, United Nations, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestinian, Petra, Raed, Kohl, Eastern, “

☆ In This Heroes’ Tale, Real People Risk Their Lives to Get to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the end of “Io Capitano” (“I Captain”), Matteo Garrone’s harrowing contender for best international film at next month’s Academy Awards, a map tracks the journey taken by the film’s two teenage protagonists: over 3,500 miles from Dakar, Senegal, to Sicily, via the scorching Nigerien desert, horrific Libyan prisons and a nerve-racking Mediterranean crossing aboard a rickety vessel. Such perilous voyages, taken each year by countless Africans seeking a new life in Europe, is “one of the great dramas of our times,” Garrone said in a recent interview, and “Io Capitano” is framed as an epic, modern-day Odyssey, with protagonists no less valiant than Homer’s hero. “It’s a journey that’s an archetype so that anyone can identify with it,” said Garrone, who is best known to international audiences for the hyper-realistic 2008 drama “Gomorrah” and his dark and fantastical “Pinocchio” (2019). “Io Capitano” is also, he said, a “document of contemporary history.” This month alone, over 2,000 people reached European shores by crossing the Mediterranean, while at least 74 died, bringing the number of people who have gone missing in that sea in the last decade to more than 29,000, according to the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency.

Persons: ”, Matteo Garrone’s, ” Garrone, “, Garrone Organizations: month’s, International Organization for Migration, United Locations: Dakar, Senegal, Sicily, Europe, United Nations

☆ Netanyahu unveils plan for Gaza’s future post-Hamas
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Richard Allen Greene | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Jerusalem CNN —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a plan for the Gaza’s future post-Hamas, which includes the “complete demilitarization” of the enclave, closing off the territory’s southern border with Egypt, as well as the overhaul of Gaza’s civil administration and education systems. CNN has obtained a copy of the plan, which Netanyahu presented to members of Israel’s security cabinet Thursday night. On the security file, the envisioned plan includes Israel closing off Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, giving Israel complete control of entry and exit from the enclave. Yahya Hassouna/AFP/Getty ImagesOn the civil level, Netanyahu details an overhaul of Gaza’s civil administration and education systems, including an apparent cut-off of funding from Qatar to Gaza – which a previous Netanyahu government approved and facilitated. The Netanyahu plan also calls for “de-radicalization” in the education system, which Israel and its allies have long accused of promoting antisemitism and hatred of Israel.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Israel, David Barnea, “, Yahya Hassouna, Joe Biden, “ Israel, ” Organizations: Jerusalem CNN, Israeli, CNN, West Bank, Israel, Palestinian Authority, United Nations Locations: Jerusalem, Egypt, Paris, Gaza, Israel, Gaza’s, Rafah, United States, Jordan, ”, East Jerusalem, Gaza City, AFP, Qatar, Palestinian, United Kingdom

☆ Biden and Jordanian king look to move Israel-Hamas war to a new phase
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( Michael Williams | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Washington CNN —President Joe Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan met Monday aiming to figure out how to move the Israel-Hamas war into a new phase in which Israeli hostages are released and fighting stops for a prolonged period of time. “The key elements of the deal are on the table,” Biden said while addressing reporters alongside the king at the White House. “We cannot stand by and let this continue,” the Jordanian king told reporters. The president’s supporters have frequently pointed to the Israel-Hamas war as evidence of Biden’s mental faculties being in good shape. The Jordanian and Egyptian governments have called for a ceasefire in Gaza, while Biden has resisted making a similar call.

Persons: Joe Biden, King Abdullah II, Jordan, ” Biden, I’ve, “, Biden, Abdullah, ”, ” Abdullah, Robert Hur’s, Biden’s amped, King Abdullah, Kamala Harris, Hur, ” Harris, Daniel Goldman, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Antony Blinken, Blinken, CNN’s MJ Lee, Priscilla Alvarez, Betsy Klein, Kevin Liptak Organizations: Washington CNN, White, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, United Nations, Wing, Biden, Democratic, Hamas, Palestinian Authority, Ahli Baptist Hospital, Israeli, US, CNN Locations: Israel, United States, Gaza, Rafah, Jordanian, “, New York, Jordan, Egypt, Amman, Gaza’s Al, Ahli, Iran

☆ UN Agency Says Aid Shipment Blocked in Israeli Port
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The main United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza is facing growing administrative hurdles from Israel, with a shipment amounting to a month's supply of food blocked in port, the agency's chief said. UNRWA has dismissed staff accused of involvement in the attack and launched an investigation. He said UNRWA had been informed by a contractor that provided handling services in the port of Ashdod that it could no longer continue working with UNRWA, following instructions from the Israeli authorities. Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on social media platform X that Israel was cancelling tax breaks previously offered to UNRWA. The decision was not formally communicated to the agency which only learned about it when the statement appeared on the platform, Lazzarini said.

Persons: Israel, Philippe Lazzarini, Lazzarini, Bezalel Smotrich, James Mackenzie, Steve Scheer Organizations: United Nations, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, Israel, West Bank Locations: JERUSALEM, Gaza, Israel, East, Ashdod, Turkey, East Jerusalem, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria

☆ US Won't Restart UNRWA Aid Until Investigation Completed -Officials
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Andrea ShalalWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration plans to wait for an internal investigation of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees to conclude before resuming aid to the organization, U.S. officials told Arab-American community leaders in Michigan. UNRWA officials say they expect the U.N. oversight office's preliminary investigation report to take several weeks. "They did tell us in that meeting that they ... expect that the president will be shifting his language," Alawieh said. ... We're looking for action from President Biden that saves lives." Israel began its military offensive after militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages on Oct. 7.

Persons: Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON, Biden, Samantha Power, Joe Biden's, Ali Dagher, Abbas Alawieh, Alawieh, Israel, Andrea Shalal, Heather Timmons, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: United Nations, Michigan . U.S . Agency for International, Reuters, Israel Locations: American, Michigan ., Michigan, Israel, Gaza, U.S, Lebanese, Dearborn, Arab, Detroit

☆ Palestinian Authority to Pay Reduced Salaries as Israel Blocks Funds
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By Ali SawaftaRAMALLAH (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday it will pay public sector workers 60% of their December salaries this week as it grapples with the longrunning fallout of Israel's refusal to transfer tax funds earmarked for Gaza. Funding to the Palestinian Authority, the body which exercises limited governance in the occupied West Bank, has been severely restricted by the months-long dispute over transferring tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians. Although Gaza is controlled by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority continues to fund essential areas of the blockaded enclave's budget including paying the salaries of health workers. The dispute over the Palestinian Authority budget coincides with a separate dispute over funding to UNWRA, the United Nations agency which pays for emergency relief for Palestinians. Much of the UNWRA budget has been cut off since Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 Gaza workers of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.

Persons: Ali Sawafta, Mohammad Shtayyeh, Bezalel Smotrich, Smotrich, Shtayyeh, Antony Blinken, James Mackenzie, Christina Fincher Organizations: Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Palestinian, Israeli, Hamas, U.S, United Nations, Israel, International Court of Justice Locations: Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, Gaza, Israel

☆ The 8 Days That Roiled the U.N.’s Top Agency in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When a senior U.S. diplomat called the Israeli military last week to request further details about Israeli allegations against a United Nations agency in Gaza, military leaders were so surprised that they ordered an internal inquiry about how the information had reached the ears of foreign officials. The allegations were grave: 12 employees of the organization, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, were accused of joining Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel or its aftermath. The claims reinforced Israel’s decades-old narrative about UNRWA: that it is biased against Israel and influenced by Hamas and other armed groups, charges that the agency strongly rejects. But while most Israeli officials oppose UNRWA, some military leaders did not want to see it shuttered amid a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. In fact, it was not the military that disclosed the information to the United States but UNRWA itself.

Persons: Israel Organizations: United, United Nations Relief, Works Agency, Hamas’s, UNRWA Locations: U.S, United Nations, Gaza, Israel, United States

☆ What Withholding Funds to UNRWA Means for Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Adam Rasgon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since the start of the war, UNRWA has coordinated the distribution of relief to Gazans suffering from displacement, hunger and illness. “Withdrawing funds from UNRWA is perilous and would result in the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” U.N. officials in a statement on Wednesday. Here’s a closer look at how the agency, formally the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, spends its funds. UNRWA operates across the Middle East, providing aid and services to Palestinian refugees, but it employs the most people in Gaza, where 1.7 million refugees resided before the war. The bulk of UNRWA’s regular budget for Gaza goes to pay the salaries of 13,000 employees, including teachers, health care specialists, engineers and sanitation workers.

Persons: U.N, Here’s, Juliette Touma Organizations: United Nations, Gaza, UNRWA, United Nations Relief, Works Agency Locations: Israel, Gaza, Palestinian

☆ Opinion: UNWRA’s day of reckoning is near
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Opinion Michael Bociurkiw | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst and former UNICEF spokesperson for Gaza and the West Bank. But UNRWA funding differs from other UN agencies such as UNICEF, in that it’s mostly dependent on government funding. And that’s why countries pulling funding — as they have done this past week — is such a potentially fatal blow to its operations. Tiny Jordan already hosts at least 2 million Palestinians, including many from Gaza who arrived decades ago. Note: This op-ed has been updated to reflect the latest number of UNRWA employees Israel alleges were associated with Hamas’ October 7 attack.

Persons: Michael Bociurkiw, Read, Michael Bociurkiw Chrystia Chudczak, Khan Younis, Mohammed Talatene, Israel —, there’s, Abed Zagout, Tiny Jordan, Ashraf Amra Organizations: UNICEF, West Bank, CNN, United Nations, UNICEF —, Toyota, Cruisers, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Israel Defense Forces, UNRWA, West, UN, Assembly, Palestinian Authority, UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, Getty, World Health Organization Locations: Gaza, East, Children’s, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Philadelphia, City, Canada, Germany, Rafa, Anadolu, Egypt, Qatar, Deir al Balah

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) assists Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank, as well as in Gaza. Some $440 million of funding has been suspended, according to UNRWA, which has 13,000 staff in Gaza. The agency said the severe humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza would likely deteriorate further if the funding is not restored. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called for UNRWA to be dismantled and replaced by other aid groups. And we have discovered in the last few weeks that UNRWA officials were complicit in the massacre,” he said.

Persons: –, Philippe Lazzarini, Khan Younis, Thomas White, ” White, ”, Khaled Omar, Lazzarini, Benjamin Netanyahu, ” Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Israel, “, Yoav Hallant Organizations: CNN, United Nations, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, West Bank, UNRWA Affairs, Training Center, UNRWA, Getty, ”, International Court of Justice, Israel, UN Locations: Gaza, Israel, East, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, United States, Rafah, Amman, Xinhua, South Africa, Israeli, The Hague

☆ U.N. Agency for Palestinians Imperiled by Terrorism Charges
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Leaders of the largest United Nations agency in Gaza warned on Monday that it may soon run out of money as new allegations emerged about Hamas’s influence on the organization. As U.N. officials fretted over the future of UNRWA, the main aid agency for Palestinians, Israeli officials debated whether it made sense to publicly air accusations that a group of the agency’s workers were involved in the Oct. 7 terror attack. UNRWA plays a crucial role in Gaza — distributing food, water and medicine — and it is unclear who would fill the vacuum were it to collapse. Israel has charged that at least 12 employees of the agency — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees — participated in the Oct. 7 attack and that as many 1,300 employees are members of the group. The Oct. 7 assault ended with roughly 1,200 people dead and another 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli estimates.

Persons: Works Agency for Palestine Refugees — Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestine Refugees Locations: Gaza, Israel

Search resuls for: "United Nations Agency"

25 mentions found