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☆ Lack of Plan for Governing Gaza Formed Backdrop to Deadly Convoy Chaos
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s reluctance to fill the current leadership vacuum in northern Gaza formed the backdrop to the chaos that led to the deaths on Thursday of dozens of Palestinians on the Gazan coast, analysts and aid workers have said. More than 100 were killed and 700 injured, Gazan health officials said, after thousands of hungry civilians rushed at a convoy of aid trucks, leading to a stampede and prompting Israeli soldiers to fire at the crowd. The immediate causes of the chaos were extreme hunger and desperation: The United Nations has warned of a looming famine in northern Gaza, where the incident occurred. Civilian attempts to ambush aid trucks, Israeli restrictions on convoys and the poor condition of roads damaged in the war have made it extremely difficult for food to reach the roughly 300,000 civilians still stranded in that region, leading the United States and others to airdrop aid instead. But analysts say this dynamic has been exacerbated by Israel’s failure to set in motion a plan for how the north will be governed.

Organizations: United Nations Locations: Gaza, United States

☆ Middle East Crisis Israel Is Said to Change Strategy in Cease-Fire Talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Ronen Bergman | Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Families and supporters of Israeli hostages held since the Oct. 7 attacks gathered Saturday in Tel Aviv to call for their return. International efforts to reach a truce had stalled over Israel’s refusal to release Palestinians convicted of murder and to commit to a permanent cease-fire, two of the measures that Hamas is holding out for. They include five female Israeli soldiers and civilians, including sick, wounded and older people. It does not include male Israeli soldiers, whose release will be the subject of a separate negotiation, one of the officials said. For each of the five female Israeli soldiers in captivity, Israel would release three “heavy” prisoners — those believed responsible for major attacks — and 15 others.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yahya Sinwar, Israel, —, Gilad Shalit, Julian E, Barnes Organizations: Hamas Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, Gaza, U.S, Egypt, Qatar, United States, Paris, Washington

Israeli negotiators have offered a significant concession in cease-fire talks with Hamas, signaling that they might be open to releasing high-profile Palestinians jailed on terrorism charges in exchange for some Israeli hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip, according to two officials with knowledge of the talks. Mr. Netanyahu said that the Israeli military had presented a plan to the war cabinet to evacuate civilians from “areas of fighting” in Gaza. He appeared to be speaking of Israel’s long-expected invasion of Rafah, the southern city where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering, many in makeshift tents. On Sunday, he said an invasion could be “delayed somewhat” if Hamas agreed to release Israeli hostages. Speaking with reporters in New York on Monday, Mr. Biden sounded optimistic about a deal to pause the fighting.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, “ We’re, ”, we’ll Locations: Gaza, Rafah, New York

☆ Palestinian Authority’s Government Submits Resignation as U.S. Calls for Change
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh of the Palestinian Authority, the body that administers part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, tendered the resignation of his cabinet on Monday, according to the authority’s official news agency. But it was unclear whether the appointment of a new prime minister and cabinet would be enough to revamp the authority or persuade Israel to let it govern Gaza. Israeli leaders had strongly hinted that they would not allow the authority’s existing leadership to run Gaza. With no functional parliament within the areas controlled by the authority, Mr. Abbas has long ruled by decree, and he exerts wide influence over the judiciary and prosecution system. According to diplomats briefed on his thinking, Mr. Abbas’s preferred candidate for prime minister is Mohammad Mustafa, a longtime economic adviser who is considered a member of his inner circle.

Persons: Mohammad Shtayyeh, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, Shtayyeh’s, Abbas, Abbas’s, Mohammad Mustafa Organizations: Palestinian Authority, West Bank Locations: United States, Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Israel

☆ Netanyahu Issues First Plan for Postwar Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Thomas Fuller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel released on Friday his most detailed proposal yet for a postwar Gaza, pledging to retain indefinite military control over the enclave, while ceding the administration of civilian life to Gazans without links to Hamas. The plan, if realized, would make it almost impossible to establish a Palestinian state including Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, at least in the short term. The blueprint for Gaza comes after nearly 20 weeks of war in the territory and a death toll approaching 30,000 people, at least half of them women and children, according to Gazan authorities. Mr. Netanyahu’s proposal for postwar Gaza was circulated to cabinet ministers and journalists early on Friday. He has laid out most of the terms of the proposal in previous public statements, but this was the first time they had been collected in a single document.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Organizations: West Bank Locations: Gaza, Israel, United States

☆ Amid Food Shortages, People in Gaza Are Ambushing Aid Convoys
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amid widespread food shortages and a breakdown in civil order, groups of desperate civilians in Gaza are regularly attempting to ambush aid convoys, according to two Western officials who were recently in the enclave and images of one such ambush reviewed by The New York Times. The trucks are briefly forced off the road as the drivers swerve to avoid hitting the men. Some of the assailants throw stones at the trucks’ windshields, seemingly to try to stop them. The images, with time stamps indicating they were taken in recent days, were reviewed by a reporter for The Times. Such attacks have become common since Israel’s invasion last year as desperate civilians face starvation in pockets of the enclave, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid complicating their work in Gaza.

Organizations: The New York Times, The Times Locations: Gaza, Egypt

☆ A Palestinian Exile Champions an Arab Vision for Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Adam Rasgon | Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As the Gaza war rages, with civilian deaths soaring, few Arab leaders have publicly voiced their visions for the future of the battered enclave, fearing they will be accused of endorsing Israel’s actions. But one influential Palestinian exile, in an interview with The New York Times, has provided public insight into the types of postwar plans that Arab leaders are privately discussing. Mohammed Dahlan, an adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, outlined one under which Israel and Hamas would hand power to a new and independent Palestinian leader who could rebuild Gaza under the protection of an Arab peacekeeping force. While such plans face steep challenges, the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are open to supporting processes that are part of efforts leading to a Palestinian state, said Mr. Dahlan, who also has close ties to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Persons: Mohammed Dahlan, Dahlan, Abdel Fattah el Organizations: The New York Times, United Arab, Emirates Locations: Gaza, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Arab, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian

☆ U.N. Agency in Gaza Fought Hamas Infiltration; Not Hard Enough, Israel Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When the United Nations launched an investigation a decade ago into whether a handful of its employees in Gaza were members of Hamas, it was not long before a senior U.N. legal officer in the territory started receiving death threats. First there were emails, sent from anonymous accounts, according to three senior U.N. officials based in Gaza at that time. Then came a funeral bouquet, delivered to the main U.N. compound, labeled with the legal officer’s name. Finally there was a live grenade, sent to the compound with its pin still inside, according to two of the officials.

Organizations: United Nations Locations: Gaza

☆ A Blinken Visit Puts U.S.-Israeli Tensions on Full Display
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But just hours after speaking to Mr. Blinken, Mr. Netanyahu appeared more intent on delivering a fiery message aimed at his domestic audience. Meeting on his own with reporters, he denounced the very proposal the Americans saw as a potential opening to a negotiated solution. “Surrender to the ludicrous demands of Hamas — which we’ve just heard — won’t lead to the liberation of the hostages, and it will only invite another massacre,” Mr. Netanyahu said. On Thursday, as Mr. Blinken ended his fifth visit to the Middle East in the four months since the war in Gaza began, it was clear that relations between the Biden administration and Mr. Netanyahu have become increasingly fraught. That raised questions about how drawn out the process might be to reach an agreement to end the conflict.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, we’ve, —, ” Mr, Biden Locations: Israel, Gaza, Jerusalem

Airstrikes hit a southern Gaza border city crowded with civilians on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced a cease-fire proposal by Hamas and signaled that the Israeli military was preparing to move into the area. “There is no place for the people to run to,” said Fathi Abu Snema, a 45-year-old father of five who has been living in a United Nations-run school in Rafah for nearly four months. “Everyone from all other parts of Gaza ended up in Rafah. Mr. Netanyahu said that Hamas’s demands were “ludicrous” and that accepting them would only invite further attacks on Israel. “We have yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation,” he said.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, ”, Fathi Abu Snema, Netanyahu, “ Hamas’s, Vedant Patel Organizations: United Nations, State Department Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Israel, Egypt’s, Washington, “

More than a fifth of the remaining hostages being held in Gaza are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military. The families of the 32 hostages whose deaths are confirmed have been informed, according to four military officials who spoke anonymously in order to discuss a sensitive matter. The four officials said that officers were also assessing unconfirmed intelligence that indicated that at least 20 other hostages may have also been killed. The figure of 32 is higher than any previous number the Israeli authorities have publicly disclosed of hostages who are dead. In an answer to a request for comment, the Israeli military said that most of the dead were killed on Oct. 7.

Organizations: Hamas, The New York Times Locations: Gaza

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicLate last month, an explosive allegation that workers from a crucial U.N. relief agency in Gaza had taken part in the Oct. 7 attacks stunned the world and prompted major donors, including the United States, to suspend funding. Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, explains what this could mean for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and how it might complicate Israel’s strategy in the war.

Persons: Patrick Kingsley Organizations: Spotify, The Times Locations: Gaza, United States, Jerusalem

☆ 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

☆ Netanyahu’s Bind: Compromise in Gaza or Power at Home
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is fighting two parallel battles, one in Gaza and another at home — and neither is going according to plan. In Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu is leading a military campaign to defeat Hamas and free the remaining Israeli hostages captured during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In Israel, polls show the prime minister would easily lose an election if one were held tomorrow. To burnish his legacy, he is pushing for a landmark peace deal with Saudi Arabia, a long-term strategic goal for Israel. Saudi Arabia, however, will not normalize ties without an Israeli commitment to a two-state solution.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Netanyahu, Mr Organizations: Israel Locations: Gaza, Israel, Saudi Arabia

☆ Opinion | Abolish the U.N.’s Palestinian Refugee Agency
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

United Nations agencies and officials are no strangers to scandal and infamy. In the 1980s, Kurt Waldheim, a former U.N. secretary general, was unmasked as a former Nazi. He was the same secretary general who denounced Israel’s 1976 rescue of Jewish hostages in Entebbe as “a serious violation” of Uganda’s national sovereignty. Now comes the latest scandal of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, better known as UNRWA. Last Friday, Israeli officials presented the U.S. government with an intelligence dossier detailing the involvement of 12 UNRWA employees, seven of them schoolteachers, in the massacre of Oct. 7.

Persons: Saddam Hussein, Kurt Waldheim, Ronen Bergman, Patrick Kingsley Organizations: Nations, Democratic, Iraq, Nazi, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, “ Intelligence, Street Locations: Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Entebbe, Gaza

☆ 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

Germany, Britain and at least four other countries said Saturday they were suspending funding for the United Nations agency that provides food, water and essential services for Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, many of whom have been described as being on the brink of starvation after 16 weeks of war between Israel and Hamas. The countries joined the United States, which said on Friday it would withhold funding for the group, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, after a dozen of its employees were accused by Israel of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks. The United Nations has not made public the details of the accusations against the UNRWA employees, who have been fired, but a senior U.N. official briefed on the accusations called them “extremely serious and horrific.”The Israeli military said in a statement Saturday that its intelligence services had compiled a case “incriminating several UNRWA employees for their alleged involvement in the massacre, along with evidence pointing to the use of UNRWA facilities for terrorist purposes.” It did not elaborate on what that involvement entailed.

Organizations: United Nations, Hamas, United Nations Relief, Works Agency Locations: Germany, Britain, Gaza, Israel, United States

☆ Israel Has History of Friction With U.N. Agency for Palestinians
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s accusations against 12 employees of the U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, the main aid operation in Gaza, are the latest episode of a decades-long friction between Israel and the group. When a separate U.N. agency was later founded for refugees of other conflicts, UNRWA remained independent. It is one of the largest employers in Gaza, with 13,000 people, mostly Palestinians, on staff. “Because their plight as refugees has never been resolved, they continue to be refugees,” said Chris Gunness, a former spokesman for UNRWA. “They badly need a U.N agency that will provide them with emergency and humanitarian services.”

Persons: ”, Chris Gunness, “ Organizations: United Nations Relief, Works Agency, UNRWA Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ How Leaders and Diplomats Are Trying to End the Gaza War
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Top officials from at least 10 different administrations are trying to forge a head-spinning set of deals to end the Gaza war and answer the divisive question of how the territory will be governed after the fighting stops. The narrowest set of major discussions is focused on reaching a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This would involve the exchange of more than 100 Israeli hostages held by Hamas for a cease-fire and thousands of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. A second track centers on reshaping the Palestinian Authority, the semiautonomous body that administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. American and Arab officials are discussing overhauling the leadership of the authority and having it take control of Gaza after the war ends, assuming power from Israel and Hamas.

Organizations: Hamas, Palestinian Authority, West Bank ., Saudi Locations: Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Saudi Arabia

☆ Four Countries Join U.S. in Pausing Funding for U.N. Aid Agency in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, during the first day of the California legislative session in Sacramento this month. The federal case in Northern California is unlikely to succeed, given legal precedents that limit judicial power over U.S. presidents on foreign policy decisions. Israel also said that inflammatory comments about Palestinians were taken out of context or made by individuals without decision-making power. One of her relatives is living under a nylon tarp in Gaza with her four children and husband, a cancer patient, she said. Israeli attacks have killed 88 relatives just on her mother’s side of the family, she said.

Persons: Biden, Judge Jeffrey White, “, Antony J, Blinken, Lloyd J, Austin III, Judge White, George W, Bush, Laila el, Haddad, Jean Lin, Katherine Gallagher, ” Erwin Chemerinsky, ” Basim, Elkarra, We’re, Mr Organizations: Palestinian, Calif, United Nations, International Court, Court of Justice, Hague, International Court of Justice, Government, Justice Department, Center for Constitutional Rights, University of California, Islamic, Democrat Locations: Gaza, California, Sacramento, Israel, U.S, Oakland, Fairfield , Calif, San Ramon, Northern California, Bay Area, Atlanta, Palestinian, United States, ”, United, Clarksville, Md, New York, Berkeley, Palestinian American

More than 40,000 people have been sheltering in or around the center, according to the U.N. There was no immediate confirmation of the Israeli order by UNRWA. The United Nations did not directly blame Israel. The United Nations said Wednesday’s strike was the third direct hit on that compound. An estimated 1.7 million Gazans have fled their homes during the war, according to the United Nations, many of them displaced multiple times.

Persons: Khan Younis, Philippe Lazzarini, U.N, “, Israel, Wednesday’s, Mr, Lazzarini, Younis, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA, Israeli Authorities Locations: Gaza, Khan, Egypt, Israel

☆ Genocide Ruling Has Deep Symbolism but Little Immediate Effect
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A ruling on Friday by the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide against Israel had deep historical resonance for both Israelis and Palestinians. But it lacked immediate practical consequences. The World Court did not order a halt to fighting in the Gaza Strip and made no attempt to rule on the merits of the case brought by South Africa, a process that will take months — if not years — to complete. But the court did order Israel to comply with the Genocide Convention, to send more aid to Gaza and to inform the court of its efforts to do so — interim measures that felt like a rebuke to many Israelis and a moral victory to many Palestinians. For many Israelis, the fact that a state founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust had been accused of genocide was “one hell of a symbol,” Alon Pinkas, an Israeli political commentator and former ambassador, said after the ruling by the court in The Hague.

Persons: ” Alon Pinkas Organizations: International Court Locations: Israel, Gaza, South Africa, The Hague

☆ Israel Rebuts Genocide Charge by Declassifying Cabinet Decisions
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel has declassified more than 30 secret orders made by government and military leaders, which it says rebut the charge that it committed genocide in Gaza, and instead show Israeli efforts to diminish deaths among Palestinian civilians. The release of the documents, copies of which were reviewed by The New York Times, follows a petition to the International Court of Justice by South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide. Much of South Africa’s case hinges on inflammatory public statements made by Israeli leaders that it says are proof of intent to commit genocide. Part of Israel’s defense is to prove that whatever politicians may have said in public was overruled by executive decisions and official orders from Israel’s war cabinet and its military’s high command. The court, the U.N.’s highest judicial body, began hearing arguments in the case this month, and is expected to provide an initial response to South Africa’s petition — in which it could call for a provisional cease-fire — as soon as Friday.

Persons: Israel, — Organizations: The New York Times, International Court, Justice Locations: Israel, Gaza, South Africa, South

Hamas officials say they will only release the remaining hostages in Gaza, believed to number more than 100, as part of a comprehensive cease-fire. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said on Sunday that he would not accept any deal for a permanent cease-fire that left Hamas in control of Gaza. Israeli officials have suggested they might consider a permanent cease-fire if Hamas’s Gaza leadership leave the strip and go into exile, the two diplomats said. Hamas officials have rejected that idea. “Hamas and its leaders are on their land in Gaza,” Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, said in a text message.

Persons: William J, Burns, Brett McGurk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s, Husam, Netanyahu, “, Mahmoud Abbas, Abbas Organizations: Qatari, White, Gaza, Hamas, Biden, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Fatah Locations: Gaza, Europe, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, Western, U.S, Palestinian

The Israeli military suffered the deadliest day of its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip on Monday when 24 soldiers were killed, about 20 of them in an explosion as they were preparing to level buildings to help create a buffer zone with the Palestinian enclave, Israeli officials said. Israelis leaders expressed heartbreak over the deaths, but declared that the fighting would continue until Hamas was defeated. “We need to learn the necessary lessons and do everything to preserve our soldiers’ lives,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday. With no end of the war in sight, and the United Nations reporting that more than half a million people in Gaza were facing “catastrophic hunger,” the Israeli military pressed ahead with its offensive. Many Gazans, seeking safety in Khan Younis, had fled their homes in other parts of the territory.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Israel, ’, ” Mr, Khan Younis Organizations: United Nations Locations: Gaza, Israel, Gaza’s

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