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☆ U.N. Pleads With Major Donors to Not Cut Aid for Palestinians
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Hiba Yazbek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

The allegation, made by Israel, is a serious blow to the reputation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, generally known as UNRWA. The agency looms especially large in Gaza, where most of the population of more than two million people are registered as refugees. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has gone so far as to blame the agency for perpetuating rather than alleviating the plight of Palestinians and has called on the United Nations to disband it. “Behind the scenes Israel has often favored UNRWA’s work,” said Anne Irfan, an expert on Palestinian refugee rights at University College London. Palestinians are the only refugee group whose support is not handled under the global mandate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Persons: Here’s, —, “, ” Hector Sharp, Benjamin Netanyahu, ”, Ahron Bregman, Israel, Anne Irfan, Megan Specia, Ben Hubbard Organizations: United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Israel, United Nations, UNRWA, West Bank, Palestinian Authority, Department, King’s College London, University College London, Refugees, European Union Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israel, United States, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria

U.S. officials said Israel’s apparent willingness to agree to a cessation of hostilities in return for the release of more hostages being held in Gaza has created a new opening for negotiations. Any new deal would likely include phased releases of hostages, though the White House is hoping that a more ambitious one, possibly leading to the release of all of the remaining hostages, might be possible. The talks were mediated by Qatar, which was negotiating with Hamas, as well as by Egypt. At least some of the officials last met in Warsaw in December, but those discussions stalled over Hamas’s insistence that the remaining hostages be released in exchange for a permanent cease-fire and larger prisoner releases. Israel rejected any permanent cease-fire and was pushing for a shorter pause in fighting.

Persons: William J, Burns, David Barnea, Barnea, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim, Abbas Kamel, Israel Organizations: Qatari, Hamas Locations: Europe, United States, Gaza, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, Thani, Warsaw

The Israeli military said it had “currently ruled out” that its aerial or artillery fire had been responsible for the strike on the shelter in Khan Younis, where the U.N. was housing about 800 people. In addition to the nine dead, 75 other people were injured, according to Thomas White, who helps oversee U.N. aid operations in Gaza. U.N. officials did not directly blame Israel, but said the shelter, in a vocational training center, had been hit by two tank rounds. “Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war,” Mr. Lazzarini wrote on social media. The Israeli military said that it was conducting a review of its operations in the area of the shelter.

Persons: “, Khan Younis, Thomas White, Israel, Philippe Lazzarini, Mr, Lazzarini, Vedant Patel, ” Organizations: United, State Department Locations: Gaza’s, United Nations, Khan, Gaza, U.N, Israel, Washington

European foreign ministers pressed their Israeli counterpart on Monday to agree to the creation of a Palestinian state, in a meeting that left European diplomats bewildered about postwar Israeli plans for the Gaza Strip and reinforced the deep disconnect between Israel and much of the world. The two sides appeared to be having two different conversations. Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s top diplomat, said after the meeting in Brussels that European nations were resolute that “sustainable, lasting peace” must include Palestinian statehood, an option that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has doubled down on opposing in recent days. Israel’s foreign minister, Yisrael Katz, presented to the Europeans a plan involving an artificial island off Gaza’s coast — a plan that did not address the future governance of the territory, according to officials in the meeting. While the diplomats talked past each other, heavy fighting intensified in southern Gaza on Monday, with medical personnel reporting major exchanges of gunfire and a surge of Israeli tanks and troops into areas around hospitals.

Persons: Josep Borrell Fontelles, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Yisrael Katz Organizations: Gaza Locations: Palestinian, Israel, Brussels, Gaza

The two cousins spotted each other on the bus leaving the prison, as shocked to see the other as they were by their sudden freedom. “I need to know if this is a dream.”Then, early Sunday morning, the bus pulled out of Ofer Prison in the West Bank and into a throng of cheering Palestinians. “This is thanks to the resistance in Gaza,” Anwar said hours later from his family’s home on the outskirts of the city. Anwar and his cousin, Mourad Atta, 17, are among the 180 Palestinian teenagers and women freed from Israeli prisons in recent days, the largest such release of prisoners and detainees in more than a decade. The deal also included a temporary cease-fire in the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 13,000 people, according to Gazan officials.

Persons: ” Anwar Atta, “, Ofer, ” Anwar, Anwar, Mourad Atta Organizations: West Bank Locations: Ramallah, Gaza, Israel

Namzi Mwafi, 23, has one job, day in and day out: find water for his family. To keep them alive, Mr. Mwafi says he wakes up at 4 a.m., spending hours waiting for water at a crowded filling station. Sometimes, he has to fight to keep his place in line and sometimes there is nothing left when his turn comes. Firewood and coal have also largely run out, so families are burning stripped-down doors, shutters and window frames, cardboard and grasses. “We went back to the Stone Age,” Mr. Mwafi said.

Persons: Namzi Mwafi, Mwafi, “, Mr Organizations: United Nations Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt

☆ Cease-Fire Will Begin Friday Morning, Qatar Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Hiba Yazbek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

A temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was expected to take effect on Friday. A deal between Israel and Hamas for a temporary cease-fire is expected to go into effect on Friday. Here is a closer look at the agreement, mediated in part by Qatar, and how it is expected to play out. Who are the Palestinian prisoners? Some, but perhaps not all, of them are expected to be among the hostages released in the coming days.

Persons: Khan Younis, —, Israel, Majed al, Ansari Organizations: Hamas, International Committee, West Bank, White Locations: Gaza, Israel, Qatar, a.m

The family of Avigail Idan, a small child whose parents were murdered in front of their children by Hamas militants at a kibbutz during the Oct. 7 assault, hoped that they would be able to celebrate her fourth birthday with her on Friday. “I find myself barely breathing through the last 24 hours,” her aunt, Tal Idan, said after the announcement of the agreement. Image An undated photo (from left) of Avigail Idan, Roy Idan, Michael Idan, Amelia Idan, and Smadar Idan. And in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians who have endured nearly seven weeks of intense airstrikes waited anxiously for the truce. Several international humanitarian organizations said the four-day cease-fire window was too tight to address the dire situation.

Persons: Mohammad Abu Salmiya, “, Tal Idan, ”, Avigail, Abigail ”, Idan, Roy Idan, Michael Idan, Amelia Idan, Smadar, Walaa Tanji, Tanji, Nagham, ” Shadi Hijazi, Catherine Russell Organizations: Al, Shifa, U.S ., West Bank, Qatar, UNICEF, . Security Locations: U.S, Nablus, Gaza

☆ In Gaza, Cease-Fire Deal Brings ‘Little Bit of Relief’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Hiba Yazbek | Abu Bakr Bashir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Residents of the Gaza Strip greeted the news of a temporary cease-fire with mixed emotions on Wednesday, expressing hope for a respite in Israel’s relentless bombardment but concern that the brief pause did not mean an end to the war. “There’s a little bit of relief,” Ahmed Nassar, a 27-year-old taxi driver, said in a phone interview, adding that he hoped the deal would not fall through. “God willing, at midnight we will see it.”The start of the cease-fire — which would allow for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza and 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel — was to be announced within 24 hours and last for at least four days, said the government of Qatar, which helped lead the negotiations. The pause in fighting would also allow the delivery of more aid and fuel for civilians in Gaza, Qatar said. Mr. Nassar, who fled his northern Gaza neighborhood of Jabaliya and is now living in the central part of the strip, said the deal raised the prospect that a longer cease-fire could come in the next few weeks, which could allow his family to go back and check on their home.

Persons: “, ” Ahmed Nassar, Israel —, Nassar Locations: Gaza, Israel, Qatar, Jabaliya

☆ At Least 24 Killed in Strike on Gaza School Run by the U.N.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Hiba Yazbek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A strike this weekend on a school run by the United Nations that was being used for shelter by thousands of displaced people in northern Gaza killed at least 24 people, a U.N. official said Sunday. Palestinian officials had said on Saturday that many people were killed and injured in an Israeli attack on the Al-Fakhura school, which was being used as a shelter by adults and children, in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees, gave a death toll on Sunday and said that there were nearly 7,000 displaced people sheltering in the school when the strike hit. He did not give a number for the wounded or suggest who was responsible. The Israeli military said that it had received reports of an incident on Saturday in the Jabaliya area and that it was under review, adding that it was “committed to international law including taking feasible steps to minimize harm to civilians.”

Persons: Philippe Lazzarini, “, ” Organizations: United Nations Locations: Gaza, Jabaliya

☆ Jordan Airdrops Medical Aid to Its Field Hospital in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Hiba Yazbek | More About Hiba Yazbek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

King Abdullah II of Jordan said on Monday that his country’s air force had airdropped “urgent medical aid” to a field hospital operated by the kingdom in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military confirmed the unusual move and said in a statement that it had been a coordinated effort between the neighboring nations. Israel’s blockade and recent siege of Gaza have put some hospitals out of service, and aid deliveries through the Rafah crossing with Egypt have been inadequate, humanitarian groups say. This appeared to be the first time in this war that aid was dropped into Gaza from the air. “The return of the ambassadors will be tied to Israel stopping its war on Gaza and stopping the humanitarian disaster,” the foreign ministry said.

Persons: King Abdullah II, Jordan, ”, Muhannad Mubaideen, Ayman Safadi, “, Safadi, Antony J, ” Israel, Rana, Sweis Organizations: Gaza, Israel Locations: Gaza, Jordanian, Egypt, Israel, Amman —, Amman, Jerusalem, Jordan

An explosion overnight in a densely populated refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip destroyed several buildings and appeared to have killed and wounded many people, photos and videos from the scene on Sunday showed. The Gazan Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike had hit the Al Maghazi camp, killing at least 47 people and wounding dozens of others. It warned that the toll was expected to rise, saying that many bodies remained buried under the rubble. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said it was looking into reports of the strike. Israel hit a neighborhood with a similar refugee camp last week in a strike that Hamas, the armed group that controls Gaza, and local doctors said had killed or wounded hundreds of people.

Persons: Al Maghazi, Israel, Mohammed al Organizations: Gazan Health Ministry, Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, The New York Times, Hamas, Anadolu Agency Locations: Gaza, Al, Aqsa, Israel, Turkish

Her 9-year-old and 7-year-old had been killed in their home, he said, along with several of her siblings and relatives. “We wish for death,” said Dr. Abu Safyia. With no anesthesia, doctors were operating on people with severe injuries using over-the-counter painkillers like paracetamol to help ease the pain. They had a limited supply of antibiotics and were using vinegar and chlorine to disinfect wounds, the doctor added. “The children’s screams during surgeries can be heard from outside,” Dr. Abu Safyia said.

Persons: Abu Safyia, Jabaliya, “, ”, Dr Organizations: Hamas Locations: Jabaliya, Beit Lahia, Gaza

A day after an Israeli airstrike thundered across a densely populated Gaza Strip neighborhood, Palestinians trying to reach family members there to learn their fates were met largely with unnerving silence. “May God protect Gaza and its people.”“This is getting more insane every day,” Yousef Hammash, an employee of the Norwegian Refugee Council who was born in the Jabaliya neighborhood hit by the airstrike, said Wednesday. Mr. Hammash, who is now taking shelter in southern Gaza, said continuing communications outages were adding exponentially to the anguish of living amid deprivation and death. Sousan Hammad, 38, a writer and teacher in Brooklyn, said she had been frantically trying to reach family members in Jabaliya. Rescue workers and residents can be seen digging through the rubble and carrying what appear to be injured and dead people, including children.

Persons: “, ” Yousef Hammash, Hammash, Sousan Hammad, Hammad’s, Ahmed, ”, — Organizations: Norwegian Refugee Council, Ministry, The New York Times Locations: Gaza, Brooklyn, Jabaliya, United States, Israel, Falluja

Yet over the last three weeks of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, Rafah has become the focus of heated negotiations, a place where many people, both powerful and powerless, have pinned their waning hopes. So far, nothing and no one has been able to come out of Gaza. Aid trucks and army tanks lined the dusty road leading to the crossing. On Tuesday, 83 trucks arrived in Gaza, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. There is still a chance that an agreement could come together for people with foreign passports to leave.

Persons: we’ve, Mostafa Madbouly, Wael Abu Omar, David M, ”, Israel, ’, Madbouly, Mustafa Mouftah, Mr, Satterfield, Biden, Hiba, Iyad Abuheweila Organizations: Gaza’s General Authority, ”, European Union, U.S, United Locations: Cairo, Rafah, Egypt, Gaza, Israel, North, United States, Egyptian, El Arish

☆ The fate of many Gazans lies with the Rafah crossing, and Egypt.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Vivian Yee | More About Vivian Yee | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

On the far side of the Sinai Peninsula, about a six-hour drive from Cairo through a largely empty Egyptian desert, the Rafah crossing is a dun-colored expanse of sand, concrete and not much else. Yet over the last three weeks of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, Rafah has become the focus of heated negotiations, a place where many people, both powerful and powerless, have pinned their waning hopes. Egypt highlighted that role on Tuesday, when the government took reporters on a tightly controlled trip to Rafah. Aid trucks and army tanks lined the dusty road leading to the crossing. On Tuesday, 83 trucks arrived in Gaza, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

A Palestinian fighter of the Al-Quds brigade in a military tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip last year. Overnight on Saturday, Israeli fighter planes struck 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. The group’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, said in 2021 that there were 310 miles of tunnels in Gaza. Ben Milch, an Israeli American who cleared tunnels with the Israeli military during the 2014 Gaza War, said his unit came under fire repeatedly while working to destroy some 13 tunnels. After the Israeli military announced on Tuesday that it had destroyed the tunnel to the sea, it released a video of another incident.

Persons: “, Israel, ”, Joseph L, Sergey Ponomarev, Yocheved, Daniel Hagari, Votel, Joel Roskin, Roskin, Ali Ali, Daphne Richemond, Barak, Yahya Sinwar, Yousef Masoud, ” Ms, Richemond, Ms, Amir Olo, Olo, Ben Milch, Milch, Uriel Sinai, Jeffrey Gettleman, Gal Koplewitz Organizations: Hamas, Israel Defense Forces, U.S, United States Central Command, The New York Times, Islamic, Iraqi, ISIS, Bar, Ilan University, European Pressphoto Agency, Reichman University, telltale, RAND Corporation, West Bank, Officials Locations: Al, Quds, Gaza, Israel, Israeli, Iraqi, Mosul, Al Shifa, Israel’s, Egypt, Northern Sinai, Khan Younis, Col, Israeli American, Kissufim, The, Zikim Beach, Jerusalem

An Israeli official said that the government was assessing the data, which was released before Friday’s bombardment. The high number of children reported killed — about 40 percent of the total — is broadly in line with the high share of children in the Gazan population. In total, the list named 2,665 children who have been killed and 2,902 women and girls. The date of death is not listed for each individual, but a separate summary of the deaths from the health ministry indicates that the toll has been increasing in recent days. The ministry said the list did not include an additional 281 people who had been killed but could not be identified, bringing the total number to 7,028.

Persons: —, Biden, Mr, ”, “, Omar Shakir Organizations: Hamas, Gaza, Ahli Arab Hospital, U.S, Rights Watch, UNICEF Locations: Gaza, Al, Ahli, Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, Africa

Aid convoy trucks waiting at the Rafah border crossing to enter Gaza from Egypt on Thursday. As Gaza grapples with an escalating humanitarian crisis, the prospect of getting aid through the closed Rafah border crossing with Egypt has taken on particular urgency. Hopes are high that the aid trucks would be able to cross into Gaza on Friday, according to European Union officials coordinating aid from the bloc. The American, U.N. and Egyptian officials are discussing who would carry out those cargo inspections, a person directly familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to speak about the delicate negotiations. “All of Gaza is waiting for the aid,” Wael Abu Omar, the spokesman for Hamas’s interior ministry, said Thursday.

Persons: Biden, Israel, ”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “, António Guterres, Martin Griffiths, Samar Abu Elouf, Wael Abu Omar, Israel readies, Abood, Okal, ” Iyad Abuheweila, Yazbek Organizations: Diplomats, European Union, World Health Organization, International Committee, The New York Times, Palestinian Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt, Israel, Arish, Palestine, Cairo, U.S, Samar, E.U, Palestinian American, Jerusalem

An aerial view of a music festival that was the site of a Hamas attack. The next images are of Ms. Schem, who disappeared from the site of a music festival where at least 260 people were killed, speaking directly to the camera in Hebrew. “At the moment I am in Gaza,” Ms. Schem says in a solemn, clipped voice. “She called me to say she was going to a party down south,” Keren Schem said. Keren Schem said one person who was at the show described having seen her daughter walking toward a kibbutz nearby.

Persons: Mia Schem, —, Schem, “, Ms, ”, Shem, Schem’s, Keren Schem, ” Keren Schem, Keren Schem’s, Mia, Nadav Gavrielov Organizations: Hamas, The New York Times Locations: Gaza, Israel, Tel Aviv

An aerial view of a music festival that was the site of a Hamas attack. “At the moment I am in Gaza,” Ms. Schem says in a solemn, clipped voice. Ms. Schem’s mother, Keren Schem, said last week that she had last spoken to her on Oct. 6, the day before the attack. “She called me to say she was going to a party down south,” Keren Schem said. Keren Schem said one person who was at the show described having seen her daughter walking toward a kibbutz nearby.

Ambulances, yellow cabs and cars scream up to the entrance of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza in a nonstop convoy, rushing in both broken and lifeless bodies. Inside, hospital staff scramble to treat the wounded who are crammed into corridors that are also filled with people who fled their homes and are seeking refuge. Al Shifa Hospital is the Gaza Strip’s largest medical complex. Many of the limestone villas and high-rise buildings surrounding the hospital in its affluent Gaza City neighborhood of Al Rimal have been reduced to piles of rubble and concrete. The Israeli Army claims that the neighborhood is a financial hub for Hamas, making it a target of airstrikes.

Persons: Israel —, Al Rimal Organizations: Al Shifa Hospital, Israeli Army Locations: Al Shifa, Gaza, Israel, Gaza City, Al

Long before moving into the White House, President Biden compared the relationship between the United States and Israel to that of close friends. For months, Mr. Biden refused to invite Mr. Netanyahu to Washington, which prevented at least some meetings between lower-level officials. Despite recognizing Israel, Mr. Truman refused to sell the new state offensive arms, as did his two successors. Mr. Biden’s relationship with Mr. Netanyahu has been scratchy going back years. “I don’t think the Jewish American community needs to be overly involved in this,” she said.

Persons: Long, Biden, “, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Netanyahu, Nathan J, Diament, Isaac Herzog, Robert B, Harry S, Truman, —, Israel —, Israel, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, George H.W, Bush, State James A, Baker, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald J, Trump, Mr, “ Bibi, Biden’s, Netanyahu’s, Kamala Harris, ” —, Eli Cohen, Yair Lapid, Netanyahu “, Satloff, Thomas L, Friedman, Jake Sullivan, “ It’s, ” Mr, Sullivan, Chris Coons, James E, Diana Fersko, Rabbi Fersko Organizations: Israel, Orthodox Union, American Orthodox, Democratic, Washington Institute for Near East, State, State Department, Mr, New York Times, Aspen Security, Republican, Foreign Relations, Jewish, American Jewish, American Locations: United States, Israel, Washington, American, U.S, Egypt, Suez, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Manhattan

Long before moving into the White House, President Biden compared the relationship between the United States and Israel to that of close friends. For months, Mr. Biden refused to invite Mr. Netanyahu to Washington, which prevented at least some meetings between lower-level officials. Despite recognizing Israel, Mr. Truman refused to sell the new state offensive arms, as did his two successors. Mr. Biden urged Mr. Netanyahu “not to rush” his changes and “to seek the broadest possible consensus here.”Aides insist Mr. Biden is not trying to engineer a specific outcome in an ally’s internal politics. “I don’t think the Jewish American community needs to be overly involved in this,” she said.

Persons: Long, Biden, “, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Netanyahu, Nathan J, Diament, Isaac Herzog, Robert B, Harry S, Truman, —, Israel —, Israel, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, George H.W, Bush, State James A, Baker, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald J, Trump, Mr, “ Bibi, Biden’s, Netanyahu’s, Kamala Harris, ” —, Eli Cohen, Yair Lapid, Netanyahu “, Satloff, Thomas L, Friedman, . Biden, Jake Sullivan, “ It’s, ” Mr, Sullivan, Chris Coons, James E, Diana Fersko, Rabbi Fersko Organizations: Israel, Orthodox Union, American Orthodox, Democratic, Washington Institute for Near East, State, State Department, Mr, New York Times, Aspen Security, Republican, Foreign Relations, Jewish, American Jewish, American Locations: United States, Israel, Washington, American, U.S, Egypt, Suez, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Manhattan

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority made his first visit in years to Jenin, the battle-scarred and impoverished Palestinian city in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that was the target of a two-day raid by the Israeli military last week. Jenin is within the roughly 40 percent of the West Bank that has been nominally administered by the Palestinian Authority since the 1990s, when Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed diplomatic agreements, known as the Oslo Accords, that increased Palestinian autonomy within some parts of the territories that Israel captured during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. But in recent years, areas of Jenin and other parts of the northern West Bank have become dominated instead by Palestinian militias that reject Mr. Abbas’s leadership and conduct frequent attacks on Israelis. As a result, the Israeli Army has increased its raids on the city and the wider region, like the one last week that killed at least 12 Palestinians. Mr. Abbas’s inability to prevent those raids has further dented his popularity among Palestinians, making it even harder for him to assert his authority over the city.

Persons: Mahmoud Abbas, Abbas’s Organizations: Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Oslo Accords, Israeli Army Locations: Jenin, Palestinian, Oslo, Israel, West

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