DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

A day after President Biden announced plans for maritime aid delivery to the Gaza Strip, European leaders said Friday they would deliver aid by ship as early as the weekend. But aid groups and Gaza officials criticized shipments by air or sea as too cumbersome, urging that vastly more food and medicine be supplied by trucks. The complications of delivering aid to the hungry residents of Gaza were underlined on Friday when the authorities in Gaza said at least five Palestinians were killed and several others were wounded after they were struck by packages of humanitarian aid that were dropped from an aircraft. Israel insists on inspecting all supplies going into Gaza, and aid trucks have been allowed in through just two border crossings — one from Egypt and one from Israel — in southern Gaza. President Biden on Thursday night outlined a U.S. military plan to build a floating pier on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to supply food, water, medicine and other necessities to civilians, saying the operation would “enable a massive increase” in the assistance entering the territory.

Persons: Biden, Israel Organizations: United Nations Locations: Gaza, Egypt, Israel, U.S

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicLate last week, an effort to get food into northern Gaza turned deadly, as thousands of desperate Gazans descended on aid trucks, and Israeli troops tasked with guarding those trucks opened fire. Exactly how people died, and who was responsible, remains contested. Hiba Yazbek, a reporter-researcher in Jerusalem for The Times, explains what we know about what happened and what it tells us about hunger in Gaza.

Persons: Gazans, Hiba Organizations: Spotify, The Times Locations: Gaza, Jerusalem

Lives Ended in Gaza Since the war started, more than 30,000 people have been killed during Israel’s bombardment and invasion. Hamas ruled Gaza and ran a covert military organization, the identity of its fighters unclear, even to other Gazans. She worked with people who had been wounded and displaced by Israeli attacks on Gaza as well as with first responders. She moved to Egypt after the 2014 Gaza war but returned a few months before the current war. He performed complicated operations on Gaza’s war wounded while running Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah until his retirement.

Persons: Israel, Marah, Farah, Farah Alkhatib, Kinder, Selena al, Lubna Elian, Yousef Abu Moussa, Abdulhadi, Maram, Youmna Shaqalih, Abdulrahman Abuamara, Ghadeer Mohammed Mansour, Salah, Khaled Jadallah, Doaa Jadallah, Mahmoud Alnaouq, Jannat Iyad Abu Zbeada, Rami Abu Reyaleh, Alhelou, “, ”, —, Faida AlKrunz, Saud AlKrunz, tinker, Ahmed Abu Shaeera, Al Aqsa, Youssef Salama, Hedaya Hamad, Salah Abo Harbed, Jeries Sayegh, Inas, “ Sara ”, ” Sayel, Ai Wei Wei’s, Heba Zagout, Ali, Amneh, Belal Abu Samaan, Israel ”, Abu Yousef Al, Abdallah Shehada, Tarazi, Heba Jourany, Osama Al, Haddad, Riyad Alkhatib, ” Mahmoud Elian Organizations: UNICEF, Oxygen, Al, Awda, F.C, Barcelona, Facebook, Islamic, Palestinian Authority, Palestine Red Crescent Society, Free Gaza Circus, Christian, Officially, American International School, Palestine Athletics Federation, Najjar, United Nations, West Bank Locations: Gaza, Israel, Spain, Norway, Italian, Australia, Egypt, Turkey, Bolivia, Argentina, Panama, Mexico, Qatar, Al Aqsa, Jerusalem, “ Palestine, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian, Old City, Mazaj, Gaza City, Manhattan, Chicago, Mecca, Rafah, Libya, Uganda, Ireland

☆ Israel Steps Up Attacks in Gaza Amid Cease-Fire Talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Hiba Yazbek | Thomas Fuller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Intense bombardment of a Gaza Strip city filled with refugees flattened a large mosque and killed or wounded scores of people on Thursday as Israel repeated its intention to push into the area with ground forces if Hamas does not release hostages before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Nearly 100 people were killed across the enclave from Israeli strikes over the past day, the Gazan health authorities said Thursday, bringing the total death toll after almost 20 weeks of war to nearly 30,000. Around half of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.3 million people are crammed into the southern city of Rafah along the border with Egypt, where the strike on the mosque occurred Thursday. Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported that at least seven Palestinians had been killed overnight in Rafah and dozens more wounded. Israel’s preparations for an invasion of that area come as diplomats raced to forestall it, with Ramadan set to begin around March 10.

Persons: Israel, Wafa, Ramadan Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Egypt

☆ For Many in Rafah, Displacement Is a Recurring Nightmare
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Hiba Yazbek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Less than two weeks after bombs began raining down on the Gaza Strip, Ghada al-Kurd arrived in the southern city of Khan Younis. She had already been displaced three times, and hoped it would be her final journey to safety. Ms. al-Kurd, 37, speaking by telephone, said she, her sister, brother-in-law, and four nieces and nephews abandoned the tent they had been sharing “without taking anything with us,” and headed to Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. The order, which set off international alarm, is forcing the displaced people sheltering there, along with more than 200,000 of Rafah’s citizens, to weigh their next move. “I regret leaving Gaza City,” said Ms. al-Kurd, whose two daughters stayed behind in the north with their father.

Persons: al, Kurd, Khan Younis, Benjamin Netanyahu, “, ” Organizations: Kurd Locations: Gaza, Khan, Rafah, Gaza’s, Gaza City, Israel, “

Petrified Gazans in the cramped southern border city of Rafah scrambled to evade bombardment on Saturday as they prepared to flee an expected Israeli ground offensive, dreading the prospect of again searching for safety in a place with few, if any, options to escape the war. Israeli officials have declared that the next phase in their effort to destroy Hamas will be in Rafah, and on Friday, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that “any forceful action in Rafah would require the evacuation of the civilian population from combat zones.”The Israeli government has not specified where the civilians would be expected to go. Rafah sits along the border with Egypt, which has so far refused to take in Palestinian refugees, fearful over its own security and worried that the displacement could become permanent and undermine Palestinian aspirations for statehood. On Saturday, Germany, Britain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia joined an international chorus condemning Israel’s stated intention of expanding its ground invasion into the city. Aid groups, the secretary general of the United Nations and officials from the Biden administration have warned that an Israeli attack on Rafah would be disastrous.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s, Biden Organizations: Aid, United Nations Locations: Rafah, Egypt, Germany, Britain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia

In a statement announcing the orders on Friday, Mr. Netanyahu’s office did not give any details of when the evacuations might be carried out, when the Israeli military might enter the city or where people might go. Mr. Netanyahu’s office said it would be impossible to realize Israel’s goal of smashing Hamas’s rule in Gaza without destroying what it said were the group’s four battalions in Rafah, on Egypt’s border. The military’s “combined plan” would have to both “evacuate the civilian population and topple the battalions,” the statement said. “Any forceful action in Rafah would require the evacuation of the civilian population from combat zones,” it said. After Mr. Netanyahu said this week that he had ordered troops to prepare to enter Rafah, aid agencies, the United Nations and U.S. officials said the prospect of an incursion there was particularly alarming.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden, “, Netanyahu Organizations: United Nations Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt’s

☆ 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

The vast majority of fatalities – 73% – are women, children and the elderly, according to the health ministry. Women are in great pain, they sleep on the floors, without mattresses,” Bashir, the 32-year-old mother, told CNN. She told CNN she received confirmation the products reached the Rafah crossing, but does not know when the aid will enter Gaza. Palestinian mothers told CNN they cannot protect their kids from the terror of Israel's persistent bombardment. Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty ImagesSo many aspects of motherhood, once routine, are now a matter of life or death.

Persons: —, MedGlobal, OCHA, ” Musleh, “ I, can’t, “, Ahmed Al, Sadi, ”, Tanya Haj, Hassan, Médecins, jeopardizing, ” Haj, Hiba Tibi, Israel's, Said Khatib, Amal, Khan Younis, Bashir, Heather Barr, Barr, ” Bashir, CNN Amal, Nesma ElFar, MotherBeing, ‘, ’ ” Haj, Ahmad Hasaballah, Musleh, – Organizations: CNN, US, Palestinian Ministry of Health, Palestinian Medical Relief Society, Medical, CARE International, CARE ., CARE West Bank, UN, Getty, Haj, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Human Rights Watch Locations: Al, Gaza, Ramallah, Israel, Rafah, Egypt, AFP, Gaza City, Cairo, Khan, Palestine

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.

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

Search resuls for: "Hiba"

25 mentions found