UN adding Israel to ‘blacklist’ of countries harming children in conflict
The United Nations is adding Israel to its so-called “blacklist” of countries that have committed abuses against children in armed conflict, an Israeli diplomat has confirmed, as thousands of Palestinian children have been killed in the Israeli military’s continued assault on the Gaza Strip. In a social media post on Friday, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said he received official notification of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s decision. “This is simply outrageous and wrong,” Erdan wrote, alongside a video of him speaking into a telephone and condemning the move. “I responded to the shameful decision and said that our army is the most moral in the world. The only one being blacklisted is the Secretary-General who incentivizes and encourages terrorism and is motivated by hatred towards Israel.” Commenting on Erdan’s remarks later in the day, Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a UN official had called the Israeli envoy as “a courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed on the annexe” of the annual “Children in Armed Conflict” report. “It is done to give those countries a heads-up and avoid leaks,” Dujarric told reporters, adding that the report is set to be presented to the UN Security Council on June 14 and then officially published a few days later. “Ambassador Erdan’s video recording of that phone call, and the partial release of that recording on Twitter, is shocking and unacceptable – and frankly something I’ve never seen in my 24 years serving this organisation,” Dujarric said. I received the official notification about the Secretary-General’s decision to put the IDF on the “blacklist” of countries and organizations that harm children. This is simply outrageous and wrong because Hamas has been using children for terrorism and uses schools and hospitals… pic.twitter.com/o1civfJFAk — Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) June 7, 2024 Palestinian Authority welcomes decision The annual report on children in armed conflict compiles “a list of parties engaging in violations against children”, including killing and maiming, sexual violence and attacks on schools and hospitals. Guterres faced criticism from Palestinian rights advocates for failing to place Israel on the so-called list of shame, which included Russia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Syria and Haiti. The blacklist is meant to call out parties engaged in abuses against children. But other countries can use it to restrict arms sales to the offenders. Senior Palestinian official Riad Malki welcomed the UN’s decision on Friday, saying that the move is overdue. “Now, faced with the catastrophe in Gaza that the world sees with its naked eyes with the genocide that specifically targets children and women, the UN secretary general no longer has excuses not to place Israel on the blacklist,” Malki said in a statement. Rights groups have condemned the dire toll Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza has had on Palestinian children across the enclave. More than 36,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since early October, including 15,571 children, according to the Gaza government media office. UN experts have also said Israel’s restrictions on deliveries of food, water, medicine and other critical supplies have created a humanitarian crisis, with parts of the coastal territory facing the threat of famine. Earlier this week, the UN’s child rights agency UNICEF said nine in 10 Palestinian children in Gaza were living in “severe child food poverty, surviving on diets comprising two or fewer food groups per day – one of the highest percentages ever recorded”. By comparison, in 2020, only 13 percent of children in the Gaza Strip were living in severe child food poverty, UNICEF said. The World Health Organization also said last week that more than four in five Palestinian children in Gaza “did not eat for a whole day at least once in the three days” ahead of a food insecurity survey. Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) has also reported on the dire consequences Israel’s continued military assault on Gaza is having on Palestinian children, including thousands that have been critically injured since October. The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system has meant many patients, including children, are unable to get the care they require, the group said. “Palestinian children who survive Israeli attacks face a lifetime of recovery to heal from the physical and psychological trauma,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, DCIP’s accountability programme director, said in a statement on Wednesday. In one testimonial gathered by DCIP, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy named Mohammad described his difficult journey to recovery after he was shot in the back by an Israeli quadcopter in March. He is now paralysed in the lower part of his body. “I spend most of my time on a mattress, lying on my back. Also, I suffer from ulcers due to prolonged sitting, and have not healed yet. The medicine for these wounds and painkillers are expensive and my father cannot always afford them,” Mohammad told DCIP. “I used to love playing football, as I always stood as a goalkeeper,” he said. “I also loved repairing watches and electrical appliances, but now I cannot do that due to my disability.” In January, Save the Children said more than 10 children in Gaza lose limbs daily. But Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed the UN’s decision on Friday, calling it “shameful”. “The [Israeli military] is the most moral army in the world – and no fictitious report will change that. This step will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the UN,” Katz said in a social media post. Adblock test (Why?)
US re-establishes Gaza aid pier damaged in bad weather
The United States military has announced it has reinstalled a temporary aid pier in Gaza that had been damaged in bad weather, saying humanitarian assistance will flow through the floating dock in the “coming days”. The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Friday that the pier will enable the delivery of “much-needed humanitarian aid” to Gaza. The Palestinian territory has been brought to the verge of famine due to a suffocating blockade by Israel, a top US ally that receives billions of dollars in aid from Washington every year. “In coming days, CENTCOM will facilitate the movement of vital food and other emergency supplies, in support of the US Agency for International Development,” the US military said in a social media post. Jun 7, 2024 at 16:09At approximately 2:15 p.m. (local Gaza time) on June 7, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) successfully reestablished the temporary pier in Gaza, enabling the continued delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. In coming days, CENTCOM will… pic.twitter.com/YMJiCVGvwP — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 7, 2024 Aid groups have long warned that the US pier is an ineffective way to deliver aid and cannot be a substitute for opening land routes, which had been blocked or severely restricted by Israel. Late in May, 20 aid organisations, including Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, called the US-installed dock part of “cosmetic changes” that fail to address the crisis adequately. “As Israeli attacks intensify on Rafah, the unpredictable trickle of aid into Gaza has created a mirage of improved access while the humanitarian response is in reality on the verge of collapse,” the groups said in a statement. “The ability of aid groups and medical teams to respond has now all but crumbled, with temporary fixes such as a ‘floating dock’ and new crossing points having little impact.” To critics, the $230m pier has come to symbolise the failures and contradictions of US policy in Gaza. The administration of President Joe Biden denies that Israel is blocking aid to Gaza while regularly urging the US ally to allow more assistance into the territory. The US also provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, including heavy bombs and artillery shells that Biden has admitted have killed Palestinian civilians. US laws prohibit military aid to go to countries that block US-backed humanitarian assistance. Biden announced plans to build the pier in his State of the Union Address in March, saying the dock would be able to “receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter”. The project was completed in mid-May, but days later, waves swept away vessels supporting the pier, raising questions about the initiative’s viability. By the end of the month, the pier itself sustained damage and required repairs. The pier is set to be operational again as Israel continues to block the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which previously served as a major artery for aid and humanitarian workers. Another major issue worsening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is the inability to deliver aid to people once it reaches the territory. Israel has killed more than 200 humanitarian workers since the beginning of the war, according to Save the Children. An Israeli air raid in April killed seven World Central Kitchen workers delivering aid in the territory, sparking global outrage. Still, Biden has resisted calls to restrict or condition military aid to Israel, often reasserting his “ironclad” commitment to the US ally. In recent days, Israel has killed dozens of Palestinians at UN schools in Gaza serving as shelters for displaced people. An Al Jazeera visual analysis concluded this week that US weapons were used in an Israeli strike that killed at least 40 people at a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. On Friday, Hamas said the targeting of schools by Israel is part of the ongoing US-backed “genocide” against Palestinians. “The administration of US President Joe Biden bears full responsibility for these ongoing crimes by continuing to supply the fascist entity with weapons and munitions, as well as political and diplomatic support, and terrorizing and obstructing international justice from assuming its role in stopping this genocide and holding its perpetrators accountable,” the Palestinian group said in a statement. Adblock test (Why?)
India’s Modi set for third term as prime minister
NewsFeed India’s Narendra Modi will be sworn in for a third term as prime minister on Sunday after he was unanimously elected by members of the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as their leader. Published On 7 Jun 20247 Jun 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Widow of Beau Biden testifies about seeing revolver in Hunter Biden’s truck
Federal prosecutors say US President Biden’s son was in the throes of a heavy crack addiction when he bought the gun. Hunter Biden’s widowed sister-in-law has testified that she found his gun and threw it away out of fear of his spiralling drug addiction, potentially bolstering prosecutors’ case that President Joe Biden’s son broke a law barring illegal drug users from owning firearms. Hallie Biden told jurors about the moment she found the revolver in his truck, describing how she put it into a leather pouch, stuffed it into a shopping bag and tossed it in a rubbish bin outside a market near her home. “I panicked, and I wanted to get rid of them,” she testified about finding the gun and ammunition in the vehicle’s console in October 2018. “I didn’t want him to hurt himself, and I didn’t want my kids to find it and hurt themselves.” The purchase of the Colt revolver by Hunter Biden – and Hallie Biden’s frenzied disposal of it – are central to the case against him. Federal prosecutors say the president’s son was in the throes of a heavy crack addiction when he bought the gun. He has been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally keeping the gun for 11 days. Hunter Biden, who has pleaded not guilty, has said the Justice Department is bending to political pressure from Republicans and that he is being unfairly targeted. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said in an interview with ABC that he would accept the jury’s verdict and ruled out a pardon for his son. Hunter Biden is the first child of a United States president to face a criminal trial. The Delaware jury has heard testimony this week from witnesses including his ex-wife and a former girlfriend about the 54-year-old’s past prolific drug use, which he has publicly acknowledged. Prosecutors did not wrap up their case on Thursday and said they planned to call two more witnesses on Friday. Hunter Biden’s lawyer said he could finish his case by the end of Monday. Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden, leave the federal court during his trial on criminal gun charges in Wilmington [Hannah Beier/Reuters] Hunter Biden gun charges Hallie Biden, who had a brief romantic relationship with Hunter after Beau Biden died in 2015, testified that from the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs. That time period included the day he bought the weapon. Much of her testimony focused on October 23, 2018 – 11 days after he bought the gun and when she disposed of it. Hunter was staying with her and seemed exhausted. Asked by the prosecutor if it appeared that Hunter was using drugs around then, she said, “He could have been.” As Hunter slept in her home, Hallie Biden went to check his car. She said she was hoping to help him get or stay sober, free of alcohol and cocaine. She said she found the remnants of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She also found the gun Hunter had purchased in a box with a broken lock that kept it from fully closing. There was ammunition, too. Hunter Biden watched expressionless as Hallie spoke. She told jurors that she found crack at her home and saw him using it. She said she was with him occasionally when he met dealers. Jurors have also heard from the gun store clerk, who testified about how he explained a few options to Hunter Biden before he settled on the gun. The clerk then watched as the customer filled out the firearms transaction record, a required document for the purchase of a gun, and saw him check off “no” to the question of whether he was “an unlawful user of or addicted to” marijuana, stimulants, narcotics or any other controlled substance. The proceedings are unfolding after the collapse of a plea deal that would have resolved the gun charge and a separate tax case, and spared the Biden family the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. The president’s sister, Valerie, was in court on Thursday. First Lady Jill Biden spent the first part of the week there before leaving for France. Allies worry about the toll the proceedings will take on the president, who is deeply concerned about the health and continued sobriety of his only living son. If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, although first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it is unclear whether the judge would sentence him to time in jail. He also faces a separate trial in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4m in taxes. Adblock test (Why?)
Are Lebanon and Israel on the cusp of war?
Tensions and tit-for-tat attacks are escalating between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Since October 8, Hezbollah has engaged Israel in a low-level conflict to impede Israel’s war on Gaza, which has already killed more than 36,000 people. Civilians have been evacuated from villages on both sides of the border. Israel has targeted Lebanese villages with white phosphorus, while Hezbollah has targeted Israeli military installations with drones, guided missiles, and other weapons. Over the last week, both sides have stepped up attacks as US President Joe Biden pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza. Here’s all you need to know about whether Hezbollah and Israel will go to war. Who is Hezbollah? Hezbollah is a Shia group that first emerged to confront Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, which began in 1982. Backed by Iran, Hezbollah poses the largest military threat to Israel, according to Israeli and regional security experts. In 2006, Hezbollah stood up to an all-out assault by Israel and has only grown stronger since then. Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gives a televised address during a ceremony, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon May 31, 2024 [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters] Why are Hezbollah and Israel at odds? After the occupation of Lebanon ended, Israel and Hezbollah’s relationship remained fraught. In 2006, Hezbollah ambushed Israeli soldiers, killing three and kidnapping two. Israel responded by launching a war on Lebanon, reaching the capital Beirut. There, Israel employed its “Dahiya Doctrine” – named after a Beirut neighbourhood Hezbollah controls – which entails targeting civilian infrastructure. The war lasted 34 days, killed 1,901 Lebanese people and displaced 900,000. About 165 Israelis were killed. However, Hezbollah was not destroyed. The group has since accumulated more sophisticated weapons and experience as it fought alongside the Syrian government during the country’s war, where it was accused of committing war crimes against Syrian civilians. What has happened since Israel’s war on Gaza started? Since Israel launched its devastating war on Gaza after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, Hezbollah has fought a low-level conflict with Israel. Fighting has followed what seem to be “rules of engagement” in which both sides try to avoid significant civilian casualties. However, Israel has progressively struck deeper into Lebanon and killed many civilians. Why is it feared that a major conflict is coming? Because Israel seems to be threatening exactly that. On June 5, Hezbollah fired two suicide drones into an Israeli village that killed two people and injured 11. Israeli firefighters also rushed to put out almost 100 fires that broke out from Hezbollah attacks. Subsequently, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel is prepared for a very tense operation on its border with Lebanon”. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited some of areas hit by the fires in the north and later told reporters, “It is unacceptable that a region in our country is targeted while Lebanon remains quiet. We must burn all of Hezbollah’s outposts. Destroy them.” Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks at a conference calling for the establishment of illegal Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip at the International Convention Centre, Jerusalem, January 28, 2024 [Abir Sultan/EPA] Despite Israel’s rhetoric, Imad Salamey, an associate professor of political science at the Lebanese American University, does not believe an Israeli invasion is imminent. “Israel is facing significant challenges on multiple fronts, including regional security threats and internal political dynamics,” he told Al Jazeera. “An invasion would likely result in severe international condemnation and strained relations with key allies, particularly the United States, which would complicate support,” he added. What’s the calculus in Israel? There are many voices in Israel demanding their government attack Hezbollah, the question is if they will be heeded. They fear Hezbollah will attack Israeli military outposts and communities, as Hamas did on October 7, according to Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli commentator and political analyst. Supporters of bereaved family members and the families of captives who were kidnapped during the October 7 attack by Hamas, protest on a Day of Disruption by antigovernment protest groups, outside the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament in Jerusalem, May 20, 2024 [Ammar Awad/Reuters] Many Israelis, she said, do not believe Hezbollah when it says it will stop attacking Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. On the contrary, she said, many Israelis believe fighting Hezbollah is necessary for displaced citizens to return safely to their homes in the north. “I don’t think there are enough voices [in Israel] playing out the devastating consequences … of [Hezbollah] strikes on civilian infrastructure in Israel,” Scheindlin said. “It’s known. It’s not a secret. Nobody’s hiding it … but not quite front and centre.” What’s the calculus for Hezbollah? Hezbollah’s recent attacks aim to warn Israel that it has the capacity to inflict serious damage, according to Michael Young, an analyst and senior editor at the Carnegie Middle East Centre think tank in Beirut. “These are all messages to Israel. ‘Don’t think today you will win a war or a war will advance your calls or create more leverage.’ “Each side, in my mind, is preparing for a negotiation,” he told Al Jazeera. Young added that he expects the fighting will escalate as both sides try to gain leverage in negotiations, which he believes Hezbollah covets to end the fighting. “Hezbollah has been clear. The day fighting in Gaza stops will be the day fighting in southern Lebanon will stop,” he told Al Jazeera. “Hezbollah does not want a grey situation on the Lebanese border and they don’t want a situation where no agreement is reached … because that means Israel can continue to hit them and assassinate their fighters.” Adblock test (Why?)
Delegates walk out of UN meeting during Israel speech
NewsFeed Dozens of delegates walked out of a UN meeting as an Israeli official responded to criticism it has decimated Palestinian workers’ labour rights since the start of its war in Gaza. Published On 7 Jun 20247 Jun 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Rights advocates slam Biden’s ‘draconian’ asylum curbs at US-Mexico border
Immigrant rights advocates have slammed President Joe Biden’s new curbs on asylum at the United States-Mexico border, describing the policy as “the most draconian” move since the Democrat entered the White House in 2021. During a news conference on Thursday, Azadeh Erfani, a senior policy analyst at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said Biden’s recent executive order violates both US and international law because it will send people with viable asylum claims back to harm. “Any person, including families with children, who seeks asylum between US ports of entry” will be affected by the new regulations, Erfani said. “This applies right now — in the middle of a global displacement crisis, the worst we’ve seen since World War II — and will decimate asylum access in the foreseeable future.” Biden’s executive order, which came into effect in the early hours of Wednesday, allows his administration to stop processing asylum claims if the number of irregular crossings at the US-Mexico border surpasses an average of 2,500 per day for a week. The order allows for certain exemptions, including for unaccompanied minors and people determined to be victims of human trafficking. “This action will help us gain control of our border and restore order [to] the process,” Biden told reporters as he announced the measures. But seeking asylum is a right under both US and international law — no matter how people enter US territory. Biden himself campaigned on a pledge to uphold the country’s “moral responsibility” at the border and enforce immigration laws with dignity. In a 2019 social media post criticising his predecessor Donald Trump’s anti-immigration stance, Biden promised “not turn away those fleeing violence, war & poverty”. Trump is fighting tooth & nail to deny those fleeing dangerous situations their right to seek asylum in our nation. We should uphold our moral responsibility & enforce our immigration laws with dignity—not turn away those fleeing violence, war, & poverty. https://t.co/1CVPP3sJo3 — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 26, 2019 But as the number of migrants and asylum seekers trying to enter the US at the Mexico border skyrocketed last year, the Democratic president has been under pressure from Republicans to take a tougher stance on unauthorised crossings. This week’s order comes five months before Biden is set to face off against Trump in November’s presidential election, a race that is expected to be close. The executive order also coincides with a new rule from the Department of Homeland Security and the US Attorney General that also tightens asylum procedures. The new rule implements three changes to existing asylum policy. Crucially, it scraps a requirement that US immigration officers must inform people of their right to seek asylum and ask whether they fear persecution, according to a fact sheet prepared by the American Immigration Council. Instead, asylum seekers now need to express a fear of persecution themselves or inform US officers that they want to seek asylum, something advocates refer to as the “shout test”. Only then would they get a “credible fear interview”, where asylum applicants are expected to demonstrate a need for protection. The Biden administration’s new rule also increases the threshold that applicants need to meet during the interview to be eligible for asylum. “As of this week, the Biden administration has allowed for these interviews to happen within as little as four hours of peoples’ entry [to the US], while raising the standard,” said Erfani at the National Immigrant Justice Center. The purpose, Erfani said, is “for people to fail these screenings and get deported as fast as possible”. Deadly risks Human rights advocates across the US have warned that the executive order and the finalised rule will force asylum seekers back to dangerous situations in their home countries or in Mexican border towns. Chelsea Sachau, the managing attorney for Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project’s Border Action Team, has worked with asylum seekers on the southern border in Arizona and said the rule would return people to “violence, danger and possibly death”. “This rule will likely lead to vulnerable families being deported every day to small, remote towns in the [Mexican] state of Sonora that are ruled by cartels and have active violent conflicts occurring in them,” she said during Thursday’s news conference. Rights groups have long documented the myriad risks migrants and asylum seekers face in Mexican border communities, including torture, sexual violence, extortion, kidnappings and killings. Sachau also noted that the US port of entry known as Nogales is the only place for about 1,300km (800 miles) in Arizona where asylum seekers can get US immigration appointments through an app known as CBP One. She said some of her clients have had to wait for seven or eight months, if not longer, for a CBP One appointment — and she warned that the new executive order could lead to even longer wait times. “People will grow ever more desperate. We’ve seen [with] other border policies that, when people are forced into desperate circumstances, they will be forced to make heart-wrenching decisions,” Sachau said. “They may feel they need to send their children ahead as unaccompanied minors for their own safety, or they may try to cross the border again — this time in more remote or more dangerous areas.” Biden’s order, she added, won’t prevent people from taking such journeys in search of safety, but “will beget more border-crossing under more dangerous circumstances”. Adblock test (Why?)
US seeks to block Houthi revenues in possible threat to Yemen truce: Report
Latest pressure campaign comes as US says peace plan cannot move forward if Red Sea attacks persist, Bloomberg reports. The United States and its allies are increasingly seeking to block funds from reaching Yemen’s Houthi group, a push that could jeapordise United Nations-led efforts to end the civil war in the country, Bloomberg News has reported. According to the report published on Thursday, Washington is looking to block major parts of a UN peace plan that the warring parties in Yemen adopted in December unless the Houthis cease their attacks on international shipping lanes. That includes $1.5bn to be paid by Saudi Arabia to civil servants in Houthi-controlled areas, as per the UN roadmap, Bloomberg reported, citing an unidentified source. An anonymous State Department official told Bloomberg that agreements tied to the UN plan can only proceed if the Houthis stop their attacks, while adding that the US still supports peace in Yemen. The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and firing missiles and drones at Israeli targets in a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza, drawing anger from US President Joe Biden’s administration. The US and its allies have been bombing Houthi targets in Yemen since January, but the military campaign has not deterred Houthi attacks. The Houthis pledged to continue targeting Israel-linked ships as long as the war on Gaza, which has killed at least 36,654 Palestinians, goes on. Most recently, on Thursday, the group said it targeted two vessels at Israel’s Haifa port. Banks ordered closed in Houthi territory In March 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition launched what would become a years-long offensive in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Iran-allied Houthis who had taken over the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The fighting, which set off a major humanitarian crisis, turned into a protracted conflict, with the Houthis staying in control in Sanaa and other major population centres, and the Saudi-backed government remaining in the southern city of Aden. The warring parties in April 2022 agreed to a ceasefire, which expired in October of that year. But the fighting has largely been paused amid diplomatic efforts to find a lasting resolution to the conflict. The December UN roadmap included the “implementation of a nationwide ceasefire, payment of public sector salaries, resuming oil exports, opening of roads in Taiz and other parts of Yemen” and the easing of remaining restrictions on Sanaa Airport and Hodeidah Port. Still, tensions between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government have remained high, especially over economic issues. The US push to squeeze the Houthis’ finances risks exacerbating them further. In January, the Biden administration designated the Houthis as “global terrorists” over their Red Sea attacks, a move that enabled sweeping financial sanctions against the group. According to Bloomberg’s report on Thursday, the latest US effort comes as the Central Bank of Yemen, which remains under the Saudi-backed government’s control, moved to suspend operations at banks in Houthi-controlled areas, including Sanaa. The central bank’s governor cited a failure to comply with orders for all financial institutions to move their headquarters to Aden. The action is expected to stifle Houthi access to foreign currency and dry up the liquidity of the group. It was done with the support of the US and Western allies, Bloomberg reported, citing four people with direct knowledge of the situation. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi had called the move against Sanaa-based banks an “American effort for the benefit of Israel”, adding that the US is trying to drag Saudi Arabia into that initiative. “It’s a dangerous game – a game of adding fuel to the fire,” Al-Houthi said last month. The office of the UN’s special office to Yemen, led by Hans Grundberg, has repeatedly said the Houthi Red Sea attacks and “related international military responses in Yemen” threaten the fragile truce in Yemen. After years of war, Yemen continues to face one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN, with more than 18 million people in need of aid and more than 17 million food insecure. About 4.5 million people in the country remain displaced. Meanwhile, stop-start payments of public sector salaries have hastened the collapse of healthcare, sanitation, water and education services, according to the UN. Adblock test (Why?)
US sanctions Palestinian group under decree used to target Israeli settlers
Biden administration imposes penalties on West Bank-based Lions’ Den, accusing it of threatening ‘peace and stability’. Washington, DC – The United States has imposed sanctions on a Palestinian group in the occupied West Bank based on a White House executive order previously used to penalise violent Israeli settlers. The US on Thursday targeted the Lions’ Den, an armed group that emerged out of Nablus in 2022 and has claimed several attacks against Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. “The United States condemns any and all acts of violence committed in the West Bank, whoever the perpetrators, and we will use the tools at our disposal to expose and hold accountable those who threaten peace and stability there,” the US Department of State said in a statement. It cited several attacks attributed to Lions’ Den fighters dating back to October 2022. The sanctions block the group’s assets in the US and largely prohibit American citizens from engaging in transitions with them. The penalties were issued under Executive Order (EO) 14115, which set up a legal framework for US sanctions against individuals and entities “undermining peace, security and stability” in the West Bank. When President Joe Biden issued the decree in February, it was largely seen as an effort to crack down on settler violence against Palestinians that had intensified since the outbreak of the war on Gaza. But only a few private Israeli citizens have been sanctioned under the directive, as the Biden administration has resisted calls to penalise Israeli officials responsible for abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank. Earlier this week, Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen called on the Biden administration to sanction far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich under the same executive order. “In my view, Smotrich should be subject to sanctions under this EO,” Van Hollen said. The finance minister has withheld taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority and in March, he also declared 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the occupied West Bank to be Israeli state land. “You’ve got this person whose stated goal is for essentially Israel to take over the entire West Bank,” Van Hollen told the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. But Washington has been reluctant to take meaningful steps against Israel as Biden administration officials often pledge unwavering support to the US ally. Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said the Lions’ Den is a relatively small group, but it has grown in prominence in the West Bank amid the war on Gaza. Hanna said the sanctions against the Palestinian group may be a “balancing act” against the penalties targeting settlers. “It’s a way perhaps for the US to show even-handedness in terms of its dealings with all the groups in the region,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel bombs UNRWA school in Gaza, kills 32 displaced Palestinians
Israeli forces have bombed a United Nations-linked school in central Gaza, killing at least 32 displaced Palestinians and injuring dozens more, according to officials and local media. Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, condemned the predawn attack on Thursday as a “horrible massacre” and said many women and children were among those killed and wounded. The Palestinian Wafa news agency put the death toll at 32. The agency said that thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering at the Nuseirat camp’s al-Sardi school, which is linked to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), when it came under attack. Ismail al-Thawabta, a spokesman for Gaza’s Government Media Office, said “huge numbers of dead and wounded” were arriving at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza. “This horrible massacre committed by the Israeli occupation is clear evidence of genocide, ethnic cleansing against civilians, including women and children and displaced people in the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters. The dead and wounded were overwhelming the hospital, “which is filled with wounded patients three times beyond its clinical capacity”, he added. “This portends a real disaster that will lead to an even greater increase in the number of martyrs.” ‘Apocalyptic’ violence Israel’s military confirmed the bombing, saying its fighter jets struck a “Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat”. It claimed the bombing “eliminated terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks” against its forces. Hamas rejected the Israeli statement. “The occupation uses lying to the public opinion through false, fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people,” al-Thawabta told the Reuters news agency. The attack on al-Sardi came as Israeli forces stepped up their bombardment of Gaza even as the United States and mediators continued to press ahead with an effort to secure a ceasefire deal. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said prior to the latest attack on Nuseirat, Israeli forces had killed at least 102 people in 24 hours. These included attacks on the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, also located in central Gaza. Doctors Without Borders, in a statement earlier on Wednesday, described the situation in Gaza as “apocalyptic”. The group, which is known by its French acronym MSF, said the Al-Aqsa Hospital had received 70 dead people and more than 300 injured since Tuesday, and that the majority of the casualties were women and children. “The odour of blood in the hospital’s emergency room this morning was unbearable. There are people lying everywhere, on the floor, outside … bodies were being brought in plastic bags. The situation is overwhelming,” said Karin Huster, an MSF official. The “insane escalation of violence” across the Gaza Strip and the closure of the Rafah border crossing – which has halted most humanitarian deliveries into the Palestinian enclave – has stretched the health system to the “point of collapse”, she said. “This man-made catastrophe needs to stop now,” she added. At least 36,586 Palestinians have been killed and 83,074 have been wounded in Israel’s eight-month war on Gaza. The brutal assault, which some countries and UN experts say amounts to genocide, began after Hamas fighters launched attacks inside Israel on October 7 of last year, killing at least 1,139 people and taking dozens of others captive. Ceasefire talks Efforts to end the war have so far made little headway, however. William Burns, the director of the CIA, was in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on Wednesday to discuss a three-phase truce proposal touted last week by US President Joe Biden. The first phase calls for a six-week ceasefire, during which Hamas would free some of the captives and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s population centres and negotiations would continue for a permanent truce. Regional and international powers have backed the proposal, but sticking points remain. Hamas has insisted on a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israel, however, has rejected those demands, saying it is prepared to discuss only temporary pauses until Hamas is defeated. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, on Wednesday reiterated the group’s stance. “The movement and factions of the resistance will deal seriously and positively with any agreement that is based on a comprehensive ending of the aggression and the complete withdrawal and prisoners swap,” he said. Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said there would be no halt to the fighting. “Any negotiations with Hamas would be conducted only under fire,” Gallant was quoted as saying as he flew on board a plane to inspect the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)