Friday, February 7, 2025

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After US threat: Israel lets 50 aid trucks into Gaza

The situation in Gaza

Published 18 October 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Aid workers waiting to deliver supplies to Gaza.

Israel has allowed 50 trucks of humanitarian aid to cross into Gaza, just hours after the US warned that its arms supplies to Israel could be cut off if humanitarian aid was not allowed through within 30 days.

Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the US State Department, said emergency aid to Gaza had been halved from previous levels during the war.

In addition to Wednesday’s 50 trucks, 145 trucks were allowed in on Tuesday, according to the Israeli authority COGAT. The authority added that a total of 465 trucks were allowed in during the first half of October.

The Israeli government gave the go-ahead for the aid early on Wednesday, and food, water, medical supplies and shelter materials were sent from Jordan to northern Gaza via the Allenby Crossing in the West Bank, according to COGAT, the Israeli military agency that manages relief efforts in the region.

– Israel will continue to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, uppger COGAT i ett officiellt uttalande.

Failure to honour aid pledges

The decision to allow aid through comes after a long period in which humanitarian groups reported that all aid was being blocked, and coincides with the ongoing Israeli military operation in northern Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a letter to the Israeli government on Sunday warning that continued arms deliveries could be affected if Israel did not improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The letter warns Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant that Israel will be in violation of an executive order signed by President Joe Biden if significant steps are not taken within one month to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

In the letter, Blinken and Austin stress that the amount of aid reaching Gaza in September is the lowest since the start of the war, and that Israel is not living up to previous assurances that it will not arbitrarily block aid.

US assures “military superiority”

Asked what action might be taken if Israel ignores the warnings, Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris said: “We’ll take it one step at a time, if necessary”.

However, the US State Department insists that its security assistance to Israel ensures that it maintains qualitative military superiority over its regional enemies. The US is committed to this through a $3.8 billion annual security assistance agreement until 2028.

According to US sources, Israel has already taken action in response to the letter. In addition to the 50 aid trucks, the Erez and Allenby crossings have been opened and new warehouses for humanitarian aid are being built.

“Starvation policy”

Israel has also lifted customs declaration requirements to facilitate the entry of aid, according to US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield also told a UN Security Council meeting that the US was closely monitoring Israel’s actions on the ground. She warned that a “starvation policy” against Gaza would be unacceptable and would have consequences under international and US law.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded to the criticism by pointing out that Israel is working with international partners to ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza.

– The problem in Gaza is not a lack of aid. The problem is Hamas, which hijacks the aid — stealing, storing, and selling it to feed their terror machine, while civilians suffer, Danon said.

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Trump: US to take over Gaza – and deport all Palestinians

Donald Trump's USA

Published yesterday 7:43
– By Editorial Staff
Trump and Netanyahu during yesterday's press conference.

In a stunning announcement on Tuesday, President Donald Trump declared that the US will “take over” the entire Gaza Strip, “level the site” and then rebuild it.

The US President also believes that the two million Palestinians currently living in the area must leave Gaza permanently.

– They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony in other areas or countries, he said at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

– The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, the President continued.

Gaza, according to Trump, will be transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. However, it is not mainly Palestinians in Gaza who will benefit from this prosperity instead, “people from all over the world will live there”.

“Can’t live in Gaza”

Trump wants the entire Palestinian population to be permanently relocated to other countries such as neighboring Jordan and Egypt.

– We should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza.

Forcing the entire Palestinian population to leave their homes forever has, according to the President, great advantages because in such a scenario they’re “going to have peace” and will not be shot at and killed.

– The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative.

“Everyone loves the idea”

He also believes that a US “long-term ownership” of Gaza will “bring great stability” to the region and that this is a very popular idea back home in the US.

– Everybody I have spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.

Asked if the displaced Palestinians will have the right to return in the future, the President says this is not an issue.

It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn’t want to return. Why would they want to return? That place has been hell.

“Fresh ideas”

Speaking briefly after Trump, Netanyahu praised the US president for his “fresh ideas”.

– I believe, Mr. President, that your willingness to puncture conventional thinking, thinking that has failed time and time and time again, your willingness to think outside the box with fresh ideas will help us achieve all these goals.

Jordan and Egypt have so far resisted taking in millions of displaced Palestinians but Trump said he still had “a feeling” that the countries’ leaders “will open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done. And people can live in harmony and peace”.

MEP at the Holocaust ceremony in Brussels: “Let us pray for the victims in Gaza”

The situation in Gaza

Published 31 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Grzegorz Braun has recently attracted attention for several controversial actions.

The European Parliament’s annual minute’s silence for the victims of the Holocaust on Wednesday was interrupted by Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun, who instead focused on Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

Let us pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza, Braun declared and then repeated his call once more.

 

Thank you very much, thank you very much, for your prayers for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza, Braun repeated once more before the minute of silence ended.

According to Braun, he did not interfere with the purpose of the ceremony, but rather wanted to draw attention to how some victims of war crimes and genocide are valued more than others.

I shared the observation that all victims are apparently equal, but some are more equal than others”, he explained afterwards.

Dragged out of the room

The move was not appreciated by the President, Roberta Metsola, who shortly afterwards ordered Braun to be dragged from the room. Braun’s outburst has been described by critics as “hateful rhetoric”, with Dutch Christian Democrat Bert-Jan Ruissen, among others, calling for Braun to be punished and subjected to the “highest possible sanctions” that the EU body can impose.

Braun is a member of the national conservative party Korona, the “Crown”, and is running for president in Poland later this year. He has come under fire for strong statements against the Jewish lobby and for demolishing a sign for an official press conference on COVID passports when they were launched in Poland.

Perhaps Braun’s most high-profile action in the past was when he used a fire extinguisher to put out a Jewish candlestick (menorah) placed in the Polish Parliament for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

– The people participating in the Satanic cult should be ashamed, he declared in connection with this event.

Following the incident, Mr. Braun was suspended for six months and legal proceedings were initiated. However, Braun later followed up the high-profile action by condemning Jewish racism against European nations in the Polish Parliament.

Trump wants to empty Gaza

The situation in Gaza

Published 28 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Donald Trump on Gaza: “I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people".

US President Donald Trump has proposed evacuating the Palestinian population of Gaza to neighboring Jordan and Egypt to “clean out the area. Trump discussed his proposal with Jordan’s King Abdullah II yesterday and says he plans to hold talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi soon.

Donald Trump says that after 15 months of conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza Strip has been turned into a “demolition site” and that Palestinians could be better off in new homes in neighboring countries.

Trump says his proposal could be either a temporary or permanent solution, AP reports.

– I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people. You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, we just clean out that whole thing, Donald Trump said during a press conference aboard Air Force One.

The proposal has been strongly criticized by both Palestinian authorities and the proposed host countries. Palestinians see it as a threat to their right to return to their homes and fear that such a move would be permanent.

Jordan and Egypt have previously rejected similar proposals, citing the risk of destabilization and security concerns.

Ethnic cleansing

The international community outside the Western bloc has repeatedly called for solutions that respect the rights of Palestinians, with accusations repeatedly made against Israel of deliberately carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has also called for the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be charged with crimes against humanity.

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have condemned Trump’s statements, saying the proposal is a violation of Palestinian rights. Rather, they believe the focus should be on ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state, according to Al-Jazeera.

Donald Trump has also decided to resume deliveries of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. Deliveries that were previously stopped by former President Joe Biden. The decision has sparked further criticism and concerns about an escalation of violence in the region.

How the international community will react to Trump’s proposal, and what consequences it may have for the situation in Gaza and the surrounding countries, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, the humanitarian crisis in the region continues, with millions of people in need of assistance and protection.

Following the ceasefire: Gazans search for the dead

The situation in Gaza

Published 24 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The Palestinian Civil Defense says it has already found hundreds of bodies.

Since the ceasefire took effect in Gaza, rescue workers and civilians have started to dig out bodies from the rubble of Israeli bombings.

In the first few days of the ceasefire, at least 200 dead have been found, and the Palestinian Civil Defense estimates that another 10,000 missing people are still buried under the rubble.

Rescuers and family members are working feverishly to find and identify the dead.

– In every street there are dead. In every neighborhood there are people under the buildings, said Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, a 24-year-old civil defense worker in Gaza City.

Civil Defense estimates that it will take at least 100 days to recover all the bodies, but the lack of bulldozers and other essential equipment could prolong the process further.

Many of the recovered bodies are in poor condition, making identification difficult, reports British state broadcaster BBC.

The UN has previously estimated that around 60% of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed during the 15 months of fighting. The images now being broadcast around the world show widespread devastation, particularly in northern Gaza.

Palestinian civil defense under pressure

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, says that 48% of civil defense personnel have either been killed, injured or detained during the conflict.

In addition, 85% of the agency’s vehicles and 17 out of 21 facilities are reported to have been damaged or destroyed, further hampering rescue efforts.

According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 47,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the conflict, most of them women and children. Another 111 000 have been injured. However, these figures have not been independently verified.

The ceasefire, which came into force on January 19, has given the more than two million inhabitants of Gaza a much-needed break from the fighting.

At the same time, humanitarian aid has been able to increase significantly, with over 630 trucks crossing the border on the first day – the largest delivery since the beginning of the war.

Although the ceasefire has brought a halt to the bombing, Gaza is facing a huge humanitarian crisis.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) reports that more than two million Gazans are now homeless, without income and completely dependent on food aid for their survival.