UN unsure on how much aid has been delivered inside Gaza by Israeli-backed logistics group
An update on the dire aid situation in Gaza. As a reminder, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli-backed logistics group, has said lorry loads of food have been delivered to secure sites in Gaza and that supplies had begun to be given to those in need.
However, the UN humanitarian agency Ocha, and Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, both told a press briefing in Geneva earlier today that they were unaware of whether any aid had actually been distributed.
“We don’t have any information,” said Unrwa spokesperson Juliette Touma.
“We know what’s needed, we know what’s missing, and we are very, very far from that daily target.
“The needs are 500-600 trucks at a minimum that should go into Gaza, loaded with supplies. Not only food but also medicine, medical supplies, vaccines for children, fuel, water and other basics for people’s survival.”
Before the devastating Israeli blockade on aid was imposed in early March, the UN brought lifesaving humanitarian supplies to people in multiple locations around the territory.
Now the blockade has been eased (to an extremely inadequate level) due to political pressure on the Netanyahu government, UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF amid concerns it violates “fundamental humanitarian principles” and breaches international law.
Key events
Ireland approves draft legislation to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements
Rory Carroll
Rory Carroll is the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent
Ireland has moved a step closer to banning imports from the occupied Palestinian territories and has encouraged other EU members to follow suit.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved draft legislation to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements in a largely symbolic but potentially significant initiative to pressure Israel over policies in Gaza and the West Bank.
“What I hope today is when this small country in Europe makes the decision and becomes one of the first countries, and probably the first country, in the western world to consider legislation in this space, I do hope it inspires other European countries to join us,” Simon Harris, the foreign minister, told reporters.
A parliamentary committee is to review the draft legislation next month.
Frances Black, an independent senator who tabled an Occupied Territories Bill in 2018, said Tuesday’s move was welcome and overdue. “It’s horrible that it has taken so much suffering to get here and we can’t afford to waste any more time.”
Trade is an EU competency but states can restrict in exceptional circumstances. Ireland is basing its move on an international court of justice judgement last year which said countries should “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
The outgoing head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, announced his resignation in April, saying he would step down on 15 June, six weeks after Benjamin Netanyahu tried to oust him.
The Israeli leader said he had lost trust in Bar’s capacity to lead Shin Bet and accused him of politicising the agency.
As my colleague Jason Burke notes in this story, the relationship between Netanyahu and Bar deteriorated after the publication in March of a Shin Bet report on the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The service admitted to mistakes but criticised policies of the Netanyahu government that it said had enabled Hamas to build up its strength in Gaza and catch Israel by surprise.
Israel attorney general says Netanyahu’s nomination for Shin Bet chief is ‘illegal’
Israel’s attorney general has said Benjamin Netanyahu’s nomination of Maj Gen David Zini as head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, is “illegal”.
It comes after the supreme court found Netanyahu’s move to sack the outgoing Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, unlawful.
In a letter to the Israeli prime minister, obtained by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency on Tuesday, attorney general Gali Baharav Miara noted the recent “court decisions regarding the end of the Shin Bet director’s mandate” and said:
Your decision regarding major general (David) Zini, made in a situation of conflict of interest and contradicting the conclusions of the judgment as well as the judicial directives in force, is illegitimate and illegal.
Last Wednesday, Israel’s high court issued a ruling that Netanyahu’s firing of Bar was made “unlawfully” and that the Israeli leader had a conflict of interest due to the ongoing Shin Bet investigations into his close aides.
Israel and Syria ‘in direct contact’
Israel and Syria are in direct contact and have in recent weeks held face-to-face meetings aimed at calming tensions and preventing conflict in the border region between the two longtime foes, five people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
The contacts mark a significant development in ties between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades, as the US encourages the new Islamist rulers in Damascus to establish relations with Israel and Israel eases its bombardment of Syria.
They also build on back-channel talks via intermediaries since Islamist rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham toppled Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad in December, said two Syrian and two western sources, as well as a regional intelligence source familiar with the matter.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject for two nations with no official ties and a history of enmity. The direct talks and their scope have not been previously reported although earlier this month, Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa confirmed indirect talks with Israel.
EU chief denounces Israel’s ‘abhorrent’ deadly airstrikes on Gaza civilian sites
The European commission president Ursula von der Leyen has condemned Israel’s “abhorrent” wave of airstrikes on civilian facilities in Gaza including on a school-turned-shelter, during a call with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday.
“The expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza targeting civilian infrastructure, among them a school that served as a shelter for displaced Palestinian families, killing civilians, including children, is abhorrent,” von der Leyen said, according to a European Commission readout of the call.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 52 people on Monday, including 31 in a school turned shelter that was struck as people slept, igniting their belongings, according to local health officials.
UN unsure on how much aid has been delivered inside Gaza by Israeli-backed logistics group
An update on the dire aid situation in Gaza. As a reminder, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli-backed logistics group, has said lorry loads of food have been delivered to secure sites in Gaza and that supplies had begun to be given to those in need.
However, the UN humanitarian agency Ocha, and Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, both told a press briefing in Geneva earlier today that they were unaware of whether any aid had actually been distributed.
“We don’t have any information,” said Unrwa spokesperson Juliette Touma.
“We know what’s needed, we know what’s missing, and we are very, very far from that daily target.
“The needs are 500-600 trucks at a minimum that should go into Gaza, loaded with supplies. Not only food but also medicine, medical supplies, vaccines for children, fuel, water and other basics for people’s survival.”
Before the devastating Israeli blockade on aid was imposed in early March, the UN brought lifesaving humanitarian supplies to people in multiple locations around the territory.
Now the blockade has been eased (to an extremely inadequate level) due to political pressure on the Netanyahu government, UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF amid concerns it violates “fundamental humanitarian principles” and breaches international law.
Former Israeli PM says Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has written a powerful opinion piece in Israeli newspaper Hareetz, saying Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza and carrying out the “indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing” of Palestinian civilians.
Olmert said that over the last year he had publicly rejected accusations of genocide and war crimes being levelled at Israel, arguing that although “excessive killing happened” the Israeli government did not “give orders to hit Gazan civilians indiscriminately”. But he said his view has changed over recent weeks. Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009, wrote in the Hareetz opinion piece:
What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians.
We’re not doing this due to loss of control in any specific sector, not due to some disproportionate outburst by some soldiers in some unit. Rather, it’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated. Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.
First, starving out Gaza. On this issue, the position of senior government figures is public and clear. Yes, we’ve been denying Gazans food, medicine and basic living needs as part of an explicit policy. Netanyahu, typically, is trying to blur the type of orders he’s been giving, in order to evade legal and criminal responsibility in due course.
But some of his lackeys are saying so outright, in public, even with pride: Yes, we will starve out Gaza. Because all Gazans are Hamas, there’s no moral or operational limitation on exterminating them all, over two million people.
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza exceeds 54,000, says health ministry
At least 54,056 Palestinian people have been killed and 123,129 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
At least 79 Palestinian people were killed and 163 others injured in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said (these statistics do not include hospitals in the North Gaza governorate due to the “difficulty of accessing them”, it added in a post on Telegram).
Sweden summons Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm over its ‘indefensible’ blocking of aid to Gaza
Miranda Bryant
Miranda Bryant is the Guardian’s Nordic correspondent
Sweden has summoned Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm over its “indefensible” blocking of aid to Gaza.
The Swedish ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday said in a statement: “What is unfolding before our eyes is the worst humanitarian situation since the start of the war in October 2023.”
Although it said that Israel had a “right to defend itself” and called for the Israeli hostages to be released by Hamas “unconditionally and immediately”, it added:
That right must be exercised in accordance with international law. The way the war is now being waged is unacceptable. Israel must live up to its obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said “Israel has an obligation to protect civilians”.
She added: “We were very clear with our demand that the Israeli government must allow immediate humanitarian access to alleviate the suffering and death in Gaza. It is a completely unacceptable situation.”
She described the current situation in Gaza as a “terrible development where people are literally starving”.
She was not in the meeting with the Israeli ambassador herself and would not comment on how the ambassador reacted.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), has been asked about the controversial new Israeli-backed logistics group – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – that has begun work in Gaza (see opening post for more details).
“We do not participate in this modality for the reasons given. It is a distraction from what is actually needed,” Laerke said.
The UN has said Israel is trying to use food as a weapon and that the new US-backed delivery system won’t be effective and contradicts humanitarian principles.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us from Gaza over the newswires:
Thousands of Israelis on Monday joined a state-funded march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where large groups chanted racist slogans including “Gaza is ours”, “death to the Arabs” and “may their villages burn”.
The annual march, paid for and promoted by the Jerusalem city government, celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the war of 1967. The Israeli takeover is not recognised internationally.
The Jerusalem municipality advertises the event, known as the flag march, as a “festive procession”, part of a broader programme of events celebrating the “liberation” of the city.
The march has been marred by racism and attacks on Palestinians for years, and is preceded by a campaign of violence in the Old City that in effect shuts down Palestinian majority areas, particularly in the Muslim Quarter.
You can read the full story by my colleagues Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum here:
300 major French writers demand sanctions against Israel and for the war to be called a genocide against Palestinians
French-speaking writers including Alice Zeniter, Leïla Slimani, JMG Le Clézio, Virginie Despentes and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr are among the 300 signatories to an open letter published in French newspaper Libération that calls for sanctions against Israel for its “genocide” in Gaza. The headline reads: “We can no longer be satisfied with the word ‘horror’; today we must name the ‘genocide’ in Gaza”.
The writers are also calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held in captivity by Hamas (believed to be 58). Here is an extract:
Since Israel broke a ceasefire that was supposed to lead to an end to the war and the release of the hostages, the attack on Gaza has resumed with redoubled brutality.
Now, repeated public statements from leading figures such as Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir openly express genocidal intentions.
The term “genocide” to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer a matter of debate for many international lawyers and human rights organizations: the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations Human Rights Council, UN rapporteurs, and many other specialists and historians…
Our collective responsibility is engaged. We, French-speaking writers have waited too long to speak with one voice. Some of us have already signed op-eds and petitions, written, voted, and demonstrated. Today, we speak out in the name of our profession—to speak out about our own.
Unrwa has been the major distributor of aid in Gaza and has provided education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region.
But an Israeli ban on the agency in Gaza and the occupied West Bank took effect earlier this year after Israel accused it of being infiltrated by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. Unrwa denies this claim.
Palestinian Unrwa personnel in Gaza continue to provide services and assistance to the civilian population and staff do the same in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has said that due to constant Israeli bombardment and the military’s ongoing assault on Gaza only 6 out of 22 of the agency’s health centres remain operational.
Unrwa said “essential medical supplies are critically low” despite Israel’s easing of its blockade and called for the “unhindered access to deliver lifesaving aid”.
In a post on X, the agency wrote:
Unrwa has delivered over 8.5 million medical consultations in Gaza since the war began in October 2023. These include maternal health, mental health, and rehabilitation services.
Due to the ongoing war and constant bombardment, only 6 out of 22 Unrwa health centres remain operational, supported by 37 medical points located both inside and outside shelters.
Israeli-backed logistics group says Gaza operations have begun despite fears scheme breaches international law
We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
An Israeli-backed logistics group tasked with supplying aid to Gaza said it had begun operations on Monday, delivering truckloads of food to designated distribution sites a day after its executive director resigned because the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.
The aid plan, which has been endorsed by Israel but rejected by the UN, unfolded amid uncertainty about whether any assistance had actually reached civilians.
Palestinians reported no sign of aid deliveries earlier on Monday, but the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) later said truckloads of food – it did not say how many – had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution had begun. It was not clear where the hubs were located or how those receiving supplies were chosen.
The GHF is taking over the handling of aid despite objections from the UN. The new aid plan has been described as unworkable, dangerous and potentially unlawful by aid agencies because it could lead to the forced mass transfer of populations.
Under the GHF plan, Palestinians, many of whom have been injured by Israeli airstrikes or exhausted from constantly moving in response to evacuation threats, would collect aid boxes weighing up to 20kg (44lbs) from four distribution points in southern Gaza.
The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said it would force further displacement and make “starvation a bargaining chip”.
On Sunday the GHF’s head, Jake Wood, resigned, saying it had become clear the foundation would not be allowed to operate independently.
The organisation could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon,” Wood said as he called for Israel to allow the entry of more aid. You can read more on this story here.
Israel imposed its total aid blockade in early March, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel in what has been widely condemned as the collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza.
Israel claimed the blockade was to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages, but in effect it left most of the 2.1 million Palestinians in the territory on the brink of starvation, with medicine and fuel supplies exhausted.
In some other developments:
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At least 81 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since early Monday, including 53 in Gaza City, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources.
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The Israeli military said this morning it had intercepted a missile and a projectile in separate launches from Yemen toward Israel. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have regularly launched attacks they say are in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza.
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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinian people is treating Gaza’s population “like pinballs”. “In Gaza, people continue to be treated like pinballs forced to flee in search of safety that doesn’t exist,” the agency said in a post on X. “With nearly 20 months of war, people are exhausted, disoriented, grieving, and constantly in fear.”
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