UN says it is halting aid through main Gaza crossing because route is too dangerous-ZoomTech News

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The U.N. company for Palestinian refugees stated Sunday it’s halting assist deliveries by the principle cargo crossing into Gaza due to the specter of armed gangs who’ve looted latest convoys.

The choice might worsen the humanitarian disaster in Gaza because the chilly, wet winter units in, with a whole lot of hundreds of individuals dwelling in squalid tent camps and reliant on worldwide meals assist. Specialists had been already warning of famine within the territory’s north, which Israeli forces have virtually fully remoted since early October.

Philippe Lazzarini, the top of UNRWA, the principle assist supplier in Gaza, stated the route resulting in the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel is simply too harmful on the Gaza facet. Armed males looted practically 100 vans touring on the route in mid-November, and he stated gangs stole a smaller cargo on Saturday.

Israeli strikes kill at the least six individuals, together with kids

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at the least six individuals in a single day, together with two younger kids who died within the tent the place their household was sheltering, medical officers stated Sunday.

The strike within the Muwasi space, a sprawling tent camp housing a whole lot of hundreds of displaced individuals, additionally wounded the youngsters’s mom and their sibling, in accordance with the close by Nasser Hospital. An Related Press reporter on the hospital noticed the our bodies.

A separate strike within the southern metropolis of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, killed 4 males, in accordance with hospital information.

The Israeli navy stated it was not conscious of strikes in both location. Israel says it solely targets militants and tries to keep away from harming civilians, however its each day strikes throughout Gaza usually kill ladies and youngsters.

In a separate improvement, a projectile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen set off air raid sirens in central Israel. The Israeli navy stated it intercepted the projectile earlier than it entered Israeli territory.

Former protection minister accuses Israel of struggle crimes

A former high Israeli normal and protection minister has accused the federal government of ethnic cleaning in northern Gaza, the place Israeli forces have been waging the most recent in a collection of offensives towards Hamas since early October.

The military has sealed off the northern cities of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, and the Jabaliya refugee camp, and allowed virtually no humanitarian assist to enter. Tens of hundreds of individuals have fled, whereas the United Nations estimates as much as 75,000 stay and consultants have warned of famine.

Moshe Yaalon, who served as protection minister beneath Benjamin Netanyahu earlier than quitting in 2016 and rising as a fierce critic of the prime minister, stated the present far-right authorities is set to “occupy, to annex, to ethnically cleanse.”

Pressed by an interviewer with a neighborhood information outlet on Saturday, he stated: “There isn’t any Beit Lahiya. No Beit Hanoun. (They’re) working now in Jabaliya, and (they) are literally cleansing the territory of Arabs.”

Yaalon doubled down on the remarks Sunday in an interview with Israeli radio, saying “struggle crimes are being dedicated right here.”

Netanyahu’s Likud social gathering criticized his earlier remarks, accusing him of creating “false statements” which might be “a prize for the Worldwide Legal Court docket and the camp of Israel haters.”

The ICC has issued arrest warrants towards Netanyahu, one other former protection minister, Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas commander, accusing them of crimes towards humanity. The Worldwide Court docket of Justice is investigating allegations of genocide towards Israel.

Israel rejects the allegations and says each courts are biased towards it.

No finish in sight to Gaza struggle regardless of ceasefire with Hezbollah

The struggle in Gaza started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and taking round individuals 250 hostage. Some 100 captives are nonetheless being held inside Gaza, round two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, greater than half of them ladies and youngsters, in accordance with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say how most of the lifeless had been combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.

The struggle has destroyed huge areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the inhabitants of two.3 million, usually a number of instances. Lots of of hundreds have crammed into squalid tent camps, the place situations have worsened because the chilly, moist winter units in.

Israel reached a ceasefire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants final week that has largely held, however that settlement, brokered by the US and France, didn’t deal with the continued struggle in Gaza. Iran — which helps Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and armed teams in Syria and Iraq — has exchanged hearth with Israel twice this yr.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have spent a lot of the previous yr attempting to dealer a ceasefire in Gaza and the discharge of the remaining hostages, however these efforts stalled as Israel rejected Hamas’ demand for an entire withdrawal from the territory. The Biden administration has stated it’ll make one other push for a deal in its remaining weeks in workplace.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to finish the wars within the Center East, with out saying how. He was a staunch defender of Israel and its insurance policies towards the Palestinians throughout his earlier time period.