BANNING Of Palestine Action In UK Should TERRIFY You
Alarm as Trump Reportedly Plans to Send Tens of Millions to Israel-Backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“People have been killed almost daily while trying to get food,” said one top U.N. official.
The anti-poverty group Oxfam America has issued a forceful response to reporting that the Trump administration plans to give tens of millions dollars to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed aid organization which uses private U.S. military firms and whose rollout the United Nations and international aid groups have strongly objected to.
Reuters was first to report on Tuesday that the Trump administration plans to give $30 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). A document reviewed by the outlet shows that the amount was authorized last week under a “priority directive” from the White House and the U.S. Department of State. Per Reuters, $7 million has already been dispersed. Sources told the outlet that the administration may approve separate monthly grants for the entity.
Oxfam America president and CEO Abby Maxman said in a statement on Tuesday that the Trump administration is poised to shell out for an aid organization “formed to distribute food parcels without any grounding in the reality of the crisis in Gaza.”
Maxman accused GHF of delivering only a fraction of the number of meals that the population needs and alleged the group is distributing food that families can’t prepare without fuel and clean water. She also said the organization has pushed aid further out of reach for the vulnerable populations who can’t walk long distances to its distribution sites.
“We urge the Trump administration and Congress to instead put its full support behind funding and ensuring safe access for established humanitarian organizations to do the work that is proven to save lives,” added Maxman.
She also highlighted that the distribution sites have been marred by violence.
The U.N.’s human rights office said on Tuesday that at least 410 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces “while trying to fetch from controversial new aid hubs in Gaza—a likely war crime,” according to a U.N. News article posted that same day.
Jonathan Whittall, the head of U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told journalists on Monday that since Israel’s total blockade was partially lifted in late May, “people have been killed almost daily while trying to get food.”
In a statement shared with CBS on Tuesday, GHF pushed back on what it called “false allegations of attacks near aid distributions sites.” The group also said that the “Hamas-affiliated Gaza Health Ministry is not a credible source of information, as it fails to report any U.N. convoys or distribution sites that are linked to violent incidents,” according to CBS, whose story focused on comments from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East commissioner general decrying GHF.
In that same story, CBSreported that the Gaza Ministry of Health said 79 people had been killed in Gaza over the last day. Fifty-one of those people had died near GHF sites, per CBS, citing the Gaza Ministry of Health.
And on Monday, over a dozen human rights organizations sent a letter to GHF calling for an end to the “privatized, militarized” GHF aid model and urging any parties involved with GHF and the international community in general to press for aid to be distributed through established international relief operations.
“Individuals and corporate entities involved in the planning, financing, or execution of the GHF scheme may incur criminal liability—including under universal jurisdiction statutes—for aiding and abetting war crimes such as the forcible displacement of civilians, starvation as a method of warfare, and denial of humanitarian access,” the letter warned.
The groups behind the letter include the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Applied Legal Studies, and others.
Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
UN warns against return to ‘dark ages’ as children suffer record violations in Gaza
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The UN’s top official for children and armed conflict issued a stark warning on Wednesday to the Security Council, urging immediate action to protect children amid surging violence in conflict zones, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Virginia Gamba, the UN envoy for Children and Armed Conflict told the Council; “The year 2024 witnessed an unprecedented escalation of violence against children, as well as a devastating record of attacks on humanitarian personnel and United Nations staff on the ground.”
“All too often, children continue to bear the brunt of relentless hostilities, indiscriminate attacks, blunt disregard for ceasefires, peace efforts, and shocking disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law,” she said. “All of these, in a context of deepening humanitarian crises at unprecedented levels.”
Gamba said the denial of humanitarian access has become “one of the gravest obstacles to protecting children in conflict zones,” citing attacks on aid convoys, detention of aid workers and bureaucratic barriers to essential services like food, healthcare and education.
“We cannot continue to stand by and watch with no action what is happening to the children globally, and especially in Gaza,” she said. “The scale of destruction and suffering borne by the children of Gaza defies and contravenes every human standard.”
READ: UN warns of devastating civilian toll amid Gaza aid crisis
“There is no justification for depriving children of access to the means for their survival, including access to food, health care and security,” she added.
Gamba said she has called on Israel “to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to civilians in need in the Gaza Strip,” and urged “all parties to the conflict in Gaza to expedite the distribution of aid because international humanitarian law applies to every party, in every conflict, and it must be respected.”
Noting that almost half of all grave violations in 2024 were committed by non-state armed groups, including “killing and maiming, abduction, recruitment and use, and sexual violence,” she emphasized that “this is unacceptable.”
“The deliberate targeting and military use of schools, hospitals, and essential water and sanitation infrastructure must end,” she said, urging states to uphold international legal commitments to protect children.
“Let us renew the global consensus on child protection and uphold every child’s fundamental right to life, health, education, and a safe future,” Gamba said.
“We cannot afford to return to the dark ages, where children were invisible and voiceless victims of armed conflict,” she warned. “Please do not allow them to slip back into the shadows of despair.”
Echoing Gamba’s concerns, UNICEF Director of Child Protection Sheema Sen Gupta told the Security Council: “Each violation against children in every country around the globe represents a moral failure. And each leaves scars that may never fully heal.”
“In Israel and the state of Palestine last year, over 8,000 grave violations have been verified,” she said. “In Gaza, children bear the brunt of this suffering. Nowhere else in the world has such a high number of grave violations been recorded since this Council established the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism 20 years ago.”
“Children are not collateral damage. They are not soldiers. They are not bargaining chips. They are children. They deserve to be safe. They deserve justice. They deserve a future,” she said. “This just cannot be the new normal.”
READ: Hamas urges international, Arab countries to stop Israel’s daily massacres of starving Gazans
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More than 200 illegal Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection
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More than 200 illegal Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli police, authorities said Wednesday, Anadolu reports.
Anonymous sources from the Islamic Endowment Department said 217 illegal Israeli settlers raided the holy site.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a local rights group, said 124 settlers stormed the mosque in the morning, and 93 broke into the site later in the day.
The settlers performed Talmudic rituals within the courtyards under the protection of Israeli forces, the Wafa news agency in Palestine reported.
READ: Palestinian child killed by Israeli army during West Bank raid
The settler raid came after the reopening of the mosque following 12 days of it being closed due to a state of emergency that Israel implemented during its attacks on Iran.
Israel began allowing Israeli settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa compound in 2003, despite objections from the Islamic Endowment Department.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
READ: Israel bans entry into Al-Aqsa Mosque “again” until further notice
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UN warns of devastating civilian toll amid Gaza aid crisis
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UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric warned Wednesday that ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip are having a devastating toll on civilians, Anadolu reports.
“Our colleagues at the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that Israeli operations, including shelling and bombing across the Strip, continue to have a devastating impact on civilians, reportedly killing and injuring scores of people, many of whom were just seeking aid,” Dujarric told reporters.
He said Israeli authorities continue to restrict the delivery of fuel into and throughout the enclave, “effectively choking off” life-saving services for deprived and starving people.
The UN and its partners on Tuesday attempted to coordinate 15 humanitarian movements inside Gaza, but only four were fully facilitated by the Israeli authorities, he said.
READ: Gaza death toll reaches 84,000 far higher than official counts, new study finds
“Seven other attempts were denied outright, preventing teams from trucking water, retrieving broken trucks or repairing roads. Another four missions were initially approved but then impeded on the ground – although one was ultimately accomplished today. Another mission had to be cancelled by the organizers,” the spokesman added.
The UN has been “extremely vocal, extremely transparent, extremely animated” about the suffering of the people of Gaza, Dujarric stressed.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 56,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
READ: France condemns Israeli strikes on civilians at Gaza aid distribution center
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