Ambassador Bukhari meets UN's Plasschaert
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L'Orient-Le Jour
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In a new geopolitical context, Baha' Hariri bets (again) on a comeback
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L'Orient-Le Jour
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Germany says 'very insufficient' aid entering Gaza
The amount of aid entering Gaza remains "very insufficient" despite a limited improvement, the German government said on Saturday after ministers discussed ways to heighten pressure on Israel. The criticism came after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the region on Thursday and Friday, and the German military staged its first food airdrops into Gaza, where aid agencies say that more than two million Palestinians are facing starvation. Germany "notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation," government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said in a statement. "Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid," Kornelius added. Facing mounting international criticism over its military operations in Gaza, Israel has allowed more trucks to cross the border and some foreign nations to carry out airdrops of food and medicines. International agencies say the amount of aid entering Gaza is still dangerously low, however. The United Nations has said that 6,000 trucks are awaiting permission from Israel to enter the occupied Palestinian territory. The German government, traditionally a strong supporter of Israel, also expressed "concern regarding reports that large quantities of humanitarian aid are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organisations." Israel has alleged that much of the aid arriving in the territory is being siphoned off by Hamas, which runs Gaza. The Israeli army is accused of having equipped Palestinian criminal networks in its fight against Hamas and of allowing them to plunder aid deliveries. "The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces," Jonathan Whittall of OCHA, the United Nations agency for coordinating humanitarian affairs, told reporters in May. A German government source told AFP it had noted that Israel has "considerably" increased the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza to about 220 a day. Berlin has taken a tougher line against Israel's actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in recent weeks. The source said that a German security cabinet meeting on Saturday discussed "the different options" for putting pressure on Israel, but no decision was taken. A partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel is one option that has been raised. Hamas militants launched an attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel's war on Gaza since then has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The U.N. considers the Ministry's figures reliable.
L'Orient-Le Jour
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Without hostage release, war 'will continue without respite'
If Israeli hostages are not released in the Gaza Strip, "the fight will continue without respite," warned Israeli army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir during a visit to his troops in the Palestinian territory. "I believe that in the coming days, we will know if we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages. Otherwise, the fight will continue without respite," said Lieutenant General Zamir, in an army statement sent Saturday to AFP. The chief of staff "made a field visit and an assessment of the situation" Friday in the Gaza Strip, accompanied by several high-ranking officers, according to the statement. "The war continues, and we will adapt it to the changing reality according to our interests," he added, judging that "the successes achieved give us operational flexibility." The war was triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mainly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data. Of the 251 people abducted that day, 49 remain hostages in Gaza, of whom 27 have been declared dead by the army. Israel's war on Gaza killed at least 60,332 people in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to data from Gaza's Health Ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable. An additional 898 Israeli soldiers have also been killed since then, according to the army's official toll. After nearly 22 months of relentless war against Hamas, the Gaza Strip, under Israeli blockade, is now threatened by "widespread famine," according to the United Nations, and is totally dependent on humanitarian aid delivered by trucks or air-dropped. "The current campaign of false accusations regarding intentional famine is a deliberate, planned and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF, a moral army, of war crimes," the chief of staff stated. "The ones responsible for the killings and the suffering of people in the Gaza Strip are Hamas," he claimed. This visit to Gaza comes as the Israeli army has, for several days, been redeploying its troops in the Palestinian territory. During the week, the army announced the withdrawal from northern Gaza of its 98th Division, made up of elite units, which "is now preparing for new missions."
