At least 20 Palestinians killed in food site crowd crush
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in a crowd crush at a food distribution site in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza. Tel Aviv correspondent Blake Sifton spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.
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RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
US envoy Witkoff visits the Gaza aid operation that the UN calls unsafe
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Charlotte Greenfield , Reuters Palestinians transport a man, wounded as he waited for humanitarian aid at a GHF aid distribution point. Photo: EYAD BABA / AFP President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy became the first high-profile US official to visit Gaza since the war began, touring a US-backed aid operation overnight that the United Nations says is partly to blame for deadly conditions in the enclave. Steve Witkoff visited a site run by the US and Israel--backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah in what he said was an effort to create a new aid plan for the war-shattered Palestinian territory, where Israel has been fighting the militant group Hamas. Humanitarian organisations and many foreign governments have been strongly critical of the GHF, which began operations in late May. A global hunger monitor warned this week that famine is unfolding in Gaza. Hours after Witkoff's visit, Palestinian medics reported Israeli forces had shot dead three Palestinians near one of the group's sites in the city on Gaza's southern edge. Reuters could not immediately verify whether it was the same location. The Israeli military said it was still looking into the incident in which soldiers had fired warning shots at what it described as a "gathering of suspects" approaching its troops, hundreds of metres from the aid site. The United Nations says more than 1000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in Gaza since the GHF began operating there, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. The Israeli military has acknowledged that its forces have killed some Palestinians seeking aid and says it has given its troops new orders to improve their response. The UN has declined to work with the GHF, which it says distributes aid in ways that are inherently dangerous and violate humanitarian neutrality principles, contributing to the hunger crisis across the territory. The GHF says nobody has been killed at its distribution points, and that it is doing a better job of protecting aid deliveries than the U.N. Israel blames Hamas and the UN for the failure of food to get to desperate Palestinians in Gaza and introduced the GHF distribution system saying it would prevent aid supplies being seized by Hamas. Hamas denies stealing aid. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who traveled with Witkoff to Gaza on Friday, posted on X a picture showing hungry Gazans behind razor wire with a GHF poster with a big American flag that read "100,000,000 meals delivered". "President Trump understands the stakes in Gaza and that feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority," GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay said in a statement, accompanied by images of Witkoff in a grey camouflage top, flak jacket and "Make America Great Again" baseball cap with Trump's name stitched on the back. "We were honoured to brief his delegation, share our operations, and demonstrate the impact of delivering 100 million meals to those who need them most," Fay said. Witkoff said on X that he had also met with other agencies. "The purpose of the visit was to give @POTUS (Trump) a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza," Witkoff said. He visited Gaza a day after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel is under mounting international pressure over the devastation of Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023 and growing starvation among its 2.2 million inhabitants. Gaza medics say dozens have died of malnutrition in recent days as hunger sets in, after Israel cut off all supplies to the enclave for nearly three months from March-May. Israel says it is taking steps to let in more aid, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. The worsening humanitarian crisis has prompted France, Britain and Canada to announce plans to potentially recognise a Palestinian state, a move already taken by most countries but not by major Western powers. The Israeli military's statistics show that an average of around 140 aid trucks have entered Gaza daily during the course of the war, about a quarter of what international humanitarian agencies say is required. On Friday, the Israeli military said that 200 trucks of aid were distributed by the UN and other organizations on Thursday, with hundreds more waiting to be picked up from the border crossings inside Gaza. The United Nations says it has thousands of trucks still waiting, if Israel would let them in without the stringent security measures that aid groups say have prevented the entry of much-needed humanitarian assistance throughout the war. Israel has begun allowing food air drops this week, but UN agencies say these are a poor alternative to letting in more trucks. On Friday, the Israeli military said that 126 food packages were airdropped by six countries, including for the first time France, Spain, and Germany. "If there is political will to allow airdrops - which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings," UN Palestinian aid agency chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X. In addition to the three shot near a GHF site, medics said at least 12 other Palestinians were killed in air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. The Gaza war, which began after Hamas killed more than 1200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, most of them in Israeli airstrikes. Ceasefire talks in Qatar ended last week in deadlock. - Reuters
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
What would New Zealand recognising Palestinian statehood mean?
What exactly is recognising Palestine statehood? Here are the details. "The world needs to focus" on aid for Gaza, Christopher Luxon has said. Photo / RNZ What is New Zealand's stance on Palestine statehood? After Britain's announcement this week that it would recognise Palestine by September unless Israel met certain conditions, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand wouldn't be following its lead 'at this stage'. 'Not at this point,' Luxon told reporters on Wednesday. 'Obviously, I will be talking with [British PM] Sir Keir Starmer around his position, which is a conditional statehood.' In response to questions from RNZ, Luxon said New Zealand had long supported the eventual recognition of Palestinian statehood, but that the immediate focus should be on getting aid into Gaza rather than 'fragmenting and talking about all sorts of other things that are distractions'. 'We need to put the pressure on Israel to get humanitarian assistance unfettered, at scale, at volume, into Gaza,' he said. 'You can talk about a whole bunch of other things, but for right now, the world needs to focus.' In Parliament on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said he stood by a statement that 'it is a matter of when, not if, New Zealand will recognise Palestine statehood'. 'Yes, we steadfastly support the establishment of a Palestinian State and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. We have done so for decades.' However, when asked if now was the time to recognise Palestine, Peters said, 'We do need to see progress on some of the fundamental issues relating to a Palestinian state's legitimacy and viability, including representative governance, commitments to non-violence, regional support and security guarantees for Israel. 'If we recognise the state of Palestine, New Zealand wants to know that what we are recognising is a legitimate, representative, viable political entity.' University of Otago professor of politics and international relations Robert Patman said that while the Luxon-led Government did support the two-state solution, 'it seems reluctant to show leadership'. The Government has said New Zealand has limited influence over a conflict on the other side of the world. 'This claim does not sit comfortably with New Zealand Government's purported support for an international rules-based order,' Patman said. 'Distance from a conflict clearly should not determine whether flagrant violations of international law such as in Gaza are tolerated or condemned.' Former Prime Minister Helen Clark also told RNZ's Midday Report on Thursday that New Zealand was 'lagging behind' by not recognising statehood. 'If New Zealand can't act in these circumstances, when can it act?' Dozens of protests over the war in Gaza and Palestine's future have been held in New Zealand. Photo / RNZ Who else is recognising Palestine? There's been a groundswell of recent announcements from Britain, France and Canada this week announcing proposals to recognise Palestine timed around the UN General Assembly next month. In 2024, a group of UN experts called on all United Nations member states to recognise the state of Palestine, in order to bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza amid the Israel-Gaza war. Australia is believed to be about to join that group, with the ABC writing that 'Australia will recognise a Palestinian state, it is only a matter of when and how'. 'My entire political life, I've said I support two states, the right of Israel to exist within secure borders and the right of Palestinians to have their legitimate aspirations for their own state realised,' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. 'That's my objective.' Dozens of other countries already recognise Palestine. Some of these recent announcements come with caveats, such as ensuring free and open elections and the disarmament of Hamas. Britain's Starmer said it would recognise Palestine in September 'unless the Israeli Government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza' and other conditions. The UN also held an international conference on the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution in New York from July 28 to 29. Why isn't Palestine recognised as a nation? Palestine exists in a peculiar quasi-state limbo. There are no internationally agreed-upon borders, no globally recognised capital or army. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people dates back centuries. British troops took control of the country from the Ottoman Empire after World War I and ruled it until 1948. The UN proposed partitioning Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, but the plan was rejected. Jewish leaders in Palestine declared an independent state known as Israel when British rule ended. That declaration sparked war with Arab nation neighbours and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees. After the 1967 'Six-Day War', Israel captured much of the Palestinian territories from other Middle Eastern nations. Israel continues to occupy those territories. In 1988, the state of Palestine was officially declared by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, claiming the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The state of Palestine has been a non-member observer state of the United Nations since 2012. The two-state solution that has been proposed for years would see an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, existing alongside Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Government rejects the two-state solution. What does recognising really mean? It's more of a symbolic step than anything, but it acknowledges Palestinian self-determination and allows the establishment of full diplomatic relations. 'The big difference with recognising a Palestinian state (as opposed to expressing a willingness to do so sometime in the future) is that it would significantly reduce the scope for diplomatic ambiguity or sitting on the fence,' Patman said. Juliette McIntyre, senior lecturer in law at the University of South Australia, told the ABC recently that a state has certain defining features under international law. These features include a permanent population, a determinate territory, an 'effective' Government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. 'In some ways, the most important thing is recognition by other states – this enables entering into diplomatic relations, and membership of international organisations,' McIntyre said. The recent announcements by Britain, Canada and others come as coverage of death and famine in Gaza has escalated dramatically. 'Recognising a Palestinian state also conveys an urgent acknowledgment that the current situations in Gaza and the West Bank have been characterised by acts that constitute war crimes and represent an unacceptable failure by the occupying power, Israel, to live up to its legal responsibilities toward the Palestinian population it has under its control,' Patman said. So would it officially become a country? Well, under United Nations rules, it could be. To become a member of the United Nations, Palestine would submit an application to the Secretary-General and accept member obligations. The UN Security Council would vote on the admission, but none of the five permanent members – China, France, Britain, Russia and the United States – can vote against it. If the Security Council recommends admission, it then goes on to the full General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority vote is necessary. South Sudan is the most recent country to join as a member, in 2011. The United States has previously vetoed attempts to grant Palestine membership. What is the US view on Palestine statehood? The US has had long-standing support for a two-state solution, but hasn't gone so far as to support Palestinian statehood. It does recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the representative entity of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian National Authority as the Government of the territories. US President Donald Trump has frequently supported Israel and expressed reservations about recognising Palestine, telling reporters that Starmer's plan would 'reward Hamas'. 'You're rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don't think they should be rewarded.' Trump also threatened a trade deal with Canada over its overtures on Palestine. In a statement this week, the US Department of State called the UN's recent two-state conference a 'publicity stunt' and 'a slap in the face to the victims of October 7', and said France's announcement was 'welcomed by Hamas'. The US could again veto a motion on Palestinian statehood if it comes before the Security Council. Patman said that in his view, 'the National-led Government may be nervous about offending the Trump administration and by taking incremental steps toward recognition may be seeking to minimise that possibility, especially if it believes Trump may be reconsidering his hitherto staunch support for Netanyahu's stance toward Gaza (and West Bank)'. What else has New Zealand done? New Zealand has just signed a joint statement with 14 other countries expressing a willingness to recognise the state of Palestine as a necessary step towards a two-state solution. New Zealand also recently joined 24 countries in calling for an end to the war in Gaza, and criticising what they called the inhumane killing of Palestinians. New Zealand had announced $37.5 million in humanitarian aid for the conflict, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said. It also recently banned some Israeli politicians from travelling to New Zealand. Will these declarations actually make a difference? Realistically, Palestine's statehood and recognition by the UN won't happen overnight. But the declarations are also being seen as an attempt to revive peace talks and end the violence. 'The window for peace through the two-state solution appeared to be locked shut after the collapse of the peace process that started with real hope in the 1990s,' noted the BBC's international editor, Jeremy Bowen. 'Britain's decision to recognise Palestine is a diplomatic crowbar to try to reopen it.' New Zealand is a small player on the global scene, but this week's escalation of major global powers chiming in could make Israel more isolated on the issue. 'After making such declarations, it will be more difficult for the likes of Britain, Germany and Australia to continue to provide military and intelligence assistance to a Netanyahu Government that is using such military force to deny the possibility of a Palestinian state and the outcome of a two-state solution,' Patman said.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Islamic Jihad publishes video of Israeli hostage in Gaza
By AFP Protesters stand with portraits of Israeli hostages Rom Braslavski, Romi Gonen and others during a demonstration by the families of the hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants during the October 7, 2023 attacks. Photo: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has published a video of an Israeli-German hostage who was abducted and taken to Gaza in October 2023 during the attack that sparked the war in the territory. In the six-minute video, the man, Rom Braslavski, speaking in Hebrew, is seen watching recent news footage of the hunger crisis in Gaza. He identifies himself and pleads with the Israeli government to secure his release. AFP was not immediately able to confirm the authenticity of the video nor the date it was filmed, but an organisation representing hostages' families identified the man as Braslavski, 21, a German-Israeli dual national. Islamic Jihad, which said last week it had lost contact with the hostage, repeated that claim in commentary at the beginning of the latest video, suggesting the images were filmed more than a week ago. A previous video of Braslavski was released on April 16. Originally from Jerusalem, Braslavski was a security agent at the Nova music festival, one of the sites attacked in October 2023 by Hamas and other Palestinian fighters, including members of Islamic Jihad. The footage, distributed by a movement considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, shows the young man watching an Arabic-language television channel broadcasting a report on hunger in Gaza. "They managed to break Rom. Even the strongest person has a breaking point," his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. "Rom is an example of all the hostages. They must all be brought home now." Before his abduction, Braslavski rescued several festival-goers, according to witnesses who managed to escape. Of the 251 people taken from Israel that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, 27 of whom are dead, according to the Israeli army. Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since the kidnappings, but a truce from January 19 to March 17 allowed the return of 33 hostages to Israel, eight of them dead, in exchange for the release of approximately 1,800 Palestinians from Israeli jails. Others were released under a previous truce in 2023. - AFP
