Latest news with #HumanitarianAid
The National
6 hours ago
- Business
- The National
UAE has hosted more than 17,600 Afghan evacuees since 2021
Almost four years since the Taliban took power following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, UAE authorities have provided details of how many Afghans it has hosted. The UAE has spent almost Dh1.35 billion ($367.6 million) hosting Afghan refugees before relocating them to other countries since 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. There have been 17,619 Afghans hosted in Emirates Humanitarian City in Abu Dhabi since there were widespread evacuations after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, two decades after they were toppled by the US and Nato. The assistance covered all the needs of Afghan citizens − including health care, logistical and diplomatic services, communications, shelter and food − ensuring comfort, a dignified life and well-being, said a statement from the ministry released on Thursday. EHC also provided services related to departure procedures, with 17 offices opened for the embassies of the countries to where Afghans were seeking relocation. School transport was also provided, along with on-site education and training courses. Almost 2,600 Afghans benefitted from training and professional development workshops, the ministry added. 'The UAE has spared no effort in assisting the Afghan people, being at the forefront of countries that have initiated support for Afghanistan,' said the ministry. 'This reflects its humanitarian mission, which is based on the values of giving, charitable work, spreading peace and consolidating coexistence, tolerance, and the principles of human fraternity. 'It also promotes solidarity with peoples during the most difficult circumstances and crises facing countries. 'The focus on caring for people and preserving their dignity has been a constant approach in the UAE's journey since its founding, regardless of ethnic, religious, or geographical backgrounds and in line with its noble humanitarian principles. It has become a global symbol of humanitarian giving and sustainable good.' A US news outlet reported earlier this month that the UAE was preparing to send a small number of evacuees back to Afghanistan in July.
Times
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Trump's envoy arrives in Italy for Gaza ceasefire talks
President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will seek to break an impasse over a Gaza ceasefire at talks in Italy after Hamas objected to terms proposed by Israel. Amid warnings of 'mass starvation' in the Palestinian territory, Witkoff will meet senior Israeli and Qatari officials to try to save plans for a 60-day truce, greater access for aid and the release of Israeli hostages. Witkoff's mission after two weeks of talks between lower level officials in Doha is to find a way through several sticking points, including Israel's refusal to accept Hamas's demand for a full withdrawal of Israeli military forces, The Times understands. Hamas responded on Wednesday to Israeli terms and also called for changes to proposed aid routes and a guaranteed timeline for a permanent end to the war. On Thursday morning a statement from the office of Binyamin Netanhayu, the Israeli prime minister, confirmed that Israel had received Hamas's response and was reviewing it in full. The plans are understood to involve handing over ten living and 18 deceased hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners, yet to be agreed, with a second phase for talks on a permanent ceasefire and release of the remaining 22 living hostages. 'We all have … a strong hope that we will come forward with another ceasefire, as well as a humanitarian corridor for aid to flow,' Tammy Bruce, of the US State Department, said. The push for a truce comes as the World Food Programme, a UN agency, called for 'an urgent ceasefire to avert a deeper humanitarian catastrophe'. The agency said on Tuesday that 1,054 Palestinians had been shot dead while queueing for aid in Gaza over the past two months. 'Violence against civilians seeking humanitarian aid is unacceptable,' the WFP added. 'Attacks near food distribution points are unacceptable.' In a statement on Wednesday, 111 aid organisations, including Médecins Sans Frontières, Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that 'mass starvation' was spreading across the Gaza Strip. 'Our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away,' the organisations said. 'As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families.' David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, told Times Radio that members of staff at his humanitarian agency in Gaza were deciding not to eat in order to feed their children. 'Our staff are Gazans. They're mothers and fathers who've got kids and they are deciding that they won't eat so that their kids can eat. That's the situation that we're facing,' said Miliband, who is president of the International Rescue Committee. Israeli officials said they had not identified a famine in Gaza and blamed UN bodies for not collecting and distributing food and supplies. Hundreds of trucks' worth of supplies were waiting to be collected by the UN from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, according to Cogat, an Israeli military agency. The UN said Israel's restrictions and permit rejections were the reason for the mounting stockpiles at the border points, as aid organisations were regularly barred from transferring aid to warehouses and distribution sites, or risked coming under fire from the Israeli army if they did not obtain permissions. The humanitarian organisations said warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods. 'Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions,' the signatories said. 'It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage,' they added. 'The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access.' Israel's foreign ministry accused the groups of 'echoing Hamas' propaganda'. It said it had allowed about 4,500 aid trucks to enter Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May, or about 70 a day on average, and that more than 700 were waiting to be picked up and distributed by the UN. The UN says 500 to 600 trucks a day are needed. Witkoff's decision to travel for talks with Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister of strategic affairs, and a senior Qatari envoy has raised hopes that a deal might be within reach, bolstered by Israel agreeing to ease demands on the IDF's presence in Gaza. But Israel accused Hamas of obstructing the talks with demands for guarantees on a lasting truce, a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and the free flow of aid into Gaza. • Binyamin Netanyahu a 'madman' to bomb Syria, US officials say David Mencer, a spokesman for the Israeli government, accused Hamas of obstructing talks. 'Israel has agreed to the Qatari proposal and the updated Witkoff proposal, it is Hamas that is refusing,' Mencer said, adding that Israel's negotiating team was still in Doha and talks were ongoing. Hamas called for protests and sit-in demonstrations to take place at Israeli and US embassies across the world this weekend 'until the siege is broken and famine ends in Gaza Strip'. More than 2 million people in Gaza face starvation from a 'deadly surge' in malnutrition and related diseases, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation, said. Acute malnutrition centres in Gaza are full of patients but lack adequate supplies, he said. Rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10 per cent and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, while more than 20 per cent are malnourished, often severely. 'The hunger crisis is being accelerated by the collapse of aid pipelines,' he said, adding that 95 per cent of households in Gaza face severe water shortages. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Occupied Palestinian Territories, said there were more than 30,000 children under five with acute malnutrition in Gaza so far this year and there had been 21 deaths. Many of the UN health agency's supplies were destroyed after its main warehouse was destroyed during attacks in Deir al-Balah on Sunday.
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Canada calls for immediate resumption of UN-led aid in Gaza
OTTAWA: The Canadian government said on Wednesday that Israeli military operations against civilians and aid workers in Gaza were unacceptable, and called for the immediate resumption of UN-led aid distribution in the war-torn enclave. 'Israeli military operations against WHO staff and facilities, World Food Programme aid convoys, & the ongoing killing of Palestinians seeking urgently needed food and water are unacceptable,' the Canadian foreign ministry said on X. 'Hunger in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels ... Canada calls for the immediate resumption at scale of UN-led aid,' the ministry added.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood
Sir Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on the Government over Israel as he called on ministers to 'immediately recognise Palestinian statehood'. The Mayor of London said that the UK 'must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing', as aid groups have warned of starvation in the Gaza Strip. It comes as the Archbishop of York labelled the situation in Gaza a 'a stain on the conscience of the international community'. More than 100 organisations including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children have put their names to an open letter in which they said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'. 'The government of Israel's restrictions, delays and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death,' the letter said. In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Labour mayor Sir Sadiq said pointed to 'starving children searching hopelessly for food in the rubble' and 'family members being shot dead by Israeli soldiers as they search for aid'. 'The international community – including our own Government – must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing and let vital life saving aid in,' he added. Sir Sadiq went on: 'The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine.' Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said that the mayor should 'should spend less time trying to play on the world stage' and 'focus on fixing his own mess in the capital'. Meanwhile the current most senior bishop in the Church of England has branded the infliction of 'violence, starvation and dehumanisation' on the people of Gaza by the Israeli government 'depraved and unconscionable'. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell welcomed the UK and other nations' recent condemnation of the Israeli and US-backed current aid delivery model, which has reportedly resulted in Israel Defence Forces troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions, but insisted there is 'no time to wait' for further action to be taken to 'stop this ongoing assault on Gaza'. He said: 'With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable. 'In the name of God, I cry out against this barbaric assault on human life and dignity. It is a stain on the conscience of the international community, and a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.' He repeated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and said he rejected 'any policy that would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population from Gaza'. World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that people in Gaza are facing 'yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation'. On Tuesday, Wes Streeting called for recognition of Palestine 'while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Speaking in the House of Commons, the Health Secretary described Israel's attacks on healthcare workers as going 'well beyond legitimate self-defence'. He told MPs he hopes 'that the international community can come together, as the Foreign Secretary has been driving towards, to make sure that we see an end to this war, but also the recognition of the state of Palestine while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has hinted that Israel could face further sanctions from the UK if it does not agree to a ceasefire. Asked by ITV's Good Morning Britain on Tuesday what more he planned to do if Israel did not agree to end the conflict, the Foreign Secretary replied: 'Well, we've announced a raft of sanctions over the last few months. 'There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behaviour and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end.' Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood
Sir Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on the Government over Israel as he called on ministers to 'immediately recognise Palestinian statehood'. The Mayor of London said that the UK 'must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing', as aid groups have warned of starvation in the Gaza Strip. It comes as the Archbishop of York labelled the situation in Gaza a 'a stain on the conscience of the international community'. More than 100 organisations including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children have put their names to an open letter in which they said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'. 'The government of Israel's restrictions, delays and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death,' the letter said. In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Labour mayor Sir Sadiq said pointed to 'starving children searching hopelessly for food in the rubble' and 'family members being shot dead by Israeli soldiers as they search for aid'. 'The international community – including our own Government – must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing and let vital life saving aid in,' he added. Sir Sadiq went on: 'The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine.' Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said that the mayor should 'should spend less time trying to play on the world stage' and 'focus on fixing his own mess in the capital'. Meanwhile the current most senior bishop in the Church of England has branded the infliction of 'violence, starvation and dehumanisation' on the people of Gaza by the Israeli government 'depraved and unconscionable'. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell welcomed the UK and other nations' recent condemnation of the Israeli and US-backed current aid delivery model, which has reportedly resulted in Israel Defence Forces troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions, but insisted there is 'no time to wait' for further action to be taken to 'stop this ongoing assault on Gaza'. He said: 'With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable. 'In the name of God, I cry out against this barbaric assault on human life and dignity. It is a stain on the conscience of the international community, and a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.' He repeated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and said he rejected 'any policy that would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population from Gaza'. On Tuesday, Wes Streeting called for recognition of Palestine 'while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Speaking in the House of Commons, the Health Secretary described Israel's attacks on healthcare workers as going 'well beyond legitimate self-defence'. He told MPs he hopes 'that the international community can come together, as the Foreign Secretary has been driving towards, to make sure that we see an end to this war, but also the recognition of the state of Palestine while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has hinted that Israel could face further sanctions from the UK if it does not agree to a ceasefire. The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine. — Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) July 23, 2025 Asked by ITV's Good Morning Britain on Tuesday what more he planned to do if Israel did not agree to end the conflict, the Foreign Secretary replied: 'Well, we've announced a raft of sanctions over the last few months. 'There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behaviour and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end.' Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
