AP – Israel said 15 trucks carrying aid have been allowed into northern Gaza, where aid groups have warned that a monthlong Israeli offensive could cause a famine.
The trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday with aid from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said the military body handling aid deliveries into the territory, COGAT. It said the aid consisted of food and water as well as hygiene, shelter and medical supplies.
United Nations (UN) agencies did not immediately confirm the delivery of the aid.
Israeli forces have encircled the Gaza Strip’s northern most areas for the past month, saying Hamas group have regrouped there.
Experts said the Israeli military campaign has caused a new wave of displaced civilians and warn that famine is imminent or may already be happening there.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released yesterday that Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, including massive forced displacements that amount to ethnic cleansing.
It said people have been killed while evacuating under Israeli orders and in Israeli-designated humanitarian zones, where hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps.
Israel has also been striking deeper inside Lebanon since September as it escalates the war against Hezbollah.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, more than half of them women and children, Palestinian health officials said.
The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
SYRIAN STATE MEDIA REPORT EXPLOSIONS NEAR DAMASCUS AND HOMS
Syrian state media are reporting explosions near the capital, Damascus, and the central city of Homs in what appeared to be Israeli airstrikes.
State news agency SANA said the country’s air defenses were activated against a “hostile target” south of Homs yesterday. It gave no further details.
The agency later reported an explosion near Damascus, adding that the cause of the blasts was not immediately clear.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria targeting members of Hezbollah and other officials.
ISRAEL SAYS IT HAS ALLOWED 15 TRUCKS CARRYING AID INTO NORTHERN GAZA
Israel said 15 trucks loaded with aid have been allowed into northern Gaza, where aid groups have warned that a monthlong offensive could cause a famine.
The military body handling aid deliveries into the territory, COGAT, said the 15 trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday with aid shipped in by sea by the UAE.
It said the aid consists of food and water, as well as hygiene, shelter and medical supplies.
Over the past week, the UN said aid trucks have entered the north but have not reached their final destinations due to Israeli movement restrictions and hungry crowds taking items from the trucks.
Israel has scrambled to ramp up aid to Gaza after a monthlong stretch during which aid plunged to its lowest levels this year.
The United States (US) Biden administration warned Israel to increase the aid last month, saying a failure to do so could lead to a reduction in military support.
The White House backed down this week, citing some improvements and ruling out any reduction in arms supplies, even after international aid groups said Israel had fallen far short of the American demands.
HRW ACCUSES ISRAEL OF WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN THE GAZA STRIP
HRW said Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, including massive forced displacements that amount to ethnic cleansing.
A report released by the New York-based rights group yesterday said Israeli evacuation orders have often caused “grave harm” to civilians. People have been killed while evacuating and in Israeli-designated humanitarian zones, where hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps.
“The Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe when it kills them along escape routes, bombs so-called safe zones, and cuts off food, water, and sanitation,” said refugee and migrant rights researcher Nadia Hardman from HRW. The report said the widespread, deliberate demolition of homes and civilian infrastructure in Gaza – some of them to carve a new road bisecting the territory and establish a buffer zone along Israel’s border – was likely to “permanently displace” many Palestinians.
“Such actions of the Israeli authorities amount to ethnic cleansing,” HRW said.
HRW called on governments to stop supplying weapons to Israel and to comply with a July opinion by the International Court of Justice saying Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.
The group said its researchers interviewed 39 displaced Palestinians in Gaza, reviewed evacuation orders Israel has released throughout the war and analysed satellite imagery and video of attacks along evacuation routes and in “safe zones”.
