Israel announces more aid for Gaza – West urges implementation
Published: Friday, Apr 5th 2024, 16:30
Retour au fil d'actualité
Following Israel's announcement that it would allow more aid into the Gaza Strip, the USA and other countries have called for the project to be implemented quickly.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday in Brussels that Israel must deliver results. The USA would check how many trucks would actually arrive permanently in the crisis region. It was also important that relief supplies were distributed throughout the coastal area, especially in the north. The EU Commission also expects the Israeli government's announcements to be quickly followed by action.
Following a clear warning from its ally the USA, Israel decided on Friday to take "immediate steps" to increase humanitarian aid for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. The war cabinet decided to temporarily open the port of Ashdod and the Erez border crossing for aid deliveries. This will make it easier for aid to reach northern Gaza, which is particularly affected by food shortages.
Aid coming from Jordan via the Kerem Shalom border crossing will also be increased. According to the White House, US President Joe Biden called on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone call on Thursday to take a series of "specific, concrete and measurable steps" to reduce the suffering of the people in Gaza and increase the protection of aid workers.
"The people in Gaza need every aid package, and we therefore expect the Israeli government to implement its announcements quickly," said a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. The measures are "important and right, but it is of course also overdue."
Deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said that it was assumed that at least the equivalent of 500 trucks would be required to ensure a minimum level of supplies and cover the minimum humanitarian needs. The UN also recently considered 500 trucks a day to be necessary.
Investigation into killed aid workers in Gaza - Army dismisses officers
Following the deadly attack by the Israeli army on employees of the aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) in the Gaza Strip, the military wants to remove two officers from their posts. Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has decided to dismiss a responsible commander and the chief of staff of the responsible brigade from their positions, the Israeli military announced. Further commanders have been warned.
An army investigation came to the conclusion that the incident on Monday evening was a "serious failure" on the part of the emergency services. They had attacked the aid convoy on the assumption that two armed Hamas members were in the vehicle. The attacks on the vehicles were carried out in "serious violation of the orders and standard operating procedures" of the army. "The results of the investigation indicate that the incident should not have happened."
Blinken emphasized that it is crucial that an independent, thorough and public investigation into the deaths of the aid workers is carried out. WCK itself described the dismissal of the officers from their positions as "important steps forward", but at the same time called for fundamental change. "Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies, and more grieving families," the Washington-based organization wrote.
Report: New attempt to negotiate Gaza agreement
According to a media report, the USA also wants to help the indirect negotiations on the release of hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip achieve a breakthrough. As the usually well-informed Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported on Friday morning in the news portal "Axios", citing two sources familiar with the matter, CIA Director Bill Burns is to travel to Cairo this weekend for talks with the head of Israel's foreign intelligence service Mossad, David Barnea, as well as senior representatives of Qatar and Egypt, in order to secure the release of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to the "Axios" report, Burns is to meet Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel in Cairo alongside Barnea. For weeks, the USA, Qatar and Egypt have been mediating between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in order to achieve a ceasefire and an exchange of hostages kidnapped from Israel for Palestinian prisoners. According to Israeli estimates, almost 100 abductees held by Hamas are probably still alive.
Reports: Many Israeli embassies around the world closed
According to media reports, 28 Israeli embassies around the world remained closed on Friday due to fears of an Iranian retaliatory strike. This was reported by the newspaper "Times of Israel" and the news website ynet. Following the suspected Israeli airstrike on an Iranian embassy building in Syria's capital Damascus on Monday, which left several people dead, Iran announced that it would retaliate.
Two brigadier generals and five other members of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed in the attack in Syria earlier this week. Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that Israel would be "punished". How and when Iran's state power will react is completely open. According to the Times of Israel, the reason for the embassy closures is also due to worldwide demonstrations as part of Al-Kuds Day. Kuds rallies always take place on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Iran's spiritual and political leadership calls for the conquest of Jerusalem.
UN Human Rights Council calls for an end to arms exports to Israel
At the end of its spring session in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted three resolutions on Israel and the Palestinian territories. Among other things, it called for an end to arms deliveries to Israel. This was necessary "to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses", the resolution stated.
Germany voted against the text. It does not mention the Islamist Hamas, denies Israel the right to self-defense and contains prejudices against Israel, argued German Ambassador Katharina Stasch. Resolutions of the 47-member Human Rights Council are requests. The body has no means of enforcing them.
The Human Rights Council also commissioned a report on violence by Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories. An existing commission of experts is to determine the identities of those settlers and settler groups who terrorize or intimidate the Palestinian civilian population, as requested in its second resolution. The report should be available in just over a year. It should also shed light on whether and how Israel is taking action against violations of the law. In a third resolution, the Palestinians' right to self-determination was emphasized.
©Keystone/SDA
French 
English 
German 
Spanish 
Arabic