CAIRO (AP) – The United Nations says it has suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, citing shortages and deteriorating security. He also said that over the past two days, no aid trucks had entered via the floating pier set up by the United States for maritime transport.
The United Nations has not said how many people remain in Rafah after Israeli forces stepped up attacks on the city on May 6, but it is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Program, warned that “humanitarian operations in Gaza are nearing collapse.” If food and other supplies do not resume flowing into Gaza in large numbers, “a famine-like situation will prevail,” she said.
The warning comes as Israel seeks to contain the fallout from a request from the world’s top war crimes tribunal’s chief prosecutor. Arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leadersThe move is supported by three European countries, including key ally France. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant They and other Israeli officials angrily deny the charge of “using famine as a means of war.” Prosecutors have charged three Hamas leaders with war crimes for killing civilians in an October 7 attack.
The humanitarian crisis has worsened in the two weeks since Israel announced its eradication of Hamas fighters and launched an invasion of Rafah on May 6. Troops seized the Rafah border to Egypt, which has since been closed. According to the United Nations, as of May 10, only about 30 trucks had arrived in Gaza from Israel via the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, a number that has seen aid workers reach Gaza due to the fighting. This is because it has become difficult to do so.
UNRWA, the main agency for Palestinian refugees, announced the suspension of distribution in Rafah in a post on X, but gave no details beyond mentioning the shortage.
Etefa said WFP had also stopped distribution in Rafah as it had run out of stock. In central Gaza, she continues to distribute hot meals and “limited distribution” of reduced food parcels in central Gaza, but “the stock of food parcels will run out within a few days,” she said. said.
Etefa said 10 trucks drove through a U.S.-built pier on Friday and were transported to its warehouse in central Gaza. But Saturday’s delivery of 11 trucks was stopped by a crowd of Palestinians trying to pick up the supplies, and only five arrived at the warehouse. There were no further deliveries from the pier on Sunday or Monday, she said.
The United Nations has said the region is on the brink of famine, with around 1.1 million people, nearly half of Gaza’s population, facing catastrophic levels of hunger.
By early May, some 1.3 million people had flocked to Rafah fleeing Israeli attacks elsewhere in the territory. At least 810,000 of them have fled since Israel began its advance on the city. They are scattered across southern Gaza, setting up vast tent camps and crowding into a United Nations school already badly damaged in previous Israeli attacks.
Although no one faces imminent arrest in the ICC’s move, the announcement deepened Israel’s global isolation as it faces growing criticism even from its closest allies over the Gaza war.
Belgium, Slovenia and France each announced on Monday that they supported ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision. Their support reveals a divide in the West’s approach to Israel.
In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz headed to France on Tuesday, and his talks there will discuss how countries will use the warrants (if they are ultimately issued) and The warrant could set the tone for whether the warrant could pose a threat to Israeli leaders.
Israel still enjoys support not only from its largest ally, the United States, but also from other Western countries that have expressed opposition to the decision. But if a warrant is issued, it could complicate foreign travel for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, even if Israel itself is not at immediate risk of prosecution. not a member of the court.
Prosecutors also requested warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohamed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh. Hamas is already considered an international terrorist group by Western countries. Both Mr. Shinwar and Mr. Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza. However, the Islamic extremist group’s top leader, Haniyeh, is based in Qatar and travels frequently to the region. Qatar, like Israel, is not a member of the ICC.
As Israeli leaders come to terms with the prosecutor’s decision, violence continues in the region, with Israeli military attacks in the occupied West Bank killing at least seven Palestinians, including a local doctor, Palestinian health officials said.
France said in a statement about the warrant request Monday night that it “supports the International Criminal Court and its independence and the fight against impunity in all circumstances.”
“For months, France has warned about its obligations to strictly observe international humanitarian law, in particular the unacceptable nature of civilian losses and the inadequacy of humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip,” the statement said, as France, which has a large Jewish community and close trade and diplomatic ties with Israel.
The war between On October 7, Hamas-led armed groups It invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages. Khan accused Hamas leaders of crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder and sexual violence.
Israel responded with attacks that killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not count non-combatants and combatants separately. The war triggered a humanitarian crisis, displacing much of the coastal enclave’s population and forcing some into starvation, but Khan said Israel used it as an “instrument of war.”
“Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators,” Belgian Foreign Minister Hajah Rabib said in a post on social media platform X on Monday.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders denounced the prosecutor’s move as disgraceful and anti-Semitic. US President Joe Biden also condemned the prosecutors and supported Israel’s right to protect it from Hamas. Britain called the move “useless” and said the ICC had no jurisdiction over the case, while Israel’s ally the Czech Republic called Khan’s decision “astonishing and completely unacceptable.” did.
a A panel of three judges will decide Whether to proceed with the case by issuing an arrest warrant. It typically takes a judge two months to make such a decision.
Experts warned that any warrant could complicate relations between Israel and even its allies, who have condemned the move.
Yuval Kaplinski, a former senior official at Israel’s Ministry of Justice, said that while parties to the tribunal are obligated to arrest either Prime Minister Netanyahu or Gallant if they visit, some countries have legal loopholes that allow them to avoid doing so. He said there is a possibility that it will be found.
“They would rather Prime Minister Netanyahu not visit than visit London and have the world watch him avoid extradition,” Kaplinsky said.
Violence has also increased since the war began. Explosion in occupied West Bank.
At least seven Palestinians were killed in Israeli military raids on the Jenin refugee camp and the neighbouring city of Jenin on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The military said its forces attacked the militants during the operation, while the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said its fighters engaged Israeli forces.
However, Wissam Abu Baker, director of Jenin Government Hospital, said Osaid Kamal Jabareen, a surgeon at the medical center, was among the dead. Abu Baker said he was killed on his way to work.
Jenin and refugee camps are considered hotbeds of extremism. Frequent target of Israeli attackslong before the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza Hamas war.
Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed in fighting in the West Bank since the war began, many of them extremists, some of whom threw stones and explosives at troops. Other people not involved in the clash were also killed.
Israel said it was cracking down on the burgeoning number of extremists in its territory, noting a sharp increase in attacks on Israelis by Palestinians. Since the start of the war in Gaza, the country has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians.
Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, as well as East Jerusalem, which it later annexed, and the Gaza Strip, from which it withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005. The Palestinians want and want these territories as part of a future independent state. Since the outbreak of war in Gaza, its shadow has faded.
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Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporters Majdi Mohamed in the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp, Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem, Jon Lester in Paris and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.