UN unsure on how much aid has been delivered inside Gaza by Israeli-backed logistics group
An update on the dire aid situation in Gaza. As a reminder, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli-backed logistics group, has said lorry loads of food have been delivered to secure sites in Gaza and that supplies had begun to be given to those in need.
However, the UN humanitarian agency Ocha, and Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, both told a press briefing in Geneva earlier today that they were unaware of whether any aid had actually been distributed.
“We don’t have any information,” said Unrwa spokesperson Juliette Touma.
“We know what’s needed, we know what’s missing, and we are very, very far from that daily target.
“The needs are 500-600 trucks at a minimum that should go into Gaza, loaded with supplies. Not only food but also medicine, medical supplies, vaccines for children, fuel, water and other basics for people’s survival.”
Before the devastating Israeli blockade on aid was imposed in early March, the UN brought lifesaving humanitarian supplies to people in multiple locations around the territory.
Now the blockade has been eased (to an extremely inadequate level) due to political pressure on the Netanyahu government, UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF amid concerns it violates “fundamental humanitarian principles” and breaches international law.
Key events
Ahmed Moor
In his 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth renders a rich plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, the French president. The conspirators are pied-noirs, the term used to describe Frenchmen born in Algeria during the colonial occupation there. They grieve De Gaulle’s exit from north Africa, which they regard as a betrayal. Unable to remain in the former colony, they return home – dejected and emasculated – and murderous. In many ways, the pied-noirs regard themselves as being more French than the French…
Here’s some background information on the conflict in the West Bank:
Israel has already built well over 100 settlements across the territory that are home to some 500,000 settlers. The settlements range from small hilltop outposts to fully developed communities with apartment blocks, shopping malls, factories and public parks.
The West Bank is home to three million Palestinians, who live under Israeli military rule with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centres. The settlers have Israeli citizenship.
Israel has accelerated settlement construction in recent years — long before Hamas’ October 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza — confining Palestinians to smaller and smaller areas of the West Bank and making the prospect of establishing a viable, independent state even more remote.
The top United Nations court ruled last year that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end, and for settlement construction to stop immediately. Israel denounced the non-binding opinion by a 15-judge panel of the International Court of Justice, saying the territories are part of the historic homeland of the Jewish people.
During his first term, President Donald Trump’s administration broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy by supporting Israel’s claims to territory seized by force and taking steps to legitimize the settlements. Former President Joe Biden, like most of his predecessors, opposed the settlements but applied little pressure to Israel to curb their growth.
The Israeli government has approved the establishment of 22 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Driven by Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the decision will look to renew illegal settlement activity in northern Samaria and build new settlements on the Jordan Valley border.
Defence Minister Israel Katz, whose critics have accused him of using genocidal language directed at civilians in Gaza, said:
The decision to establish 22 new settlements in the West Bank strengthens our presence in the area and affirms our commitment to ensuring security for the population centers of Israel,” Katz said. “It is a step toward reinforcing our eastern axis and addressing ongoing security challenges.
Closing summary
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An Israeli-backed logistics group tasked with supplying aid to Gaza said it had begun operations on Monday, delivering truckloads of food to designated distribution sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has said its distribution points will be guarded by private security firms and that the aid would reach a million Palestinians – around half of Gaza’s population – by the end of the week.
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However, it remains unclear how much aid has been distributed to civilians inside Gaza. This is despite the urgent need for an influx of lifesaving supplies to be brought into the territory after the devastating effect of the 11-week Israeli blockade that was only eased by a small amount last week.
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Ireland moved a step closer to banning imports from the occupied Palestinian territories and has encouraged other EU members to follow suit. The cabinet on Tuesday approved draft legislation to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements in a largely symbolic but potentially significant initiative to pressure Israel over policies in Gaza and the West Bank.
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German chancellor Friedrich Merz denounced the continuing deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza as “no longer comprehensible”, while European commission president Ursula von der Leyen condemned Israel’s “abhorrent” wave of airstrikes on civilian facilities in the territory.
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Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza and carrying out the “indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing” of Palestinian civilians there.
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At least 54,056 Palestinian people have been killed and 123,129 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in an update.
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Israel’s attorney general said Benjamin Netanyahu’s nomination of Maj Gen David Zini as head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, is “illegal”.
We are closing this blog now. Thanks for following along. You can find all our latest coverage of the Middle East here.
Israel’s deadly conduct in Gaza ‘is no longer comprehensible’, German chancellor says
Friedrich Merz has delivered his most strongly worded criticism of Israel to date, denouncing relentless Israeli bombardments on Gaza as “no longer comprehensible”.
This is a significant shift in rhetoric from Germany, which is one of Europe’s most pro-Israel countries, and its leaders, due to the legacy of the Nazi holocaust, consider Israel’s security to be a Staatsräson, or “reason of state.”.
“The massive military strikes by the Israelis in the Gaza Strip no longer reveal any logic to me. How they serve the goal of confronting terror. … In this respect, I view this very, very critically,” Merz said in a press conference in Turku, Finland.
“I am also not among those who said it first … But it seemed and seems to me that the time has come when I must say publicly, (that) what is currently happening is no longer comprehensible.”
The comments came just over a week after the UK, France and Canada threatened “concrete actions” if Israel does not stop its expanded assault in Gaza and lift aid restrictions.
It is not clear what these actions would amount to (apart from sanctions) and what more it will take for western countries to put serious joint economic and diplomatic pressure on the Netanyahu government to halt its assault on Gaza.
Some in Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) – Merz’s junior coalition partner – are ramping up calls to end the country’s weapons exports to Israel. “German weapons must not be used to spread humanitarian catastrophes and to violate international law,” Adis Ahmetovic, foreign policy spokesperson for the SPD group in the Bundestag – Germany’s parliament – said.
Ireland approves draft legislation to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements
Rory Carroll
Rory Carroll is the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent
Ireland has moved a step closer to banning imports from the occupied Palestinian territories and has encouraged other EU members to follow suit.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved draft legislation to restrict trade with illegal Israeli settlements in a largely symbolic but potentially significant initiative to pressure Israel over policies in Gaza and the West Bank.
“What I hope today is when this small country in Europe makes the decision and becomes one of the first countries, and probably the first country, in the western world to consider legislation in this space, I do hope it inspires other European countries to join us,” Simon Harris, the foreign minister, told reporters.
A parliamentary committee is to review the draft legislation next month.
Frances Black, an independent senator who tabled an Occupied Territories Bill in 2018, said Tuesday’s move was welcome and overdue. “It’s horrible that it has taken so much suffering to get here and we can’t afford to waste any more time.”
Trade is an EU competency but states can restrict in exceptional circumstances. Ireland is basing its move on an international court of justice judgement last year which said countries should “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
The outgoing head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, announced his resignation in April, saying he would step down on 15 June, six weeks after Benjamin Netanyahu tried to oust him.
The Israeli leader said he had lost trust in Bar’s capacity to lead Shin Bet and accused him of politicising the agency.
As my colleague Jason Burke notes in this story, the relationship between Netanyahu and Bar deteriorated after the publication in March of a Shin Bet report on the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The service admitted to mistakes but criticised policies of the Netanyahu government that it said had enabled Hamas to build up its strength in Gaza and catch Israel by surprise.
Israel attorney general says Netanyahu’s nomination for Shin Bet chief is ‘illegal’
Israel’s attorney general has said Benjamin Netanyahu’s nomination of Maj Gen David Zini as head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, is “illegal”.
It comes after the supreme court found Netanyahu’s move to sack the outgoing Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, unlawful.
In a letter to the Israeli prime minister, obtained by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency on Tuesday, attorney general Gali Baharav Miara noted the recent “court decisions regarding the end of the Shin Bet director’s mandate” and said:
Your decision regarding major general (David) Zini, made in a situation of conflict of interest and contradicting the conclusions of the judgment as well as the judicial directives in force, is illegitimate and illegal.
Last Wednesday, Israel’s high court issued a ruling that Netanyahu’s firing of Bar was made “unlawfully” and that the Israeli leader had a conflict of interest due to the ongoing Shin Bet investigations into his close aides.
Israel and Syria ‘in direct contact’
Israel and Syria are in direct contact and have in recent weeks held face-to-face meetings aimed at calming tensions and preventing conflict in the border region between the two longtime foes, five people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
The contacts mark a significant development in ties between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades, as the US encourages the new Islamist rulers in Damascus to establish relations with Israel and Israel eases its bombardment of Syria.
They also build on back-channel talks via intermediaries since Islamist rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham toppled Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad in December, said two Syrian and two western sources, as well as a regional intelligence source familiar with the matter.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject for two nations with no official ties and a history of enmity. The direct talks and their scope have not been previously reported although earlier this month, Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa confirmed indirect talks with Israel.
EU chief denounces Israel’s ‘abhorrent’ deadly airstrikes on Gaza civilian sites
The European commission president Ursula von der Leyen has condemned Israel’s “abhorrent” wave of airstrikes on civilian facilities in Gaza including on a school-turned-shelter, during a call with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday.
“The expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza targeting civilian infrastructure, among them a school that served as a shelter for displaced Palestinian families, killing civilians, including children, is abhorrent,” von der Leyen said, according to a European Commission readout of the call.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 52 people on Monday, including 31 in a school turned shelter that was struck as people slept, igniting their belongings, according to local health officials.
UN unsure on how much aid has been delivered inside Gaza by Israeli-backed logistics group
An update on the dire aid situation in Gaza. As a reminder, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli-backed logistics group, has said lorry loads of food have been delivered to secure sites in Gaza and that supplies had begun to be given to those in need.
However, the UN humanitarian agency Ocha, and Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, both told a press briefing in Geneva earlier today that they were unaware of whether any aid had actually been distributed.
“We don’t have any information,” said Unrwa spokesperson Juliette Touma.
“We know what’s needed, we know what’s missing, and we are very, very far from that daily target.
“The needs are 500-600 trucks at a minimum that should go into Gaza, loaded with supplies. Not only food but also medicine, medical supplies, vaccines for children, fuel, water and other basics for people’s survival.”
Before the devastating Israeli blockade on aid was imposed in early March, the UN brought lifesaving humanitarian supplies to people in multiple locations around the territory.
Now the blockade has been eased (to an extremely inadequate level) due to political pressure on the Netanyahu government, UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF amid concerns it violates “fundamental humanitarian principles” and breaches international law.
