Closing summary
It is just after 7.30pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
Here’s a summary of what has happened today:
The UN general assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations. 143 countries supported it, nine voted against, including the United States, and 25 abstained.
The resolution also gives Palestine a range of rights and privileges, in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.
Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine, addressed the UN as the international body weighs a resolution for Palestine’s full membership into the UN. Mansour said: “I stand before you as lives continue falling apart in the Gaza Strip … as more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80,000 have been maimed, 2 million have been displaced, and everything has been destroyed.” He added: “No words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians.”
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s UN delegate, accused the intentional body of attempting to allow a “terror state” into its membership led by the “Hitlers of our time” during debate on the upcoming resolution. Erdan also shredded a copy of the UN charter, accusing members of doing so while debating the resolution.
Three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman desert camp, a holding site for Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, have claimed to have witnessed a series of abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded and forced to wear diapers, reports CNN. The Israeli whistleblowers said of the prisoners: “We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.” According to the sources, guards were instructed to enforce silence by shouting “uskot” (Arabic for “shut up”) and to identify and punish problematic individuals.
Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, United Nations aid agencies warned on Friday. Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people have been sheltering, Reuters reported.
About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a United Nations official said. All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah.
That’s it for today’s blog. Thank you for reading.
The United Nations general assembly voted overwhelmingly to enhance Palestinians status at the UN and take it closer to full membership.
The assembly voted 143 to 9 with 25 abstentions for a resolution calling on the security council to bestow full membership on the state of Palestine, while giving its mission a range of rights and privileges, in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.
The resolution was tailored over the past few days, diluting its language so as not to trigger a cutoff of US funding under a 1990 law. It does not make Palestine a full member, or give it voting rights in the assembly, or the right to stand for membership of the security council, but the vote was resounding expression of world opinion in favour of Palestinian statehood, galvanised by the continuing bloodshed and famine caused by Israel’s war in Gaza.
Even before the vote in the assembly on Friday morning, Israel and a group of leading Republicans urged funding be cut anyway because of the new privileges the resolution granted to the Palestinian mission.
The US mission, which voted no to the resolution, warned that it would also use its veto again if the general assembly’s call for Palestinian membership returned to the security council for another vote.
“Efforts to advance this resolution do not change the reality that the Palestinian Authority does not currently meet the criteria for UN membership under the UN charter,” the mission’s spokesperson, Nathan Evans, said. “Additionally, the draft resolution does not alter the status of the Palestinians as a ‘non-member state observer mission’.”
Updated
The historic resolution, which passed with a wide majority, gives Palestine a number of rights within the UN assembly.
According to the resolution text, Palestine now has the right to introduce and co-sponsor proposals as well as amendments within the assembly.
Palestine can also be seated among member states and raise procedural motions, among other rights.
The latest resolution also serves as a further reminder on where much of the world stands on whether Palestine should be granted membership in the UN.
Updated
UN passed resolution for UN security council to reconsider and support Palestine membership into the UN
The UN general assembly overwhelmingly passed the resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations.
143 countries supported it, nine voted against and 25 abstained.
The nine countries who opposed were:
Argentina
Czechia
Hungary
Israel
Micronesia
Naura
Palau
Papua New Guinea
United States
Updated
The UN general assembly is now voting on the resolution.
Stay tuned.
Erdan shreds copy of UN charter on stage
Gilad Erdan shredded a copy of the UN charter on stage while alleging that UN would be violating its own charter by allowing Palestine to be admitted into the membership.
“Today, I will hold up a mirror for you,” Erdan said, taking out the paper shredder to destroy a copy of the charter.
“You are shredding the UN charter with your own hands. Yes, yes, that’s what you’re doing. Shredding the UN charter. Shame on you.”
שגריר ישראל באו״ם גלעד ארדן תקף את האו״ם במהלך דיון בעצרת הכללית לפני הצבעה על החלטה שנותנת זכויות נוספות לפלסטינים באו״ם וקוראת למועצת הביטחון לשקול מחדש לקבל את מדינת פלסטין כחברה מלאה בארגון. הוא הוציא מגרסת נייר וגרס מעל הבמה את אמנת האו״ם pic.twitter.com/Q41n1UtvnT
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 10, 2024
Updated
Israel delegate accuses UN of trying to allow 'terror state' to become a member
Gilad Erdan, the UN delegate of Israel, accused the intentional body of attempting to allow a “terror state” into its membership led by the “Hitlers of our time” during debate on the upcoming resolution.
In starkly different tone to Mansour’s remarks, Erdan accused the UN of attempting to allow a “terror state … into its ranks”.
Erdan criticized the resolution, especially as it takes place during Holocaust remembrance week in Israel: “It is during our sacred week that this shameless body has chosen to reward modern day Nazis with rights and privileges?”
Erdan added that a Palestinian state would be led by the “Hitler of our times”.
“You are about to grant privileges and rights to the future terrorist state of Hamas. You have opened the UN modern day Nazis, to genocidal jihadists committed to establishing an Islamic state against Israel and the region,” Erdan added, alleging that such a state would murder “every Jewish man, woman, and child”.
Updated
Mansour also celebrated the ability of Palestinians to survive despite decades of injustice.
He also acknowledge that the Palestinian flag flys on Columbia University’s campus and is raised by those who “believe in freedom”.
“We face and continue to face attempts to push us out of geography and out of history … by ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide. But against all odds, we survive. Our flag flies high and proud in Palestine and across the globe and on the campus of Columbia University.”
“It has become a symbol raised by all those who believe in freedom,” he added.
Updated
Speaker Riyad Mansour added that civilians in Rafah fear for their survival and wonder where to relocate, as Israel prepares to launch a major attack on the southern Gaza city.
“As we speak, 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah wonder if they will survive the day and wonder where to go next. There is nowhere left to go,” he said.
Mansour added that despite the countless times he has addressed the UN, he has never spoken to the international body for a more historic vote or during a time of such suffering.
“I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, often in tragic circumstances, but none comparable to the ones my people endured today … never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, a historic one,” he added.
Updated
Mansour says 'Israel's war is against the Palestinian people as a whole'
Speaker Riyad Mansour said that Israel’s war is “against the Palestinian people as a whole” while describing the intense suffering experienced by civilians in the Gaza territory.
“I stand before you as every inch of Gaza has witnessed massacres, as mass graves continue to be uncovered where hospitals used to stand. As the world is barely starting to grasp the cruel and extensive nature of the actions committed against the Palestinian people,” he said.
Mansour also accused Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of using the upcoming invasion of Rafah as a way to “ensure his political survival”.
“I stand before you as the Israel prime minister is ready to kill thousands more to ensure his political survival, as he openly declares the Palestinian people [as] an existential threat and together, with his co-conspirators, continues 76 years after the Nakba, to try and finish the job,” Mansour said.
“Israel’s war is against the Palestinian people as a whole,” he said.
Updated
Speaker Riyad Mansour called out mass famine that has spread across Gaza, blaming the Israel government for failing to allow aid to the most “vulnerable people”.
“I stand before you as famine is settling in, by design and by the decision of the Israel government, killing the most vulnerable among our people, women and children,” Mansour said.
“Israel closed the crossings instead of opening them … seizing by force the Palestinian crossing point of Rafah. Humanitarian convoys were attacked with its blessing and the honorable headquarters were assaulted with its complicity,” he added.
Updated
'No words can capture' the loss and trauma of Palestinians, permanent observer to UN says in speech
Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine, is now addressing the UN as the international body weighs a resolution for Palestine’s full membership into the UN.
“I stand before you as lives continue falling apart in the Gaza Strip … as more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80,000 have been maimed, 2 million have been displaced, and everything has been destroyed.
“No words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians.”
Updated
UN to vote on full membership for Palestine
The UN representative for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now introducing the draft resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support Palestine’s full membership into the UN.
“Granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations will send a message in support of the two-state solution,” said delegate Mohamed Abushahab.
“By voting in favor of today’s draft resolution, you will demonstrate that the international community refuses to settle for anything less than upholding the legitimate rights of people and rejecting double standards,” Abushahab added.
The resolution, which was previously introduced on 18 April, has widespread support in the UN.
But the United States vetoed the motion, the only country on the 15-member security council to oppose the resolution.
Updated
The United Nations has resumed the 10th emergency special session on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
The special session is to vote on a resolution for the UN Security Council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations.
President of the general assembly Dennis Francis gavelled in the session, which was previously adjourned.
The latest special session comes as Israel prepares to launch a major military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The US, UN and humanitarian agencies have warned that such a move would cause a humanitarian disaster in the region.
Updated
Afternoon summary
Three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman desert camp, a holding site for Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, have claimed to have witnessed a series of abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded, and forced to wear diapers, reports CNN. The Israeli whistleblowers said of the prisoners: “We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.” According to the sources, guards were instructed to enforce silence by shouting “uskot” (Arabic for “shut up”) and to identify and punish problematic individuals.
Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, United Nations aid agencies warned on Friday. Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people have been sheltering, Reuters reported.
About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a United Nations official said. All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah.
An Israeli drone strike on a southern Lebanese village killed a paramedic and an employee of a telecommunications company on Friday as military activities have increased along the frontier in recent days. State-run National News said the paramedic and the technician died in the drone strike on Teir Harafa, about three kilometres (two miles) from the border with Israel, AP reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to submit a highly critical report to Congress as soon as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza that stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of US weapons, Axios said. The report, citing three officials, added that the State Department was reviewing the use of weapons by Israel and six other countries engaged in different armed conflicts.
Dozens of women gathered at Tzahal Square in East Jerusalem on Friday for a silent sit-in, calling on the Israeli government to halt hostilities in Gaza and end the war. Dressed in white, they held banners with messages of ‘humanity’, ‘peace’ and ‘compassion’, as well as ‘stop the bloodshed’ - a poignant reminder of the toll of conflict.
The main United Nations aid agency for Palestinians closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem after local Israeli residents set fire to areas at the edge of the sprawling compound, the agency said. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNWRA, said in a post on the social media platform X that he had decided to close the compound until proper security was restored, Reuters reported. He said Thursday’s incident was the second in less than a week.
Spain, Ireland and other European Union member countries plan to recognise a Palestinian state on 21 May, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said late on Thursday ahead of an expected UN vote on Friday on a Palestinian bid to become a full member. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said in March that Spain and Ireland, along with Slovenia and Malta, had agreed to take the first steps towards recognition of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, seeing a two-state solution as essential for lasting peace.
Australia appears likely to support a UN vote on Palestinian membership after the draft resolution was significantly watered down in last-minute negotiations. The Australian government is continuing to consult on the matter ahead of a critical vote in the UN general assembly in New York, but the changes to the wording have allayed some of its earlier concerns.
Human Rights Watch has called on the German government to provide a public explanation for issuing a Schengen-wide ban on a prominent London surgeon who has provided testimony on the ongoing war in Gaza, as he is blocked from entering the Netherlands later this month. Last week, Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta told the Guardian he felt criminalised after being denied entry to France over the weekend, where the plastic and reconstructive surgeon was due to speak about the war to the French parliament’s upper house.
On a visit to Washington, German defence minister Boris Pistorius expressed “understanding” for the US threat to limit arms supplies to Israel in the event of a full-blown Rafah offensive but stopped short of setting any new red lines on German weapons. However, he told ZDF public television that Germany must put pressure on Israel “not to go too far” and to “slow down” in its military response to the 7 October attacks.”
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said on Friday it had received a report of a failed hijacking attempt of a vessel 195 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Aden. The vessel’s master reported being approached by a small craft carrying five or six armed people with ladders.
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will stand alone and “fight with our fingernails” in defiance of US threats to further restrict arms deliveries if Israeli forces proceed with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was speaking on Thursday after Israeli and Hamas delegations left the ceasefire negotiations in Cairo. It was unclear whether the talks had broken down or simply paused. Hamas said early on Friday that the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands, while Israel has claimed that Hamas’ version of a deal fell far short of its requirements.
Egypt has said Hamas and Israel must show “flexibility” if they are to strike a deal for a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange , according to a foreign ministry statement released Friday. The readout of a phone call between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and US secretary of state Antony Blinken said both diplomats agreed on “the importance of urging the parties to show flexibility and make all the necessary efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement and put an end to the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza”.
Hamas said early Friday that its delegation attending Gaza ceasefire negotiations in Cairo had left the city for Qatar, adding the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands. “The negotiating delegation left Cairo heading to Doha. In practice, the occupation [Israel] rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators and raised objections to it on several central issues,” the group said in a message to other Palestinian factions, according to Agence France-Presse.
Dozens of women gathered at Tzahal Square in East Jerusalem on Friday for a silent sit-in, calling on the Israeli government to halt hostilities in Gaza and end the war.
Dressed in white, they held banners with messages of ‘humanity’, ‘peace’ and ‘compassion’, as well as ‘stop the bloodshed’ - a poignant reminder of the toll of conflict.
“We are trying to remind people that there is an alternative,” says Amit, a member of the organisation Women Peace Sit-In. “For too long, the discourse in Israel has been one-sided, culminating in the present extreme violence and militarism. We advocate for a path to peace and coexistence.”
“Regrettably,” she adds, “we find ourselves a minority within a minority.’’
“We are all human beings and we deserve the same rights, freedom of movement and food security’’, says Lena. “We heard words the like deal and ceasefire, but the word peace has completely disappeared from the discourse. We stand firm in the belief that peace is attainable and halting the bloodshed is imperative.”
After Israel vowed to enter the southern Gaza city and flush out Hamas forces, the country has faced increasing pressure as the operation could derail fragile humanitarian efforts in Gaza and endanger many more lives.
Anti-war movements, pacifists and families of hostages are mobilising nationwide, with thousands in recent days taking to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to voice their dissent.
An Israeli drone strike on a southern Lebanese village killed a paramedic and an employee of a telecommunications company on Friday as military activities have increased along the frontier in recent days.
State-run National News said the paramedic and the technician died in the drone strike on Teir Harafa, about three kilometres (two miles) from the border with Israel, AP reported.
The Islamic Risala Scout Association paramedic group said one of its members, Ghaleb Hussein al-Haj, was killed while performing his duties in south Lebanon. The group is the paramedic arm of the Amal group of parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
The strike came a day after a similar attack on a car in a southern Lebanese village killed four members of the militant Hezbollah group.
About 110,000 people flee Rafah, says UN
About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a United Nations official said.
All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah.
An official for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah says all crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff.
Around 1.3 million Palestinians — over half Gaza’s population — had sought refuge in Rafah.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that a US threat to withhold some weapons would not deter Israel from expanding its offensive in Gaza.
A limited Israeli operation earlier this week captured the Gaza side of Rafah’s border crossing with Egypt, throwing humanitarian operations into crisis, Reuters reported.
#Gaza: As exodus from Rafah continues, UN aid teams are prevented from helping the most vulnerable, @UNReliefChief warns. @UNRWA says, around 110,000 people have now fled Rafah looking for safety.https://t.co/GMHTkROmJd
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) May 10, 2024
Updated
Israeli whistleblowers claim abuse of Palestinians at detention centre
Three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman desert camp, a holding site for Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, have claimed to have witnessed a series of abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded, and forced to wear diapers, reports CNN.
The Israeli whistleblowers said of the prisoners:
We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.
According to the sources, guards were instructed to enforce silence by shouting “uskot” (Arabic for “shut up”) and to identify and punish problematic individuals.
The witnesses told CNN the facility, some 18 miles from the Gaza frontier, is split into two parts: enclosures where around 70 Palestinian detainees from Gaza are placed under extreme physical restraint, and a field hospital “where injured detainees are immobilised, diapered, and fed through straws”.
According to the whistleblowers, the beatings were retaliatory in nature and not intended for intelligence gathering. “They were done out of revenge. It was punishment for what they [Hamas] did on October 7 and punishment for behaviour in the camp.”
One whistleblower described “a routine search when the guards would unleash large dogs on sleeping detainees, lobbing a sound grenade at the enclosure as troops barged in”.
Following the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, the Israeli military converted three military sites into detention camps for Palestinian prisoners from Gaza. This move aligns with Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, which was expanded by the Knesset in December to grant the military greater detention powers.
Responding to CNN’s request for comment on all the allegations, the Israeli military, said in a statement:
The IDF ensures proper conduct towards the detainees in custody. Any allegation of misconduct by IDF soldiers is examined and dealt with accordingly. In appropriate cases, MPCID (Military Police Criminal Investigation’s Division) investigations are opened when there is suspicion of misconduct justifying such action.
Detainees are handcuffed based on their risk level and health status. Incidents of unlawful handcuffing are not known to the authorities.
Police dismantled a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) early on Friday and moved to clear protesters from the University of Pennsylvania’s campus in Philadelphia, just hours after police tear-gassed protesters and took down an encampment at the University of Arizona, Reuters reported.
Video showed police roaming through the MIT encampment and organisers said about 10 students had been detained. Police in riot gear arrived around 4 am encircled the camp and gave protesters about 15 minutes to leave. A crowd outside the camp began gathering and chanting pro-Palestinian slogans but were dispersed by 6 am.
Quinn Perian, an undergraduate student at MIT and organiser for MIT Jews for Ceasefire, said: “This is only going to make us stronger. They can’t arrest the movement.
“We are going to continue and won’t back down until MIT agrees to cut ties with the Israeli military. MIT would rather arrest and suspend some students than they would end their complicity with the genocide going in Gaza.”
Before removing the encampment, MIT earlier in the week had started suspending dozens of students involved in the encampment, meaning they wouldn’t be able to take part in academic activities nor commencement.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth, had previously said: “This prolonged use of MIT property as a venue for protest, without permission, especially on an issue with such sharp disagreement, is no longer safely sustainable.”
In Philadelphia early on Friday, police detained people who were at an encampment that has been in place at the University of Pennsylvania’s campus for more than two weeks. Officers moved in after giving pro-Palestinian protesters a warning to leave campus or face possible arrest.
Tensions have ratcheted up in standoffs with protesters on campuses across the United States and increasingly in Europe.
Nearly all Gaza campus protests in the US have been peaceful, study finds
An independent non-profit that tracks political violence and political protests around the world found that 97% of campus demonstrations over the war in Gaza that have taken place in the US since mid-April have been peaceful.
An analysis of 553 US campus demonstrations nationwide between 18 April and 3 May found that fewer than 20 resulted in any serious interpersonal violence or property damage, according to statistics from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled).
Over the same period, Acled documented at least 70 instances of forceful police intervention against US campus protests, which includes the arrest of demonstrators and the use of physical dispersal tactics, including chemical agents, batons and other kinds of physical force.
Nearly half of the campus protests that Acled categorized as violent involved protesters fighting with law enforcement during a police intervention, according to the group’s data.
Protest encampments in solidarity with Gaza have popped up on college campuses across the US since April, with students voicing a variety of demands, including calls on universities to publicly support a ceasefire in Gaza, divest from Israeli companies and companies that supply Israel’s military, and end ties with Israeli universities. The protests have inspired similar actions across the UK and Europe, as well as in India and Lebanon.
Since 18 April, when 108 students were arrested at Columbia University, the administrators of many schools have called in law enforcement to forcibly remove the encampments, resulting in more than 2,600 arrests across more than 50 US campuses, according to an ongoing tally by the Associated Press.
You can read the full report here.
Human Rights Watch has called on the German government to provide a public explanation for issuing a Schengen-wide ban on a prominent London surgeon who has provided testimony on the ongoing war in Gaza, as he is blocked from entering the Netherlands later this month.
Last week, Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta told the Guardian he felt criminalised after being denied entry to France over the weekend, where the plastic and reconstructive surgeon was due to speak about the war to the French parliament’s upper house.
“Germany should immediately explain why it has denied him entry and imposed this far-reaching ban on a leading health professional to speak in Berlin, Paris, and The Hague about what he witnessed in Gaza,” said Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday.
During October and November 2023, at the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza, which has since killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, Abu-Sitta operated from al-Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals. During his 43 days, he described witnessing a “massacre unfold” in Gaza and the use of white phosphorus munitions, which Israel has denied.
Abu-Sitta has since provided evidence to Scotland Yard and the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague. He intends to challenge his entry ban in the German courts and is considering going to the European court of human rights.
The Palestinian ambassador has invited Sitta to attend an event in the Hague on the 76th anniversary of Nakba Day on 15 May. However, Sitta told HRW that Dutch officials informed the Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands that he would not be permitted to enter for the event.
However, Sitta was told he would be considered for entry for a meeting with the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), where Sitta plans to brief the director general on the use of white phosphorus by Israeli forces, which Israel has denied using. Entry for the meeting would be permitted, Sitta was told, on the condition that he leaves immediately after.
In April, Abu-Sitta travelled to Berlin to participate in the Palestine Congress forum, where he was denied entry by authorities because they “could not ensure the safety of attendees in the conference”, he said. The Guardian previously approached the German federal police for comment.
Human Rights Watch wrote to the German government on April 24 asking for an explanation in line with the country’s obligations to freedom of expression, assembly and nondiscrimination. The organisation did not receive a response and has also called on the UK and Scottish governments to apply pressure on the German government, explaining the legality of the Schengen-wide visa ban.
“In the midst of ongoing atrocities in Gaza, countries should be prioritizing ending complicity and promoting accountability,” Ahmed said. “Instead, Germany, in blocking Dr. Abu Sittah from sharing his experience, is trying to block citizens from even hearing about the grave abuses taking place in Gaza. The UK government should immediately raise the reported ban with their German counterparts.”
Gaza aid could grind to a halt within days, UN agencies warn
Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, United Nations aid agencies warned on Friday.
Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people have been sheltering, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which governs the besieged Palestinian territory.
“For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel,” said the Unicef senior emergency coordinator in the Gaza strip, Hamish Young.
“This is already a huge issue for the population and for all humanitarian actors but in a matter of days, if not corrected, the lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt,” he told a virtual briefing.
Updated
Australia appears likely to support a UN vote on Palestinian membership after the draft resolution was significantly watered down in last-minute negotiations.
The Australian government is continuing to consult on the matter ahead of a critical vote in the UN general assembly in New York, but the changes to the wording have allayed some of its earlier concerns.
Sources familiar with the negotiations said the new wording would see some countries that were likely to vote “no” shift to an abstain position, and some countries that were likely to abstain move into the “yes” column.
On a visit to Washington, German defence minister Boris Pistorius expressed “understanding” for the US threat to limit arms supplies to Israel in the event of a full-blown Rafah offensive but stopped short of setting any new red lines on German weapons.
However, he told ZDF public television that Germany must put pressure on Israel “not to go too far” and to “slow down” in its military response to the 7 October attacks. “
What is happening is not doing the region any good and certainly not the suffering civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Pistorius said for this reason Germany was “weighing its options” concerning military aid to Israel, with the ultimate decision resting with chancellor Olaf Scholz and the foreign ministry.
Spain, Ireland and other European Union member countries plan to recognise a Palestinian state on 21 May, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said late on Thursday ahead of an expected UN vote on Friday on a Palestinian bid to become a full member.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said in March that Spain and Ireland, along with Slovenia and Malta, had agreed to take the first steps towards recognition of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, seeing a two-state solution as essential for lasting peace.
Asked on local Spanish radio station RNE if 21 May was when Spain, Ireland and other EU countries would recognise a Palestinian state, Borrell said yes, mentioning Slovenia as well, Reuters reports.
“This is a symbolic act of a political nature. More than a state, it recognises the will for that state to exist,” he said, adding that Belgium and other countries would probably follow.
Updated
Israeli demonstrators torch part of UN compound in Jerusalem
The main United Nations aid agency for Palestinians closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem after local Israeli residents set fire to areas at the edge of the sprawling compound, the agency said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNWRA, said in a post on the social media platform X that he had decided to close the compound until proper security was restored, Reuters reported. He said Thursday’s incident was the second in less than a week.
“This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk,” he said.
“It is the responsibility of the State of Israel as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times,” he said.
UNRWA, set up to deal with the Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes during the 1948 war around the time of Israel’s creation, has long been a target of Israeli hostility.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said on Friday it had received a report of a failed hijacking attempt of a vessel 195 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Aden.
The vessel’s master reported being approached by a small craft carrying five or six armed people with ladders.
Houthi militants in Yemen have launched drone and missile attacks on shipping in and around the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to show support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Maritime sources say pirates may be encouraged by a relaxation of security or may be taking advantage of the chaos caused by attacks on shipping by the Iran-aligned Houthis.
Blinken report expected to say Israel is not breaking weapons terms, Axios reports
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to submit a highly critical report to Congress as soon as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza that stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of US weapons, Axios said.
The report, citing three officials, added that the State Department was reviewing the use of weapons by Israel and six other countries engaged in different armed conflicts.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the Biden administration was set to miss a Wednesday deadline to report to Congress on whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.
A national security memorandum, NSM-20, issued by President Joe Biden in February, required the department to report to Congress by May 8 how credible are Israel’s assurances that its use of U.S. weapons does not violate US or international law.
The United Nations General Assembly is set to back a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and sending the application back to the UN Security Council to “reconsider the matter favourably.”
The Palestinians are reviving their bid to become a full UN member - a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state - after the United States vetoed it in the 15-member UN Security Council last month.
Reuters reports:
The vote by the 193-member General Assembly on Friday will act as a global survey of support for the Palestinians. An application to become a full UN member first needs to be approved by the Security Council and then the General Assembly.
But while the General Assembly alone cannot grant full UN membership, the draft resolution being put to a vote on Friday will give the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 - like a seat among the UN members in the assembly hall - but it will not be granted a vote in the body.
Diplomats said the draft text is likely to get the support needed to be adopted.
The Palestinian push for full UN membership comes seven months into a war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the UN considers to be illegal.
The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the UN General Assembly in 2012.
‘We will fight with our fingernails’ says Netanyahu after US threat to curb arms
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will stand alone and “fight with our fingernails” in defiance of US threats to further restrict arms deliveries if Israeli forces proceed with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was speaking on Thursday after Israeli and Hamas delegations left the ceasefire negotiations in Cairo. It was unclear whether the talks had broken down or simply paused. Hamas said early on Friday that the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands, while Israel has claimed that Hamas’ version of a deal fell far short of its requirements.
The failure to reach an agreement in this week’s round of meetings raised fears of an imminent Israeli attack on Rafah.
Netanyahu appeared to shrug off a public warning from the US president, Joe Biden, the previous night that if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a major offensive on the city the US would not provide bombs and artillery shells to support the operation.
Opening summary
It’s approaching 9.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv, welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be with you throughout the day.
The United States has warned Israel that it will be will be giving a strategic victory to Hamas if it carries out plans for an all-out assault on Rafah.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says:
Our view is any kind of major Rafah ground operation would actually strengthen Hamas’ hands at the negotiating table, not Israel’s.
Kirby also says that more civilian deaths in Rafah from an Israeli offensive would give more ammunition to Hamas’ “twisted narrative” about Israel.
It comes after US president, Joe Biden, said he would pause more offensive military assistance to Israel if it goes through with the operation in a city where more than 1 million civilians are sheltering.
Meanwhile, the UN general assembly is expected to vote today on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favourably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.
The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on in April that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear yesterday that the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution.
Other developments included:
Egypt has said Hamas and Israel must show “flexibility” if they are to strike a deal for a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange , according to a foreign ministry statement released Friday. The readout of a phone call between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and US secretary of state Antony Blinken said both diplomats agreed on “the importance of urging the parties to show flexibility and make all the necessary efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement and put an end to the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza”.
Hamas said early Friday that its delegation attending Gaza ceasefire negotiations in Cairo had left the city for Qatar, adding the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands. “The negotiating delegation left Cairo heading to Doha. In practice, the occupation [Israel] rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators and raised objections to it on several central issues,” the group said in a message to other Palestinian factions, according to Agence France-Presse.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed that Israel will stand alone and “fight with our fingernails” in defiance of US threats to further restrict arms deliveries if Israeli forces proceed with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Netanyahu appeared to shrug off a public warning from the US president, Joe Biden, the previous night that if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a major offensive on the city the US would not provide bombs and artillery shells to support the operation.
Israel’s former head of defence production and procurement on Thursday rejected the claim the country could manage without US arms, saying Israel would be forced to source arms elsewhere, according to Israeli public radio.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is expected to submit a highly critical report to Congress as soon as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza, according to Axios, which says that the report stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of US weapons. Axios cited three officials in its reporting.
More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah after Israel intensified its bombardment, UN officials have said, in the largest movement of population in Gaza for many months. Humanitarian officials are tracking the number of people fleeing Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, where more than 1 million people displaced from elsewhere in the territory have been sheltering.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has temporarily closed its East Jerusalem headquarters after “Israeli extremists” set fire to the perimeter following weeks of repeated attacks. “This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the Unrwa headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said on X, lamenting that it was the second attack on the compound in a matter of days.
Israel’s assault around Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip is finally bringing what was left of Gaza’s medical system to its knees, doctors told Reuters. Rafah’s main al-Najjar hospital abruptly shut as fighting came close, while the Emirati maternity hospital, where 85 babies a day were being born, stopped receiving patients. The two checkpoints into southern Gaza have also been shut, blocking the arrival of basic supplies such as fuel, though Israel says it reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday and is trying to get aid through.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has only three days of fuel for its medical operations in southern Gaza. Speaking about the closure of the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Wednesday, WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Fuel that we expected to be allowed in today has not been allowed in, meaning that we only have enough fuel to run health services in the south for three more days.”
Cypriot officials confirmed that a vessel carrying aid to a pier built by the US off Gaza set sail from Cyprus on Thursday. The US flagged Sagamore left the port of Larnaca in the morning and US officials have said the vessel will be used to off-load supplies on to a floating pier.
At least 34,904 Palestinians have been killed and 78,514 injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The Hamas-run health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Israeli protesters blocked aid trucks headed from Jordan to Gaza, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Hundreds of residents of Israel’s southern-most city, Eilat, joined the protest blocking the convoy at the border crossing with Jordan, the newspaper reported.
