Israel's parliament on Monday approved a bill imposing sanctions on the main United Nations aid agency for the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, sparking international outrage.
Despite objections from the United States and warnings from the UN Security Council, Israeli lawmakers overwhelmingly pass a bill banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from operating in Israel and annexing East Jerusalem .
Israel strictly controls all humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza, and lawmakers also passed a measure banning Israeli officials from working with UNRWA and its staff.
UNRWA has provided essential aid, schooling, health care and support to Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere for more than seven decades.
“There is a deep connection between the terrorist organization (Hamas) and UNRWA and Israel cannot tolerate this,” Yuli Edelstein, one of the lawmakers sponsoring the bill, said in parliament when introducing the resolution.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group locked in conflict with Israel in Gaza, described the bill as an act of “Zionist aggression” towards Palestinians, while its ally Islamic Jihad described the ban as an “aggravation of genocide”.
Even many of Israel's staunchest Western allies expressed concern over the sanctions, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying Britain was “gravely concerned”.
Germany – which has been a staunch defender of Israel's security – warned that it would “make UNRWA's work effectively impossible in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem… jeopardizing vital humanitarian aid to millions of people.” Will give”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said that if the Israeli law was implemented it could have “devastating consequences” and “potentially prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work”.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned that the vote “sets a dangerous precedent”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media that Israel is “ready” to continue providing aid to Gaza “in a way that does not threaten Israel's security.”
The ban comes amid escalating fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, where a second full-scale front was opened last month.
Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu's office said Mossad intelligence chief David Barnia had met with mediators from the US and Qatar in Doha, where they agreed that they should be held accountable for the attacks carried out by Palestinian militants on October 7 last year. We should talk to Hamas about an agreement to free the captured Israelis.
“Discussions between mediators and Hamas will continue in the coming days to assess the feasibility of negotiations and advance efforts to promote an agreement,” Netanyahu's office said.
The statement came two days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi proposed a two-day ceasefire and limited hostage-prisoner exchanges, which he said could lead to a permanent ceasefire.
But Netanyahu later said he had not received Egypt's proposal.
Asked about the possibility of a Gaza ceasefire, US President Joe Biden said: “We need a ceasefire. We must end this war. This must end, this must end, this must end.”
Following the October 7 attack, which was the bloodiest attack in Israel's history, the military launched a large-scale offensive into Gaza to root out Hamas.
Israel has killed the Islamist group's top leadership, but the war has left thousands of Palestinians dead and driven almost all Gazans from their homes, leaving much of the region's infrastructure in ruins.
hostage family pressure
During the October 7 attack, Palestinian militants captured 251 hostages, including soldiers and civilians, 97 of whom are still in Gaza. The Israeli ministry says 34 of them have died.
Netanyahu's government is under increasing pressure from hostage families and the international community to agree a ceasefire to allow those remaining to return home.
Under the plan announced by Sisi, “four hostages would be exchanged for some prisoners held in Israeli prisons”, followed by further negotiations within 10 days with the aim of securing a “complete ceasefire and entry of aid” into Gaza. Will be done.
As violence continued, there were renewed discussions about a ceasefire. Lebanon's health ministry said at least 60 people were killed Monday in Israeli raids on several neighborhoods in Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa valley, which is dominated by Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The region's governor, Bachir Khodar, condemned it as the “most violent” raid on the region since the Israel-Hezbollah war began nearly a month ago.
This was followed by a year of low-intensity exchanges and cross-border attacks, which the Lebanese group said were in support of Hamas.
At least seven people have been killed and 17 injured in an Israeli bombardment in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, according to the health ministry.
Hezbollah said it ambushed Israeli troops near Lebanon's southern border and fired rockets at a naval base inside Israel near Haifa.
Israel did not immediately confirm the targets, but said 115 projectiles were fired across the border.
At least 1,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting escalated on September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
'unbearable'
In Gaza, rescuers reported fresh attacks on Monday, while the Israeli military said it attacked the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, killing dozens of militants.
Since October 6, the army has been carrying out fresh air and ground attacks in northern Gaza to destroy operational capabilities it says Hamas is trying to rebuild there.
An Israeli military officer, speaking to journalists on condition of anonymity, said that the goal was to liberate Jabaliya from terrorists, which “will take us at least (several) weeks” to achieve.
The official said Israel is not forcing residents to leave, claiming “the safe zone in the Gaza Strip is to the south, but it is up to them” whether to leave.
But the process has left 100,000 people trapped in a “siege,” Gaza Civil Protection Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said late Sunday.
“For 22 days, not a drop of water or bread has arrived in the northern Gaza Strip,” Bassel said in a statement.
The October 7 attack last year killed 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's counterattacks have killed at least 43,020 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The United Nations considers these figures reliable.
AFP
(tagstotranslate)help
Source link