Middle East crisis: Germany to resume working with Unrwa after UN report finds Israel yet to supply evidence to back terror claims – as it happened
Government to resume cooperation with UN agency for Palestinians in Gaza after report finds Israel had yet to back up accusations on employees having terror ties
Germany to resume working with Unrwa after UN report found Israel yet to supply evidence to back terror claims
The German government plans to resume cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza, Reuters reports its foreign and development ministries said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The decision follows an investigation by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into whether significant numbers of Unrwa employees have Hamas or Islamic Jihad ties. The review of the agency’s neutrality on Monday concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations.
The German ministries urged UNRWA to swiftly implement the report’s recommendations, including strengthening its internal audit function and improving external oversight of project management.
“In support of these reforms, the German government will soon continue its cooperation with Unrwa in Gaza, as Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan, among others, have already done,” said the ministries in the statement.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein on Monday accused more than 2,135 Unrwa workers of being members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He claimed the Colonna review of Unrwa was insufficient and an “effort to avoid the problem.”
The US, which was formerly Unrwa’s largest donor, has ruled out resuming funding until March 2025 at the earliest.
Germany has said it will restore cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip after an independent review said Israel had not provided evidence to back up claims that hundreds of employees of the UN agency for Palestinians were members of terrorist organisations.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has claimed that since 7 October 2023, Israeli military strikes have killed half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon. Israel’s military issued a statement earlier to say this morning it struck at what it called “Hezbollah terror targets” in southern Lebanon.
David Satterfield, the US special envoy for humanitarian issues, has said the risk of famine in northern Gaza remains “very high” despite an increase in the amount of aid being admitted to the territory.“Israel has taken significant steps in these last two and a half weeks,” he told the media. “There is still considerable work to be done. But progress has been made.”
The health ministry in Gaza has claimed the total number of Palestinians killed during Israel’s military assault on the territory has risen to 34,262. Some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment which they said was as intense as at the start of the war. Israel’s military has said in the last 24 hours it struck at 50 targets in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces overnight detained at least 15 Palestinians in multiple raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have detained over 7,000 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last October.
A joint statement has been issued by Iran and Pakistan, condemning “the ongoing Israeli regime’s aggression and atrocities against the Palestinian people” and calling on the UN security council to act over the strike on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria widely presumed to have been carried out by Israel.
The US Senate voted resoundingly on Tuesday to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The legislation includes $26.3bn for Israel and humanitarian relief for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza.
We are just about to close this live blog for the day. You can find all of our coverage on the Israel-Gaza war here. I will be back with you tomorrow. My colleagues in the US are covering the latest protest developments there.
Reuters is reporting that a senior defence official has told it Israel’s military has conducted all necessary preparations to take Rafah, which it deems the last Hamas bastion in the Gaza Strip, and can launch an operation the moment it gets government approval.
During the six months of its military assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military has repeatedly ordered civilians to flee to Rafah in the south of the strip, where many people are now being forced to live in makeshift tent camps with scarce access to food and poor sanitary conditions.
Israel: half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon have been killed by IDF since October
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has claimed that since 7 October 2023, Israeli military strikes have killed half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon.
Haaretz reports he said of those killed “these are the people responsible for offensive actions” adding “the other half is hiding and abandoning southern Lebanon to IDF operations.”
It quotes him saying “our main goal was and remains to create a different security situation here [near the UN-drawn blue line], and [that] the residents of northern Israel can return to their homes quietly and safely. We are considering several alternatives to solidify the matter, and the near future will be decisive in this regard.”
There has been a “lack of discrimination” in the Israeli response that is “profoundly troubling” a former supreme court justice has said at a one-off parliamentary committee meeting over arms exports to Israel on Wednesday.
Speaking as an expert witness on UK arms exports to Israel at a session held by the business and trade committee, Jonathan Sumption QC described methods used by the Israel Defense Forces as “indiscriminate”.
“What they are trying to do is eliminate a needle in a haystack by destroying a haystack,” said the former supreme court justice. “I find it very difficult to see on the information in the public domain how this can be regarded as a proportionate or discriminate approach.”
“The fact is that there has been a lack of discrimination in the Israeli response which is profoundly troubling and particularly affects the operations of humanitarian agencies like World Kitchen,” he added.
Earlier this month, seven people working with World Central Kitchen, a charity spearheading efforts to alleviate looming famine in Gaza, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The Israel Defense Forces blamed a series of “grave errors” by officers for the deadly attack
Speaking at the committee meeting on Wednesday, Lord Ricketts, who was a government national security adviser during David Cameron’s premiership, called the attack “deliberate” and said “that was not an isolated incident”.
On 8 April, foreign secretary David Cameron said the government will not suspend arms exports to Israel after the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers, and insisted the UK would continue to act within international law.
“I think one of the problems the British government has here is it is simply impossible to verify what happens in the tactical engagements that go on constantly in Gaza,” said Ricketts. “To say with any confidence that anyone who knows what weapons was used, whether conditions of proportionality were met is extremely difficult.”
Ricketts also mentioned the need for further parliamentary scrutiny and for the government to publish its formal legal advice on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.
“I think more parliamentary scrutiny would be right,” he said. “There is a problem for government, and we’ve had this in many cases, where the government asserts and rests on legal advice that it has, but then is unwilling to publish that legal advice.”
The Times of Israel reports that a group of bereaved families has made an appeal to Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant that politicians do not make speeches at the forthcoming memorial day in Israel.
It writes:
Some 500 bereaved families have appealed to defense minister Yoav Gallant not to allow politicians to speak at this year’s memorial day events in military cemeteries around the country.
“Instead of speeches by politicians at the memorial ceremonies, let bereaved families from 7 October speak,” they say in a statement.
The families warn that amid societal tensions and amid the pain of the war and widespread anger at the government, the events could turn into political battlegrounds.
This year memorial day, known as Yom HaZikaron, which commemorates Israeli soldiers who have fallen in battle as well as civilian victims of terrorism, falls from sunset on Sunday 12 May to nightfall on Monday 13 May.
My colleagues in the US are following protests at universities there live, after the last few days have seen a number of arrests. You can find that live blog here.
A security source in Lebanon has told Reuters that Israel on Wednesday carried out more than ten airstrikes against the Lebanese town of Ayta al-Shaab, about 3 km (1.6 miles) from Shomera in northern Israel.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it earlier fired dozens of rockets at Shomera in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanese villages, including one the day before on Hanin, which killed at least two people including an 11-year-old girl.
Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets at an Israeli border town today and sources in Lebanon reported heavy Israeli airstrikes on a Lebanese town just across the frontier, Reuters reported.
The Renew Europe group in the European parliament has called on the bloc “to urgently put in place the recently expanded sanctions against Iran for supplying drones and missiles to Russia and the wider Middle Eastern region”.
The group is also pushing for the EU to prepare additional sanctions “in the banking, oil and aviation sectors to be imposed in the event of further unacceptable escalation by the Iranian regime against Israel”.
Dutch Renew Europe MEP Bart Groothuis said that “geopolitical theatres in the Middle East, Ukraine and Taiwan are interconnected as Russia, China and Iran are deepening their ties.
“They want to challenge the liberal world order. The west, and Europe with it, needs a paradigm shift. To start with a strategy on countering and containing Iran, and by putting the IRGC on the EU-terrorist list,” he added.
Germany has said it will restore cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip after an independent review said Israel had not provided evidence to back up claims that hundreds of employees of the UN agency for Palestinians were members of terrorist organisations.
David Satterfield, the US special envoy for humanitarian issues, has said the risk of famine in northern Gaza remains “very high” despite an increase in the amount of aid being admitted to the territory.“Israel has taken significant steps in these last two and a half weeks,” he told the media. “There is still considerable work to be done. But progress has been made.”
The health ministry in Gaza has claimed the total number of Palestinians killed during Israel’s military assault on the territory has risen to 34,262. Some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment which they said was as intense as at the start of the war. Israel’s military has said in the last 24 hours it struck at 50 targets in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces overnight detained at least 15 Palestinians in multiple raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have detained over 7,000 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last October.
Israel’s military has issued a statement to say this morning it struck at what it called “Hezbollah terror targets” in southern Lebanon.
Nepal’s president asked the emir of Qatar to held secure the release of a Nepali student still believed to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has accused the UN secretary general António Guterres of being a “supporter of terrorism”.
A joint statement has been issued by Iran and Pakistan, condemning “the ongoing Israeli regime’s aggression and atrocities against the Palestinian people” and calling on the UN security council to act over the strike on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria widely presumed to have been carried out by Israel.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has criticised US authorities for its clampdown on students protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The US Senate voted resoundingly on Tuesday to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The legislation includes $26.3bn for Israel and humanitarian relief for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza.
The health ministry in Gaza has said 79 people were killed and 86 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, bringing the total number killed during Israel’s military assault on Gaza to 34,262.
77,229 are said to have been wounded. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Palestinians residents living in the area inspect demolished buildings after Israeli attacks in Rafah. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem and Julian Borger in Washington report for the Guardian:
The absence so far of evidence presented to underpin Israel’s allegations about links between Unrwa staff and Hamas has raised questions about the snap decision by 19 donor governments to cut millions of dollars of funding to the main channel for humanitarian support for Palestinians, even as the death toll in Gaza soared, the health system collapsed and famine began to loom.
In the UK, ministers have said they would await publication of the Colonna report to make a decision on resuming funding: the UK provided £35m last financial year to Unrwa, including £16m extra for humanitarian aid. The US, previously the agency’s biggest donor, provided £340m to the agency in 2023 – nearly 30% of its total funds – but further financial support has been blocked by Congress for at least a year in the wake of Israel’s allegations.
Colonna’s report, which was commissioned by the UN, found that Unrwa had regularly supplied Israel with lists of its employees for vetting, and that “the Israeli government has not informed Unrwa of any concerns relating to any Unrwa staff based on these staff lists since 2011”.
