Israel announced this Friday, April 5, to authorize the “temporary” delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip, besieged and threatened with famine, via the port of Ashdod and the Erez crossing point, the day after a unprecedented warning from Washington. In the midst of the humanitarian drama in Gaza, the death on Monday, in Israeli strikes, of seven workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen increased international discontent.
American President Joe Biden on Thursday pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to conclude “without delay” an agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and raised for the first time the possibility of conditioning American aid on Israel takes “tangible” measures.
Information to remember
⇒ Pressed by the United States, Israel promises “immediate measures” to increase humanitarian aid
⇒ Spanish NGO suspends operations in Gaza
⇒ McDonald’s will buy the 225 franchised restaurants in Israel
Pressed by the United States, Israel promises “immediate measures” to increase humanitarian aid
According to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, Israel will authorize the “temporary” delivery of humanitarian aid through the Israeli port of Ashdod, approximately 40 km north of the Gaza Strip, and through the crossing point. Erez crossing, between Palestinian territory and southern Israel. Israel’s security cabinet approved “immediate measures to increase humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” the prime minister’s office said. “This increased aid will help avert a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of fighting and achieve the objectives of the war,” he added. The Israeli authorities will also allow “the increase in Jordanian aid through Kerem Shalom”, a border post in southern Israel.
The White House immediately called on Israel to “rapidly and completely” implement the promised aid delivery to Gaza. “What we expect and hope to see in the hours and days to come is a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid, the opening of new crossing points and a reduction in violence against civilians and certainly humanitarian workers,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters after the phone call Thursday between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the American president for the first time once raised the possibility of conditioning American support for Israel.
Spanish NGO suspends operations in Gaza
Open Arms, the Spanish organization which chartered with the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) the first humanitarian aid boat to arrive in Gaza in March, said on Thursday that it was suspending “the mission in the humanitarian corridor towards the Gaza Strip.” Gaza with World Central Kitchen”, following the strikes which left seven workers of the latter NGO dead on Monday. WCK immediately announced that it was suspending its operations in Gaza, increasing fears for the 2.4 million inhabitants.
The international NGOs Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Oxfam, Médecins du Monde and Save the Children International have once again warned of their near impossibility of working in the Gaza Strip. None of these NGOs are planning to leave at this stage, even if the question arises “every day”, insisted Isabelle Defourny, president of MSF France. “The conditions for providing humanitarian assistance are not met,” she added. But “we will not stop working in Gaza”, where MSF has 300 Palestinian collaborators, and even foreigners, confined to the far south of the territory.
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken recalled Thursday that “100% of the population needs humanitarian aid” in Gaza. “And those who mobilize heroically to provide this assistance do so at the risk of their lives,” he declared on the sidelines of a NATO ceremony in Brussels. “This week’s horrific attack on World Central Kitchen was not the first of its kind. It must be the last,” he insisted. Since the start of the war, nearly 200 humanitarian workers have been killed, according to Christopher Lockyear, secretary general of MSF. While “31 children in Gaza have died of hunger and dehydration” according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the UN Security Council will hold a meeting on Friday on the risk of famine and the situation of humanitarian workers in Gaza.
McDonald’s to buy 225 franchised restaurants in Israel
The American fast food giant McDonald’s reached an agreement on Thursday to buy the Alonyal group, owner of 225 franchised restaurants in Israel, the American group said in a press release. During the presentation of McDonald’s 2023 annual results on February 5, management recognized that turnover was suffering from calls for boycotts linked to the conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas. McDonald’s became a prime target after its franchise in Israel announced in November that it was offering thousands of free meals to the Israeli army.
Netanyahu advocates defense and attack against Iran
The Israeli army announced Thursday that it had strengthened its defense measures in this context of increased tensions with Iran against the backdrop of the war in Gaza. “For years, Iran has acted against us both directly and through its proxies. Therefore, Israel acts against Iran and its agents defensively and offensively,” Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to a press release from his office.
These announcements come after strikes attributed to Israel destroyed the consular annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus on Monday, killing 16 people, including seven members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic. . Iran has accused Israel, which has not confirmed its responsibility. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel would be “slapped” for the attack.