Humanitarian system in Gaza will collapse if Unrwa is unable to operate, warns Unicef
Unicef spokesperson James Elder has been answering questions from the media about last night’s vote in the Israeli parliament that would effectively ban Unrwa, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, from operating within Israel.
“If Unrwa is unable to operate, it’ll likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” Elder was quoted by Reuters as having said. “So a decision such as this suddenly means that a new way has been found to kill children,” he added.
Other UN agencies at the media briefing said it would be impossible to fill the void left by Unrwa, the main UN organisation working on the ground in Gaza to provide emergency relief to Palestinian people.
“It is indispensable and there is no alternative to it at this point,” UN humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke said, as Israel’s ongoing assault on the territory is worsening already dire conditions in which Palestinians face widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
In response to a question about whether the ban represented a form of collective punishment against Palestinians, he said:
I think it is a fair description of what they have decided here, if implemented, that this would add to the acts of collective punishment that we have seen imposed on Gaza.
The head of the International Organization for Migration said IOM could not replace Unrwa in Gaza but that it could provide more relief to those in crisis.
“That is a role that we are very, very keen to play, and one that we will be stepping up with the support of various stakeholders,” IOM director general Amy Pope said.
It comes as France’s foreign ministry says it “very strongly regrets” that Israel’s parliament passed two laws that could prevent Unrwa from operating in the Palestinian territories.
“Implementation of these laws would have very serious consequences for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is already catastrophic, but also all of the Palestinian territories,” the statement read, adding that France “reiterates its support for Unrwa and will continue to track the implementation of reforms necessary for its actions to be neutral”.
Key events
Unifil, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has said that a rocket that hit its headquarters in Naqoura earlier was fired from the north, likely by Hezbollah or an affiliated group (see post at 14.37 for more details on the attack).
Israel’s decision to ban Unrwa will have ‘devastating consequences’, WHO chief warns
The head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has condemned Israel’s decision to pass a law banning the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, from operating in the country.
In a post on X, he said Unrwa, which provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, has been an “irreplaceable lifeline” to Palestinians in Gaza for the last 70 years.
The WHO chief said the decision by the Israeli parliament to ban Unrwa was “intolerable” and will have “devastating consequences”.
“It contravenes Israel’s obligations and responsibilities, and threatens the lives and health of all those who depend on Unrwa,” he said.
.@UNRWA is an irreplaceable lifeline to the Palestinian people. And it has been for the past seven decades.
UNRWA was created by the @UN Member States. Today’s decision by the Israeli parliament barring UNRWA from its life-saving and health-protecting work on behalf of millions… pic.twitter.com/mWVwln63d9
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 28, 2024
Unrwa said the new laws – due to come into effect within three months – will cause the supply chain of aid to Gaza to “fall apart”, excepting an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Rocket attack injures 8 Austrian Unifil soldiers in southern Lebanon – defence ministry
A rocket attack has injured eight Austrian soldiers with a UN peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon, the Austrian defence ministry said.
“Eight Austrian army soldiers from the Unifil contingent (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) were injured today at 12:58 pm (1058 GMT) by a rocket hit in camp Naqoura; none of them seriously,” the statement said, adding the injuries were “minor and superficial”.
The Austrian defence ministry condemned the attack and adding it was “currently not possible to say where the attack came from”.
Unifil, the UN force deployed since 1978 to southern Lebanon, was established to patrol the country’s southern frontier after Israel invaded in 1978.
The UN’s top decision-making body, the security council, has since renewed and expanded its mandate repeatedly, notably during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.
Earlier this month, Unifil accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of deliberate violations, with several of its positions having come under fire. You can read more about Unifil’s peacekeeping role in this useful explainer.
Israeli forces have detained at least 15 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank over the last day, according to a joint statement by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
The detentions were reported by Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, as having occurred across various areas, including Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Nablus and Tubas.
It is estimated that over 11,500 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since last October.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the West Bank.
They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.
Israel has issued an apparent threat to Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem as he succeeds Hassan Nasrallah – the former leader who was killed by an Israeli strike. Alongside a photo of Qassem, the country’s defence minister Yoav Gallant as tweeted:
Temporary appointment. Not for long.
Reuters reports that Qassem was appointed Hezbollah’s deputy chief in 1991 by the then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.
Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, conducting interviews with foreign media; including while cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.
Since Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem has given three televised addresses, including one on 8 October, in which he said the armed group supported efforts to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon. He is considered by many in Lebanon to lack the charisma and gravitas of Nasrallah.
In its official Arabic account on Twitter, the Israeli government says:
His tenure in this position may be the shortest in the history of this terrorist organization if he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.
There is no solution in Lebanon except to dismantle this organization as a military force.
Spain’s interior ministry says it is cancelling a contract to buy ammunition from an Israeli firm, widening a Spanish pledge not to sell weapons to Israel to include purchases too, Reuters reports.
Cadena Ser radio earlier reported that the Guardia Civil police force agreed to buy more than 15m 9mm rounds for €6m (£4.98m, $6.48m) from Guardian LTD Israel. Spain said it would stop arms sales to Israel in October 2023 – when Israel’s war with Hamas started in Gaza. Ministers now say:
The Spanish government maintains the commitment not to sell weapons to the Israeli state since the armed conflict broke out in the territory of Gaza. Although, in this case, it is an acquisition of ammunition, the Interior Ministry has initiated the administrative procedure to cancel the purchase.
The ministry said Israeli companies would also be excluded from any outstanding tenders. The contract was tendered in February and awarded on 21 October; with two of the three lots awarded to an Israeli company, it added.
Spain has been one of the European Union’s harshest critics of Israel’s campaign in Gaza and, more recently, in south Lebanon.
The UK prime minister’s official spokesperson expresses grave concern at the vote in the Israeli parliament that would effectively ban Unrwa.
This legislation risks making Unrwa’s essential work for Palestinians impossible; jeopardising the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza and the delivery of essential health and education services in the West Bank.
There is a risk that this situation in the region could seriously destabilise… Just because the Knesset has passed this Bill, it does not mean that it has to be implemented, and we urge the Israeli government not to implement this legislation.
We do not believe it is in their interests to prevent the largest aid organisation in Gaza from operating.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, has said that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, and that the country is seeking the “eradication of Palestinians” from their land.
She said that “the genocide of the Palestinians appears to be the means to an end: the complete removal or eradication of Palestinians from the land so integral to their identity, and which is illegally and openly coveted by Israel”.
Humanitarian system in Gaza will collapse if Unrwa is unable to operate, warns Unicef
Unicef spokesperson James Elder has been answering questions from the media about last night’s vote in the Israeli parliament that would effectively ban Unrwa, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, from operating within Israel.
“If Unrwa is unable to operate, it’ll likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” Elder was quoted by Reuters as having said. “So a decision such as this suddenly means that a new way has been found to kill children,” he added.
Other UN agencies at the media briefing said it would be impossible to fill the void left by Unrwa, the main UN organisation working on the ground in Gaza to provide emergency relief to Palestinian people.
“It is indispensable and there is no alternative to it at this point,” UN humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke said, as Israel’s ongoing assault on the territory is worsening already dire conditions in which Palestinians face widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
In response to a question about whether the ban represented a form of collective punishment against Palestinians, he said:
I think it is a fair description of what they have decided here, if implemented, that this would add to the acts of collective punishment that we have seen imposed on Gaza.
The head of the International Organization for Migration said IOM could not replace Unrwa in Gaza but that it could provide more relief to those in crisis.
“That is a role that we are very, very keen to play, and one that we will be stepping up with the support of various stakeholders,” IOM director general Amy Pope said.
It comes as France’s foreign ministry says it “very strongly regrets” that Israel’s parliament passed two laws that could prevent Unrwa from operating in the Palestinian territories.
“Implementation of these laws would have very serious consequences for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is already catastrophic, but also all of the Palestinian territories,” the statement read, adding that France “reiterates its support for Unrwa and will continue to track the implementation of reforms necessary for its actions to be neutral”.
Death toll in Gaza reaches 43,061, says health ministry
At least 43,061 Palestinian people have been killed and 101,223 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since last October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Of those, 41 Palestinians were killed and 113 others were injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the ministry, which has said in the past that thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.
The toll did not include the 93 people who were killed and many others injured in the Israeli attack in Beit Lahiya.
Gaza’s civil defence agency has said that 93 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya, confirming the figure given by Gaza government’s media office earlier.
“The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Abu Nasr family home in Beit Lahia has risen to 93 martyrs, and about 40 are still missing under the rubble,” agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement.
The death toll has been increasing throughout the day as more bodies have been recovered from under the rubble of the residential building that was sheltering displaced Palestinian people.
The Qatari foreign ministry has said Qatar will work with Joe Biden’s administration “until the last minute” to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal.
“We don’t foresee any negative result of the elections on the mediation process itself. We believe that we are dealing with institutions, and in a country like the United States, the institutions are invested in finding a resolution to this crisis,” ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a press conference.
Former Republican president Donald Trump is in a tight presidential race with US vice president, Kamala Harris. The US election will be held on 5 November. Whoever wins will serve four years in the White House starting from their inauguration on 20 January 2025.
As my colleague Andrew Roth notes in this story, there is considerable doubt that the White House under either Trump or Harris will be prepared to meaningfully rein in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and find a diplomatic solution to Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands over the summer and negotiations ground to a halt in August.
Netanyahu has previously been accused of blocking a ceasefire deal over his insistence on continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt, and central Gaza’s Netzarim corridor, a strategic route bisecting Gaza.
Hamas has demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Egypt has said that a heavy Israeli military presence on its border threatens the peace treaty between the countries.
Summary of the day so far…
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An Israeli attack on a residential building sheltering displaced civilians in northern Gaza’s town of Beit Lahiya is reported to have killed 93 people, including 20 children, according to medics. Dozens of people are reported missing and 150 others estimated to be injured. The Israeli military is yet to comment on the deadly airstrike. Nearby Kamal Adwan hospital is struggling to treat people injured in the attack as it reportedly has run out of medical supplies and only has two paediatric doctors, with no surgeons.
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The attack came a day after Israel’s parliament passed a law to ban the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating inside the country, alarming many of Israel’s allies who fear it will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. The Turkish foreign ministry said earlier today that the move aimed to disrupt efforts to reach a two-state solution. Jordan’s foreign ministry said Monday’s vote was “part of the systematic targeting” of Unrwa and a “continuation of Israel’s frantic efforts to assassinate the UN agency politically, in addition to its aggressive war on the Palestinian people”.
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Hezbollah said it chose deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, to succeed Hasan Nasrallah as leader of the Lebanese militant group after Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on south Beirut last month.
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Lebanese state media reported that Israeli tanks have rolled into the outskirts of the village of Khiam, in what is thought to be their deepest incursion yet into south Lebanon in the ground assault launched last month.
Israeli tanks enter outskirts of Khiam in deepest incursion yet into southern Lebanon – media
Lebanese state media reports that Israeli tanks have rolled into the outskirts of the village of Khiam, in what is thought to be their deepest incursion yet into south Lebanon in the ground assault launched last month.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported the entry of “a large number of tanks belonging to the Israeli occupation army” into the eastern outskirts of Khiam, about six kilometres (nearly four miles) from the border with Israel.
The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for a number of villages in southern Lebanon, the NNA reported. They are: Tayr Harfa, al-Jabin, al-Qasr al-Ahmar, Jabal al-Batm, Zebqin, Sheheen, al-Himyari, al-Kharib, Ansar, Mataria al-Shomr, Adloun, Majdal Zun, Shama, Abu Shash, al-Naqoura and Alma al-Shaa.
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a senior correspondent for the Guardian
The incoming European council president António Costa is visiting Dublin today and will discuss the latest Middle East crisis.
The Irish taoiseach Simon Harris said he will urge him to “use all levers” to effect change in the middle east.
He said:
Unfortunately we meet the day after Israel voted for a horrific escalation in suffering by effectively banning Unrwa.
I strongly condemn the passage of the legislation in the Israeli Knesset. If implemented, it will make it impossible for Unrwa to carry out its vital role across the region. If Unrwa cannot carry out its mission, more innocent people will die.
A barrage of projectiles was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Tuesday, killing at least one person in the town of Maalot, Israeli emergency services and the military said.
“We saw an unconscious male with no pulse and no breathing… but his injury was critical and we had to pronounce him deceased,” Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
MDA Spokesperson: Update to the Red Alert sirens in Maalot
MDA EMTs and Paramedics have reported a male with no signs of life and a number of anxiety patients. Updates to follow pic.twitter.com/lBgy4OOth4
— Magen David Adom (@Mdais) October 29, 2024
Separately, the Israeli military said about 50 projectiles had been identified crossing from Lebanon into the Upper and Western Galilee regions on Tuesday morning.
