Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Israel allowed 90 lorries carrying critical aid into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the UN said, as international pressure intensifies over the Israeli military's renewed offensive and blockade on the enclave.
Three days after Israel announced it would permit limited deliveries, the UN collected goods from the Karam Abu Salem crossing and sent them into Gaza, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres.
In Gaza, the Hamas government media office reported the arrival of 87 aid lorries, which it said were allocated to international and local organisations to meet “urgent humanitarian needs”.
Five lorries entered Gaza on Monday with the first delivery of aid for the Palestinian territory's 2.3 million people since Israel imposed a blockade on March 2.
The first aid distributions in Gaza since early March came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a “temporary ceasefire”, but the military aimed to bring the entire territory under its control.
In Geneva, the Palestinian health minister said that 29 children had died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk.
"In the last couple of days we lost 29 children," Palestinian health minister, Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters, describing them as "starvation-related deaths".
Asked to react to earlier comments by the UN aid chief that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said that "The number 14,000 is very realistic, may be even underestimating" the scale.
He added it was necessary to “avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action” in Gaza.
Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies. Israel has meanwhile kept up its bombardment, with Gaza's Health Ministry reporting on Wednesday that the bodies of 82 people were taken to hospitals across the territory over the previous 24 hours.
Hundreds of lorries were entering Gaza each day during a ceasefire from January to March but the stockpile has run low and the blockade has resulted in shortages of food and medicine.
Mounting pressure
This month, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said Gaza's entire population was at risk of famine. Health authorities in the enclave have said dozens of people, many of them children, have died from hunger.
Far-right members of Israel's government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both settlers, are strongly opposed to the move, which they say would be a “gift to Hamas”.
A US-backed private group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which will use contractors, said that it will start moving aid into the territory in “coming days”. The UN and traditional agencies have said they will not co-operate with the foundation which some have accused of working with Israel.
The GHF has said it will distribute some 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operation.
Israel has faced mounting pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its expanded offensive and allow aid into Gaza. EU foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to review the bloc's co-operation accord, which includes trade, with Israel.
Sweden said it would press the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as “worrying and painful” and called for “the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid”.
Gaza's health ministry said at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall death toll to 53,655, mostly civilians.
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
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