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Much of the aid pledged by the UK is still being blocked from entering Gaza despite diplomatic efforts, the development assistance watchdog said in a report released on Tuesday.
Since the Israel-Gaza war broke out in October, the UK has committed an extra £70 million ($89 million) in humanitarian funding to the Palestinian territories, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact said.
Britain has held diplomatic discussions at senior levels to encourage Israel to ease restrictions on humanitarian access, the commission said.
When aid convoys reach land border crossings, the Israeli military conducts exhaustive inspections to prevent the delivery of “dual use” items that might benefit Hamas or be used as a weapon.
This leads to lorries frequently being delayed or turned back, the committee said.
It said it had received reports that stone fruit had been turned away because Israeli security considered it to be "dual use".
“While the UK has significantly increased aid to Gaza in response to the crisis, it’s clear that very little is reaching those who urgently need it, with restrictions on land access – the only way to move enough aid – increasing and the situation for aid workers increasingly perilous,” chief commissioner Tamsyn Barton said.
Countries drop aid into war-torn Gaza - in pictures
“That the UK and other donors’ diplomatic attempts to improve access and save lives have so far been ineffective shows how fragile the system underpinning international humanitarian law is, confronting a hugely complex crisis such as this.
“We note that other donors have taken steps such as stopping or reducing arms sales or resuming funding to the main humanitarian agency, UNRWA, while the UK has not.”
The UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and main provider of aid in Gaza, was investigated over Israeli accusations that some of its staff had taken part in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel.
The outcome of an investigation was enough for countries such as Canada and Australia to restore their funding.
The UK had already paid its planned contributions for 2023-2024 before the suspension, but it has not allocated funding to the UNRWA for this financial year.
The UK’s primary focus has been on securing land access for humanitarian aid, which all those interviewed by the committee agreed was the most viable option for delivery at scale.
Those interviewed agreed that aid drops of humanitarian supplies by plane into Gaza, which the UK has also carried out, should be a last resort because of the danger they pose to civilians, the watchdog said.
House of Commons international development committee chairwoman Sarah Champion said the report showed the UK must “step up to its proper place in the international humanitarian system and take effective action”.
“How can we say that people trapped in Gaza are being treated in accordance with international humanitarian law – or that the UK’s representations are having any meaningful effect?" Ms Champion asked.
“This independent review affirms what the committee saw when we visited the region as far back as February, what we have heard in evidence from aid workers on the ground who have seen far too many of their colleagues killed and injured, and what the whole world is now finally seeing.
“Some countries are choosing to respond with serious action: limiting arms sales to Israel and restoring funding to UNWRA.
"The FCDO’s response to our IDC report on the situation was full of the right words, and the UK’s increased aid to Gaza was very welcome, but in the reality of the situation ... these are nothing more than a gesture.
“Despite all the diplomatic efforts and promises secured, a total of 59 aid trucks crossed into Gaza between 5 and 13 May – the rest turned back on excuses as flimsy as containing fruit with stones in them.
“Before this horror, 500 aid trucks were entering Gaza daily to meet normal need.”
The specs
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 1
Kane (50')
Newcastle United 0
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Suarez 27', Vidal 32', Dembele 35', Messi 78')
Sevilla 0
Red cards: Ronald Araujo, Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter
TERMINAL HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENCE (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Game is on BeIN Sports
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