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Kamala Harris Repeats Claim Israel Blocking Aid From Entering Northern Gaza Contradicted by UN, Israeli Data
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US, Aug. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Erica Dischino
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday repeated a claim that the Israeli government has hindered food from entering northern Gaza since the beginning of October, contradicting data compiled by both the Jewish state and humanitarian aid organizations affiliated with the United Nations.
“The UN reports that no food has entered northern Gaza in nearly 2 weeks. Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need. Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected,” Harris posted on X/Twitter.
The Democratic presidential nominee was referring to a recent report produced by the UN World Food Program (WFP) claiming that, due to Israeli military actions, nearly all food distribution points in northern Gaza have been shut down since Oct. 1. The report said that communities in northern Gaza were left with dwindling supplies and on the brink of total starvation.
“WFP distributed its last remaining food stocks in the north to partners and kitchens sheltering newly displaced families, but these are barely enough to last two weeks,” the report read.
Subsequent media reports said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considering establishing a “closed military zone” in northern Gaza to combat Hamas terrorists. The reported plan would mandate the cessation of aid transfers into the enclosed area in an attempt to starve out Hamas fighters, who according to US and Israeli authorities often steal aid meant for civilians. Israel had ordered the evacuation of civilians from northern Gaza, but many people had not left the designated military zone and would be impacted by the withholding of supplies.
According to Axios, however, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was not carrying out the plan to seal off aid to northern Gaza.
Data provided by the UN and the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli government agency coordinating civilian issues in the Palestinian territories, directly challenge the claim that Israel has blocked aid from entering northern Gaza.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that 54 aid trucks entered northern Gaza just from Oct. 8-10 via Gate 96, a recently created route for humanitarian aid to enter the northern part of the Palestinian enclave. Food made up a majority of the supplies. From Oct. 1-Oct. 10, 25 truckloads of aid were received in Gaza through the Erez West crossing into northern Gaza, and most of the trucks contained food.
According to data compiled by COGAT, 31 aid trucks entered northern Gaza through the Erez West crossing from Oct. 1-Oct. 12.
COGAT also posted a video on X/Twitter on Monday showing a humanitarian aid truck entering northern Gaza.
“30 trucks entered northern Gaza through the Erez Crossing earlier today. Israel is not preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into Gaza,” COGAT wrote.
“In the last two weeks, the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] has been conducting a ground operation in northern Gaza to destroy Hamas terrorist infrastructure, which just this week launched rockets from northern Gaza towards civilian populations in Israel,” the agency added.
30 trucks entered northern Gaza through the Erez Crossing earlier today.
Israel is not preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into Gaza.
In the last two weeks, the @IDF has been conducting a ground operation in northern Gaza to destroy Hamas… pic.twitter.com/xBW54K3s0Z
— COGAT (@cogatonline) October 14, 2024
The UN has long been accused by critics of harboring a bias against Israel. In June, the global organization placed Israel on its so-called “list of shame” alongside other “countries that kill children” in armed conflict. The United Nations Human Rights Office also published a report in June claiming that Israel cut off humanitarian assistance to Gaza without noting that Hamas terrorists often attempt to steal and hoard aid or that Israel has allowed large numbers of supply trucks to enter the war-torn enclave. The United Nations’ special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has repeatedly circulated an unsubstantiated claim from a medical journal that 186,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Last year, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel twice as often as it did all other countries combined. Meanwhile, of all the country-specific resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Council, nearly half have condemned Israel, a seemingly disproportionate focus on the lone democracy in the Middle East.
Harris’s office did not respond to a request for comment by The Algemeiner.
The post Kamala Harris Repeats Claim Israel Blocking Aid From Entering Northern Gaza Contradicted by UN, Israeli Data first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.