ISRAEL said today it has terminated the agreement facilitating UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA’s work on territory it controls, in line with legislation banning the humanitarian organisation.
The agreement dates back to 1967, when Israel conquered the West Bank and Syrian Golan Heights, both of which it continues to illegally occupy (the latter it has unilaterally annexed).
Its government was also accused of deliberately withholding treatment from Palestinian detainees in the Negev prison in the West Bank, with the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club reporting an outbreak of scabies there and saying authorities were denying inmates access to showers, clean clothes or washing machines to “torture them physically and psychologically.”
The World Food Programme warned that the situation in Gaza would soon “escalate into famine” as Israel blocks access to humanitarian aid, while its relentless bombing of the besieged territory continued, claiming at least another 33 lives today.
Shell fire hit Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, injuring patients, including children, hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya said in a statement to the media. He said the shells hit the hospital’s nursery, dormitory and water tanks just after a delegation from the World Health Organisation ended a visit.
Kamal Adwan and two other nearby hospitals have been hit by Israel several times during the fighting. Earlier this month, Israeli troops stormed Kamal Adwan, detaining a large number of people, including much of the staff, and claiming without providing evidence to have discovered weapons at the facility. On Saturday, UN children’s agency Unicef executive director Catherine Russell warned that “the entire Palestinian population in north Gaza, especially children, is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and ongoing bombardments.”
Israel expanded its bombing campaign in Lebanon too, destroying “historic sites and government buildings” in the ancient city of Baalbek. On Sunday it admitted its ground troops have entered Syria, which it regularly bombs, for the first time since the invasion of Gaza began just over a year ago, seizing a man it claimed was “involved in Iranian networks.” It did not specify exactly when the raid took place.
