by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jerusalem : Italy approved on Monday an additional funding of €3.5 million for UNRWA programs to be carried out in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip, according to a press release by the Italian Consulate in Jerusalem.
“In accordance with the well-established Italian support to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and given the serious financial difficulties that UNRWA is facing, Italy has approved an additional funding of €3.5 million for programs to be carried out in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip,” said the statement.
“The contribution comes on top of the financial effort already set up by Italy for the benefit of the Agency. This effort, considered as a whole $14 million in 2017, allows our country to be the 14th most important donor of the agency.”
The statement said “UNRWA keeps playing an essential part by providing basic services to more than 5 million Palestinian refugees. Its activities contribute in a concrete manner to the stability of the region.”
The Italian contribution came after the United States, the largest donor with $360 million in annual aid to UNRWA, decided to stop all funding to the humanitarian agency, a step seen to punish and pressure the Palestinians to accept its terms for a settlement with Israel.
—AG/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jerusalem : Israel has carried out large-scale airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, targeting “12 terror sites”, a military spokesperson said.
Israel struck Hamas sites in Gaza, bombing a concrete factory and a maritime assault tunnel shaft, after at least 36 Gaza rockets hit Israel, the army said on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The airstrikes came after an eight-rocket barrage hit the southern city of Sderot, lightly injuring at least six people, the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon said in a statement.
Afterward, sirens continued to wail throughout southern Israel in the night, warning of more projectiles, as residents took shelter inside their homes.
On Tuesday, two Hamas snipers were killed in Gaza in an Israeli artillery attack, which Israeli forces said was carried out under the misconception that Hamas had shot toward them.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military raised the level of alert along the Gaza border. The military warned Hamas that it “will not tolerate any aggression against Israeli civilians or Israel Defense Forces soldiers, and is prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.”
The recent incidents are expected to distance the chances of a quick Egyptian-brokered cease-fire. Egypt has been taking efforts to achieve a deal between Israel and Hamas, the group that runs Gaza, but has yet to achieve an agreement between the two.
The recent round of violence between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave has claimed the lives of at least 140 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jerusalem : Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged the Islamic movement Hamas on Saturday to allow the empowerment of the national unity government in the Gaza Strip as a necessity for attaining internal reconciliation.
Hamdallah said in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas and the government were ready to shoulder all necessary responsibilities toward the Gaza Strip as the government has been enabled to take over powers there, Xinhua reported.
He made the remarks during an event in Anbata, near Nablus in northern West Bank.
Up to 20,000 employees from Hamas have been enlisted in the 2018 budget, he said, and an approach is underway to resolve all stalled issues that are hindering smooth handover processes of the administrative jurisdictions from Hamas to the Palestinian National Authority.
The prime minister called on the Islamic group to enable the government to collect tax related fees, impose full control on the crossings and allow the domestic police to enforce public order in the coastal enclave.
Meanwhile, Hamas movement said it had handed over all the governments departments to the Palestinian government following the agreement reached on Oct. 20, 2017 in Cairo, Egypt.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Ankara, (IINA) – Turkey and Israel reached a reconciliation agreement late Sunday to normalize relations more than six years after Israeli troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters, a senior Turkish official confirmed on Monday.
According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Ankara and Tel Aviv teams that met during final talks in Rome Sunday agreed on key conditions for reconciliation.
According to Anadolu Agency, the official said that Israel accepted a number of requests by the Turkish side, including Israeli compensation for families of those killed in the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla raid and Turkey’s humanitarian presence in the embargoed Gaza Strip.
Under the deal, Turkey will be able to send humanitarian aid to Gaza as well as implement infrastructure projects including residential buildings and a 200-bed Turkish-Palestine Friendship Hospital in the area, the senior official said.
“However, contrary to claims, the deal has no provision regarding Hamas”, the official added.
Ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv have been frayed since 2010 when six civilian ships in a humanitarian aid flotilla were attacked in international waters by Israeli forces.
The vessels were trying to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine Turkish citizens were killed and 30 other people were injured.
Turkey demanded an official apology from Israel, compensation for the families of those killed in the attack, as well as the removal of Israel’s blockade on Gaza in the aftermath of the attack.
In 2013, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to then-Turkish Premier and now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the attack.
In recent months, the two countries have been engaged in talks aimed at normalizing ties.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is due to make a statement Monday regarding progress in negotiations with Israel.
