United Nations Archives - Page 3 of 9

Israel’s Intensifies Displacement Campaign in Gaza

CrossFireArabia
March 22, 2025

The consequences of Israel’s latest forced displacement campaign,masked as “evacuation orders”, in the Gaza Strip—along with its renewed ground assaults and ongoing intense aerial bombardments—are already catastrophic. This situation will undoubtedly compel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee once more, forcing them to face homelessness yet again if the international community allows Israeli occupation forces toravage most homes, shelters, and structures in the area.

The Euro-Med Monitor field team observed Israeli occupation forces advancing on foot into western Beit Lahia on the evening of Thursday 20 March, accompanied by heavy artillery shelling and airstrikes during the night. This resulted in the forced relocation of thousands of people who were living in tents and run-down houses to areas devoid of the most basic necessities of life, where they were further bombarded and had no protection.

The Israeli occupation army also increased its violations in other regions of the Gaza Strip. In the last several hours, as of the time of publication, ithas conducted ground incursions into two areas of Rafah outside the “buffer zone” where its troops are positioned along the Egyptian border.Additionally, it has persisted in enforcing unlawful evacuation orders to drive out inhabitants of the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun and towns east of Khan Yunis.

Due to a lack of transportation options, thousands of people in these areas were forced to leave their possessions behind and flee. After creating shabby, temporary shelters close to their destroyed homes over the 61 days following the ceasefire implemented on 19 January, they have once again been forced to experience the agony of being displaced somewhere new without shelter.

Israel began its most recent violent bombing campaign on Tuesday morning with the apparent intent to target population centres, shelters, displaced people’s tents, and inhabited homes,without any military justification or necessity. Its illegal ground incursions and evacuation orders have occurred at the same time as this campaign. Israel has been committing genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip for nearly 18 months now, and its latest crimes are part of asystematic policy designed to impose harsh living conditions on the Strip’s residents that will ultimately result in their total annihilation.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Tuesday that he had directed the army to seize new areas of the Gaza Strip and evacuate residents southward, intensify air, sea, and land bombardments, and employ all available military and civil pressure methods, including carrying out President Trump’s plan to expel the Strip’s population.

“Take the advice of the President of the United States,” Katz said in a “final warning” last Wednesday. “Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you—including the possibility of leaving for other places in the world for those who want to.”

Israel’s policies of starvation, mass destruction, and ongoing terror alone have unveiled a comprehensive plan to rid the enclave of its Palestinian population by driving Palestinians from their land through bombardment, deprivationof the basic necessities needed for survival, andthe blocking of aid that has resulted in a lack of means of subsistence. Katz’s public remarks, however, unequivocally demonstrate Israel’s declared intent to forcibly uproot Palestinians as part of its 17-month-long genocide.

These remarks are not just threats; rather, they represent a reality that is being experienced on the ground as a result of widespread killings and the imposition of intolerable living conditions. The United States offers financial and military support for the continuation of Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip, obstructs any international efforts to hold Israel accountable, and intervenes to prevent the issuance or implementation of United Nations resolutions that might curb these violations, providing political and military cover for these killings. As a result, the US is not only a collaborator, but is also a key player in Israel’s ongoing crime of genocide.

The most recent field reports state that in less than 72 hours, Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed 591 Palestinians, including 120 women and more than 220 children, and injured over a thousand more people, some of whom arecurrently in critical condition.

The international community’s silence has allowed Israel to carry out its crimes, including killing and injuring people and attacking the headquarters ofinternational organisations and the UN within the Gaza Strip, without any deterrent. This is a serious breach of international law that was implemented to give UN headquarters and UNemployees extra protection—which is a crime in and of itself that needs to be taken seriously, and for which prompt punishment is necessary.

UN employee Marin Marinov was killed and five other foreign nationals were seriously injured in Israel’s bombing of the United Nations Office for Project Services staff residence in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, last Wednesday. Two of the victims were participants in the UN 2720 mechanism for Gaza, and three supported the UN Mine Action Service programme in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Notably, this was the second attack on the headquarters in just 12 hours; it had been hit by Israeli shelling the night before, with one shell striking the building’s roof in an attack that left no casualties.

Despite the obvious Israeli targeting and the type of shrapnel discovered at the headquarters, which experts for CNN determined were consistent with an Israeli M339 120mm tank shell, Israel’s denial of responsibility for this crime is just another example of its strategy of falsifying information in order to maintain impunity.

Israel’s refusal to take responsibility for this crime is not just dishonesty; rather, it is a calculated strategy that reflects its conviction that it can control the facts and avoid accountability without facing repercussions. Israel relies on its unrestricted political and diplomatic protection to carry out its violations in the absence of any meaningful investigations or true international accountability.

Israel continues not only to commit crimes but also to push the envelope, breaking every rule of international law because it knows that every transgression that goes unpunished opens the door for even more heinous acts. In the face of an international system that consistently fails to deter Israel and its allies in any way, the most horrific crimes and legal infractions have become routine and obvious, respectively.

In addition to being a disgraceful failure, the international community’s silence regarding Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip over the past nearly 18 months effectively gives Israel permission to commit further acts of genocide by resuming the mass killing of Palestinians. The systematic destruction of Palestinians’ means of subsistence is an obvious attempt to eradicate them entirely.

The systematic pattern of mass murder, continuous forced starvation, wilful deprivation of basic survival necessities, and the complete destruction of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip cannot be justified under any circumstances, regardless of the pretexts Israel may use. The core of Israel’s genocide in the Strip is the systematic policy to destroy Palestinian society and prevent it from existing as a viable entity, which is what these acts comprise—they are not isolated crimes.

Any attempt by Israel or its allies to disguise these crimes as security concerns or military requirements is nothing more than flagrant deception to hide the crime of genocide. Moreover, since these actions are being carried out with the obvious intent to exterminate the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, these justifications do not alter the legal reality. The international community should not engage in any way with these excuses, and must act immediately to hold those responsible accountable and stop this genocide against the people of the Gaza Strip from continuing.

All states, both individually and collectively, should take up their legal obligations and act immediately to halt the genocide in the Strip by all means possible. In order to protect Palestinian civilians there, the international community must take all necessary steps to force Israel to lift the blockade completely and immediately, permit unrestricted movement of people and goods, open all crossings without arbitrary conditions, and take effective measures to protect Palestinians from forced displacement and slow killing. This includes launching an urgent response to appropriately meet the population’s immediate needs, including by providing adequate temporary housing.

Israel’s persistent and grave transgressions of international law necessitate the imposition of economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions by the international community. The financial assets of officials implicated in crimes against Palestinians must be frozen, military cooperationsuspended, and arms exports to Israel prohibited. Additionally, trade privileges and bilateral agreements that benefit Israel’s economy should be suspended in order to pressure Israel to stop its crimes against Palestinians.

States that aid Israel in committing these crimes, including the United States and other nations that give Israel support or assistance in any way, including aid and contractual relationships with itsmilitary, intelligence, political, legal, financial, media, and other areas that help its crimes continue, should be held accountable.

Arrest warrants and investigations by the International Criminal Court into Israeli officials involved in international crimes in the Gaza Strip must be expedited. To prevent Israeli officials from acting without consequence, Member States of the Rome Statute are required to cooperate fully with the Court and ensure that these arrest warrants are carried out.

Opinion

The A, B, C to Rebuilding Gaza

CrossFireArabia
March 13, 2025

By Dr Raad Mahmoud Al-Tal

According to the Gaza reconstruction plan report from the temporary Arab Summit in Cairo, Gaza’s economy shrank by 83 per cent in 2024. Unemployment rose to 80%, and inflation reached 309.4 per cent in October 2024 due to severe supply shortages. On the humanitarian side, 91 per cent of Gaza’s population faces food insecurity, and this number is expected to rise to 1.95 million by April 2025. The healthcare system is collapsing, with 64 per cent of primary health centers out of service, and 25 per cent of the injured require long-term rehabilitation. Education is also in crisis, with 745,000 children out of school because schools were either destroyed or used as shelters. Over a million children need psychological and social support, and there are between 17,000 and 18,000 unaccompanied children, which makes child care even more difficult.

The damage in Gaza is divided into three categories: areas completely destroyed, which need the rubble cleared and infrastructure rebuilt from scratch; semi-destroyed areas, which need repairs to restore basic services; and lightly damaged areas, which require limited work to restore services and ensure ongoing reconstruction. The damage is assessed by comparing the current situation to how things were before the crisis, and the affected assets are classified into three levels: fully destroyed, partially damaged, and lightly damaged.

The reconstruction plan has two phases. The first phase, early recovery, will take 6 months and cost $3 billion. This phase includes clearing rubble, repairing main roads, providing 200,000 temporary housing units, and restoring 60,000 damaged homes. The second phase, which is the main reconstruction phase, will take 5 years and cost $50 billion. It is split into two parts: The first part, lasting 2 years at a cost of $20 billion, involves finishing the rubble removal, building 200,000 homes, repairing 20,000 acres of farmland, and setting up water desalination plants and sewage treatment facilities. The second part, lasting 2.5 years at a cost of $30 billion, involves building 200,000 more homes, developing ports, creating an industrial zone, and building a coastal road.

Housing has been the hardest-hit sector, with 15,000 homes completely destroyed. The plan aims to build 150,000 new homes and provide 100,000 temporary homes, costing $15 billion. About 30 per cent of Gaza’s farmland was also destroyed, requiring the rehabilitation of 10,000 hectares at a cost of $5.6 billion. The water and electricity sectors also need significant investment to keep providing essential services to the people. The total cost of reconstruction is estimated at $53 billion over 10 years. The funds for this will come from international donors, humanitarian organizations, and local investments. Around $4.5 billion will be for development projects, and $18 billion will go toward infrastructure.

For the reconstruction plan to succeed, it is important to get enough financial resources to fix the huge damage in Gaza. This will help restore normal life and improve the economic and social situation, leading to long-term sustainable development. To ensure the plan works, it is crucial to have different sources of funding. These could include the United Nations, international financial organizations, donor countries, investment funds, government agencies, development banks, and civil society groups.

An international trust fund will be set up to manage the funds efficiently, ensuring transparency and proper oversight. The Egyptian government will also hold a high-level conference in Cairo, in partnership with the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, to gather the necessary support for the reconstruction plan. This conference will bring together donor countries, international and regional financial institutions, the Palestinian and international private sectors, and civil society organizations. It will be a key event to secure financial resources and suggest investment projects that can be implemented with the help of supporting organizations.

The writer is head of the Economics Department – University of Jordan – [email protected]

News

Daniel Levy: ‘A Minute of Silence That Should Extend to 300 Hours’

CrossFireArabia
February 26, 2025

Daniel Levy, a British-Israeli political analyst and former peace negotiator, stated: “A minute of silence for each of the Bibas children would be appropriate, as would a minute of silence for each of the more than 18,000 Palestinian children murdered in Israel’s devastation of Gaza. That silence would extend to over 300 hours.”

Opinion

Who is Going to Rebuild Gaza?

CrossFireArabia
February 25, 2025

No official announcement was made following the Riyadh Summit, which was considered fraternal, friendly, and consultative rather than formal. The summit, held a few days ago, was attended by the Gulf states, along with Jordan and Egypt, in anticipation of the Cairo Summit scheduled for March 4. The Cairo Summit is expected to approve and announce a new Arab plan for rebuilding Gaza as an alternative to Trump’s plan. However, more importantly, the Arab plan presents a comprehensive political approach linking the Gaza issue to the establishment of a Palestinian state and a peaceful resolution in the region. This approach counters Israel’s new policies, which are based on political hegemony—not only in Palestine by eliminating the two-state solution but also by expanding Israel’s security boundaries to include parts of Syria and Lebanon and inciting the U.S. into a confrontation with Iran.

The Egyptian-Arab approach is still in its final stages of preparation. It takes into account a combination of financial, technical, political, and security aspects concerning Gaza. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has proposed modifications to the plan originally put forward by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the European Union, which estimated the cost of rebuilding Gaza at over $50 billion in a rapid and preliminary needs and damage assessment report (IRDNA). Instead, Mustafa proposed a more realistic and feasible plan costing no more than $20 billion, to be implemented in three phases. The Egyptians have incorporated this into their reconstruction plan, which includes dividing Gaza into three safe zones, using temporary housing (caravans) and tents, and developing a technical vision for redesigning the sector’s infrastructure through specialized Egyptian companies.

The Arab approach links the reconstruction plan to several key elements. The first is the technical, logistical, and financial aspect of rebuilding. The second is reforming the Palestinian Authority (PA) to counter Israeli claims of its incompetence, with reform measures covering political and security aspects. The third element concerns the administration of Gaza in the post-occupation phase. A significant development has occurred with the Palestinians agreeing on a temporary administrative committee responsible for technocratic affairs. Hamas has accepted this arrangement, and President Mahmoud Abbas has reluctantly agreed to it, as it implicitly means that the PA will not return to Gaza.

The most challenging aspect of the Arab plan lies in the security arrangements during the reconstruction phase. Arab states refuse to deploy security forces or enter Gaza without a clear vision for ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a Palestinian state. As Arab diplomats emphasize, what is needed is not just a roadmap for resolving the Palestinian issue, but rather an agreement on final-status issues and recognition of a Palestinian state—followed by a roadmap for implementation, not the other way around.

The most contentious issue in the Arab approach is Hamas’s weapons. Israel, along with the United States, will not accept Hamas retaining its weapons in Gaza. Israel has made it clear that it links the second phase of the process to this condition, and the U.S. has accepted this demand. On the other hand, the Arab side ties the issue of disarming non-state actors to the establishment of a Palestinian state that would have the exclusive right to possess weapons. The key question remains: Who would disarm Hamas? The only legitimate entity that could do so is a recognized Palestinian state, which remains the missing piece in U.S. policies that align with Benjamin Netanyahu’s vision.

The Arabs hope that this approach will establish a new framework for relations with the United States and offer alternative strategic options. They even believe it could persuade President Donald Trump to secure several achievements—perhaps even earning him a Nobel Peace Prize in the end.

This is undoubtedly a highly optimistic approach, but it represents a new Arab attempt to present a united position and alternative strategic options. However, the biggest challenge this vision overlooks lies in the details. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.” What kind of Palestinian state is actually possible under the current circumstances? What was previously proposed by Trump himself? Is there a single Palestinian—any Palestinian—who could accept a state comprising only 30% of the West Bank, without East Jerusalem, and without control over borders? How could Hamas and its supporters—or even the majority of Palestinian refugees—be convinced of such a proposal, even if there were Israeli and American acceptance of the new Arab approach?

Mohammad Abu Rumman is a columnist in The Jordan Times.

News

Roadmap: Gaza Needs $53 Billion to be Rebuilt

CrossFireArabia
February 18, 2025

Reconstruction and recovery needs in Gaza are estimated to require $53 billion, according to the Gaza & West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) released Tuesday. The report analyzes damages and losses as well as recovery and reconstruction needs across almost all sectors of the Palestinian economy based on data from October 2023-October 2024.

Rapid Damage and Needs Assessments follow a globally recognized methodology that has been applied in multiple contexts to inform recovery and reconstruction planning.
With on-ground access restrictions and the rapid pace at which the situation is evolving in Gaza, the IRDNA provides an interim estimate of the impacts and needs.
Damages to physical structures alone are estimated at about $30 billion.
- Housing was by far the hardest hit sector, accounting for 53% of total damages, followed by commerce and industry at 20%.
- Extensive damage to lifeline infrastructure such as health, water and transport is estimated at over 15% of the total damages.
Economic losses from reduced productivity, foregone revenues, and operating costs are estimated at $19 billion, with health, education and commerce bearing the biggest toll.
Some sectors face higher recovery needs than the value of the physical destruction sustained, such as the funding needed for the management of the between 41 to 47 million tons of rubble and debris.

Almost all sectors in Gaza have experienced a total halt in economic production. Prices in Gaza have soared over 300% in one year, with food prices alone up by 450%. Gaza’s economy is projected to have contracted by 83% in 2024, dropping its overall contribution to the economy to 3%, despite being home to 40% of the population in the Palestinian territories. The West Bank’s economy is also struggling and is projected to have shrunk by 16% in 2024.

🚨 New Report: The #IRDNA reveals $53B in recovery needs for #Gaza. Housing, health, education, and other sectors have suffered massive damage.

📖 Read more: https://t.co/DtyYN5YBp3 #GazaRecovery pic.twitter.com/FohXpYx88D
— United Nations Palestine (@UNinPalestine) February 18, 2025

The report, jointly produced by the World Bank Group, the United Nations and the European Union, puts forward a roadmap for sequencing recovery efforts along with their associated costs in the short and medium term. It underscores the importance of a closely coordinated multisectoral response involving all stakeholders. The report further notes that the speed, scale and scope of recovery and reconstruction will be shaped by factors such as governance arrangements, entry to and mobility within the Gaza Strip for people and goods, law and order, and safety and security.

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