2024-03-01 23:00:18
This live is now over.
The United States will participate “in the coming days” to airdrops of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip besieged by the Israeli army, declared American President Joe Biden on Friday March 1. “In the coming days, we will join our friends in Jordan and others in airdrops of food and other goods” on Gaza, he said. Making a new slip of the tongue, the American president spoke of aid drops on Ukraine and not on Gaza. His advisers were quick to point out that he was talking regarding the Palestinian territory. Until now, the United States had not carried out such aid drops, judging their effectiveness to be limited.
New aid for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. The European Union will unblock “At the beginning of next week” 50 million euros in aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the European Commission announced on Friday, before the subsequent release of an additional 32 million. At the end of January, the European Union called for an audit of the functioning of UNRWA, following accusations of the possible involvement of some of its employees in the October 7 attack in Israel.
France calls for investigation into shooting during aid distribution in Gaza. “It will take an independent investigation to determine what happened”, declared the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, on France Inter, following the announcement by Hamas of 112 dead and 760 injured during a distribution of food aid in Gaza. If the circumstances must be clarified, the Israeli army admitted to having opened fire, while citing a deadly stampede.
“A large number of gunshot wounds”, according to the UN. A UN team visiting Gaza’s al-Chifa hospital on Friday, which received dozens of injured people following the tragedy, saw “a large number of gunshot wounds”announced Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General.
The international community is outraged. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, denounced on “new carnage” and deaths “totally unacceptable”while the United States demanded from Israel “some answers”. China, Italy, Spain, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also condemned these events. The UN Security Council met urgently behind closed doors and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he “shocked” and pleaded for “an effective independent investigation”.
The hope of a truce is diminishing. There will be no “probably” no truce between now and Monday, said Joe Biden, following saying at the start of the week that he hoped for a ceasefire by March 4. Asked whether he believed that the killing during the food distribution would have an impact on negotiations for a ceasefire, the American president replied: “I know it will.”
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