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India sends 9 tonnes humanitarian aid to Haiti

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the MEA also shared a post on his X and informed about the humanitarian assistance provided by India to Haiti…reports Asian Lite News

India on Monday sent humanitarian assistance to Haiti, which included medical supplies like blood transfusion essentials.

The Ministry of External Affairs, on its social media handle, informed about the humanitarian assistance. Sharing a post on Facebook, the MEA said, “India sends humanitarian assistance to Haiti! In solidarity with the people of Haiti, India’s humanitarian assistance containing 9 tonnes of medical supplies left New Delhi today, for Port-au-Prince.”

“The consignment includes blood transfusion essentials, reagents for Immunohematology, Rapid tests and ELISA, among others,” the post by MEA added.

Meanwhile, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the MEA also shared a post on his X and informed about the humanitarian assistance provided by India to Haiti.

Notably, a week before, at least 40 people were killed after the boat they were on board caught fire off the coast of Haiti, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) had said, citing local authorities, CNN reported.

The vessel carrying more than 80 migrants departed from Haiti on July 17 and was heading to Turks and Caicos, the IOM said on July 19, adding that Haiti’s Coast Guard rescued 41 survivors.

According to CNN, IOM’s chief of mission in Haiti, Gregoire Goodstein, blamed the tragedy on Haiti’s spiralling security crisis and the lack of “safe and legal pathways for migration.” He said, “Haiti’s socio-economic situation is in agony. The extreme violence over the past months has only brought Haitians to resort to desperate measures even more.”

Haiti is dealing with gang violence, a collapsing health system, and a lack of access to essential supplies, resulting in many Haitians taking dangerous journeys to move out of the country.

Earlier this year, the situation in Haiti escalated after gang warfare exploded, forcing the resignation of the then government.

According to the IOM’s data, the number of migration attempts by boat from Haiti has witnessed a rise since then. However, the situation in Haiti has not stopped neighbouring governments from repatriating Haitian migrants by the tens of thousands, CNN reported.

In its statement, the IOM said, “More than 86,000 migrants have been forcibly returned to Haiti by neighbouring countries this year. In March, despite a surge in violence and the closure of airports throughout the country, forced returns increased by 46 per cent, reaching 13,000 forced returns in March alone.”

In recent weeks, the appointment of new Prime Minister Garry Conille and the arrival of several hundred foreign forces to bolster Haiti’s National Police have offered new hope for addressing the security situation in the country, according to CNN report.

The United Nations Security Council-backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, led by Kenya, will now start operations in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. (ANI)

ALSO READ-Bangladesh Joins Non-UN Force in Haiti

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Aid Access to Gaza Severely Hampered, Says UN

Shortly after its reopening on May 8, militants fired eight rockets from southern Gaza’s Rafah toward the Kerem Shalom crossing area in Israel…reports Asian Lite News

The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that distributing humanitarian aid “is almost impossible” in Gaza, due to the irregular fuel supply and interrupted communications amid the ongoing intense war between Israel and Hamas.

OCHA in a statement posted on social media platform X on Thursday said that key crossings for aid into Gaza have been closed for several days and now the access to the Palestinian enclave is neither safe nor logistically feasible.

On May 5, Israel closed the only commercial crossing of Kerem Shalom with Gaza, in response to a Hamas rocket attack on an Israeli military point nearby that killed four soldiers.

Shortly after its reopening on May 8, militants fired eight rockets from southern Gaza’s Rafah toward the Kerem Shalom crossing area in Israel.

The attack came after the Israeli army announced on May 7 “operational control” of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, which in effect closed this crucial entry point for truckloads of aid from Egypt into Gaza.

OCHA and other humanitarian organizations warned of the devastating impact of the crossings’ closure on over 2 million Palestinians in war-stricken Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Thursday, the Jordan Armed Forces said it conducted three airdrops of humanitarian aid over various locations in southern Gaza.

The move was part of Jordan’s commitment to assisting Gazans to overcome the difficult conditions, said the army without detailing further.

Earlier in the day, local sources and eyewitnesses in Gaza told Xinhua that aircraft were seen flying over and dropping food aid through parachutes in Al-Mawasi, an open area along the enclave’s southwestern coast that is now flocked with residents coming at the Israeli army’s evacuation order.

This is the first eyewitness report of an aid drop operation in Rafah since the Israeli army’s renewed attacks on the southernmost Gazan city last week.

ALSO READ-US military says Gaza Strip pier project is completed

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European Commission announces Jordan aid package

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission building in Brussels, Belgium, on June 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong/IANS)

The funds from this MFA will be provided as long-term loans under concessional terms...reports Asian Lite News

The European Commission has announced a proposal for a new macro-financial assistance operation for Jordan, with funding up to €500 million ($542 million).The MFA is part of the EU’s broader strategy to support neighboring countries, serving as an extraordinary instrument for EU crisis response. Specifically, the EU aims to assist Jordan in coping with the adverse effects of the war in Syria, including the influx of refugees it has hosted. The recent financial aid aims to help Jordan address its external financing requirements, bolster fiscal consolidation efforts, and enhance structural reforms.

This support is crucial for the continuation of Jordan’s ambitious reform agenda, which focuses on job creation, growth, and investment. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Today’s proposal is a clear indication of the EU’s ongoing solidarity with Jordan, offering up to €500 million in support during these challenging times of geopolitical instability.” Since the crisis began in 2011, the EU has mobilized approximately €4 billion in support of Jordan.

The funds from this MFA will be provided as long-term loans under concessional terms. The plan includes disbursing the funds in three installments, contingent on Jordan implementing specific policy measures agreed upon with the EU, detailed in a memorandum of understanding. These reforms may encompass improvements in economic governance, such as public finance management and tax administration, social and labor market policies, and efforts to combat fraud, corruption, and money laundering. The proposal for this fourth MFA to Jordan now awaits approval from the European Parliament and Council.

ALSO READ-Europe and US need each other, says Stoltenberg  

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EU Launches Gaza Aid Project

The European Commission has launched the project to establish a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus to Gaza, reports Asian Lite News

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced the immediate launch of a project to establish a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus to Gaza.

“We are now very close to opening this corridor, hopefully this Saturday-Sunday, and I’m very glad to see an initial pilot will be launched today,” she told journalists on Friday after visiting Cyprus’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in the port city of Larnaca, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We are launching this Cyprus maritime corridor together: the EU, the UAE and the US,” she added.

In a joint statement endorsed by the European Commission, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the UAE, the UK, and the US, the European Commission said: “Together, our nations intend to build on this model to deliver significant additional aid by sea, working in coordination with UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag — who is charged with facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying the flow of aid into Gaza under UN Security Council Resolution 2720.”

The Amalthea Initiative was proposed by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides due to Cyprus’ proximity to Gaza. It was coordinated by the UAE, aiming for shipment before the start of the Muslim month of Ramadan.

The US has pledged to construct a floating platform off the coast of Gaza for the unloading of aid, while Israeli officials have vetted the aid to address concerns about potential military equipment.

The death toll of Palestinians from the ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30,878, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said on Friday.

Five months ago, Israel began a large-scale military campaign against Gaza in response to a surprise Hamas attack on Israeli towns adjacent to the enclave, in which Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 others as hostages.

ALSO READ: UAE Condemns Israel’s Approval Of New Settlements

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Starving Gazans take away food from aid convoy

The humanitarian situation has become very desperate, with around one million people displaced from their homes and driven to South Gaza forcibly by the Israeli troops…reports Asian Lite News

The situation in Gaza is turning from bad to worse as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continues its heavy bombing and shelling in the enclave.

With people running short of food after over two months of war and only a small number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip, starving Palestinians went desperate seeing aid trucks and forcibly entered inside to take away food from it.

Several hungry and desperate Palestinians jumped into aid trucks to get food and other supplies in Gaza’s Rafah area on Sunday. It is to be noted that Rafah is the only border crossing into Gaza from Egypt, and used by aid agencies for supply of food, medicines and fuel into Gaza under the strict monitoring of IDF soldiers.

Sources in UN aid agencies working in Gaza told that several Palestinians surrounded the aid trucks after they drove in through the Rafah crossing and forced many trucks to stop, climbed on them, pulled out food and water boxes and passes them off to people waiting down.

The humanitarian situation has become very desperate, with around one million people displaced from their homes and driven to South Gaza forcibly by the Israeli troops.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have warned that there is an extreme shortage of essentials and the residents of Gaza have never ever experienced hunger of this kind.

ALSO READ-Europe grappling for united Gaza ceasefire call

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-Top News Europe

Ukraine Receives $2 Billion in Financial Aid in November

Ukraine received 32.1 billion dollars in international financial support last year…reports Asian Lite News

Ukraine received $37.4 billion financial aid from January-November this year, sources in the government said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the country got about $11 billion as grants in the period, with the US, Germany, Spain, Finland and Ireland being the largest donors, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ukraine received 2 billion dollars in financing in November itself, Shmyhal said.

Ukraine received 32.1 billion dollars in international financial support last year.

The aid is being extended to Ukraine in pursuit of its security, economic, and humanitarian interests.

Russia launched full scale Ukraine invasion in February, 2022.

ALSO READ-US Aid to Ukraine in Jeopardy

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-Top News Arab News

Iranian Health Minister Offers Medical Aid to Gaza

The Minister said that “we are ready to provide (medical) assistance to the people in Gaza,” where hospitals encountered “brutal Israeli attacks”…reports Asian Lite News

Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has voiced his country’s readiness to dispatch volunteer physicians and nurses to the war-torn Gaza Strip.

He made the remarks on Tuesday on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark Iran’s National Nurse Day in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, IRIB news agency reported.

The Minister said that “we are ready to provide (medical) assistance to the people in Gaza,” where hospitals encountered “brutal Israeli attacks”.

Einollahi said Iran had ensured the necessary coordination to send medics to the Palestinian coastal enclave, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel has been carrying out attacks on Gaza over the past weeks in retaliation for the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7. The conflict has so far led to the deaths of more than 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza and plunged the area into a humanitarian catastrophe with its health system heavily overwhelmed. On the Israeli side, about 1,200 people have lost their lives, the majority of whom were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7.

ALSO READ-Netanyahu Optimistic on Hostage Deal

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Internal Battles Delay Biden’s $106B Aid Package for Israel, Ukraine

Photo taken on Feb. 9, 2021 shows the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie/IANS)

The people of Israel and Ukraine are waiting in vain for billions of dollars in help from the US as they wage existential fights for their futures; media reports said criticising Congressmen of inaction and fighting their own battles in the House…reports Asian Lite News

The US House passed a stopgap measure to keep government funding open to federal agencies, but President Joe Biden’s $106 billion funding package for Israel and Ukraine remains stuck as the two war-ravaged countries fight an existential crisis while Republicans and Democrats fight internal battles “mindlessly” in the House, media reports said.

The House of Representatives did manage to take steps Tuesday to avert a threatened government shutdown, passing a plan to temporarily fund the federal machinery. However, the Senate still needs to approve the measure, which would only delay the next funding deadlines until early next year, reports said.

The people of Israel and Ukraine are waiting in vain for billions of dollars in help from the US as they wage existential fights for their futures; media reports said criticising Congressmen of inaction and fighting their own battles in the House.

“The 118th Congress, which took an initial step to punt funding deadlines to the winter, looked more like a fourth-grade class on a day that will further erode trust in government ahead of next year’s elections,” a prominent US Media network said.  

Though the House voted for temporary reprieve, it was enough to expose the forces that could soon tear the chamber apart again. With 93 Republicans opposing the bill, Conservatives wonder what rookie Speaker Mike Johnson would do as he had failed to include massive spending cuts that GOP hardliners want in the bill, political analysts at CNN said.  

The Democratic-run Senate or the White House would certainly oppose any deep spending cuts as it runs roughshod through the party’s social welfare programmes. That would guarantee a shutdown that would damage the GOP and bring pain to millions of Americans, the analysts said.

This may go down well with some hard right-wingers in the Congress who abhor Washington and see chaos as a “worthy goal”. “But on the eve of President Joe Biden’s critical summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the political tomfoolery will only bolster perceptions among US adversaries that America’s global power is being undermined by polarization at home,” CNN said in its analysis.

Kevin McCarthy, the ousted Speaker of the House, was accused of delivering a painful blow to Rep. Tim Burchett, one of the GOP rebels who was among right-wingers who removed him from holding the gavel in the House. “It was a clean shot to the kidneys,” the Tennessean told CNN.

McCarthy denied the claim, blaming a tight hallway for the collision. Quick-witted McCarthy said: “If I kidney punched someone, they would be on the ground. But that wasn’t even the fiercest showdown of the day.”

Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz was engaged in a bitter exchange with House Oversight Chairman James Comer over the latter’s probe into the Biden family’s business affairs. 

Georgia’s Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, normally the ringmaster of the Capitol Hill circus, found herself overshadowed. 

Donald Trump-style stunt politics has often become dominant in the Capitol. Congress is consumed by fighting within and between the parties. And the febrile mood is only likely to intensify in the coming election year. Normal standards of decorum and respect have been thrown in the trash, and nearly three years after the Capitol insurrection, trust is fractured, political analysts at the network said.

Congressional leaders said the near altercations and foul tempers reflected the stress of an extraordinary session that saw the House sit for 10 weeks in a row, ignoring the fact such behaviour would be a sackable offence in many workplaces.

“Everybody’s tensions are high,” McCarthy said. South Dakota Sen. John Thune – a member of GOP leadership – noted with understatement that “we are living in fairly polarized times”. He said: “There is a lot going on not only here but around the world. Emotions are running high.”

Some people might see heart-breaking footage from the Middle East following the horrendous Hamas attacks against civilians and the carnage in Gaza wrought by Israel’s response – as a reason for greater seriousness among the nation’s leaders, analysts said.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, however, suggested that policing the Capitol was beyond even his wily capacity to enforce discipline within his conference. “It’s very difficult to control the behaviour of everybody who’s in the building. I don’t view that as my responsibility. That’s something the Capitol Police will have to deal with,” the Kentucky Republican said.

ALSO READ-‘March for Israel’ in DC Against Antisemitism

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-Top News UAE News

UAE Launches Major Aid Operation for Gaza

OPERATION GALLANT KNIGHT 3: President H.H. Sheikh Mohamed directed Joint Operations Command to collaborate with UAE humanitarian institutions for providing support to Palestinians affected by the conflict…reports Asian Lite News

UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the Joint Operations Command of the Ministry of Defence to initiate ‘Gallant Knight 3’, a humanitarian operation to support Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Sheikh Mohamed instructed the Joint Operations Command to work in close collaboration with the Emirates Red Crescent, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, the Zayed Charitable Humanitarian Foundation, and other UAE institutions to provide humanitarian support to Palestinian people impacted by the current conflict.

Moreover, the President directed that volunteering opportunities be made available for doctors registered with the Ministry of Health and Prevention and the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, and for volunteers registered with the Emirates Red Crescent and other humanitarian and charitable entities in the UAE.

Logistic difficulties

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that logistic difficulties imposed by Israel and its repeated bombing of the Rafah border crossing delayed the delivery of aid to the besieged Gaza Strip and placed additional burdens on the African nation.

Shoukry made the remarks on Sunday during his talks with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain in Cairo, where they discussed “the deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip and the increasing humanitarian needs of the people of the Strip”, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry as saying.

The Egyptian top diplomat stressed the necessity to urgently provide more aid to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, highlighting Cairo’s intensified efforts in this regard.

The WFP chief lauded Egypt for its role to ensure that the Palestinians in Gaza have continuous access to humanitarian aid.

Egypt had previously complained of the slow inspection procedures of the aid trucks that are sent from Egypt to Gaza through the Rafah crossing at the Israeli crossing of Nitzana.

Earlier on Sunday, Egypt sent 75 trucks loaded with food, water, and medical supplies through the Rafah crossing to Gaza, raising the total number of aid trucks sent to the enclave since October 21 to nearly 500, a security source told Xinhua news agency.

According to the UN Office for Coordinated Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 451 trucks have entered Gaza via Rafah — the only crossing point between the Hamas-controlled enclave and Egypt.

Of these, at least 158 trucks carried food, 102 carried health supplies, 44 carried water or hygiene products, 32 carried non-food items, and eight carried nutrition supplies, with the remaining trucks carrying mixed cargo, the OCHA said in its latest situation update report. 

The Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, which prior to the hostilities was the main entry point for goods, remains closed, as does the Israeli pedestrian crossing of Erez. .

For a second consecutuve day on Sunday, no exits of dual nationals or patients from Gaza to Egypt through the Rafah crossing reportedly due to the failure of Hamas, Israel and Egypt to reach an agreement regarding the safe evacuation.

The halt in the exit of dual nationals and patients followed an attack on an ambulance convoy on its way from Gaza city to Rafah on November 3.

More than 1,100 people reportedly crossed from Gaza to Egypt on November 2 and 3.

Israeli Minister’s Nuke Remarks Draw Arab Flak

The UAE has strongly condemned and expressed its strong denunciation of the disgraceful and unacceptable statements of Israeli Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu on dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip. These statements constitute a violation of international law, as well as an incitement to commit grave violations of International Humanitarian Law such as war crimes, and raise grave concerns of an intent to commit genocide.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) affirmed the UAE’s categorical rejection of the threat of using nuclear weapons. The UAE stresses that the immediate priority is to preserve the lives of civilians and provide them with necessary humanitarian assistance.

‎‏The Ministry reaffirmed the need for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life, stressing the importance of protecting civilians according to international law, including international treaties, and the need to ensure that they are not targeted during conflict.

‎‏The UAE called on the international community to intensify efforts to avoid further fuelling the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and to advance all efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace, while preventing the region from being drawn into new levels of violence, tension and instability.

Meanwhile, condemning the statement, Saudi Arabia said Israeli minister’s comments showed the penetration of “extremism and brutality” among members of the Israeli government.

“Moreover, not dismissing the minister and only freezing his membership constitutes the utmost disregard for all human standards and values,” it added.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the Israeli minister’s statement as a “serious incitement to a war crime and a disregard for humanitarian and moral values and international laws.”

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs condemned Eliyahu’s “racist, inflammatory, and provocative” statements. 

It described the comment as a “call for genocide and a hate crime that cannot be tolerated.”

The ministry denounced it as a “condemnable incitement to murder and commit war crimes, in addition to the crimes committed against the people of the Gaza Strip.”

ALSO READ-S Africa calls for UN force to protect Gaza civilians

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Egypt to Intensify Aid Delivery Efforts to Gaza

Egypt is ready to exert any effort to achieve calm in Gaza and activate a genuine peace process, the presidency said on Sunday in a statement…reports Asian Lite News

Egypt offered to host a multilateral meeting to address the latest situation and the future of the Palestinian issue, the Egyptian Presidency said in a statement.

The invitation was made after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held a National Security Council meeting to review regional developments, notably with regard to the military escalation in the Gaza Strip, Xinhua news agency reported.

Egypt is ready to exert any effort to achieve calm in Gaza and activate a genuine peace process, the presidency said on Sunday in a statement.

“There is no solution to the Palestinian cause except through the two-state solution,” the statement said, stressing that Egypt rejected the displacement of the people of Gaza or “attempts to pay off the Palestinian issue at the expense of neighbouring countries”.

It is stressed at the meeting that national security is a red line and that there is no compromise in its protection, it added.

Egypt will continue contact with international and regional partners “to reduce the escalation and stop the targeting of civilians,” according to the statement.

While Egypt is facing difficulties in delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave, it will “intensify contacts with international and regional relief organisations in order to deliver the necessary assistance,” the statement noted.

Since Thursday, the El Arish airport in Egypt’s North Sinai has received planes carrying aid supplies for the Gaza Strip from Jordan, the UAE, Turkey, Tunisia and the WHO, according to Egyptian officials and the Red Crescent.

Egypt said it has kept its side of the Rafah crossing, the only crossing point between Egypt and Gaza, open for aid delivery since the conflict broke out between Israel and Gaza-ruling Hamas on October 7.

However, according to Egyptian officials, the Israeli bombardments on the Palestinian side of the border halted the crossing’s operation.

Engaged in a US-sponsored peace treaty with neighbouring Israel since 1979, Egypt has for years been a peace mediator in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

ALSO READ-WHO plane with medical supplies for Gaza residents lands in Egypt