United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher has asked Israel to provide evidence backing its claim that staff with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are linked to Hamas.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said Fletcher and OCHA were no longer neutral, announcing that hundreds of OCHA employees would undergo security vetting and that staff visas would be restricted to one month.
“Israel has uncovered clear evidence of Hamas affiliation within OCHA’s ranks,” Danon told the 15-member council, without presenting proof.
In a letter to the council on Thursday, Fletcher called the accusations “extremely serious” and said this was the first time Israel had raised such concerns.
“I expect the Israeli authorities to immediately share any evidence that led them to make such claims,” he wrote.
Fletcher said OCHA engages with all sides in conflicts to secure humanitarian access and protect civilians, noting that contacts with Hamas had helped secure hostage releases.
Israel says it is committed to aiding civilians but “will not work with organizations that have chosen politics over principles,” Danon said.
“We must hold all parties to the standards of international law,” Fletcher wrote. “We do not choose between demanding the end to the starvation of civilians in Gaza and demanding the unconditional release of all the hostages.”
Israel, which controls supplies entering Gaza, denies responsibility for food shortages.
For fishermen along Pakistan’s southwestern coast, the consequences of the U.S.-Iran conflict are being felt far from the battlefield....
U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to make the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory have been mocked by Iran's Deputy Foreign Ministe...
At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, ...
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or rerouted at Catania Airport over the past week as ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing eruption continues to disrupt air travel in Sicily.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
The U.S. will impose unprecedented measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
Wildfires across England and Wales have reached their highest level on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, as firefighters struggle to contain outbreaks following a spell of extreme heat.
One person has been killed and six others injured after an explosion at a petroleum storage facility at the Port of Rotterdam, prompting an investigation into the cause.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised deepening ties with North Korea, saying Moscow and Pyongyang are coordinating their efforts to ensure “regional security and stability”.
Russia and Ukraine traded large-scale overnight attacks targeting energy, industrial and military facilities on Saturday, with a three-month-old baby killed and 11 people injured in a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, triggering small tsunami waves and dozens of aftershocks, officials say.
Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row, has been found dead. He was appointed Cambridge's youngest ever Black professor in 2023, but quit on 5 August, after being accused of lifting passages from his PhD from the work of other academics.
Wildfires across England and Wales have reached their highest level on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, as firefighters struggle to contain outbreaks following a spell of extreme heat.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment