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November 02, 2023
White House Calls for ‘Humanitarian Pauses’; Gaza Strip Situation Is ‘Desperate,’ UN Agency Says
Gaza: The international community is continuing efforts to evacuate civilians from the Gaza Strip after an initial batch of foreign nationals was allowed to enter Egypt on Wednesday for the first time since the start of the conflict. Egypt is now working to evacuate 7,000 international passport holders , the country’s foreign ministry said.
The evacuations come after the US, Hamas, Israel and Egypt struck a deal mediated by Qatar in coordination with the US.
Gaza’s ministry of Health has told NBC News that its main power generator has stopped working, putting the lives of hundreds of people at risk. More than 20,000 people remain injured with limited health care in the Gaza Strip due to the onslaught on the territory, according to Doctors Without Borders.
Around 690,000 internally displaced people are taking refuge in 149 shelters run by the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees, the relief organization said Thursday, describing the situation in the Gaza Strip as “desperate.”
Amid this, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he thinks there should be a humanitarian “pause” in the conflict to allow more time to get “prisoners” out. He made the comments in response to a protester interrupting him at a fundraiser, calling for a cease-fire.
Bahrain said on Thursday that the Gulf state’s ambassador to Israel had returned home and the Israeli ambassador in Manama had left the kingdom “a while ago,” confirming an earlier statement by parliament linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in its war with Hamas which has killed thousands of people has angered Arab states who are concerned with sharply rising civilian casualties and Israel’s blockade of the densely populated coastal enclave.
The government statement did not confirm that economic ties had been severed, as the parliament had earlier stated, but said that flights between the two countries had been suspended for several weeks.
The statement did not clarify whether that meant the Israeli ambassador had been expelled.
Israel had earlier said it received no word of any such actions, saying its relations with Bahrain were “stable.”
In its statement, the parliament — a consultative body with no powers in the area of foreign policy — said the moves “confirmed Bahrain’s historic position in support of the Palestinian cause.”
“The Council of Representatives affirms that the Israeli ambassador in the kingdom of Bahrain has left Bahrain and the kingdom of Bahrain has decided on the return of the Bahrain ambassador to Israel,” the parliament said in a statement.
“The cessation of economic relations was also decided,” it said, without making clear who had made the decision.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “We would like to clarify that no notification or decision has been received from the government of Bahrain and the government of Israel to return the countries’ ambassadors. Relations between Israel and Bahrain are stable.”
Any suspension of diplomatic and economic ties, if confirmed, would mark a significant setback for Israel. - Reuters/CNBC
Courtesy Reuters/CNBC
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