The post Trucks looted, Hamas enraged: The new reality of humanitarian aid in Gaza first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The joint statement by Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney also demanded Hamas release hostages it took in the attack on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel that preceded the war in Gaza.

Speaking to Newsweek from Gaza on Tuesday, an aid worker for the Mercy Corps humanitarian NGO said the statement offered hope at a time when the situation on the ground is getting worse “by the hour.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the NATO leaders are appeasing Hamas and are inviting more attacks akin to October 7.

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Source: https://www.newsweek.com/israel-gaza-nato-ultimatum-2074572

The post NATO Leaders Give Israel A Gaza Ultimatum first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The offshore floating pier, announced by Biden in March as a response to the threat of famine in the Gaza Strip, was constructed off the coast of the enclave by the U.S. military as a way to bring in food and other aid supplies.

The post Exclusive: Senior US Republican demands Biden administration shut Gaza aid pier first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Russia and China have vetoed at the UN Security Council a one-year extension to a deal allowing aid deliveries to north-western Syria via Turkey.

Up to now, food and other aid for millions of people have come through two crossing points to Aleppo province and to rebel-held Idlib.

A Belgian-German draft resolution was a last-ditch attempt to prolong the deal, which expires later on Friday.

Russia wants one crossing to be open, and a vote on this is now expected.

Moscow argues that aid for Syria should be channeled through its ally there, the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

But analysts say the government in Damascus has a record of restricting the flow of aid to areas in the hands of its opponents.

Last month, the head of the World Food Programme warned that Syria faced the risk of mass starvation or another mass exodus unless more aid money was made available.

David Beasley told the BBC a million Syrians faced severe food insecurity and some were already dying.

The war-torn country’s currency has collapsed and food prices have soared.

In desperation, many Syrians might have no choice but to try to flee to Europe as they did in 2015, Mr. Beasley said.

More than 380,000 people have been killed and 13.2 million others – half the pre-war population – have been displaced inside and outside Syria since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.

Some 6.6 million refugees are scattered throughout the world, the vast majority of them in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, where the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has wrought havoc on economies.

• Assad under pressure as economic crisis batters Syria
• Carpets, olives, and handcrafts: The Idlib I loved and lost

The UN and its partners have appealed for $3.8bn (£3.08bn) for humanitarian work inside Syria and another $6.04bn to help countries in the region hosting Syrian refugees. The appeals are currently 30% and 19% funded respectively.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has warned that the Covid-19 crisis has had an immediate and devastating impact on the livelihoods of millions of Syrian refugees and their host countries, where there have been sharp economic downturns and poverty has spiraled.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53370890

The post Syria: Russia and China veto last-ditch aid extension deal first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Venezuela’s military is “on alert” against any border violations as it remains loyal to acting President Nicolas Maduro, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez has said.

“The armed forces will remain deployed and on alert along the borders, as our commander in chief has ordered, to avoid any violations of territorial integrity,” Padrino said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the military “only has one president,” referring to Maduro, and the armed forces are “not mercenaries who sell themselves to the highest bidder.” He said the army will not accept “a puppet government” or “orders from any foreign government power.”

Juan Guaido, who declared himself the interim president last month in an effort to oust Maduro from office, has tried to recruit the military to his side and let aid into Venezuela. The opposition leader has been rallying for international support for his challenge to Maduro.

But the military high command has maintained its allegiance to Maduro,  a factor deemed key to keeping the acting president in power.

Read more: Opinion: Germany’s pressure on Venezuela fails to deliver

Closed to aid

Humanitarian aid, including emergency food and medicine, is being stored in Colombia, Venezuela’s neighbor to the west, and three Dutch Caribbean islands, namely Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire. Venezuela has instituted a maritime and airspace ban on the three islands.

Guaido said he is organizing caravans through Brazil and the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Saturday to bring aid provided by the United States into the country. The opposition has claimed that 300,000 people face death without the aid, but Maduro has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in the country.

A Brazilian presidential spokesman said Tuesday that the country was cooperating with the US to supply aid, but would leave it to Venezuelans to take the goods across the border.

Maduro has claimed that the aid relief is a smokescreen for a US invasion of Venezuela, and has blamed US sanctions and “economic war” for Venezuela’s crisis and fiscal woes.

Read more: How to resolve the Venezuelan debt conundrum

Trump’s ‘extreme arrogance’

On Monday, US President Donald Trump, who backs Guaido, warned the Venezuelan military not to continue supporting Maduro.

“You will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything,” Trump said.

Defense Minister Padrino Lopez responded Tuesday by calling Trump’s words “foolish,” and said the US president exhibited “extreme arrogance.” He said the US is using “blackmail” and seeking to “intimidate” with “coercion.”

dv/cmk (AFP, AP, dpa, EFE)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/venezuela-military-on-alert-as-it-closes-borders-to-aid/a-47594492

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