Foreign
Israel Forces Fire On Gazans Rushing For Food Aid
![](https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Gazans-Rushing-For-Food-Aid.jpg)
Israeli forces in war-torn Gaza opened fire on Palestinians scrambling for food aid in a chaotic melee on Thursday that the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said killed more than 100 people.
The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the lorries.
An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat”.
The Gaza health ministry condemned what it called a “massacre” in Gaza City in which 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded.
The incident adds to a Palestinian death toll from the war which the ministry earlier Thursday said had topped 30,000, and dampens hopes a truce deal between Israel and Hamas militants could be just days away.
There were conflicting reports on what exactly unfolded in the hours before dawn.
A witness in Gaza City, declining to be named for safety reasons, said violence unfolded when thousands of people rushed towards aid trucks at the city’s western Nabulsi roundabout, and soldiers fired at the crowd “as people came too close” to tanks.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military had fired “a few warning shots” to try to disperse a crowd that had ambushed the aid trucks.
When the crowd got too big, he said the convoy tried to retreat and “the unfortunate incident resulted in dozens of Gazans killed and injured”.
Aerial images released by the Israeli army showed what it said were scores of Gazans surrounding aid trucks in Gaza City.
Ali Awad Ashqir, who said he had gone to get some food for his starving family, told AFP he had been waiting for two hours when trucks began to arrive.
“The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns,” he said.
The army spokesman Hagari later denied Israeli forces carried out any shelling or strikes at the time.
‘Another day from hell’
US President Joe Biden said Washington was checking “two competing versions” of the incident, while a State Department spokesman said the United States had been in touch with Israel and was “pressing for answers” on what happened.
The shooting incident would complicate efforts to broker a truce, Biden said, later admitting that any deal was unlikely to happen by Monday — the timeline that he had predicted earlier this week.
The US president spoke with Qatari and Egyptian leaders in separate phone calls, the White House said, saying he discussed both the ceasefire and the “tragic and alarming” aid incident.
The UN Security Council will hold a closed-door emergency meeting on the incident on Thursday afternoon.
Saudi Arabia strongly condemned what it called the “targeting” of unarmed civilians, while Kuwait and the UAE also issued condemnations.
Qatar warned that Israel’s “disregard for Palestinian blood… (will) pave the way for an expanding cycle of violence”.
Italy called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to facilitate more humanitarian aid.
Looting of aid trucks has previously occurred in northern Gaza, where desperate residents have taken to eating animal fodder and even leaves to try to stave off starvation, as aid groups warn of looming famine after nearly five months of war.
The chief of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that no UN agency had been involved in Thursday’s aid delivery, and called it “another day from hell”.
Truce hopes
The war began on October 7 with an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Militants also took about 250 hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 Israel says are presumed dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 30,035 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel’s military says 242 soldiers have died in Gaza since ground operations began in late October.
Washington, a key ally of Israel, has been pushing for a reduction in civilian casualties and a ceasefire.
It has been working with mediators from Egypt and Qatar to seek a six-week pause in the war.
Negotiators had hoped a truce could begin by around March 10 or 11 when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, depending on the lunar calendar.
The proposals reportedly include the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza by militants in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Short of the complete withdrawal Hamas has called for, a source from the group said the deal might see Israeli forces leave “cities and populated areas”, allowing the return of some displaced Palestinians and humanitarian relief.
Fears of famine
The World Food Programme has said Israel has blocked access for aid deliveries — which Israeli officials have denied — and warned that if nothing changes, “a famine is imminent in northern Gaza”.
As fighting continued in Gaza, Muhammad Yassin, 35, battled to find flour in Zeitun.
“We have not eaten a loaf of bread for two months,” he said. “Our children are starving.”
In the south, nearly 1.5 million people trying to flee the fighting are now packed into Rafah city, also short of food, as Israel threatens to send in troops against Hamas fighters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure to bring the remaining hostages home.
A group of 150 Israelis have started a four-day march from Reim, near the Gaza border, to Jerusalem, calling for the government to reach a deal.
Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank, where two Israelis were killed on Thursday.
AFP
Foreign
Thousands protest against new France prime minister
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By Francesca Hangeior
Thousands of left-wing demonstrators on Saturday took to the streets across France to protest against the nomination of the centre-right Michel Barnier as prime minister and denounce President Emmanuel Macron’s “power grab”.
Protests took place in Paris as well as other cities including Nantes in the west, Nice and Marseille in the south and Strasbourg in the east.
Macron on Thursday appointed Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward after July snap elections in which his centrist alliance lost its relative majority in parliament.
Barnier said on Friday night that he was open to naming ministers of all political stripes, including “people from the left”.
But a left-wing coalition, which emerged as France’s largest force after the elections, although without enough seats for an overall majority, has greeted Macron’s appointment of Barnier with dismay.
On Saturday, many demonstrators directed their anger at Macron and some called on him to resign.
“The Fifth Republic is collapsing,” said protester Manon Bonijol. “Expressing one’s vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power,” added the 21-year-old.
Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose France Unbowed party (LFI) and allies belong to the left-wing bloc, has charged that the election had been “stolen from the French” and called on French people to take to the streets.
On Saturday, he urged supporters to prepare for battle. “There will be no pause,” he vowed.
“Democracy isn’t just the art of accepting that you’ve won, it’s also the humility of accepting that you’ve lost,” Melenchon said from a truck at the Paris protest.
Abel Couaillier, a 20-year-old student, said he was stunned by the appointment of Barnier, whom he called an “old elephant”.
“I am still young, I want to believe that we can change things and I will continue to go and vote,” added Couaillier.
The left-wing alliance wanted Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist, to become prime minister, but Macron quashed the idea, arguing that she would not survive a confidence vote in the hung parliament.
Foreign
French President Macron Appoints Michel Barnier As New Prime Minister
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The EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has become France’s new prime minister, the French president’s office says, which ends two months of stalemate after inconclusive parliamentary elections.
In a statement on Thursday, the Élysée Palace said: “The President of the Republic has appointed Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. He has to form a united government to serve the country and the French people.”
The statement added that Barnier’s appointment comes after “an unprecedented cycle of consultations” in order to ensure a stable government.
The 73-year-old staunch Europhile, is a member of the Republicans party which represents the traditional right. He is best known on the international stage for his mediating role for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
Barnier has held various ministerial positions in France, including roles as foreign, agriculture and environment ministers. He served twice as a European commissioner as well as an adviser to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. In 2021, Barnier announced his bid for presidential elections but failed to garner enough support within his party. He has served in French and European politics
Macron accepted the resignation of former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and his government in July, after his centrist party was defeated in the second round of France’s snap parliamentary election. The president has since faced calls from across the political sectors to appoint a new PM. Last week, Macron told journalists during a trip to Serbia he was “making all the necessary efforts” to finalize a name.
“I will have the opportunity in a few days, in just a few weeks, to state the major legislative priorities and proposals on behalf of the new government before parliament. It will be a question of responding, as much as we can, to the challenges, to the anger, as you mentioned, to the suffering, to the feeling of abandonment, of injustice that runs through our cities, our neighborhoods and our countryside far too much,” Barnier said, speaking alongside Attal during the transfer of power at Hotel Matignon, the prime minister’s office in Paris.
Attal congratulated Barnier in presence of family members and lawmakers.
“The French know you. They know that you are a great local elected official,” said Attal, praising Barnier’s “almost unmatched experience of serving the state in various international and European functions.”
But he did not hide his frustration that his tenure came to such an abrupt end.
“Eight months is too short,” Attal said, warning that the country’s politics is suffering, “but recovery is possible.”
Barnier’s prospects for forming a stable government are unclear. Currently, France’s far-right National Rally (RN) is one of the largest parties in parliament following the election in early July. It has previously suggested it could be open to working with Barnier and would not immediately veto him.
Still, RN politician Laurent Jacobelli spoke disparagingly of Barnier, telling French television network TF1: “They are taking out of mothballs those who have governed France for 40 years.”
Barnier served as the chief negotiator during the UK’s exit from the European Union. The lengthy talks between London and Brussels ran from 2016 to 2021 and he is known among Brexiteers in the UK for driving a hard bargain.
Barnier was born in January 1951 in a suburb of the Alpine city of Grenoble, he was first elected to parliament at the age of 27.
The leaders of France’s main far-right and far-left political parties had condemned the appointment of Barnier following the announcement on Thursday.
Foreign
Hush Money: Judge delays Trump sentencing until after US election
![](https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Donald-Trump-1.jpg)
The sentencing of Donald Trump in his New York hush money trial was delayed on Friday until after November’s presidential election, marking a win for the Republican as he battles Democrat Kamala Harris in the closely contested race.
The former president had been scheduled to be sentenced on September 18 for falsifying business records in a scheme to silence a porn star’s politically damaging story.
However, Judge Juan Merchan postponed it to November 26 — well past the November 5 election, as requested by Trump’s lawyers.
“This is not a decision this Court makes lightly, but it is the decision that, in this Court’s view, best advances the interests of justice,” he wrote in his decision.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, preventing her from disclosing an alleged sexual encounter on the eve of the 2016 election.
He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on 11 July.
However, this was delayed after the US Supreme Court ruled that a former president has broad immunity from criminal prosecutions.
Trump’s lawyers have asked for his New York conviction to be dismissed following the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Merchan stated he would rule on the dismissal motion on 12 November.
The postponement comes as the already extraordinary White House race enters a newly tense phase, with Harris and Trump set to hold their first televised debate next Tuesday.
Hours before the ruling, instead of addressing key voter issues like immigration or the economy, Trump was in New York delivering rambling remarks about his myriad legal problems as he denied multiple women’s accusations of sexual harassment or assault.
“This is not the kind of publicity you like,” Trump acknowledged from the lobby of Trump Tower, even as he spent an hour, unprompted, reminding voters of his extensive legal troubles and accusations of rape and sexual assault by various women, including writer E. Jean Carroll.
The legal drama unfolded on the day the first mail-in ballots of the election were due to be distributed.
The battleground state of North Carolina was scheduled to mail out around 130,000 absentee voting slips, marking the symbolic start of a nationwide process that, during the bitter 2020 election, saw 155 million Americans cast ballots.
However, a state appeals court halted the process after a last-minute lawsuit by independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is seeking to have his name removed from ballots. The fringe candidate from America’s most famous political family has dropped out and endorsed Trump.
North Carolina is among a handful of swing states that Harris and Trump have been crisscrossing as they embark on the most intense phase of an election expected to be decided by razor-thin margins.
Other states will soon follow in mailing out initial batches of ballots, and early in-person voting begins across 47 states as soon as September 20.
Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks later on Friday in North Carolina.
AFP
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