Attention to the Unseen

José Andrés, the founder of World Central Kitchen, writes: In the worst conditions you can imagine — after hurricanes, earthquakes, bombs and gunfire — the best of humanity shows up. Not once or twice but always. The seven people killed on a World Central Kitchen mission in Gaza on Monday were the best of humanity. They are not faceless or nameless. They are not generic aid workers or collateral damage in war. Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger,…

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The Guardian reports: Dr Fozia Alvi was making her rounds of the intensive care unit on her final day at the battered European public hospital in southern Gaza when she stopped next to two young arrivals with facial injuries and breathing tubes in their windpipes. “I asked the nurse, what’s the history? She said that they were brought in a couple of hours ago. They had sniper shots to the brain. They were seven or eight years old,” she said….

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  President Biden held a meeting at the White House with Arab and Muslim leaders and activists Tuesday amid ongoing criticism for his stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian American emergency physician from Chicago who traveled to Gaza earlier this year, said he walked out of the event after delivering a note to Mr. Biden from an 8-year-old. “Face the Nation” moderator and CBS News chief foreign correspondent Margaret Brennan spoke with Dr. Ahmad about his…

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  The Times of Israel reports: Speaking to Channel 12, a senior Israeli official echoed the fears that the incident could be a turning point in the war. Channel 12 reported that Israeli officials fear the WCK deaths and disruptions to aid deliveries will exacerbate famine concerns. Other aid agencies may also stop their operations, which would leave Israel forced to choose between taking over food distribution — effectively making it a military governor of Gaza — or ending the…

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The Daily Beast reports: On Tuesday, former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin told IDF Radio that Israel is now “a step away from international ostracism,” according to Haaretz. “We are losing the tremendous morality that all Israeli governments for generations have enjoyed, by the conduct and behavior of the IDF and by the behavior of the State of Israel in everything related to the wars we have waged for 76 years,” Rivlin said. According to the World Central Kitchen, its staff…

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  The Times of Israel reports: A virtual meeting on Monday between US and Israeli officials to discuss a potential IDF ground operation in Rafah was reportedly marked by tensions and accusations as Washington expressed deep skepticism over Israeli plans to operate in the southernmost Gaza city. The two-hour video call between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the American side and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi…

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Chef José Andrés‘s World Central Kitchen: WCK teams mobilize across Gaza daily to distribute food to displaced Palestinians. Our 60+ kitchens in southern and central Gaza are cooking hundreds of thousands of meals each day like this mujadara, a comforting dish of rice, lentils, and caramelized onions. #ChefsForThePeople pic.twitter.com/zHF3oVlKCJ — World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) April 1, 2024 Heroic @WCKitchen staffers from Britain, Australia, Poland and Ireland who were targeted and killed by Israel while on @chefjoseandres’s mission to deliver food…

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The Guardian reports: David Cameron has come under pressure to restore funding to the UN’s humanitarian relief agency in Palestine from a cross-party group of more than 50 MPs and peers. The UK was among a group of countries that halted funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) amid allegations from Israel that some staff members were involved in the 7 October attacks carried out by Hamas. In a letter to the foreign secretary, the MPs and peers…

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The Guardian reports: Israel has given the UN a proposal to dismantle Unrwa, its relief agency in the Palestinian territories, and transfer its staff to a replacement agency to make large-scale food deliveries into Gaza, according to UN sources. The proposal was presented late last week by the Israeli chief of the general staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, to UN officials in Israel, who forwarded it to the organisation’s secretary general, António Guterres, on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions…

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  Six months into Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, the United Nations Security Council has finally passed a resolution demanding a ceasefire. The United States’s abstention marks a pivotal moment in Israel’s increasing international isolation. In the Israeli media, the opposition to the UN vote is near-unanimous and unsurprising. More striking is the lack of interest from American news outlets. The implications this story raises are perhaps a little uncomfortable for them – they hit too close to home.

Jeremy Konyndyk writes: Three months ago the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) process (the official process for assessing famine risk) issued an urgent warning: the entire population of Gaza was “at risk” of famine, and over half a million people were already experiencing famine-level food shortages. Last week, the IPC upgraded that warning, projecting that famine in Gaza is now “imminent.” 1.1 million people, half the territory’s population, are in IPC Phase V, the highest level of risk. Yet…

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NPR reports: In northern Gaza’s shattered streets, people buy and sell canned food, small amounts of flour and grain and a few household items in makeshift markets. Nermeen Tafesh and her five children scour the stalls every day for something affordable to eat, but everything is expensive. With no jobs, most people don’t have an income. Tafesh is shocked that 2 pounds of rotten-looking potatoes now sells for 40 shekels, more than $10. Two pounds of rice, costing less than…

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  Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara analyses Ireland’s support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Ireland’s backing signifies a universalised call for justice in Palestine, joining nations with histories of oppression. Bishara criticizes the US and Israel’s dismissive response to allegations of genocide, highlighting a growing global momentum for Palestinian justice. He questions Europe’s stance on selling arms to Israel amid accusations of weaponising hunger, urging consistency with universal values.

Eliza Griswold writes: Just off the acacia-lined highway to the Qatari capital of Doha is a three-story, whitewashed apartment complex built to host visitors at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Until recently, the gated compound was unoccupied. Yet in the past several months, as part of a deal Qatar struck with Israel, Hamas, and Egypt to evacuate as many as fifteen hundred wounded Gazans in urgent need of medical care, it has begun to fill. The new residents are eight…

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