However, Hani Almadhoun, the director of philanthropy for the US arm of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA USA) said he knew a dozen people pictured in circulating images, including his brother — all of whom were civilians.
Following the comments, a BBC spokesperson said his comments “were offensive and we don’t intend to use him again (as a commentator).”
https://www.checkli.com/redfalcon42 Civilians like Alareer were confronted with an impossible predicament. Stay home and risk being killed, or try to flee without protection. At the time, the 44-year-old writer and academic told CNN he and his family had no choice but to remain in the north, because they “have nowhere else to go.” CNN cannot independently confirm the number of dead and wounded in Gaza, but on Sunday the Israel Defense Forces said it had struck more than 22,000 targets in Gaza since October 7. The leaders of Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Malta have written a letter to the European Council President Charles Michel calling for a discussion at an upcoming EU summit on the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza. “There is no food, or water, or medicine there — where approximately 250 people are still trapped inside. Anyone who tries to leave the hospital is shot at,” he said. After formal hostage negotiations that had been taking place in Doha, Qatar, fell apart, the Biden administration continues to be in close contact with their Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian counterparts about ways to get more hostages out, according to officials. Refaat Alareer (left) sits with his friends and colleagues, Yousef Aljamal (center) and Jehad Abusalim (right), on the Staten Island Ferry in New York during a book tour in 2014.
https://solo.to/chico01 who were trapped under rubble in central Gaza. In northern Gaza, Israeli troops are encircling Hamas’ "We are writing to you in view of the step taken by United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, invoking Article 99 of the United Nations Charter for the United Nations Security Council to address urgently the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza," the leaders said in the opening paragraph of their letter. The leaders ended the letter by warning that the EU’s “credibility is at stake.” The State Department will be able to apply the policy to both Israelis and Palestinians who are responsible for attacks in the West Bank, Blinken said.
