She’s finally here. The United States announced that it had attached a temporary pier to the Gaza beach, to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid in the territory ravaged by the Israeli offensive against Hamas, Thursday May 16. “It is expected that trucks loaded with humanitarian aid will begin to dock in the coming days”continues on the US Central Command, the American joint command responsible in particular for the Middle East. “It is expected that trucks loaded with humanitarian aid will begin to dock in the coming days”continues the Command, specifying that the aid will be given to the UN which “will coordinate its distribution in Gaza”. This pier, with an announced cost of $320 million, according to the Pentagon, was initially scheduled to be completed on May 7. Follow our live stream.
Five Israeli soldiers killed by “friendly fire” in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army announced the death of five soldiers killed Wednesday in the north of the Palestinian enclave. The army specifies that it is “friendly fire”, or from Israeli forces, as a military spokesperson confirmed, without giving further details.
South Africa calls for Israeli withdrawal from Rafah. Lawyers in Pretoria have called on judges at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest court, to order Israel to stop an operation that South Africa has called “genocidal” and which threatens the “even survival of the Palestinians”.
An Arab League summit dominated by the war in Gaza. The 22 Arab leaders meet Thursday in Manama, Bahrain, for a summit focused on the conflict. They had already met in November in Saudi Arabia and condemned Israel’s offensive, while refraining from announcing punitive economic and political measures against it.
The leader of Hamas assures that he is “here to last”. “We say that Hamas is here to stay (…) and it will be up to the movement and all the national factions [palestiniennes] to decide on post-war governance in Gaza”declared the leader of the Islamist movement, Ismaïl Haniyeh, in a televised speech.