Day: November 15, 2023
The first truck carrying fuel into Gaza since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas crossed from Egypt on Wednesday to deliver diesel to the United Nations, though it will do little to alleviate shortages that have hampered relief efforts.
The delivery was made possible by Israel, which gave its approval for 24,000 liters (6,340 gallons) of diesel fuel for U.N. aid distribution trucks and not for use at hospitals, a humanitarian source said.
“This is only 9% of what we need daily to sustain lifesaving activities,” Tom White, director of U.N. relief agency UNRWA in Gaza, posted on social media platform X. He confirmed that just more than 23,000 liters, or half a tanker, had been received.
“Our entire operation is now on the verge of collapse,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “It is appalling that fuel continues to be used as a weapon of war.”
Aid workers say a lack of fuel, which is needed for hospital generators, provision of water, sewage treatment and communications as well as relief distribution, has contributed to deteriorating conditions for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
Deliveries of aid have been crossing from Egypt into Gaza since Oct. 21, but Israel had refused to allow in fuel, saying it could be used by Hamas to fuel its fight against Israel.
The United Nations had warned in recent days that it would soon have to halt humanitarian operations as fuel stocks became fully depleted. It said fuel shortages threatened to shut down telecoms data centers and connection points within 48 hours.
Limited numbers of Palestinians have been brought to Egypt for medical treatment, with 135 evacuated between Nov. 2-13.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Wednesday said 27 cancer patients and their 13 companions flew to Turkey for treatment, the first to be taken from Gaza to Egypt and then transferred to another country since fighting began.
He said efforts were underway to bring wounded civilians, babies and more of nearly 1,000 Gaza cancer patients to Turkey.
Egypt has readied 35 ambulances with mobile incubators after three premature babies at Gaza’s besieged Shifa hospital died when their incubators lost power, officials said.
On Tuesday, 91 trucks carrying food, medicine, bottled water, blankets and tents entered Gaza from Egypt’s Rafah crossing, but the U.N. says deliveries since Oct. 21 — 1,187 trucks in total — can only meet a fraction of needs.
Distribution of the aid had largely come to a halt for lack of fuel, it said.
It has called on Israel to open its Kerem Shalom crossing to allow in larger quantities of aid.
After the first truck carrying fuel set off for Gaza on Wednesday, witnesses said two other trucks were lined up on the Egyptian side, but it was unclear when they might enter.
Israel began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel says 1,200 people were killed and some 240 captives taken in the attack. Gaza health officials say more than 11,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed in Israel’s military offensive
Lawyers representing a group of Colorado voters delivered closing arguments on Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot next year over his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
The voters are seeking to use the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office, to argue that Trump is ineligible to run for president in 2024. The provision was ratified in 1868 following the U.S. Civil War.
Sean Grimsley, a lawyer representing the voters, said the riot at the Capitol was Trump’s “final desperate attempt to hold onto power in violation of the Constitution.”
During his closing argument, Grimsley argued that Trump intended for his supporters to resort to violence and added, “Through his actions and his actions alone, Donald Trump has disqualified himself from ever holding office again.”
The case represents a test of legal efforts to use the 14th Amendment to block Trump’s candidacy. It is the first such case to go to trial.
Scott Gessler, a lawyer for Trump, faulted plaintiffs in the case for relying on the findings of the Democratic-led House committee that investigated the Capitol riot, which he said was biased against Trump.
“The petitioners are asking this court to do something that has never been done in the history of the United States,” Gessler said. “The evidence doesn’t come close to allowing the court to do it this time.”
The House panel’s former top investigator, who testified during the trial, defended the probe as impartial and open-minded.
The voters, represented in the case by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and a group of Colorado-based lawyers, sued Colorado’s secretary of state, the state’s top elections official, in a bid to block Trump’s inclusion on the ballot.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Biden in the 2024 U.S. election.
Lawyers in the case on Wednesday made their final pitch to Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace, who will decide the case, following a weeklong trial that featured testimony from U.S. lawmakers, legal experts and Republican political activists.
Thousands of people stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump. The lawyers for the voters have sought to convince the judge that Trump’s actions in spreading false claims of voter fraud, summoning his supporters to Washington on the day of the riot and initially refusing pleas to quell the violence amounted to an insurrection.
Trump’s lawyers have denied that he incited his supporters to violence and have argued that disqualifying him from the ballot would set a dangerous precedent.
Colorado is regarded as a safely Democratic state by nonpartisan election forecasters.
Regardless of whether Trump is on the ballot, Biden would be expected to win there. But CREW and other activists are seeking to bring a series of legal challenges to Trump’s eligibility based on the 14th Amendment language.
Courts in Michigan and Minnesota have ruled that Trump can remain on the ballot for the Republican primaries in those states but declined to immediately decide on his eligibility for the November 2024 general election.
The cases raise several unsettled legal questions. Many experts view the effort as a legal longshot. The U.S. Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees, may ultimately weigh in.
The first truck carrying fuel into Gaza since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas crossed from Egypt on Wednesday to deliver diesel to the United Nations, though it will do little to alleviate shortages that have hampered relief efforts.
The delivery was made possible by Israel, which gave its approval for 24,000 liters (6,340 gallons) of diesel fuel for U.N. aid distribution trucks and not for use at hospitals, a humanitarian source said.
“This is only 9% of what we need daily to sustain lifesaving activities,” Tom White, director of U.N. relief agency UNRWA in Gaza, posted on social media platform X. He confirmed that just more than 23,000 liters, or half a tanker, had been received.
“Our entire operation is now on the verge of collapse,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “It is appalling that fuel continues to be used as a weapon of war.”
Aid workers say a lack of fuel, which is needed for hospital generators, provision of water, sewage treatment and communications as well as relief distribution, has contributed to deteriorating conditions for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
Deliveries of aid have been crossing from Egypt into Gaza since Oct. 21, but Israel had refused to allow in fuel, saying it could be used by Hamas to fuel its fight against Israel.
The United Nations had warned in recent days that it would soon have to halt humanitarian operations as fuel stocks became fully depleted. It said fuel shortages threatened to shut down telecoms data centers and connection points within 48 hours.
Limited numbers of Palestinians have been brought to Egypt for medical treatment, with 135 evacuated between Nov. 2-13.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Wednesday said 27 cancer patients and their 13 companions flew to Turkey for treatment, the first to be taken from Gaza to Egypt and then transferred to another country since fighting began.
He said efforts were underway to bring wounded civilians, babies and more of nearly 1,000 Gaza cancer patients to Turkey.
Egypt has readied 35 ambulances with mobile incubators after three premature babies at Gaza’s besieged Shifa hospital died when their incubators lost power, officials said.
On Tuesday, 91 trucks carrying food, medicine, bottled water, blankets and tents entered Gaza from Egypt’s Rafah crossing, but the U.N. says deliveries since Oct. 21 — 1,187 trucks in total — can only meet a fraction of needs.
Distribution of the aid had largely come to a halt for lack of fuel, it said.
It has called on Israel to open its Kerem Shalom crossing to allow in larger quantities of aid.
After the first truck carrying fuel set off for Gaza on Wednesday, witnesses said two other trucks were lined up on the Egyptian side, but it was unclear when they might enter.
Israel began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel says 1,200 people were killed and some 240 captives taken in the attack. Gaza health officials say more than 11,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed in Israel’s military offensive
Lawyers representing a group of Colorado voters delivered closing arguments on Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot next year over his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
The voters are seeking to use the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office, to argue that Trump is ineligible to run for president in 2024. The provision was ratified in 1868 following the U.S. Civil War.
Sean Grimsley, a lawyer representing the voters, said the riot at the Capitol was Trump’s “final desperate attempt to hold onto power in violation of the Constitution.”
During his closing argument, Grimsley argued that Trump intended for his supporters to resort to violence and added, “Through his actions and his actions alone, Donald Trump has disqualified himself from ever holding office again.”
The case represents a test of legal efforts to use the 14th Amendment to block Trump’s candidacy. It is the first such case to go to trial.
Scott Gessler, a lawyer for Trump, faulted plaintiffs in the case for relying on the findings of the Democratic-led House committee that investigated the Capitol riot, which he said was biased against Trump.
“The petitioners are asking this court to do something that has never been done in the history of the United States,” Gessler said. “The evidence doesn’t come close to allowing the court to do it this time.”
The House panel’s former top investigator, who testified during the trial, defended the probe as impartial and open-minded.
The voters, represented in the case by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and a group of Colorado-based lawyers, sued Colorado’s secretary of state, the state’s top elections official, in a bid to block Trump’s inclusion on the ballot.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Biden in the 2024 U.S. election.
Lawyers in the case on Wednesday made their final pitch to Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace, who will decide the case, following a weeklong trial that featured testimony from U.S. lawmakers, legal experts and Republican political activists.
Thousands of people stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump. The lawyers for the voters have sought to convince the judge that Trump’s actions in spreading false claims of voter fraud, summoning his supporters to Washington on the day of the riot and initially refusing pleas to quell the violence amounted to an insurrection.
Trump’s lawyers have denied that he incited his supporters to violence and have argued that disqualifying him from the ballot would set a dangerous precedent.
Colorado is regarded as a safely Democratic state by nonpartisan election forecasters.
Regardless of whether Trump is on the ballot, Biden would be expected to win there. But CREW and other activists are seeking to bring a series of legal challenges to Trump’s eligibility based on the 14th Amendment language.
Courts in Michigan and Minnesota have ruled that Trump can remain on the ballot for the Republican primaries in those states but declined to immediately decide on his eligibility for the November 2024 general election.
The cases raise several unsettled legal questions. Many experts view the effort as a legal longshot. The U.S. Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees, may ultimately weigh in.
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