Alliance for safe shipping

Middle East - Alliance for safe shipping

In view of an increasing number of attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, the US military is stepping up its cooperation with armed forces from other countries in the region. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to 19,667 since the start of the war. On his return from the Gaza Strip, the spokesman for the UN children's charity Unicef, James Elder, described the conditions there as catastrophic. The Islamist Hamas once again fired rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli towns and villages.

Multinational protection fleet for merchant ships

According to the US Department of Defense in Washington, several countries are participating in the new security initiative called "Operation Prosperity Guardian", including the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain. The increased cooperation is intended to improve the protection of merchant ships.

According to the US military, there were renewed attacks by Houthi re bels on two ships in the southern Red Sea. The Houthi rebels in Yemen are attacking ships to prevent them from sailing towards Israel.

Authority: 52,586 injured in the Gaza Strip

According to the health authorities, 52,586 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip so far. The figures cannot be verified at present, but the UN and other observers point out that they have proved to be generally credible in the past.

The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 in Israel near the Gaza border. More than 1200 people were killed on the Israeli side. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.

UN: Children do not have enough to eat

A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO) described it as unconscionable that the world continues to allow such devastating conditions. Four out of five minors do not have enough to eat, said Unicef spokesman Elder in Geneva. Diarrheal diseases are spreading among the youngest children. He was furious that injured children were dying and that parents of seriously ill children only had "hope and dirty water", said Elder. Israeli forces had promised to spare civilians, but the reality was different. "I am angry that hypocrisy is crushing empathy." According to the WHO, only eight of the 36 hospitals are still functioning to some extent.

Another 180 trucks with aid supplies arrive in the Gaza Strip

According to the UN, a further 180 trucks of aid arrived in the Gaza Strip. Around 100 of them and four tankers carrying diesel entered Gaza via the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah, according to the UN emergency aid office OCHA. Around 80 more trucks had arrived via the Kerem Shalom crossing in south-east Gaza, which Israel had recently opened for aid deliveries. Before the war began, an average of around 500 trucks entered the Gaza Strip every day.

Around 2.2 million people lived in the Gaza Strip before the war began. According to UNRWA, more than 90 percent of them were displaced by fighting, many of them more than once. On average, there are around 12,400 people in each of the approximately 150 UN emergency shelters in the coastal area, which corresponds to four times the respective capacity.

EU discussion on securing shipping in the Red Sea

There are discussions in the EU about supporting the US initiative to secure shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthi attacks on merchant ships in recent weeks are an unacceptable violation of international law, said a spokesperson for the EU Commission in Brussels. One option in the EU is to extend the mandate of the EU anti-piracy operation Atalanta to include the protection of merchant ships in the Red Sea. Its current mission is to help deter piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia.

Another missile alert in Tel Aviv

In the coastal city of Tel Aviv, a rocket alarm was triggered for the first time in several days, according to the Israeli army. There were initially no reports of casualties. The Kassam Brigades, the armed arm of the Islamist Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attacks. According to Israeli figures, more than 12,500 rockets have been fired at Israel since the start of the Gaza war on October 7.

Israel attacks targets in Lebanon

According to the Israeli army, it attacked targets in neighboring Lebanon following rocket fire. The military announced on Tuesday that the source of the launch had been hit. Fighter jets had attacked "terrorist infrastructure", military facilities, a weapons depot and rocket launchers in Lebanon.

Army destroys house of a terrorist

Israel's army destroyed the house of a Palestinian assassin in the West Bank on Tuesday. The Israeli military confirmed the operation in the morning. According to reports, the Palestinian had shot dead two Israelis, a father and his son, in a car wash in the Palestinian town of Huwara in August.

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1. The United Nations and other international organizations have expressed concern over the attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, which are believed to be orchestrated by the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels.
2. The Alliance for safe shipping in the Middle East has called for increased cooperation between different countries to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea, in light of the repeated attacks by Houthi rebels.
3. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that the conditions in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, are catastrophic, with children not having enough food to eat and a high number of injuries and deaths.
4. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has highlighted the plight of children in the Gaza Strip, with 4 out of 5 minors not having enough to eat, and diarrheal diseases spreading among the youngest children.
5. The UN and other organizations have recognized the credibility of the health authorities' data on the number of Palestinians killed and injured in the Gaza Strip, but have expressed concerns over the high number of casualties.
6. The Middle East is currently experiencing a series of conflicts, including those in the Gaza Strip, where children are suffering the most, and in Yemen, where Houthi rebels are attacking merchant ships to prevent them from sailing towards Israel.
7. The EU Commission has expressed its concern over the unacceptable violation of international law by Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, and is discussing ways to support the US initiative to secure shipping in the region.
8. The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on Israeli towns and villages, including Tel Aviv, resulting in a rocket alarm in the coastal city and adding to the tensions in the region.
9. The EU is considering extending the mandate of its anti-piracy operation Atalanta to include the protection of merchant ships in the Red Sea, in response to the recent attacks by Houthi rebels.
10. In addition to the conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Yemen, other conflicts are also ongoing in the Middle East, such as those in Syria and Lebanon, which have resulted in the displacement of millions of people and increased instability in the region.
11. The UN and other international organizations have repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and for all parties involved in the conflicts in the Middle East to prioritize the protection of civilians, particularly children, and the restoration of peace and stability in the region.

Source: www.stern.de