AFP Asia Business

‘Ours forever’: would-be Israeli settlers march on Gaza

Within sight of Gaza, the devastated Palestinian enclave ravaged by nearly 22 months of war, hundreds of Israeli settlers marched Wednesday to stake their claim to the battered territory.Waving Israeli flags alongside the orange banners of Gush Katif — a bloc of settlements dismantled in 2005 — the marchers went from the town of Sderot to the Asaf Siboni observation point, overlooking the ruins of Beit Hanun.Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza 20 years ago ended 38 years of military presence. About 8,000 settlers were evacuated and 21 communities demolished.But a vocal fringe never gave up the dream of return — and now, amid war with Hamas and with hardliners in government, some believe the time is ripe.Veterans of Gush Katif have been joined by a new generation of would-be settlers ready to move in if the army gets out of their way.”As a movement, 1,000 families — you see them today marching — we are ready to move now, as things stand, and to live in tents,” said 79-year-old Daniella Weiss, a former mayor of the West Bank settlement of Kedumim.”We are ready with our children to move into the Gaza area right away, because we believe this is the way to bring quiet, peace, to put an end to Hamas,” she told AFP.”It’s only when we hold on to the soil, to the grains of sand, that the army will raise a white flag,” she said.Far-right groups joined the protest, marching toward the border chanting: “Gaza, ours forever!” Loudspeakers blared: “The way to defeat Hamas is to take back our land.”- ‘God and the government’ -Much of Gaza has been ruined by the Israeli offensive launched in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 dead and more than 250 taken hostage.More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. International NGOs have accused Israel of forcibly displacing civilians and committing war crimes — with some alleging genocide, a charge Israel fiercely rejects.The official policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is that the Gaza operation was launched to destroy Hamas and rescue Israeli hostages — not to restore settlements.But the would-be settlers say they have been in talks with hardline members of the ruling coalition and believe there may be a political opening, despite the fact that reoccupation is deemed illegal under international law.They were further buoyed this week when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in a speech at the Gush Katif museum, declared: “It’s closer than ever. It’s a realistic work plan.”We didn’t sacrifice all this to transfer Gaza from one Arab to another Arab. Gaza is an inseparable part of the land of Israel.”I don’t want to go back to Gush Katif — it’s too small. It needs to be much bigger. Gaza today allows us to think a little bigger.”The marchers heard him.”I have faith in God and in the government,” said Sharon Emouna, 58, who came from her settlement in the occupied West Bank to support the Gaza return movement.”I’m just here in support, to say that the land of Israel is promised to the Jewish people and it’s our right to settle there,” she said.And if any Palestinians want to remain in Gaza, Emouna added, they would benefit from living alongside the settlers.On Wednesday, however, it was Israeli soldiers who blocked the final short walk to Gaza, across a parched landscape of low brush scorched by the summer sun.A continuous stream of families approached the border, close enough to glimpse the apocalyptic silhouette of smashed Palestinian homes left by the fighting — and, perhaps, what they hope will become home again.

US imposes sanctions on shipping empire tied to Iranian leaders

The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The Treasury Department said the sanctions were being imposed on companies and vessels operated by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, who has been subject to US sanctions since 2020.It said Hossein operates a fleet of more than 50 tankers and container ships that transport Iranian and Russian oil and petroleum products, generating tens of billions of dollars in profit.”The Shamkhani family’s shipping empire highlights how the Iranian regime elites leverage their positions to accrue massive wealth and fund the regime’s dangerous behavior,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.The Treasury Department said more than 115 individuals, corporate entities and vessels were being sanctioned, including companies based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.”The over 115 sanctions issued today are the largest to-date since the Trump Administration implemented our campaign of maximum pressure on Iran,” Bessent said.The Treasury Department said Hossein’s network “comprises a vast fleet of vessels, ship management firms, and front companies… that launder billions in profits from global sales of Iranian and Russian crude oil and other petroleum products, most often to buyers in China.”The State Department said separately that it was imposing sanctions on 20 entities, including companies in India, Indonesia, Turkey and the UAE, for their involvement in the trade of Iranian petroleum, and 10 vessels.The sanctions are being imposed more than a month after the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear program, hitting a uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the sanctions are intended to “disrupt the Iranian regime’s ability to fund its destabilizing activities, including its nuclear program, support for terrorist groups, and oppression of its own people.””As President (Donald) Trump has said, any country or person who chooses to purchase Iranian oil or petrochemicals exposes themselves to the risk of US sanctions and will not be allowed to conduct business with the United States,” Bruce said.She said the United States will continue to put “maximum pressure” on Tehran until it “accepts a deal that advances regional peace and stability and in which Iran forgoes all aspirations of a nuclear weapon.” 

Gaza civil defence says 30 killed in food queue by Israeli fire

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 30 people when they opened fire Wednesday on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid in the north of the Palestinian territory.The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of casualties in the incident north of Gaza City, as the United Nations said that pauses in Israel’s offensive against Hamas were not enough to help the population through a deepening hunger crisis.The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that four days into Israel’s “tactical pauses”, people were still dying from hunger and malnutrition, alongside casualties among those seeking aid.Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “at least 30 martyrs were killed” and 300 wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for aid north of Gaza City.Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies from the shooting, which reportedly struck about three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering Gaza.The Israeli army said that dozens of Gazans were seen “gathering around aid trucks in northern Gaza, and in close proximity to IDF (army) troops operating in the area.”The troops fired warning shots in the area, not directed at the gathering, in response to the threat posed to them. According to an initial inquiry, the IDF is not aware of any casualties as a result of IDF fire. The details of the incident are still being examined.”Hours earlier, 14 Palestinians were killed in four other incidents, three near aid distribution sites, the civil defence agency said.In two of the incidents, the Israeli army said it had fired warning shots.- Pauses not enough -Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties.Gaza has been in the grip of war for almost 22 months and, according to a UN-mandated report, its two-million-plus inhabitants now face an unfolding famine.The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 60,138 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run government’s health ministry.- Food aid air-drops -Amid an international outcry over Gaza’s food crisis, Israel has observed a daytime pause in military operations since the weekend on secure routes and in built-up areas to boost aid delivery and distribution.Air drops of food have also been staged by the Jordanian air force, the United Arab Emirates and Britain. France said it plans to start delivering 40 tonnes of aid from Friday.OCHA said that the conditions for delivering aid were “far from sufficient” to meet the immense needs of its “desperate, hungry people”.Israel’s pauses alone “do not allow for the continuous flow of supplies required to meet immense needs levels in Gaza”, OCHA said in an update.”For example, for UN drivers to access the Kerem Shalom crossing — a fenced-off area — Israeli authorities must approve the mission, provide a safe route through which to travel, provide multiple ‘green lights’ on movement, as well as a pause in bombing, and, ultimately, open the iron gates to allow them to enter.””Desperate, hungry people” offload the small amounts of aid from the trucks that are able to exit the crossings, it added.- Ceasefire talks halted -Amid deadlocked talks on a ceasefire, US special envoy Steve Witkoff was scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday.Witkoff has been involved in indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The discussions broke down last week when Israel and the United States recalled their delegations from Doha.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel and the United States were “considering alternative options to bring our hostages home”.Witkoff “will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza”, a US official told AFP.Arab countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt called this week on Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war.