• Blinken urges ‘immediate’ ceasefire in Gaza
• US lawmakers move to bar funds for UNRWA

TULKAREM: As the US top diplomat on Thursday called for an “immediate ceasefire” in war-torn Gaza, an Israeli air strike and gunfire have killed four Palestinians at the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on social media platform X that its “ambulance teams have just transported an 18-year-old man who was killed by the Israeli occupation forces in Nur Shams camp”, bringing the death toll in the raid to four people. Two were killed by an air strike and two by live bullets, it said.

The Israeli army said “an aircraft struck two terrorists who posed an immediate threat to the forces”, and troops “eliminated two militants” in an exchange of fire during the operation.

One of the fatalities was identified by his family as Nidal Abu Abeid, a vegetable seller at the northern West Bank camp, near the Palestinian town of Tulkarem.

His uncle, Ziad Ali Abu Abeid, 52, told AFP at the morgue that Nidal “wanted to build a future”. “He wanted to make a living for himself,” the uncle said. “The (Israeli) occupation came and killed all the ambition he had, like for any other person in the camp.”

Including the latest deaths, at least eight Palestinians were killed in less than 24 hours in the West Bank, authorities and medics said. Three Palestinians, including an Islamic Jihad commander, were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on a car in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed factions in the northern West Bank.

One Palestinian was killed by gunfire in the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah.

At least 444 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

‘Immediate ceasefire’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the need for an “immediate ceasefire” and a deal to free hostages in war-torn Gaza as he visited Egypt for talks with Arab envoys.

Blinken, on his latest Middle East crisis tour, was trying to shore up support for a truce as the Israel-Hamas war ground on and experts issued a further warning about the risk of famine in Gaza.

He said the United States had circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire linked to the release of hostages” in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken said a deal was “very much possible” though a Hamas official said on Wednesday Israel’s response to the group’s latest proposal had been “largely negative”.

Funding for UNRWA

Meanwhile, US lawmakers moved on Thursday toward prohibiting any further funding for the UN’s embattled agency for Palestinians, which Israel has sought to link to Hamas.

President Joe Biden’s administration has already suspended funding for UNRWA — despite saying its work in war-ravaged Gaza was invaluable — after Israel alleged that several of its employees participated in the October 7 attack.

A $1.2 trillion funding package hammered out by lawmakers early Thursday says that US government money — either leftover funds from the current year or in the next fiscal year — “may not be used for a contribution, grant or other payment” for UNRWA.

Lawmakers released the plan to keep the government running ahead of a deadline of midnight on Friday, when three-quarters of the government will run out of funds if a deal is not reached.

Both the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate are expected to approve the plan, which would then be sent to Biden for his signature, despite misgivings by a number of lawmakers about some provisions.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2024