US- and Israeli-backed group pauses food delivery in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli- and U.S.-backed group paused food delivery at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said dozens of Palestinians were killed in a series of shootings near the sites this week.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it was in discussions with the Israeli military on better guiding foot traffic near the distribution hubs and enhancing military training procedures to promote safety.

GHF says there has been no violence in the aid sites themselves but has acknowledged the potential dangers people face when traveling to them on foot. Thousands of Palestinians walk to the sites early each morning.

GHF said it asked Israel’s military, the Israel Defense Forces, to “introduce measures that guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks near IDF military perimeters; develop clearer IDF-issued guidance to help the population transit safely; enhance IDF force training and refine internal IDF procedures to support safety.”

Israel and the United States say they supported the establishment of the new aid system to prevent Hamas from stealing aid and selling it to finance its terrorist activities.

The U.N. has refused to take part in the new system.

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 terrorists.

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza because it was not linked to the release of hostages.

All 14 other members of the council voted in favor of the resolution, which described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and called on Israel to lift all restrictions on the delivery of aid to the 2.1 million Palestinians in the territory.

The resolution before the U.N.’s most powerful body also did not fulfill two other U.S. demands: It did not condemn the Hamas-led terrorist deadly attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war, or say the terrorist group must disarm and withdraw from Gaza.

Elsewhere, the Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades — named after a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last year — claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first surfaced on social media a few days before.

Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western countryside of Syria’s Daraa province after the rocket launch.

Meanwhile, Spain has canceled a deal for anti-tank missile systems that were to be manufactured in Madrid by a subsidiary of an Israeli company, in a bid to move away from Israeli military technology, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

Still, Israel signed defense contracts worth nearly $15 billion last year, surpassing its all-time record, the country’s defense ministry said Wednesday. Over half the deals were with European countries.

Nearly half the deals were for missiles, rockets and air defense systems, Israel’s defense ministry said.

Others included the sale of vehicles and armored personnel carriers, satellite and space systems and intelligence and cyber systems, among others. More than half of the agreements were worth over $100 million each.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the record amount was a “direct result” of Israel’s battlefield achievements throughout the wars that have roiled the Middle East since the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

“The world sees Israeli strength and seeks to be a partner in it,” Katz said in a statement.