U.S. help Gaza-bound
Aid bigs say temp pier, other assistance not enough amid mass hunger
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment to build a temporary pier in Gaza was heading to the Mediterranean on Sunday, after President Biden announced plans to increase aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are going hungry.
The new push for aid came as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was set to begin Monday in much of the world after officials in Saudi Arabia saw the crescent moon.
Hopes for a new ceasefire by Ramadan faded days ago, with negotiations apparently stalled.
The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, reflected growing alarm over Gaza’s deadly humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments.
But aid officials say air and sea deliveries can’t make up for a shortage of land routes. Aid trucks entering Gaza daily are far below the 500 entering before the war.
A ship belonging to the Spanish aid group Open Arms and carrying 200 tons of food aid was expected to make a pilot voyage to Gaza from nearby Cyprus “as soon as possible,” but not Sunday, said Linda Roth of the partner organization World Central Kitchen.
There was no explanation after Cyprus’ president had said it would leave then.
Israel says it welcomes the sea deliveries and would inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves Cyprus.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reviewed preparatory work Sunday off Gaza’s coast.
Biden has stepped up public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling MSNBC on Saturday that he believes Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in his approach to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, now in its sixth month after Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.
Netanyahu pushed back Sunday against Biden’s latest comments.
“Well, I don’t know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant ... that I’m pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he’s wrong on both counts,” Netanyahu said in a clip of an interview with Politico.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but it says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of UN and independent experts. The Civil Defense Department said 10 people were killed Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a house of the Ashour family in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City. Dust-covered bodies were placed onto blankets.
Elsewhere, the bodies of 15 people, including women and children, were taken to the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, according to an Associated Press journalist. Relatives said they were killed by Israeli artillery fire toward a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the coastal area near the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel rarely comments on specific incidents during the war. It maintains that Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties because the militant group operates from within civilian areas.
Meanwhile, U.S. efforts began to set up the temporary pier in Gaza for sea deliveries. U.S. Central Command said a first U.S. Army vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, left a base in Virginia on Saturday and is on its way with equipment for construction.
U.S. officials said it would likely be weeks before the pier is operational.
The sea corridor is backed by the European Union together with the U.S., the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said UN agencies and the Red Cross will play a role.
The ship in Cyprus is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza.
CHISINAU, Moldova — The past two years have been the hardest and most tumultuous for European Union candidate Moldova in more than three decades as it faces threats from Russia in multiple spheres of public life, the country’s foreign minister says.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, its neighbor Moldova has faced a litany of crises that have at times raised fears the country is also in Russia’s crosshairs. These included errant missiles landing on its territory, a severe energy crisis after Moscow dramatically reduced gas supplies, rampant inflation and protests by pro-Russia parties against the pro-Western government.
Moldova also has taken in the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita of any country.
“This past two years without exaggeration have been by far the most difficult in the past 30 years,” Mihai Popsoi (photo), appointed foreign minister in late January, told The Associated Press in an interview.
Moldova gained independence from the
Soviet Union in 1991, but Russia continues to see the country — sandwiched between Ukraine and EU member Romania — as within its sphere of influence.
Moldovan officials have repeatedly accused Russia of conducting a “hybrid war” against the country — funding anti-government protests, meddling in local elections and running vast disinformation campaigns to try to topple the government and derail Moldova from its path toward full EU membership. Russia has denied the accusations.
Last week, Moldova’s national Intelligence and Security Services agency said it has gathered data indicating “unprecedented” plans by Moscow to launch a fresh and sprawling destabilization campaign as Moldova gears up for a referendum on EU membership and a presidential election later in the year.
“We know that the Kremlin is going to invest a lot of energy and financial resources through their proxies to try to get their way,” said Popsoi, a lawmaker from the governing Party of Action and Solidarity who also serves as deputy prime minister.
“They’re trying to bribe voters and use citizens to bribe them,” he added. “The Russians are learning and adapting, and they’re trying to use the democratic process against us … to topple a democratic government in Moldova.”
Tensions also have periodically soared in Moldova’s Russia-backed breakaway region of Transnistria — a thin strip of land bordering Ukraine that isn’t recognized by any UN member countries but where Russia maintains about 1,500 troops as socalled peacekeepers, guarding huge Soviet-era weapons and ammunition stockpiles.
The 37-year-old minister noted the testing period that Moldova has been through has nevertheless also been transformative for his country, which has a population of about 2.5 million people.
“When we look at the energy security of Moldova, two years ago there was very little,” he said. “Now Moldova is quite independent.”
The same can be said, he added, for his country’s defense capabilities, police force, justice reform and the resilience of key institutions such as intelligence. “Moldova is moving in the right direction despite enormous challenges.”
Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, says Moldova has faced a “constant onslaught” of Russian tests to probe weaknesses that might undermine its EU trajectory.
“It feels like a geopolitical race in which Russia is trying to stop Moldova from moving toward the EU, while Moldova tries to fend off Russian influence until it joins the EU,” he said, adding that the authorities “have been much more open about acknowledging the danger Russia presents to the country’s democracy.”
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Moldova applied to join the EU. In December, the EU said it would open accession negotiations for both Moldova and Ukraine.