Bahraini envoy returns from Israel, Israeli ambassador departs Manama
Direct flights between Bahrain and Tel Aviv were suspended several weeks ago
The ambassadors of Bahrain and Israel have returned to their respective countries some time ago, the National Communication Centre of Bahrain (NCC) has confirmed, according to the Bahrain News Agency.
The NCC also said that direct flights between Bahrain and Tel Aviv were suspended several weeks ago.
The NCC reiterated Bahrain’s unchanged approach of advocating for enhanced security and stability and peace in the region, which can be achieved only by finding a just solution to the Palestinian issue. The resolution should lead to a two-state solution in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative, ensuring the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The current efforts should primarily concentrate on safeguarding civilian lives in Gaza, the NCC said, underlining the need for creating urgent humanitarian corridors to deliver relief and medical aid to the people.
Here is a rundown of what some UN agencies call a “humanitarian catastrophe” enveloping the tiny Hamas-ruled enclave of 2.3 million people.
DISPLACEMENT: Some 1.4 million people — more than half of the population, have fled their homes with nearly 700,000 sheltering in buildings run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), according to the UN humanitarian office (OCHA).
Israel has called on civilians in north Gaza — the heart of Hamas’ forces — to evacuate to the south for their own safety, though the south has also been hammered by Israeli air strikes that have killed and injured non-combatants.
OCHA says shelters are overcrowded at nearly four times their intended capacity, with tens of thousands of other Gazans taking cover in hospitals.
HOSPITALS: Over a third of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are not functioning and those still in service report dire fuel shortages that have severely reduced their electricity supply, the World Health Organization says.
The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital in Gaza City which treats cancer patients has run out of fuel and is no longer operational, according to WHO.
Rescue teams from the Palestinian Civil Defence have been forced to curb their ambulance fleet for lack of fuel, causing a desperate resort to donkey carts to take casualties to hospital.
AID DELIVERIES: At least 10 trucks brought aid including water, food and medicines into Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt on November 1, bringing the total number of trucks since the limited reopening of the crossing on October 21 to 227, OCHA said.
But humanitarian aid deliveries from the south to displaced people in the north stopped following Israel’s ground invasion, it said.
WATER: One of three water supply lines to Gaza from Israel has been restored for the first time since October 8, according to OCHA. Two seawater desalination plants are running at 40 per cent of capacity and some wells are operating, enabling some households to receive water for a few hours a day, as well as limited truck deliveries.
FUEL Aid groups say fuel is urgently needed to distribute aid and to power hospitals, bakeries and desalination plants.
But the entry of fuel remains banned by Israel which says it could be diverted to Hamas for military purposes.
-- Reuters
The return of envoys of Bahrain and Israel comes a day after Jordan said it was recalling its ambassador in Tel Aviv.
"Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi decided to immediately recall Jordan's ambassador to Israel," the foreign ministry said in a statement that condemned "the ongoing Israeli war that is killing innocent people in Gaza and causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe".
Jordan stepping up diplomatic efforts
Israel said it regretted the Jordanian government’s decision, adding it was focused on waging a war against the militant Hamas group after the bloody assault that killed hundreds of Israelis.
Jordan was stepping up diplomatic efforts to pressure Israel to end the war, which brought “dangerous risks” of conflict spreading across the region and threatening global peace, Safadi said.
In Gaza City, Israeli tanks and troops continued its advance but met fierce resistance from Hamas militants using mortars and hit-and-run attacks from tunnels as the Palestinian death toll from nearly four weeks of bombardments mounted.
Israel’s ensuing bombardment of the small Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people has killed at least 8,796 people, including 3,648 children, according to Gaza health authorities.
The conflict has stirred long-standing fears in Jordan, home to a large population of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, that a wider conflagration would give Israel the chance to implement a transfer policy to expel Palestinians en masse from the West Bank.
Jordan, which shares a border with the West Bank, absorbed the bulk of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of their homes when Israel was created King Abdullah on Wednesday said Israel’s “military and security solution” against Palestinians would not succeed, adding the only path to a just and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace were negotiations leading to a two-state solution.