INTERNATIONAL UPDATES
Nearly 500 Metric Tons and over a million pounds, of aid was delivered on the beginning Saturday morning local time in Palestine, CENTCOM said in a post on X platform the first delivery since the landing site broke apart last month.
The delivery came the same day the Israeli Military rescued four hostages in an operation that authorities in Gaza said killed 236 people and injured more than 400 others.
CENTCOM made it clear on Saturday that the Landing place, “including its equipment, personnel, and assets,” was not used in the operation. “The temporary landing site on the coast of Gaza was put in place for one purpose only, to help move additional, urgently needed life-saving assistance into Gaza,” CENTCOM said in a separate post on X.
And a US official spoke with the ShivoUpdates partner journalist on Saturday that the pier (Landing place) , called Joint Logistics Over the Shore, or JLOTS, was not used in the operation. “It is our understanding that IDF did not use a vehicle with humanitarian markings, or any humanitarian platform, including the JLOTS facility, to conduct hostage rescue operations,” the official said.
The Landing place used, in addition to drop aid out of planes and trucking it through border checkpoints, sustained damage and broke apart in heavy seas late last month. In the less than two weeks the landing site was operational, it helped deliver some 1,000 Metric Tons of Aid to Gaza.
The US had faced a number of challenges with the pier, including planning around Israel’s operations in Rafah, establishing who would transport the aid from the landing place into Gaza, and logistical issues such as sea and weather conditions.
Eight months into the Israel-Hamas war, human rights groups have described “unspeakable” living conditions in Gaza. The United Nations’ food agency warned in May that Palestinians in the North are under a “full-blown famine” that is spreading south, and more than 1 Million people, half of Gaza’s population, are “expected to face death and starvation” by mid-July, a UN report warned this week.
Images of Released Ukrainian Prisoners of war show Skeletal Bodies in ‘horrifying’ Condition
Photo of Roman Gorilyk was held by Russia for more than two years, Image for ShivoUpdates
Thursday, 8:50am
Story by • Farouk Shivo | LimoGroup Co.
Roman Gorilyk is now little more than a skeleton. His ribs and collarbones are sticking out, his stomach is sunken, his shoulder and hip joints clearly visible under his pale skin.
The Ukrainian authorities released several photographs of Gorilyk, 40, on Wednesday to show the toll they say Russian captivity has taken on him. “The condition of Roman and other Ukrainian prisoners of war evokes horror and associations with the darkest pages of human history – Nazi concentration death camps,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, a Ukrainian government body, said in a statement posted on Telegram alongside the photos.
The National Guard of Ukraine told the news Company of CNN that almost all of the released prisoners have suffered weight loss, sores and chronic conditions stemming from untreated injuries.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the prisoners returned to Ukraine in a “horrifying” state. “The torture by starvation is monstrous, the beatings and violence are sophisticated,” he said in a statement posted on X, accusing Russia of ignoring international human rights agreements.
“There are no Geneva Conventions anymore… Russia again thinks it can avoid being held accountable for massive war crimes,” he said. Under the Geneva Conventions, the set of international laws that regulate armed conflict, prisoners of war must be treated humanely and with dignity, and must be provided with basic daily food rations that are “sufficient in quantity, quality and variety to keep prisoners of war in good health and to prevent loss of weight or the development of nutritional deficiencies.”
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said Gorilyk was among 169 guards who were taken by the invading Russian forces and transported to Russia via Belarus. It said that 89 of these people are still being held captive, and that Moscow is using them in exchange for Russian servicemen captured in battle.
Roman for Ukraine from Russia prison
Peace Makers Urge Israel, Hamas to Finalise Cease-fire
Sunday,
Photo & Story by: Farouk Shivo | LimoGroup Co.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States are calling on Hamas and Israel to finalise an agreement that embodies the principles outlined by US President Joe Biden on May 31, 2024- Friday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says there are almost no health services remaining in Rafah after the city’s last partially functioning hospital, the Al-Helal al-Emirati, shut down among the ongoing hostilities. Thousands of Israelis took to the streets urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal with Hamas and free the captives held in Gaza, but far-right ministers threatened to fall his government if he accepted such an agreement.
At least 36,379 Palestinians have been killed and 82,407 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attacks is at least 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
Jabalia refugee camp destroyed with a bomb and many have lost lives | 10:48am
