Israel demands UNRWA end operations in Palestine by Jan. 30
Palestinian Information Center – January 25, 2025
Israel’s permanent representative to the UN Danny Danon has called on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to halt its operations in Occupied Jerusalem and evacuate its premises in the city “no later than January 30,” the day an Israeli ban on the organization is due to take effect.
As the date for the enforcement of the Israeli ban approaches, Danon told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday that UNRWA’s premises in Jerusalem must be vacated as stipulated by law.
The Israeli envoy claimed that the Israeli legislation came as a direct response to the acute national security risks posed by the widespread infiltration of UNRWA’s ranks by Hamas and other armed groups, and the agency’s persistent refusal to address the very grave and material concerns raised by Israel.
Most UN member states consider UNRWA, the largest aid agency for Palestinians, to be the irreplaceable backbone of humanitarian operations. However, few levers have been pulled to try to ensure the agency’s existence.
Asked by Arab News about this discrepancy between public statements of support and meaningful action, and whether it means Western countries are undermining the same multilateral values on which they were founded, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said: “The same question could be asked about the importance of international humanitarian law and the blatant and constant disregard of that law.”
“You can ask the same question about the disrespect for the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. And you can ask the same question about the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, and the court’s call for its withdrawal.”
“And so, it’s obviously frustrating,” Lazzarini added. “What we have witnessed is an extraordinary ‘crisis of impunity,’ to the extent that international humanitarian law is almost becoming irrelevant if no mechanism is put in place to address this impunity.”
Legislation blocking UNRWA from operating within the occupied Palestinian territories was approved overwhelmingly by the Knesset last October. The ban also prevents any Israeli authority from maintaining contact with the relief agency.
Delivery of aid to Gaza and the West Bank requires close coordination between UNRWA and the Israeli occupation authority. If the legislation is executed, Israel will no longer issue work or entry permits for the agency’s staff, while coordination with the Israeli occupation army that is essential for ensuring safe passage for aid deliveries will no longer be possible.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has relentlessly condemned the aid agency and bombed its buildings and personnel. More than 260 of its staff have been killed, while a coordinated Israeli media campaign has attempted to discredit the agency by portraying it as a tool of Hamas.
Israel destroys only water desalination plant in northern Gaza
MEMO | January 25, 2025
The Palestinian Water Authority announced that the occupation army destroyed the water desalination plant during its recent ground operations in the northern Gaza Strip.
It issued a statement that for the sixth consecutive day, its technical crews have been working on assessing the damage in northern Gaza resulting from the Israeli aggression. Due to the massive destruction of residential areas, infrastructure, and roads, they have encountered significant difficulties in their access to water and sanitation facilities.
The Water Authority explained that its technical crews were able to reach the seawater desalination plant in northern Gaza and conduct an initial technical assessment of the extent of damage sustained. The assessment revealed serious technical malfunctions in the electrical and electromechanical components of all the plant’s operations stages and units. Moreover, the occupation completely destroyed some of the plant’s main components, which led to the destruction of five seawater supply wells, the plant’s intake pipeline, two power generators, a pump and a return water line, as well as the destruction of the external fences and output pumps.
The Water Authority confirmed that this plant is the only one serving northern Gaza and the Wadi Gaza area, providing clean water to the entire northwestern neighbourhoods of Gaza City with a production capacity of 10,000 cubic metres per day. There are no alternatives to cover this amount, and it is difficult to drill water wells due to the high salinity of the groundwater reservoir with seawater in the city’s western areas.
It also stressed that the damage to the desalination plants worsens the already dire water situation in Gaza, as it is the only safe and reliable source of drinking water for the population.
The Water Authority confirmed that, within the framework of the first phase of its emergency relief work, it will provide and install ten mobile desalination stations in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. The production capacity of these stations will each reach 25 cubic metres per hour to produce 250 cubic metres for ten hours once operation begins.
It is noted that the mobile desalination station installations will provide emergency and urgent solutions to ensure the continuity of drinking water provision for all citizens.
US Calls for Urgent Extension of Ceasefire in South Lebanon as ‘Israel’ Disregards Withdrawal Deadline
Al-Manar | January 24, 2025
US National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement Friday that “a short, temporary ceasefire extension is urgently needed” and the U.S. will work with “regional partners” to secure it.
“President Trump is committed to ensuring Israeli citizens can safely return to their homes in northern Israel, while also supporting President Aoun and the new Lebanese government,” Hughes said.
The Israeli occupation military will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon within the 60-day period set out in the ceasefire deal that ended its war with Hezbollah, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Friday.
It is worth noting that the deadline will end on Sunday, January, 26, 2025, at 4 a.m. Thus, few hours separate the border area from dramatic developments if the Israeli enemy insists on keeping its troops occupying territories in South Lebanon.
The Lebanese statesmen have repeatedly voiced concern over the Israeli occupation plots, calling on the United States, France and the United Nations sponsoring the ceasefire agreement to press ‘Israel’ to withdraw before the deadline.
Hezbollah issued on Thursday a statement which underlines the necessity of the full and comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire agreement as outlined in its terms since the 60-day period for the Israeli enemy to completely withdraw from Lebanese territories is nearing its end.
It is also important to note that, unlike Lebanon, the Zionist entity did not respect the obligations of the ceasefire during the 60-day period, launching air raids which left martyrs and injuries, demolishing buildings, scraping lands and roads, and destroying environmental features in several south Lebanon towns.
The latest reports indicated that the Israeli occupation forces, guarded by Merkava tanks, advanced from Houla town into Wadi Slouki area. Moreover, the occupation forces carried out an incursion into Aitaroun town and cut its main highway which leads to Bint Jbeuil City.
In addition, the Israeli enemy had intensively violated Lebanon’s sovereignty and the stipulations of the ceasefire in South Lebanon.
There’s Nothing to Discuss with Brussels Vassals
By Mikhail Gamandiy-Egorov | New Eastern Outlook | January 25, 2025
As active discussions continue about potential negotiations between Russia and the new administration of the Washington regime, their vassals in the EU increasingly insist on the “necessity” of their participation in these talks. Naturally, there is no such necessity.
A recent interview with Nikolai Patrushev, the Assistant to the President of Russia and former Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (May 2008–May 2024), provided significant insights. The interview highlighted the theses and positions Patrushev believes should be implemented in potential negotiations between Moscow and the new Trump administration.
Potential Negotiations Without Unnecessary Participants
One of the key points in Patrushev’s interview is that any potential resolution of the Ukraine situation should be discussed exclusively between Russia and the United States, without the involvement of other Western representatives. This is a particularly crucial stance: “If we talk about the specific prospects for future developments considering the Trump factor, we respect his statements. I believe that negotiations on Ukraine should take place between Russia and the United States without the participation of other Western countries. There’s nothing to discuss with London or Brussels,” stated one of the Kremlin’s top representatives.
He further added that the EU leadership no longer has the authority to speak on behalf of many of its members, such as Hungary, Slovakia, and other European countries interested in stability in Europe and adopting a balanced approach toward Russia. The message is clear. However, this is not the only significant point in Patrushev’s remarks.
The Assistant to the President of Russia also suggested that the possibility of Ukraine ceasing to exist as a separate state in 2025 cannot be ruled out. As for Russia’s stance toward the Kyiv regime, it remains unchanged – namely, the objectives of the Special Military Operation must be achieved. These objectives have been repeatedly outlined by President Vladimir Putin.
This, of course, includes territorial matters. The territories once governed from Kyiv have joined Russia following the expression of the people’s will, in accordance with international law, Russian legislation, and the laws of those regions. Patrushev emphasized the importance of global recognition of the incorporation of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Crimea, and Sevastopol into Russia. All these territories are integral parts of the Russian Federation under the Constitution.
Another vital point is that Russia harbors no illusions about any U.S. administration. As Patrushev aptly noted regarding the United States: priorities may shift, but redrawing the world map to serve their interests and interfering in the affairs of other nations across continents is an American tradition. This includes exacerbating conflicts with China, often artificially, as part of their strategic agenda. Patrushev reminded that our country maintains relations of uniquely privileged strategic cooperation with China. For us, China has been and remains our most important partner. Russian-Chinese relations are not subject to short-term circumstances; they endure regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.
A Multipolar World Ready to Emerge
Key conclusions can be drawn from Patrushev’s main theses. Firstly, the participation of open vassals in potential Russian-American negotiations is entirely unnecessary. Even during the Cold War negotiations between the USSR and the Washington regime, European vassals were never involved in the most critical talks.
If the goal of such a “format” is to give the collective West the appearance of greater influence, then Russia should insist on including its key allies and partners, such as China and countries of the Global South, in the negotiations. It is evident that such a format would be unacceptable to the West, as it would highlight their status as a global minority. Thus, the participation of vassals from London and Brussels in direct talks between Moscow and Washington is out of the question.
Secondly, discussing the Ukrainian issue with the Washington administration can only occur under the condition that all of Russia’s previously stated demands are met. After all, no one forced the West or the vassal Bandera Kyiv regime to violate the Minsk agreements. Likewise, no one compelled the West or NATO, particularly the London regime, to sabotage the Istanbul negotiations following the start of the Special Military Operation. Much has changed since then. Clearly, the new territorial realities will have to be accepted by Russia’s adversaries. While Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhjie, and Kherson regions are indisputably parts of Russia, the status of other regions, such as Kharkov, remains unresolved. In the future, this could also include Dnepropetrovsk and other historically Russian territories.
Finally, and thirdly, it is clear that we are not destined to be friends. The fact that Washington may, at some point, display pure business pragmatism – realizing there is no further sense in financing what is already a formalized defeat for the entire NATO-Western bloc – could be a positive factor. However, we harbour no illusions, nor will we ever again. Russia knows its true allies and strategic partners among the countries of the global majority. These relationships will continue to grow and strengthen. Our country is fully prepared for further battles with the bloc of Western regimes in various parts of the world, including Africa and Latin America.
Russia will achieve all its objectives, one way or another. This is clearer today than ever before.
Mikhail Gamandiy-Egorov, entrepreneur, political observer, and expert on Africa and the Middle East
US suspends aid to Ukraine – Politico
RT | January 24, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has frozen nearly all new aid grants to Ukraine for 90 days, Politico reported on Friday. The move comes after President Donald Trump ordered a full review of all foreign assistance.
Rubio instructed diplomatic and consular posts to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards,” Politico said, citing an internal document.
According to Politico, the order “shocked” State Department officials and appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine.
The magazine cited three current and two former officials familiar with the matter as saying Rubio’s guidance means that “no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the US government.”
The BBC, which also reviewed the State Department memo, reported that it appears to “affect everything from development assistance to military aid.”
Although the Pentagon previously told Voice of America that the aid freeze would not affect “security assistance to Ukraine,” Rubio’s memo reportedly only granted exceptions for military aid to Israel and Egypt, without mentioning any other country.
Journalist Ken Klippenstein posted what he said was a copy of Rubio’s guidance, which “pauses all new obligations of funding, pending a review, for foreign assistance programs” funded through the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Trump, who took office on Monday, has ordered a 90-day suspension of all “foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.”
A USAID official told Reuters that among the programs that were frozen are assistance to schools and healthcare, including emergency maternal care and the vaccination of children.
Since February 2022, USAID has provided $2.6 billion in humanitarian aid, $5 billion in development assistance, and more than $30 billion in “direct budget support,” according to its website.
The US has provided nearly $66 billion in military aid to Ukraine since February 2022, according to the Pentagon.
Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for approving unconditional aid to Ukraine and has vowed to implement cost-cutting measures. He also promised to quickly negotiate a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev.
Houthis Threaten to Block US Ships in Retaliation for Terrorist Designation
Sputnik – 25.01.2025
Yemeni movement Ansar Allah, known as the Houthis, is considering a ban on US ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the resumption of full-scale military operations in Yemen as retaliatory measures for the US’s designation of the movement as a foreign terrorist organization, a source in the movement told Sputnik.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an order launching the process of designating the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. On Thursday, the Houthis said that this decision was directed against the entire people of Yemen and was revenge for Yemen’s “noble” position in supporting the Palestinians.
“The movement is considering taking measures against America, including imposing a ban on the passage of US ships through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea,” the source said.
The Houthis would also bar the passage of ships from any country that follows the US example of listing the movement as a terrorist organization, the source added.
One of the possible measures that the movement could take is “countering any military escalation that the US may take in response to the ban on the passage of its ships, as well as ending the truce in Yemen and resuming hostilities on all fronts,” the source said.
Hamas: Israel will release over 1,700 Palestinians during truce
MEMO | January 24, 2025
Over 1,700 Palestinians will be released under the terms of the ceasefire deal signed between Hamas and Israel, the head of the Palestinian movement in the West Bank, Zahir Jabarin, said yesterday.
He emphasised that “the agreement is progressing despite some violations by the Zionist occupation. However, thanks to the determination of the resistance, the will of our people, and the leverage the resistance possesses, we are moving in the right direction.”
Jabarin added: “Our prisoners will be released, and it will mark a new beginning for all the Palestinian people. The resistance has succeeded in achieving a significant national deal, ensuring the release of over 1,700 Palestinian prisoners representing all Palestinian factions.”
“Once the prisoners are released on the seventh day, our people will be allowed to move freely from the north to the south [Gaza] and vice versa. Maps and phased plans will initially guide this process until all obstacles on the Netzarim Axis are removed.”
Details of the operations of the Rafah Crossing will be announced in the coming days, he added.
With regards to the occupied West Bank where Israeli occupation forces have intensified their military attacks, Jabarin said: “Our people in the West Bank are unarmed and only have simple tools to resist the occupation, yet they portray our people as heavily armed and attacking these occupiers and criminals, who have been equipped with over 200,000 weapons by the Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.”
Hamas: Displaced Palestinians’ return to north Gaza defies Israel’s displacement plans
MEMO | January 24, 2025
The anticipated return to northern Gaza of Palestinians who were forced from their homes demonstrates the failure of one of the war’s key objectives, which was to displace the Palestinian people from their land, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said.
In a brief statement yesterday, Qassem said that the steadfast resilience of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the bravery of the resistance thwarted the latest attempt by the Zionist project to displace Palestinians from their homeland.
He reiterated that the demands of the Palestinian people are clear and just, primarily their right to establish an independent state on their liberated land.
He concluded by stating that no force will ever succeed in ending the Palestinian people’s pursuit of freedom and independence.
Hamas releases video of killing Israeli forces responsible for Yahya Sinwar’s assassination
Press TV – January 24, 2025
A newly-released footage by the military wing of Hamas resistance movement, the Al-Qassam Brigade, shows the moment when resistance fighters kill two senior Israeli military officials that were behind the assassination of former Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.
The video, dubbed the “death ambush series”, is reportedly the first part of such footage set to be released by the group.
A section of the video, dated January 6, shows the moment a senior Israeli commander, his deputy and several Israeli occupation soldiers were killed by a planted bomb in the northern city of Beit Hanoun.
The targeted forces were Major Dvir Zion Revah and his deputy Eitan Israel Shiknazi, who, according to the group, were responsible for the assassination of Sinwar.
The footage relates to days before the ceasefire in Gaza took effect on January 19.
Raveh had also led at least one of the regime’s massacres in Beit Hanoun, according to the Brigade.
Both the assassination and the massacre took place during the regime’s 15-month-long war of genocide against the Palestinian territory that claimed the lives of at least 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since its onset in October 2023.
Tel Aviv finally approved a ceasefire deal earlier this month, succumbing to incessant and successful Palestinian and regional resistance operations.
According to the video, the strike in Beit Hanoun resulted in the injury of several other Israeli forces.
Hamas also referred to a similar operation against an Israeli infantry force advancing in Beit Hanoun’s al-Zaytoun area, causing casualties.
“The enemy acknowledged the death of the deputy commander of the [Israeli military’s] Nahal Brigade and four soldiers, with nine others seriously injured.”
Hamas and its fellow domestic and regional resistance movements have vowed to step up their operations should the regime resume its brutal military onslaught.
Harvard blocks Gaza patient session as university adopts controversial anti-Semitism definition
MEMO | January 24, 2025
Harvard Medical School has cancelled a planned lecture and panel discussion featuring patients from Gaza, following complaints that the session would present only one side of the conflict, amid growing concerns about academic freedom after the university’s adoption of a highly controversial definition of anti-Semitism which conflates criticism of Israel and the political ideology of Zionism with anti-Jewish racism.
According to the Harvard Crimson, the medical school’s Dean, George Q Daley, cancelled the 21 January events just hours before they were scheduled, citing objections that students would hear from Gazans receiving care in Boston without also hearing from Israeli perspectives. The session was to include a lecture on wartime healthcare by Tufts Professor Barry S. Levy, followed by discussions with Gaza patients and their families.
HMS and HSDM Student Council President Anna RP Mulhern said she was “deeply disheartened” by the cancellation. “Respect for all patients and their stories is a fundamental tenet of the medical profession. This principle was not upheld yesterday,” she stated.
The cancellation came shortly after Harvard agreed to adopt the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism as part of settling a discrimination lawsuit brought by Jewish students who claimed harassment during pro-Palestine protests. IHRA is favoured by Israel and advocates of the apartheid state as it grants special privileges to the political ideology of Zionism and apartheid state. No other political ideology or state is granted protection from criticism in the same way.
HMS Professor David S Jones, who helped develop the course curriculum, reported receiving 50 emails from students questioning the cancellation. He noted that Arabic-speaking medical students who had served as interpreters for Gazan patients in Boston had requested the session.
Critics argue the decision reflects a broader assault on academic freedom and free speech rights. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, discussing Harvard’s adoption of the IHRA definition, warned it represents “an outright systemic assault on the Free Speech rights of American citizens on the academic freedom that is supposed to prevail in our institutions of higher learning.”
Greenwald highlighted how the IHRA definition prohibits various forms of criticism of Israel that would be perfectly acceptable if directed at other nations. He noted that under these new rules, Harvard students remain free to describe any country, including the US, as fundamentally racist – except Israel. “You can say that the United States and its existence is a racist endeavour, that you’re allowed to say… nobody tries to censor that,” Greenwald explained.
Pick any country in the entire world at Harvard and you are totally free to call the existence of that country a racist endeavour except one country where you fall into the crime of hate speech and that is the state of Israel.
The combination of event cancellations and adoption of the IHRA definition has raised concerns about the chilling effect on academic discourse. Critics argue that medical education, which relies on hearing directly from patients about their experiences, could be particularly impacted if geopolitical considerations begin to override educational ones.
“This is nothing more than an outright systemic assault on the Free Speech rights of American citizens on the academic freedom that is supposed to prevail in our institutions of Higher Learning,” Greenwald concluded, arguing that such restrictions serve “not to protect our own country, our own culture, our own government, the security of our own people but to protect this foreign country.”
