A truck transports a Palestinian family and their belongings to Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 15, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Israel’s order to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip has triggered “mass displacement” towards the south of the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations said on October 15.

Israel has warned 1.1 million Palestinian civilians to leave northern Gaza and a steady stream of families in overloaded cars, trucks and donkey carts have since headed south.

Also read: Israel-Hamas war, day 9 LIVE updates on October 15, 2023

“Mass displacement from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip has been ongoing since… Friday morning, after Israel ordered residents to evacuate the areas ahead of military operations,” the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said in an update.

“Humanitarian partners report that the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has risen significantly over the last 24 hours; however the exact number is unknown.”

Beforehand, as of 11:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Thursday, there were 423,378 IDPs in Gaza, OCHA said.

Around 64% were being hosted by UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, in 102 premises operated as designated emergency shelters.

“Some 33,054 IDPs had taken refuge at 36 public schools,” said OCHA.

Also Read | Will Israel’s Gaza offensive stop Hamas? | Explained 

“It is estimated that over 153,000 IDPs, whose homes have been destroyed or damaged, or have left their homes due to fear, are residing with relatives and neighbours, as well as in other public facilities.”

Israeli forces were Sunday readying for a looming Gaza ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group that unleashed the bloodiest attack in the country’s history.

In the eight days since Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,300 Israelis in their surprise onslaught, Israel has responded with a devastating bombing campaign that has claimed over 2,300 lives in Gaza.

Smoke seeps out of destroyed buildings hit by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City’s al-Rimal district, on October 10, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Around 1,500 bodies of Hamas militants have been found in Israel around the Gaza Strip, the army said Tuesday, as it pummelled the Palestinian enclave with air strikes.

“Approximately 1,500 bodies of Hamas (fighters) were found in Israel around the Gaza Strip,” military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters, adding that security forces had “more or less restored control over the border” with Gaza.

Also Read | What is Hamas, the Palestinian militant group?

“Since last night we know that no one came in .. but infiltrations can still happen.”

The army had “nearly completed” evacuation of all the communities around the border, he added.

Hecht said the military had deployed 35 battalions to the border area.

“We are building infrastructure for future operations,” he said.

Israel is reeling under a deadly attack by Hamas militants who stormed the border fence under a barrage of rocket fire on Saturday morning and killed more than 900 people inside Israel.

Also Read | Original sin: on the attack on Israel and the occupation of Palestine

In response Israel is carrying out a massive air and artillery bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed at least 687 people in the coastal enclave.

Before dawn on Tuesday, the Israeli military struck what it said were Hamas targets in Gaza, especially in the Rimal neighbourhood and in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

France and Germany, the two largest economies in the European Union, pushed new proposals for the enlargement of the 27-member bloc. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

France and Germany, the two largest economies in the European Union, pushed new proposals for the enlargement of the 27-member bloc on Tuesday (September 19). The policy paper, put together by a group of 12 experts commissioned by the Europe ministers of France and Germany but not representing the countries’ official views, was presented along the fringes of a European ministerial meeting. 

The paper, commissioned in January this year, is in response to growing calls for expanding the EU, partly in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Along with the group’s enlargement, the paper looks at strengthening the rule of law and increasing the EU’s capacity to act, proposing four different tiers of participation in the union.

While Ukraine, the Western Balkans and Moldova are frontrunners for membership, a total of ten countries are in the process of integrating EU law into their own laws, according to an EU website.

Tuesday’s paper, a copy of which was published by Politico, said the EU is neither institutionally nor policy-wise ready right now to introduce new members. It therefore recommended a flexible approach to EU enlargement as well as reform.

The report also looks at how the EU can function more effectively with 30 plus members. Its proposals include capping the number of EU legislators, changing the voting mechanism by expanding majority voting (as opposed to unanimity) and enhancing the bloc’s budget.

In the absence of unanimous support to change the EU Treaty (which is needed for enlargement), the paper suggests a supplementary treaty among a willing subset of members, which would permit for differentiation across the EU.

“We cannot and we should not wait for treaty change to move ahead with enlargement,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had said last week in her ‘State of the Union’ address.

Differentiation had its limits, “especially concerning the rule of law and core values,” the Franco-German report says. Differentiation could lead to four different tiers, as per the document.  The first would be an inner circle with membership of the Eurozone and Schengen Area, then the EU itself, then Associate Members (participating in the single market and adhering to common principles) and a finally, the European Political Community, a group cooperating with the EU but not bound by its law.

The proposals are expected to be discussed formally at a meeting of EU heads of state in Spain next month.

Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports on Friday after the European Commission decided not to extend its ban on imports into Ukraine’s five EU neighbours.

Ukraine was one of the world’s top grain exporters before Russia’s 2022 invasion reduced its ability to ship agricultural produce to global markets. Ukrainian farmers have relied on grain exports through neighbouring countries since the conflict began as it has been unable to use the favoured routes through Black Sea ports.

But the flood of grains and oilseeds into neighbouring countries reduced prices there, impacting the income of local farmers and resulting in governments banning agricultural imports from Ukraine. The European Union in May stepped in to prevent individual countries imposing unilateral bans and imposed its own ban on imports into neighbouring countries. Under the EU ban, Ukraine was allowed to export through those countries on condition the produce was sold elsewhere.

The EU allowed that ban to expire on Friday after Ukraine pledged to take measures to tighten control of exports to neighbouring countries. The issue is a particularly sensitive one now as farmers harvest their crops and prepare to sell.

EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday countries should refrain from unilateral measures against imports of Ukrainian grain, but Poland, Slovakia and Hungary immediately responded by reimposing their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports. They will continue to allow the transit of Ukrainian produce.

“As long as Ukraine is able to certify that the grain is going to get to the country of destination, through the trucks and trains, the domestic use ban is not really going to put a dent in Ukraine’s ability to get exports out,” said Terry Reilly, senior agricultural strategist for Marex. He noted that disruptions to Black Sea exports are a bigger concern.

It is unclear how much Ukraine has pledged to restrict exports or how the new bans would impact the flow of produce from Ukraine. The issue has underscored division the EU over the impact of the war in Ukraine on the economies of member countries which themselves have powerful agriculture and farming lobbies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the EU’s decision not to further extend the ban on Kyiv’s grain exports, but said his government would react “in civilised fashion” if EU member states broke EU rules.

But the three countries argue their actions are in the interests of their economies.

“The ban covers four cereals, but also at my request, at the request of farmers, the ban has been extended to include meals from these cereals: corn, wheat, rapeseed, so that these products also do not affect the Polish market,” Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“We will extend this ban despite their disagreement, despite the European Commission’s disagreement,” added Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki. “We will do it because it is in the interest of the Polish farmer.”

Hungary imposed a national import ban on 24 Ukrainian agricultural products, including grains, vegetables, several meat products and honey, according to a government decree published on Friday.

Slovakia’s agriculture minister followed suit announcing its own grain ban. All three bans only apply to domestic imports and do not affect transit to onward markets.

SOLIDARITY LANES

The EU created alternative land routes, so-called Solidarity Lanes, for Ukraine to use to export its grains and oilseeds after Russia backed out of a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal in July that allowed safe passage for the cargo ships.

The EU Commission said existing measures would expire as originally planned on Friday after Ukraine agreed to introduce measures such as an export licensing system within 30 days

The EU said there was no reason to prolong the ban because the distortions in supply that led to the ban in May had disappeared from the market.

The EU said it would not impose restrictions as long as Ukraine exercises effective export controls.

Farmers in the five countries neighbouring Ukraine have repeatedly complained about a product glut hitting their domestic prices and pushing them towards bankruptcy.

The countries, except Bulgaria, had been pushing for an extension of the EU ban. Bulgaria on Thursday voted to scrap the curbs.

Romania’s government, which unlike its peers did not issue a unilateral ban before May, said on Friday it “regretted that a European solution to extend the ban could not be found.”

Romania said it would wait for Ukraine to present its plan to prevent a surge of exports before deciding how to protect Romanian farmers.

Romania sees over 60% of the alternate flows pass through its territory mainly via the Danube river and its farmers have threatened protests if the ban is not extended.

For the last year, Ukraine had moved 60% of its exports through the Solidarity Lanes and 40% via the Black Sea through a U.N. brokered deal that fell apart in July.

In August, about 4 million tonnes of Ukraine grains passed through the Solidarity Lanes of which close to 2.7 million tonnes were through the Danube. The Commission wants to increase exports through Romania further but the plan has been complicated by Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure along the Danube and near the Romanian border.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will pay his second wartime visit to Washington next week, the White House announced Friday, in a bid to solidify the support of his country’s crucial backer which has shipped billions of dollars in aid to fight Russian invaders.

Zelensky will travel to the White House on Thursday for talks with President Joe Biden and also hold meetings at the U.S. Congress, where elements of the rival Republican Party are hesitant as Mr. Biden seeks to push through a major new package for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader’s trip to Washington will come after meetings with other world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security advisor, said that the trip came at a “critical time” as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive against Russia.

Mr. Biden will reaffirm “his commitment to continuing to lead the world in supporting Ukraine as it defends its independence, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters.

He contrasted Mr. Zelensky’s trip to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and sanctioned countries, from which Moscow is seeking weapons.

But doubts have also grown over the future of U.S. assistance as Congress approaches a September 30 deadline to approve funding just as the election season approaches.

Former president Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Mr. Biden next year, has lashed out at U.S. assistance, saying the money would be better spent at home and predicting an eventual triumph for Putin, for whom he has shown admiration.

Building ‘momentum’ for aid

But traditional Republicans including Senator Mitch McConnell, the party’s Senate leader, support assistance to Ukraine.

“We have confidence that there will be bipartisan support for this. I think President Zelensky does as well, and he wants to build momentum towards that as we head to the end of the month,” Mr. Sullivan said.

“Frankly, Republicans and Democrats both recognize that the United States cannot — in its own naked self-interest, let alone the moral obligations we have — walk away from Ukraine at this critical moment,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Ukraine launched a counter-offensive against entrenched Russian positions in June but progress has been limited, spurring the political debate in the West over support for Kyiv.

The United States has provided $43 billion in security assistance as Ukraine holds off Russian incursions.

Mr. Biden last month asked Congress for another $40 billion for Ukraine, both in emergency defense aid and economic and humanitarian assistance.

It will be Mr. Zelensky’s second visit to Washington since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In December, he secretly flew to the U.S. capital on his first international trip during the war, entering the White House in the military fatigues that have become his trademark.

Mr. Zelensky has felt increasingly confident in traveling overseas, from European allies to Saudi Arabia to Japan, where he met leaders at the Group of Seven summit in May.

Mr. Biden paid his own surprise visit to Kyiv in February, a highly unusual trip to a zone of active combat for the security-conscious White House.

Mr. Biden, who has sought to rebut criticism he is too old for the job, has started to air the campaign advertisements of his Kyiv visit, with the 80-year-old president strutting confidently in his sunglasses alongside Mr. Zelensky.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected on Capitol Hill and at the White House next week as he visits the U.S. during the United Nations General Assembly.

Mr. Zelensky’s trip comes as Congress is debating providing as much as $21 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.

An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive visit, said Mr. Zelensky will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House next Thursday. The trip to the Capitol was confirmed by two congressional aides granted anonymity to discuss the plans.

The Ukrainian President made a wartime visit to Washington in December 2022 and delivered an impassioned address to a joint meeting of Congress.

Also Read | Beyond weapons: On Ukraine President Zelensky’s visit to Washington

At the time Mr. Zelensky thanked Americans for helping to fund the war effort and told lawmakers the money is “not charity,” but an “investment” in global security and democracy.

Details of Mr. Zelensky’s visit next week were not yet being made public.

Congress is increasingly divided over providing additional funding for Ukraine. Mr. Biden has sought a package of $13 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine and $8 billion for humanitarian support.

But some conservative Republican lawmakers have been pushing for broad federal spending cuts and some are specifically looking to stop money to Ukraine as Congress works to pass its annual appropriations bills before a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the U.S. government running.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday asked the federal judge presiding over his election subversion case in Washington to recuse herself, saying her past public statements about the former president and his connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol call into question whether she can be fair.

The recusal motion from Mr. Trump’s lawyers takes aim at U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama and has stood out as one of the toughest punishers of Jan. 6 defendants. The request is a long shot given the high threshold for recusal and because the decision on whether to recuse belongs to Chutkan, who is unlikely to see cause to step aside from the case.

Even so, the request that she give up the high-stakes trial marks the latest flashpoint in already delicate relations between the defense team and the judge, who has repeatedly cautioned the lawyers against inflammatory public comments from Mr. Trump but has nonetheless been lambasted on social media by him. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team signaled its own concern about his comments, writing last week that Mr. Trump’s daily statements — he has derided her as “highly partisan” — could taint a potential jury pool.

Chutkan last month scheduled the trial for March 4, 2024, over the vigorous objections of defense lawyers who said that would not give them enough time to prepare. The case in Washington, charging Mr. Trump in a four-count indictment with plotting to overturn the results of the 2024 election, is one of four criminal cases confronting the former president as he seeks reelection to the White House.

In asking Chutkan to step aside, the Mr. Trump legal team is relying on a familiar playbook. He tried unsuccessfully to get the judge removed from the hush-money case against him in New York state court, with his lawyers claiming that New York Judge Juan Manuel Merchan is biased because he’s given cash to Democrats and his daughter is a party consultant.

But the judge last month rejected Mr. Trump’s demand that he step aside, saying he is certain of his “ability to be fair and impartial.”

Federal judges are supposed to step aside in cases where their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Other bases for recusal include a personal bias against one of the parties. Mr. Trump’s lawyers say Chutkan’s comments in cases against Jan. 6 rioters show she has “already formed an opinion about President Mr. Trump’s guilt” and many of the allegations that underpin the indictment against him.

“Although Judge Chutkan may genuinely intend to give President Mr. Trump a fair trial — and may believe that she can do so — her public statements unavoidably taint these proceedings, regardless of outcome,” the defense team wrote. “The public will reasonably and understandably question whether Judge Chutkan arrived at all of her decisions in this matter impartially, or in fulfillment of her prior negative statements regarding President Mr. Trump.”

Chutkan has often handed down prison sentences in Jan. 6 cases that are harsher than Justice Department prosecutors recommended. The judge also previously ruled against Mr. Trump in a separate Jan. 6 case, refusing his request to block the release of documents to the U.S. House’s Jan. 6 committee by asserting executive privilege.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers quoted from remarks Chutkan made in a 2022 sentencing hearing for Christine Priola, a Jan. 6 defendant from Ohio who pleaded guilty to obstructing Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory — one of the same charges Mr. Trump is facing.

“The people who mobbed that Capitol were there in fealty, in loyalty, to one man — not to the Constitution, of which most of the people who come before me seem woefully ignorant; not to the ideals of this country, and not to the principles of democracy,” Chutkan said. “It’s a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.”

The defense also cited Chutkan’s comments from the sentencing of a rioter from Florida who attacked police officers working to hold back the rioters. During the December 2021 hearing for Robert Palmer — who was sentenced to more than five years in prison — Chutkan said the defendant “made a very good point” that the “people who exhorted” and encouraged him “to go and take action and to fight” had not been charged. Chutkan added that she doesn’t “make charging decisions” and has no “influence on that.”

“I have my opinions, but they are not relevant,” Chutkan said.

,Mr. Trump’s attorneys said that comment suggests she believed at the time that Mr. Trump should be charged.

“Public statements of this sort create a perception of prejudgment incompatible with our justice system. In a case this widely watched, of such monumental significance, the public must have the utmost confidence that the Court will administer justice neutrally and dispassionately,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a business roundtable meeting at the Government Office in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sept. 11, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

The Biden administration has cleared the way for the release of five American citizens detained in Iran by issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer ₹6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions.

In addition, as part of the deal, the administration has agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the United States.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the deal late last week, but Congress was not notified of the decision until Monday, according to the notification, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The waiver is likely to draw criticism of President Joe Biden from Republicans and others that the deal will boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. troops and Mideast allies.

The waiver means that European, Middle Eastern and Asian banks will not run afoul of U.S. sanctions in converting the money frozen in South Korea and transferring it to Qatar’s central bank, where it will be held for Iran to use for the purchase of humanitarian goods.

The transfer of the ₹6 billion was the critical element in the prisoner release deal, which saw four of the five American detainees transferred from Iranian jails into house arrest last month. The fifth detainee had already been under house arrest.

Due to numerous U.S. sanctions on foreign banks that engage in transactions aimed at benefitting Iran, several European countries had balked at participating in the transfer. Blinken’s waiver is aimed at easing their concerns about any risk of US sanctions.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a press conference on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Any initiative that isolates Russia in the Black Sea Grain Initiative is bound to fail, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would return to the “collective implementation” of the grain deal “the same day” their conditions for export of own grain and fertilizers to the global markets are met.

“We believe that any initiative that isolates Russia is bound to fail. Its success is a very little possibility. We believe that any step that may escalate the tensions in the Black Sea should be avoided… We are going to have continuous talks…,” Mr. Erdogan said at a press conference here. He said representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations would meet very soon on this issue.

Giving details of the initiative so far, Mr. Erdogan said so far, 33 million tonnes of grain had been exported by Russia through the Black Sea corridor. ”Fact is, out of this, 33% was bought by the West, 14% came to us and a smaller amount went to Africa.”

Mr. Erdogan said Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that the West had not kept the promises they made to Moscow. “He [Mr. Putin] says they [Russia] can possibly give the grain free of charge, turn it into flour, join hands with Qatar and give it to poor African countries,” Mr. Erdogan said.

“This is what Putin said lastly on Monday,” Mr. Erdogan added, referring to his visit to Moscow.

“We now favour this proposal,” Mr. Edrogan said, adding that poor countries in Africa were wondering how much grain would come out of Russia.

The war in Ukraine disrupted grain supplies from Ukraine and as the repercussions were felt across the globe, a deal was stuck between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by Turkey and the UN, under which ships carrying grain were given a safe passage through the Black Sea. However, the deal collapsed in July as Russia pulled out of it.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit that concluded on Sunday, Mr. Lavrov said that when all the necessary actions for removing obstacles for Russian grain and fertilizer exports are implemented, the same day Russia “will return to the collective implementation of the Ukrainian part of the ‘Black Sea initiative’.”

Mr. Lavrov said that meant restoring Russian banks’ access to the SWIFT system and allowing exporters to avail insurance for the grain and other commodity exports.

Criticising the UN Secretary General for working “unilaterally” for only one side, Mr. Lavrov said the assurances given thus far meant Russia would have to revive the grain deal immediately, but only receive relief for its exports over a few months.

Referring to the initiative, the Delhi Declaration adopted at the G-20 Summit called for “full, timely and effective implementation to ensure the immediate and unimpeded deliveries of grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers/inputs from the Russian Federation and Ukraine”.

“This is necessary to meet the demand in developing and least developed countries, particularly those in Africa,” it stated.

Russia and Ukraine together account for 21% of global grain trade. The UN and other international agencies have been calling for an urgent revival of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which had helped stabilise food prices to some extent in the past year after the Ukraine conflict began.