Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Gazans questioned Israel's reasons for reopening the Erez border crossing between the country and the besieged enclave this week, a decision that came amid international pressure over the killing of foreign aid workers in an Israeli strike.
Israel on Friday announced measures to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, including “temporarily” opening Ashdod port and Erez crossing, also known as Beit Hanoun crossing. Deliveries from Jordan are also set to rise.
“The increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war,” an Israeli government official said.
Israel has maintained tight control over the flow of aid into Gaza during six months of war. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, the vast majority of them civilians.
Gazans told The National they believed that pressure from the US after the deadly strike on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy led Israel to reopen the border crossing. Seven WCK workers were killed in the attack, including a US-Canadian dual citizen.
“It looks like the lives of foreign people are so precious that we finally started to hear anger from [Us President Joe Biden] and his interest in increasing the amount of aid that will enter Gaza,” Ahmad Zidan, 30, told The National.
Israel announced the opening of the crossing hours after Mr Biden held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the US leader issued warning about Israel's actions in the war and called for “an immediate ceasefire”.
Israel said the strikes that killed one Palestinian and six foreign citizens near the central city of Deir Al Balah were a “grave mistake”. The WCK called for an independent investigation into the attack.
The aid workers killed in Monday's attack were British citizens James Kirby, 47, James Henderson, 33, and John Chapman, 57, Palestinian driver Saifeddin Issam Abu Taha, 25, Australian Lalzawmi Frankcom, 43, Damian Sobol, 35, from Poland, and American-Canadian Jacob Flickinger, 33.
A total of 203 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October, the Aid Worker Security Database showed. The vast majority were Palestinian.
Mr Zidan, who lives in the northern city of Jabalia, expressed hope that an increase in aid would help Palestinians to rebuild their lives in Gaza.
“We hope they open the borders and organise the distribution of aid, because we have already lost enough lives from people running after aid lorries and going after air drops,” he said.
Mona Al Saeed, 45, is living in a relative's house after her home in Gaza city was damaged by Israeli strikes. She echoed Mr Zidan's sentiments, saying the lives of Gazans seem to matter less than those of western citizens.
She said Palestinians needed more than aid. “People need to understand that we are seeking a life of dignity, not just an increase in aid," she added.
Sami Abed Al Wahab, 35, seemed more hopeful. He is living in the southern city of Rafah, where most of Gaza's 2.3 million population has sought shelter from the war.
“Everyone is now wondering how they will resume their lives and if the war will end soon or not. But I feel that all the recent reactions are leading towards ending the war, which is what we really hope for,” he told The National.
On Friday, the EU called for the “swift” and full implementation of Israel's pledge to reopen the Erez border crossing and allow Ashdod port to be used for aid. The bloc also repeated its call for Israel to “protect innocent civilians and aid workers, in line with international humanitarian law”.
Last five meetings
2013: South Korea 0-2 Brazil
2002: South Korea 2-3 Brazil
1999: South Korea 1-0 Brazil
1997: South Korea 1-2 Brazil
1995: South Korea 0-1 Brazil
Note: All friendlies
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Quarter-final
UAE v Australia, Friday, 8pm, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
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Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal consultants
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A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
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Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
RESULT
Deportivo La Coruna 2 Barcelona 4
Deportivo: Perez (39'), Colak (63')
Barcelona: Coutinho (6'), Messi (37', 81', 84')
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