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the request of Maria Corina Machado after learning that the

the request of Maria Corina Machado after learning that the elections in Venezuela will take place on Chávez's birthday

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1:15 p.m

Those expected Venezuela's presidential election will take place on July 28, Hugo Chávez's birthday. with President Nicolás Maduro the natural candidate for re-election and the opposition on the ropes as their main candidate was disqualified.

The board of the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the date with an official line this Tuesday and approved it “unanimously”. The elections take place just over five months before the winner takes office.on January 10, 2025.

The schedule “takes into account all constitutional, legal and technical requirements“said the president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, former comptroller responsible for the disqualification of opponents and sanctioned by the United States in 2017 and the European Union in 2020.

The display matches the 11th anniversary of the leftist Chávez's death (1999-2013), whose legacy Maduro has promised to preserve.

Maduro already appears to be advertising trips to the province for government and political events, which have so far been the exception.

The opposition, on the other hand, is under pressure. In practice, it has no candidate after a 15-year ban from holding public office against the former deputy was confirmed. María Corina Machado, winner of her primary.

What does Machado say?

Machadoalthough names are mixed, He denied the possibility of resigning and insisted he would go “to the end.”supported by the more than two million votes with which she won the opposition Unity Platform coalition's primaries.

“Today, considering what happened, that They try to ignore the rights of Venezuelans to listen carefully, calmly and firmly. This is what's coming, and more work than ever before“Machado said during a political event in Venezuela in the last few hours.

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“On March 21st The whole of Venezuela accompanies our unity candidate during registration“Wrote in X the leader Juan Guaidó, who is exiled in the United States.

But Henrique Capriles, a two-time former presidential candidate and also disqualified, wonders: “What now?”

“Decisions must be made,” he published in X. “Under no circumstances should we give up the power of the vote, (we must) put the country above any personal interest.”.

Other leaders far removed from the traditional opposition and branded “collaborators” have announced plans to run in the presidential election, which analysts say is aimed at dividing the anti-Chavista vote.

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The schedule

The deadline for registering candidacies has been set for March 21st to 25th, and the election campaign will take place from July 4th to 25th. ““He gives the opposition 20 days to find a solution.” a possible alternative candidate to Machado, Luis Vicente León, director of the polling institute Datanalisis, told AFP at one point Despite her disqualification, the opposition leader continues to be involved in political events. The ban, ratified by the Supreme Court in January, does not allow him To.

Maduro, who has ruled since 2013 after being anointed by Chávez before his death, said earlier this year it was “premature” to confirm whether he would seek a third term, although it was important Chavista leaders take his candidacy for granted from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

His re-election in 2018 was branded “fraudulent.” by the opposition, which boycotted the elections, and The United States imposed a series of sanctions in an unsuccessful attempt to remove him from power. The EU also ignored the result.

With information from AFP*

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US presidential elections the way is clear for a new

US presidential elections: the way is clear for a new edition of Biden against Trump

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Former President Trump had a clear victory in the “Super Tuesday” primaries and will probably not be caught again in two weeks at the latest. Although Haley achieved a respectable victory with a win in Vermont, Trump won in the other 14 states where voting took place. The formal appointment takes place in the summer, the election itself in November.

Haley refrained from making a formal statement — an “endorsement” — to Trump during a brief appearance in his home state of South Carolina on Wednesday. Instead, she advised him to reach out to moderate Republicans and independent voters as well. “It is now up to Donald Trump to win the votes of those in our party and others who did not support him. And I hope he does,” she said. “At its best, politics is about winning people to your cause, not rejecting them.”

A bunch of Nikki Haley blowjobs

APA/AFP/Joseph Prezioso Despite the many defeats, Haley held out for an unexpectedly long time in the fight for candidacy

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his support for Trump on Wednesday. It is absolutely clear that the former president has the necessary support from Republican voters to run for office. The archconservative McConnell has long been considered one of the most important people running US politics. Although Trump has publicly insulted him regularly in the past, McConnell has stayed true to his line. McConnell has recently made headlines with health problems – the 82-year-old plans to resign from his top job in the US Senate in November.

Biden's age makes him vulnerable

For Democrats, the current Biden won on “Super Tuesday” and is considered the top seed. He and Trump took shots at each other before the final results were even available. “November 5th will go down as the most important day in the history of our country,” Trump said in his victory speech, calling Biden the worst president of all time. Biden responded with a statement portraying Trump as a threat to democracy.

It is the first time since 1956 (Dwight D. Eisenhower against Democrat Adlai Stevenson, note) that there will be a new presidential duel in the USA. The population is not very enthusiastic about this. Both men have low poll numbers, in part because of their age: Trump is 77, Biden is 81.

Especially with Biden, who is already the oldest US president in history, his age is a big problem due to his recurring mistakes and mix-ups – although Trump also repeatedly makes such mishaps. However, Biden recently had his doctor confirm that he is still fit for office. In this sense, it is difficult to imagine that he will not run – unless he experiences a serious health crisis.

Trump is fighting the law

With Trump, it is less his age than the allegations against him that pose risks to him. He has been charged four times in criminal cases, including for his role in the storming of the Capitol and his other attempts to later overturn his election defeat against Biden in 2020.

debate

What are the consequences of Trump's trials?

However, the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court gave Trump a reprieve by considering, at his request, whether he enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken during his presidency. This leads to a delay at least in the proceedings before a US federal court regarding allegations of election manipulation. If Trump is convicted before the election, he could continue to run for president.

Voters in San Francisco during Super Tuesday

Portal/Loren Elliott The Republican and Democratic primaries run until early June

As was the case four years ago, the vote will likely fall to a few states – the “swing states” – due to the comparatively complicated electoral process. Close results are expected in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but also in the elections as a whole. The most important issues of the election campaign are illegal immigration and the economy. This also emerged Tuesday from polls following the primary election.

Warning signs for both sides

Despite the clear success of Biden and Trump, the Super Tuesday results also contain warning signs for both. The fact that Haley not only won Vermont, but also polled double digits in other states, suggests there is dissatisfaction among the party's moderate base regarding her renewed candidacy.

Biden, in turn, must look with concern at the left wing of his party, where there is frustration with its solidarity with Israel in the Gaza war and with its increasingly tough course on migration policy. Even before “Super Tuesday”, the president had learned a lesson in the state of Michigan, when more than 100 thousand voters refused to support him, choosing the “neutral” option. There were also higher numbers of such de facto abstentions in some states on Tuesday.

Recruit Haley Supporters

Immediately after Haley's withdrawal, both candidates attempted to recruit their supporters. “Donald Trump has made it clear that he does not want supporters of Nikki Haley. “I want to be clear: There is a place for her in my campaign,” Biden said. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he would like to “invite all Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in our nation’s history” and called Biden an enemy who is destroying the country.

US presidential elections: the way is clear for a new edition of Biden against Trump Read More »

The UN Security Council meets urgently due to the violent

The UN Security Council meets urgently due to the violent crisis in Haiti

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The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting this Wednesday (6) on the situation in Haiti, which is plagued by increasing gang violence and is threatened with civil war if Prime Minister Ariel Henry does not resign. The criminal gangs that control most of the capital PortauPrince and the roads leading to the rest of the country have in recent days attacked strategic locations in this Caribbean country: the police academy, the airport and several prisons . Of these, thousands of prisoners are being held. They fleed.

A police source said the area around ToussaintLouverture airport was again the scene of clashes between security forces and gangs on Tuesday evening and in the early hours of Wednesday. However, activity is increasing on the streets of PortauPrince, particularly near businesses, although public offices and schools remain closed, an AFP correspondent said.

The leader of one of the largest gangs, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, called on Tuesday for the resignation of the prime minister, who was in Africa when the current situation broke out. “If Ariel Henry does not resign and the international community continues to support him, we will go straight into a civil war that will lead to genocide,” Cherizier, who was sanctioned by the United Nations, told the press.

Henry, in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, was due to resign in February; However, entered into a powersharing agreement with the opposition until new elections are held. In a country without a president or parliament, where the last elections were held in 2016, the leader's future is uncertain.

“We call on the Haitian prime minister to advance a political process that will lead to the establishment of an interim presidential body to hold elections,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda ThomasGreenfield said Wednesday.

Henry has not yet returned to PortauPrince since leaving for Kenya to organize the deployment of a UNbacked multinational police mission. According to a spokeswoman for the governor of the Caribbean island, he landed in Puerto Rico on Tuesday. The government official, who was unable to travel to Haiti because of unrest at the international airport, was denied permission to land in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Also see

“The governments of Haiti and the United States have informally consulted with the Dominican Republic about the possibility that the aircraft carrying Prime Minister Henry back to his country may have made an indefinite stopover in Dominican territory,” an official said Statement from Speaker Homero Figueroa this Wednesday. “On both occasions, the Dominican government indicated that such a stop was impossible without receiving a defined flight plan,” he added.

Not sustainable

Due to gang attacks, the Haitian government declared a state of emergency over the weekend and a nighttime curfew in the capital that will last until Wednesday. UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk warned in Geneva that the situation in Haiti had become “more than untenable” and that 1,193 people had been killed by armed gang violence since the beginning of 2024.

Türk called for the urgent deployment of a multinational mission to support the Haitian police. “The reality is that in the current context there is no realistic alternative to protecting lives,” he said.

Due to violence, political crisis and years of drought, around 5.5 million Haitians (approximately half of the population) are in need of external humanitarian assistance. The United Nations' appeal for $674 million (3.3 billion reais at current exchange rates) this year to help Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, raised just 2.5%.

Last Thursday's unrest forced at least 15,000 people to flee the hardesthit areas of PortauPrince, according to the United Nations, which began distributing food and basic necessities. After months of delays, the U.N. Security Council in October approved sending a multinational police mission led by Kenya to Haiti, ready to work with 1,000 of its agents.

To expedite the launch of this body, Nairobi and PortauPrince signed a bilateral agreement on Friday, but a date for the mission's arrival was not set. At the end of February, five more countries, including Benin, added more than 1,500 soldiers officially announcing their intention to participate in the mission in Haiti.

Kidnappings, snipers on rooftops, sexual violence that fuels fear… At the beginning of January, UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres declared himself “horrified” by the “impressive scale” of the violence committed by the gangs dominating the country. According to the United Nations, homicides more than doubled in 2023, with nearly 5,000 people killed, including 2,700 civilians.

The UN Security Council meets urgently due to the violent crisis in Haiti Read More »

He broke condoms without the victims knowing The defense

He broke condoms without the victims knowing | The defense argues that an attacker does not deserve a prison sentence because he did not “force” his victims

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A man who intentionally pierced his condom during intercourse does not deserve prison time because he did not “force” the women and they initially consented, according to the defense. The Crown intends to seek a four-year prison sentence.

Posted at 12:58 p.m.

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William Bernard Martin sexually assaulted two sex workers at an erotic massage parlor in Montreal in 2020. The women initially assumed that the condom had broken accidentally during the relationship – initially amicably. However, this was actually the defendant's course of action. It is not known how he punctured the condom during sex.

His defense in court was surprising: he cited the impressive size of his penis as an explanation for the repeated breaking of condoms. A version rejected by the judge.

The 31-year-old Frenchman was found guilty last February of two counts of sexual assault and three counts of obtaining sexual services for payment.

Comments on the verdict were scheduled to take place at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday. However, the defense attorney, Me Robert Bellefeuille, requested a postponement so that reports could be prepared. The lawyer said he was surprised by the four-year prison sentence requested by the prosecution as he planned to request a community (home) prison sentence.

To justify such a sentence, Me Bellefeuille gave an overview of his arguments. He explained that “there is consent[ait] first” between his client and the victims. However, the Supreme Court has already ruled that sabotaging or removing a condom during initially consensual sexual relations effectively revokes consent.

The criminologist put forward another rather astonishing argument. “It is still a different circumstance, it is not about a person sleeping with their ex-partner and forcing a sexual relationship. “This is not the same case,” Me Bellefeuille argued.

In the Kirkpatrick decision, which concerns the use of condoms, the Supreme Court recalled in 2022 that the definition of “real rape” as “physical violence that goes beyond the violence of non-consensual contact” is a myth.

In an interview with La Presse, the lawyer denied spreading myths and stereotypes. “I’m relying on the Supreme Court,” he replied, referring to the Kirkpatrick decision. The lack of “physical violence” in the case was important for the choice of “sentencing framework,” he continued.

“It has nothing to do with the plaintiff’s work. But there is consent. OK. […] What is his responsibility? [à l’accusé] ? She agrees. There is a payment. At some point, at the very end, because the complainant…” Me Bellefeuille argued in an interview.

In court, Me Bellefeuille also appeared to downplay the impact of the crime on one of the victims, casually quoting his testimony about the impact of the crime. “There is no physical or economic impact,” he told the judge.

When called to clarify his remarks, he explained this to La Presse, but without finishing his thoughts: “She clearly says that it has no physical impact or after-effects. Right down to the emotional level. If we get into what became emotional for her, which I understood…”

The defense said the sentence demanded by the Crown was “too high.” The suspended sentence was particularly appropriate because William Bernard Martin lost his job after the verdict, explained Me Bellefeuille. His work visa expires next year.

“We were prepared to proceed,” Crown prosecutor Me Laurence-Fanny L'Estage said. Judge André Perreault ultimately approved the preparation of a pre-sentence report with a sexological component. The sentencing hearings will take place next July.

He broke condoms without the victims knowing | The defense argues that an attacker does not deserve a prison sentence because he did not “force” his victims Read More »

1709754700 Ilan Goldfajn promises 39historic39 gathering to focus IDB on most

Ilan Goldfajn promises 'historic' gathering to focus IDB on most pressing issues | IDB Summit

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Ilan Goldfajn promises 39historic39 gathering to focus IDB on most

“It is no exaggeration to say that this annual meeting is truly historic.” This is how Ilan Goldfajn, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), opened the annual meeting of the institution’s governors this Wednesday in the Dominican city of Punta Cana. With an ambitious agenda to reform the IDB Group, which brings together the bank Goldfajn, its private arm and its financial laboratory, seeks to focus the work of multilateralism to achieve greater impact. At the end of the event, which ends on Sunday, representatives of the 48 member countries will vote on these changes.

“This will be remembered for years as the annual meeting that transformed the IDB Group and potentially the region,” Goldfajn continued. “For the first time, we are proposing three simultaneous changes that will transform the IDB Group into a bigger, better and more powerful institution. Impact”. The first proposal is to change the IDB's strategy and focus on strategies to reduce poverty, inequality and climate change. The second is a new business model and new capitalization for IDB Invest, the private arm of the group. The last is to change the economic model of the IDB Lab, its laboratory, which will allow it to triple the resources it mobilizes.

Goldfajn identified “a triple challenge” for Latin America: growing social demands, as evidenced by the social unrest of recent years; Slow growth; and the increasingly common impacts of climate change. The IDB disbursed $11.1 billion in loans for development projects in the region last year.

“Currently, the region also offers numerous opportunities in terms of energy transition, job creation, climate change, food security and also the preservation of biodiversity,” said the vice president of the host country Dominican Republic. “These are all issues that I am sure will be addressed at the highest levels,” she added.

In the first presentation of the event, Goldfajn and the institution's country director, Anabel González, answered questions from participants, mainly representatives of civil society organizations, who had not been invited to the IDB's most important annual event since 2013. The questions revolved around the rights of people from native or indigenous groups, people with disabilities, as well as the exclusion of women entrepreneurs, people in poverty or people at risk of food insecurity.

In the photo: IDB President Ilan Goldfajn, accompanied by Anabel González, Vice President of IDB Countries, speaks during the 64th Annual Meeting of the Assembly of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank. In the video: the IDB annual meeting.

“The IDB’s relations with civil society will improve under this government. We need each other and the people we serve need our cooperation so we can improve lives more effectively,” said Goldfajn, who took office at the end of 2022. “I think this annual meeting is historic,” emphasized the President.

Last year, the IDB launched an initiative to promote development in the Amazon region, which includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname. More than 42 million people from indigenous groups live in the region, Goldfajn said, and many live under the constant threat of deforestation, over-exploitation of natural resources and organized crime. The investment that the IDB is making in the region is intended to stimulate growth through sustainable agriculture, forestry and connectivity, according to the institution.

Representing the inhabitants of this region, Nadino Calapucha, an Ecuadorian Kichwa and defender of these indigenous peoples, took the stage. According to studies published in 2020, 82% of the best-preserved biodiversity on the planet is in the territories of indigenous peoples, the activist said. “But this defense was not free. “It cost us lives,” he said.

“You have to work with modern knowledge, with technology and with western or contemporary science to respond to this crisis.” But the bioeconomy. We need to think about protecting forests because if deforestation is encouraged, if the violation of human rights is encouraged, if the destruction of our mother nature is encouraged, it would not be a balanced economy, it would not be a bioeconomy, it would not continue to be a bioeconomy an economy that exploits without measuring the rights of nature and human rights.”

Regarding the inclusion of women in the financial system, the IDB's chief economist for Latin America, Eric Parrado, shared the preliminary results of a study conducted in Chile. “We did an experiment in Chile where we hired actors and actresses to apply for loans in the banking system. And guess what? “We have discovered that women are discriminated against when it comes to access to credit,” she said into the microphone, drawing audible astonishment from the audience.

“If you measure how much you stop lending, it's $12 billion, assuming the same risk between men and women, because they have the same characteristics, the only difference is that men are different from women, but socioeconomically they are the same,” he added. Parrado. The expert was of the view that there is very high potential for growth and productivity if this insight is applied to the rest of the region.

For her part and also at the event, IDB Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge, Ana María Ibáñez, chatted with journalists about a comprehensive study on inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ibáñez and his team found that this is the most unequal region in the world. The top 10% earn twelve times more than the bottom 10%. In addition, one in five citizens of Latin America and the Caribbean is poor.

“There were many platitudes about inequality,” said the Colombian economist, “and a deep look was needed to know the causes, which are multiple, and to think about what can be done to reduce them.” The The study began three years ago and was carried out in collaboration with the London School of Economics (LSE), Yale University and the United Kingdom Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), among others.

More than 60 researchers found that in Colombia, Chile and Uruguay, about 1% of the population controls between 37% and 40% of total wealth, while the poorer half of the population controls only a tenth of the wealth. In comparison, the range in Western Europe and Scandinavia is between 20% and 30%. In the United States the proportion is similar at 42%.

Ilan Goldfajn promises 'historic' gathering to focus IDB on most pressing issues | IDB Summit Read More »

France Commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the landing begin

France: Commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the landing begin on April 16

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President Emmanuel Macron will travel to the Vercors Alpine massif, the center of French resistance against Nazism, on April 16 to open commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy.

This trip will open an “extensive program” consisting of thousands of “local events” or “national or international in scope,” Mr. Macron said in a video on Wednesday, leaving open the question of a Russian presence in the context of the war in the Ukraine.

After the commemoration of the Vercors resistance fighters, the head of state will pay a first tribute to the Allied paratroopers on June 5th in Plumelec (Brittany, West) and Saint-Lô (West Normandy).

The next day, Emmanuel Macron will preside over a British, American and Canadian ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, surrounded by veterans, including 200 expected from abroad and “some French survivors,” according to the Élysée.

Given the decisive role of the USSR in the victory against Nazism, the question of a Russian delegation is being examined, the presidency also announced, when Vladimir Putin was present at the 70th anniversary of the landings.

However, he was absent five years ago and the war in Ukraine acutely raises the question of joint historical commemorations with Moscow.

Mr Macron will also travel in June to Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane in the southwest, scenes of Nazi abuses at the end of the war.

On June 18th, the traditional homage to the call to resistance launched by General de Gaulle on the radio from London in 1940 will take place at the Mont-Valérien Resistance memorial near Paris and on the Ile de Sein in Brittany.

The year 2024 must celebrate “the courage of our liberators, resistance fighters, soldiers of allied countries, fighters of the army reconstituted by Free France on the African continent,” including “many from Africa, the Pacific or all over the world,” declared the President of the Republic in his video.

The national day parade on July 14th in Paris must “evoke the universality of the values ​​of those who liberated the country”.

Eighty years after the liberation of Paris in August 1944, a “popular event” is taking place around Place Denfert-Rochereau, where the headquarters of the Paris Resistance was established.

France: Commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the landing begin on April 16 Read More »

Dean Phillips drops out of Democratic presidential campaign against Biden

Dean Phillips drops out of Democratic presidential campaign against Biden: The candidate who claimed 81-year-old Joe was too old would quit the campaign after the terrible Super Tuesday

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By Nikki Schwab, senior US political reporter

Published: 6:17 p.m., March 6, 2024 | Updated: 7:29 p.m., March 6, 2024

Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips dropped out of the race Wednesday afternoon after failing to gain traction in the primary.

The Minnesota representative and heir to one of America's greatest liquor dynasties has suspended his campaign after a disastrous Super Tuesday in which President Joe Biden dominated virtually every race.

Phillips, 55, entered the race arguing that Biden, 81, was too old to run again and that Democrats needed fresh blood.

But he failed to win his home state of Minnesota on Tuesday night, even falling behind “disengaged” voters who protested Biden's handling of the Gaza war.

“In 2011, I hosted then-Vice President Biden at my home. “Most notable was his empathy and kindness toward my daughters and the catering staff, with whom he sat and ate ice cream (surprise-surprise),” Phillips wrote on Twitter.

Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips will drop out of the race Wednesday afternoon after failing to gain traction in the primary

Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips will drop out of the race Wednesday afternoon after failing to gain traction in the primary

“His decency and wisdom were rarities in politics then and even more so today.”

“Over a decade later, the only thing that has changed is time – which slows us all down a bit, including presidents.”

“I ran for Congress in 2018 to resist Donald Trump, I was stuck in the Capitol in 2021 because of Donald Trump, and I ran for president in 2024 to resist Donald Trump again – because Americans demanded an alternative and democracy requires options .”

“But it is clear that I am not the alternative.” And it is clear that Joe Biden is OUR candidate and OUR opportunity to show what kind of country America is and wants to be.

Phillips (pictured with his wife Annalize) entered the race arguing that the 81-year-old Biden was too old to run again and that Democrats needed fresh blood

Phillips (pictured with his wife Annalize) entered the race arguing that the 81-year-old Biden was too old to run again and that Democrats needed fresh blood

“To everyone who has supported my efforts, thank you.” We will continue the important work to ensure a more responsive, democratic and intergenerational political system.

“But today, given the harsh reality we face, I ask you to join me in mobilizing, energizing and doing everything you can to help ensure that a man of decency and integrity in the White House House stays.”

“This is Joe Biden.” Let’s use invitation, not confrontation, to welcome Haley supporters, Trump supporters and Uncommitted supporters to make this happen. It is our calling, it is our heritage and it is our time.

Continue

Dean Phillips drops out of Democratic presidential campaign against Biden: The candidate who claimed 81-year-old Joe was too old would quit the campaign after the terrible Super Tuesday Read More »

Food aid convoy destined for northern Gaza looted after delay at Israeli checkpoint | Israel

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Israel

Trucks attacked by desperate people as logistical obstacles and restrictions imposed by Israel limit urgently needed aid

A new initiative by the United Nations World Food Program to deliver aid to an estimated half a million people facing starvation in northern Gaza has failed amid further scenes of chaos and violence.

A convoy of 14 trucks bound for the northern Gaza Strip was looted on Tuesday after being held at an Israeli army checkpoint for several hours, aid workers said. When the convoy turned back after the delay, it was attacked by “a large crowd of desperate people” and 200 tons of food were looted.

Insecurity, logistical bottlenecks, ongoing fighting and Israeli-imposed movement restrictions combined to limit aid deliveries to a fraction of what was needed, aid officials said.

The WFP convoy was the first to attempt to reach the northern Gaza Strip as insecurity forced the organization to suspend its efforts on February 20 despite threats of starvation after Israeli forces fired twice at desperate Palestinians trying to get food from WFP trucks, senior WFP officials told the Guardian earlier this week.

Hopes were raised last week that Hamas and Israel were close to agreeing a deal that would pause or possibly permanently end hostilities, thereby facilitating humanitarian aid.

Prospects for an agreement have diminished in recent days, but a Hamas delegation remains in Cairo for talks with mediators from Egypt and Qatar.

Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said Wednesday that Israel still wants a temporary pause on humanitarian grounds that would allow the release of about 130 hostages still being held by Hamas.

“We will do everything we can to get them out… [But] This war will ultimately end with the complete defeat of Hamas or its surrender,” Levy told reporters.

The war was sparked by bloody Hamas attacks in southern Israel in October. The militant organization, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, killed 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 250 in the surprise operation.

Health officials in Gaza said the number of people killed in Israel's offensive has now exceeded 30,700, with 86 deaths reported in the past 24 hours. Most of the victims were women and children, officials said.

Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields in Gaza and said its forces were acting entirely lawfully.

Shaban Abdel-Raouf, a Palestinian electrician and father of five from Gaza City, said: “Every day costs us dozens of martyrs. “We want a ceasefire now.”

He is now in the southern town of Khan Younis, where fighting continues. Residents reported hearing explosions throughout Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. Witnesses said Israeli warplanes struck areas of Al-Nuseirat refugee camp and the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, as well as part of the southern city of Rafah.

Jordanian and American planes have repeatedly airdropped food in recent days, but humanitarian organizations say only road delivery can bring sufficient quantities to those in need, with no distribution mechanism in place.

“Air drops are a last resort and cannot prevent famine,” said Carl Skau, deputy director of the World Food Program.

Gaza's Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday that a 15-year-old girl was the latest child to die from malnutrition or dehydration at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The United Nations said in February that more than a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people are “estimated to be experiencing catastrophic levels of deprivation and famine.” Without action, widespread famine could be “almost inevitable,” it said.

Aid deliveries to the southern Gaza Strip can currently be made via the Rafah border crossing from Egypt and the Kerem Shalom border crossing from Israel.

According to the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), an average of nearly 97 trucks per day were able to enter the Gaza Strip in February, compared to about 150 trucks per day in January – well below the target of 500 trucks per day.

The United Nations has described access to aid as “unpredictable and inadequate,” blaming military operations, insecurity and extensive restrictions on the delivery of vital supplies.

Even when aid arrives in Gaza, all cargo must be unloaded from Egyptian trucks and transferred to local transport. There is now an acute shortage of both suitable vehicles and fuel in Gaza, causing further problems. Other challenges include patchy communications, limited electricity, refugee flows and rubble-strewn roads.

Israel said there would be no limit on aid to civilians and blamed the United Nations for any delivery problems. Limits on the amount and pace of aid depended on the capacity of the United Nations and other organizations.

Aid workers say the insecurity is due to a lack of police, who have stopped guarding convoys after they were attacked by Israeli forces.

Israel says police are part of Hamas and on Wednesday called on international aid groups to find ways to distribute aid that do not make them “accomplices of terrorists.”

On Friday, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) delivered vaccines, formula and other supplies to Shifa and two days later managed to reach other hospitals in northern Gaza.

Tess Ingram, a spokeswoman for Unicef, told the Guardian that her colleagues had described how desperate they were in the hospitals they visited and that doctors had described being completely unable to treat dying children.

“It defies logic that children die because of access restrictions. We have the food they need and the malnutrition treatments needed to save lives just a few miles away, but we cannot bring it to them. “This is a test of the conscience of the world,” Ingram said.

Washington has increased pressure on Israel to ease the suffering, a message echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

“People are dying of hunger. “People are dying from otherwise preventable diseases,” Cameron told the House of Lords before talks with Benny Gantz, an opposition politician who joined Israel's war cabinet shortly after the outbreak of war.

In Beirut, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official, said a prisoner exchange could only take place after a ceasefire.

Basem Naim, a second senior Hamas official, said Hamas had submitted its own draft agreement and was waiting for a response from Israel, and that “the ball is now in the Americans' court.”

An agreement is sought before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on Sunday. Violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories often increases during Ramadan, as does hostility toward Israel in the Arab and Muslim world.

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Food aid convoy destined for northern Gaza looted after delay at Israeli checkpoint | Israel Read More »