Israel-Hamas war: Israel Olympics sanctions ‘out of the question’: IOC

The International Olympic Committee has no plans to sanction Israel ahead of the Paris Olympics over its war in Gaza, a top official has said.

The International Olympic Committee has no plans to sanction Israel ahead of the Paris Olympics over its war in Gaza, a top official said on Friday local time.

Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, the head of the IOC co-ordination committee for Paris 2024, said the conflict in Gaza and Russia’s war in Ukraine, for which Moscow was suspended by the IOC, were “different situations”.

“It’s out of question to imagine sanctions (on Israel) right now,” Beckers-Vieujant told reporters at the end of a three-day trip to the French capital.

The International Olympic Committee has no plans to sanction Israel ahead of the Paris Olympics over its war in Gaza, a top official said. Picture: AFP

“The reasons that led the IOC to sanction Russia initially and then the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) are very specific.” He said: “Russia and more recently the ROC undermined essential parts of the Olympic charter.

“That’s not the case for the Palestinian Olympic Committee, nor the Israeli Olympic Committee … which coexist in peace together. It’s entirely clear that these are different situations.” Four days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the IOC urged all international sports federations to exclude Russia and Belarusian athletes from their competitions and cancel forthcoming events in Russia.

IOC chief Thomas Bach said afterwards that Russia had violated the Olympic charter and the “Olympic truce” with its invasion, which took place just after the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October last year after it included regional sports organisations in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine as members.

Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, Chair of the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 said Israel won’t receive sanctions. Picture: AFP

Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete at this year’s Paris Games as neutrals, outside of team events, and as long as they have not actively support the war on Ukraine.

The IOC estimates that only eight athletes from Russia and three from Belarus have qualified as neutrals, although there is growing speculation that Russia will boycott the entire event.

Some Palestinian activists, as well as a collective of left-wing French MPs, have called for Israel to be sanctioned by the IOC over the war in Gaza, which was sparked by an attack by Hamas on October 7 that left around 1,140 people dead.

In response, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas, launching an invasion that has killed at least 30,878 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

CIO chief Thomas Bach said this week that Israeli athletes would have special protection during the Paris Games.

A spectator waves a Russian flag in front of The Olympic Rings. The IOC said Russia’s sanctions were “different situations”. Picture: AFP

“Measures will be taken,” he said in remarks reported by the Swiss newspaper 24 Heures. “The Israelis must feel at ease during the Games. Everyone must be treated equally, whether in the Olympic village or elsewhere.

“Everyone must be respected and have a respectful attitude.” Eleven Israelis were murdered during an attack on their delegation at the Munich Olympics in 1972 by Palestinian extremists.

US TO BUILD TEMPORARY GAZA PORT FOR AID

US President Joe Biden is set to announce he has ordered the US military to set up a port in Gaza to get more humanitarian aid into the beleaguered territory by sea, senior US officials said, cautioning it would take “a number of weeks”.

It comes as hopes dim for a truce before Ramadan in the Israel-Hamas war that entered its sixth month with dozens more killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The officials underlined that the announcement will not involve any US boots on the ground, as military personnel will stay offshore while allies manage onshore operations.

“This port, the main feature of which is a temporary pier, will provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day,” a senior administration official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“We’re not waiting on the Israelis. This is a moment for American leadership,” one official told reporters, in a sign of growing White House frustration with Israel’s failure to allow more relief into Gaza.

US officials said the “significant capability will take a number of weeks to plan and execute,” and would involve a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus.

In the meantime, the US military continued to airdrop aid into Gaza. Jordan’s military said aircraft from Belgium, Egypt, France and the Netherlands had also taken part in the latest US-Jordanian operation.

The UN’s World Food Programme warned the volume of aid that could be air-dropped would do nothing to avert famine in Gaza.

“In order to avert a famine, we need huge volumes of assistance. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people. Airdrops are not an option for averting famine,” said WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau.

Smoke billowing over the Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Picture: AFP

Fighting began after an unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that resulted in about 1160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombardment, alongside a ground offensive, that Hamas said on Thursday local time had continued with more than 30 air strikes across the territory.

Mr Biden had urged Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan with Israel before the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, as early as Sunday depending on the lunar calendar.
The proposed deal would pause fighting for “at least six weeks”, see the “release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages” and allow for “a surge of humanitarian assistance”, the White House said.

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WHAT IS HOLDING UP TRUCE DEAL

One known sticking point around the truce discussions centres on an Israeli demand for Hamas to provide a list of about 100 hostages believed to still be alive – a task Hamas says it is unable to complete while bombing continues.

The Palestinian Islamist group said in a statement it had “shown the required flexibility with the aim of reaching an agreement”, insisting on a complete halt to the fighting.

MISSILE ATTACKS

A Houthi ballistic missile attack on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden killed at least two sailors and injured six more crew members.

It is the first fatal strike by the Iran-backed militant group in their attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea.

The attack, which marks a huge escalation of the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, struck the MV True Confidence around 11.30am on Wednesday, Sanaa time (7.30pm AEDT).

The vessel’s owner said the Liberian-registered bulk carrier, now abandoned, was drifting with a fire on board after being struck southwest of Aden.

The Houthis said in a statement that the strike was “accurate” and caused a fire to break out on the ship.

“The targeting operation came after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages from the Yemeni naval forces,” a Houthi statement about the attack read.

The Houthi statement said the attacks in the Red Sea would not stop until the Israeli “aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted”.

In a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, the British Embassy in Yemen said at least two “innocent sailors” had died in the attack.

Armed Yemeni men step over a US and an Israeli flag painted on the asphalt in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa, during a march in support of the Palestinians. Picture: AFP

In a previous attack, the MV Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier, leaked oil into the Gulf of Aden after being hit by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists last month. Picture: AFP

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the deaths were “sadly inevitable.”

“The Houthis have continued to launch these reckless attacks with no regard for the wellbeing of innocent civilians who are transiting through the Red Sea, and now they have unfortunately and tragically killed innocent civilians,” Mr Miller said.

“The United States will continue to hold the Houthis accountable for their attacks, which have not just disrupted international commerce, not just disrupted the freedom of navigation and international waters, and not just endangered seafarers, but now tragically killed a number of them,” he said

HAMAS REJECTS UN REPORT ON RAPES

Hamas has rejected a UN report claiming Palestinian militants committed “sexual violence” during their attack on Israel on October 7, saying the findings were simply “false claims”.

The report by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, “did not document any testimony from what she calls the victims of these cases,” Hamas said in a statement.

A woman at the memorial site of the Supernova music festival in southern Israel. A UN report concluded that “sexual violence” occurred during the Hamas attacks. Picture: AFP

“She relied on Israeli institutions, soldiers and witnesses, who were chosen by the occupation authorities to push towards an attempt to prove this false accusation, which was refuted by all investigations.”

The report said it had found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred”.

ISRAELI STRIKES NEAR HOSPITALS

Fighting in Gaza continued, with authorities reporting dozens of Israeli air strikes near the European Hospital in Hamad, near Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis.

The Israeli army said it was conducting targeted raids in Hamad and had captured dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters who were hiding among civilians.

Palestinians check the rubble of the Al-Faqawi family home which was hit in an overnight Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP

Its jets had struck 50 Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the army said.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 97 people had been killed, mostly women and children.

Khan Yunis residents described finding decomposing bodies lying in streets lined with destroyed homes and shops.

“We want to eat and live. Take a look at our homes. How am I to blame, a single, unarmed person without any income in this impoverished country?” asked Nader Abu Shanab, pointing to the rubble with blackened hands.

Relatives of Palestinians killed during overnight Israeli bombardment, mourn over their bodies at the hospital morgue in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Picture: AFP

Displaced Palestinian women carrying their belongings, and one lifts a makeshift white flag as they walk past Israeli forces while fleeing Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP

‘DAILY STRIKES’ BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HEZBOLLAH

The Israel-Hamas war has sparked violence across the region, including near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

“A diplomatic solution is the only way to end the current hostilities,” US envoy Amos Hochstein told reporters in Beirut, adding that “a temporary ceasefire is not enough”.

“A limited war is not containable,” he said after meeting with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.

On Monday, a foreign worker in northern Israel was killed and seven Indian workers were wounded in a missile strike near the Lebanese border, Israeli medics said.

The Israeli army said it had carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in response.

Hezbollah said three paramedics affiliated with the group had been killed in an Israeli strike.

THOUSANDS OF PATIENTS AT RISK

An estimated 8000 patients need evacuating out of the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organisation said.

The WHO said moving such patients out of Gaza would relieve some of the strain on the medics and hospitals that are struggling to keep functioning in a war zone.

“We estimate that 8000 Gazan's need to be referred outside Gaza,” Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the Palestinian territories, told a press briefing in Geneva via video link from Jerusalem.

Of those, an estimated 6000 are related to the conflict, including patients with multiple trauma injuries, burns and amputations, he said.

The other 2000 are regular patients, he said, noting that before the war began, 50 to 100 patients a day were referred from Gaza to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, of which around half were cancer patients.

Only 2293 patients were referred outside Gaza for medical treatment between October 7 and February 20.

Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition receive treatment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip where the majority of hospitals are non-functioning. Picture: AFP

The damaged Gaza City headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) amid the battle between Israel and Hamas. Picture: AFP

GAZA DETAINEES ‘TRAUMATISED’

Gazan's detained by Israeli forces are coming back “completely traumatised” upon release and reporting abuses while in captivity, the head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency said.

Detainees reported being subjected to a “broad range of ill treatment” including threats of electrocution, being photographed naked, sleep deprivation and having dogs used to intimidate them, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told a media briefing.

The comments follow reporting by the New York Times on an internal investigation compiled by UNRWA staff documenting the state of returning detainees at the Kerem Shalom border.

“We have seen these people coming back from detention, some of them for a couple of weeks, some of them for a couple of months, and most of them coming back (are) completely traumatised by the ordeal they have gone through,” Mr Lazzarini said.

– with AFP