US has sent Israel data on aid group locations to try to prevent strikes
- Author: POLITICO
- Full Title: US has sent Israel data on aid group locations to try to prevent strikes
- Category: articles
- Document Tags: #geospatial
- URL: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/21/u-s-has-sent-israel-data-on-aid-group-locations-to-try-to-prevent-strikes-00128336
Highlights
- The Biden administration has been providing Israel with the location of humanitarian groups in Gaza for weeks to prevent strikes against their facilities. But Israel has continued to hit such sites. (View Highlight)
- The information included GPS coordinates of a number of medical facilities and information on movements of aid groups in Gaza to the Israeli government for at least a month, according to three people familiar with the communications. (View Highlight)
- Soon after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, aid groups in Gaza sent their coordinates to the United Nations — using a longstanding arrangement called the Humanitarian Notification System — to prevent incidental attacks on civilians. HNS was used by Israel during the 2014 war with Hamas in Gaza. It is just one of several such systems that exist in conflict zones around the world. (View Highlight)
- But last month, as aerial bombardments ratcheted up in Gaza, aid groups searched for additional communication channels to share their GPS coordinates and information about their work, including calling senior U.S. officials and members of Congress (View Highlight)
- Despite the multiple channels for coordinate sharing, more U.N. aid workers have been killed in Gaza this year than in any other conflict in the agency’s history. (View Highlight)
- Asked if the U.N. notification system alerts Hamas to aid groups’ activities and sites, a U.N. official familiar with the issue said the Gaza system tries to notify “all parties to a conflict, including non-state actor groups and other de facto authorities.” (View Highlight)