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A |     PANAMA CITY -- Protesters blocked streets across Panama on Monday, demanding the government rescind a contract to continue copper mining in a biodiverse region.Teaching and construction unions led calls against the contract with environmentalists, saying continued development threatens forested land and crucial groundwater just 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of the capital, in the state of Colon.Across Panama City, peaceful protesters handed out fliers, but in some areas on the outskirts of the capital police met protesters with tear gas. In anticipation of the largest marches since a cost of living crisis last July, both the Department of Education and the University of Panama cancelled classes. The government used social media to highlight the “enormous contribution” the mine — Panama's largest private investment ever — makes to the country's economy.In March, Panama's legislature reached an agreement with Canadian mining company First Quantum, allowing its local subsidiary, Minera Panama, to continue operating a huge open-pit copper mine in central Panama for at least 20 more years. The mine was temporarily closed last year when talks between the government and First Quantum broke down over payments the government wanted to receive.Protests began after President Laurentino Cortizo signed off on that contract on Friday after it was approved by the congress.The president acted surreptitiously, according to Fernando Abrego, leader of Panama's Association of Teachers union. “The government decided this confrontation by quickly and expeditiously approving a contract they know is rejected by the people,” he said.Teachers were joined by construction workers, who are one of country's most powerful labor groups. “The people are in the streets in defense of sovereignty," said union leader Saúl Méndez, "in the face of a contract that cedes self-determination by devastating the environment to steal resources.”It is unclear how persuasive these arguments will prove against the economic boon of a single mining site that already brings in 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product. Minera Panama says the mine will employ thousands of Panamanians and that its shipments make 80% of the country's total exports.The new contract, initially slowed by labor disagreements, secures Panama at least $375 million a year from Minera Panama, over 10 times more than the previous deal. It represents one of the largest national mining contracts in a region where other countries like Costa Rica regulate the sector more stringently and El Salvador which banned metal mining in 2017. For teachers, however, Abrego said concession was not an option, and that the teachers' union would hold an assembly to plan their next actions. “We will remain in the streets,” he said.。    An "unprecedented catastrophe" is unfolding for civilians in Gaza, according to the United Nations, which is pleading for Islamic leaders to allow humanitarian efforts into the territory to help those trapped there.The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) released a statement Wednesday urging the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation "to firmly and unconditionally support the humanitarian efforts to safeguard civilians in Gaza."UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini evoked the "harrowing images" from the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, where nearly 500 people were killed in a blast on Tuesday night, to highlight the plight of the civilians who remain in Gaza. Another air strike struck an UNRWA school sheltering 4,000 displaced people on Tuesday, killing at least six people, Lazzarini said."An unprecedented catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes," Lazzarini said. "Gaza is being strangled and the world seems to have lost its humanity."A humanitarian crisis began in Gaza almost as soon as the retaliatory air strikes from Israel began last week, following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas, experts told ABC News. The territory is "highly dependent" on imports, and with the crossings into Israel and Egypt currently sealed, supplies are running out fast.Just one week after the latest fighting between Israel and Hamas began, one million people inside Gaza were forced to flee their homes, according to Lazzarini.Fourteen frontline humanitarian workers from the UNRWA are among the dead in Gaza, Lazzarini noted, adding that since the fighting began, not one shipment of aid has been allowed into Gaza.A surgical team and 60 tons of humanitarian aid and medical items have been mobilized to the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, into southern Gaza, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced on Tuesday. But the aid was not granted passage on Monday, when the crossing was supposed to be opened.Images show tractor-trailers filled with supplies and other goods idling on roads leading to Gaza.Potable water, stocks of food, and other supplies such as hygiene materials and medicine are in short supply in Gaza, Lazzarini said, adding that people are being forced to drink unclean water."We are on the brink of a major health and sanitation crisis," Lazzarini said.A mother named Rana, who is trapped in Gaza with her family, told ABC News that she and her children go to sleep every night in fear that they will never wake up again.At night, Gaza becomes a "ghost city" in near darkness, with sirens and bomb blasts the only sounds to break the silence, she said."We sleep in one room," said Rana, who did not want to provide her last name or location due to safety concerns. "We keep praying."During remarks from Israel on Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden said that Israel agreed to allow humanitarian assistance to move from Egypt to Gaza. The passage will be subject to inspections and the aid will go to civilians, not Hamas, Biden said.As of Wednesday evening, it was unclear when the crossings between Gaza and Egypt will open for humanitarian passage.。

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