69 killed in Gaza within 24 hours amid ongoing Israeli shelling
These latest figures bring the total number of casualties since the war began on October 7, 2023, to 61,499 Palestinians killed and 153,575 wounded, highlighting the devastating human cost of the conflict.
Aid-seekers among the dead
Hospitals in Gaza reported receiving the bodies of 29 civilians who were shot while trying to obtain food aid during the same 24-hour period, underscoring the dire humanitarian situation.
Starvation deaths continue to climb
The death toll from starvation and malnutrition has now reached 222, including 101 children. Five new deaths, one of them a child, were recorded in the past 24 hours, reflecting the worsening food crisis in the Strip.
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Boston Globe
23 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
When Israel left Gaza, everything got worse
There is no way to know yet how this will turn out. But as Israel prepares to push still deeper into Gaza in what may be the cataclysmic final phase of its war to eliminate Hamas, it is worth looking back to reflect on another fateful, anguish-filled Israeli decision in Gaza — one that began the descent into the nightmare the Jewish state now faces. Advertisement It was exactly 20 years ago this week — Aug. 15, 2005 — that the Israeli government, led by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon, destroyed 21 Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip, evicting 9,000 Israelis and demolishing the homes where some of them had lived for decades. All of Gaza, denuded of its Jews, was then unilaterally surrendered to the Palestinian Authority. There was no quid pro quo. Israel relinquished the territory it had occupied in the 1967 Six Day War without requiring anything in return. Sharon labeled the operation 'disengagement' — a term meant to suggest that by handing Gaza to the Palestinians, Israel could finally sever its ties to the troubled territory and its population. Advertisement Sharon's deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert — who, like his boss, had always previously been known as a hawkish defender of Israeli security — 'It will be good for us and will be good for the Palestinians,' Olmert effervesced. 'It will bring more security, greater safety, much more prosperity, and a lot of joy for all the people that live in the Middle East.' With disengagement, he foretold, 'a new morning of great hope will emerge.' He was sure that with the end of Israel's occupation of Gaza, 'the Middle East will indeed become what it was destined to be from the outset, a paradise for all the world.' That was perilously wishful thinking, as I Advertisement 'We will be on this side of the line, and the Palestinians will be on that side,' I remember one Israeli journalist earnestly telling me several months before the evacuation. 'They'll run their lives the way they see fit and we won't have to be involved.' The Ambassador Meir Shlomo, who was then the Israeli consul-general in New England, urged me to support the Gaza disengagement because of the diplomatic dividends it would pay. Israel's withdrawal was being applauded everywhere, he pointed out. The plan had the support of the George W. Bush administration and the European Union. It was being But by heading out of Gaza, Israel wasn't walking into peace. It was walking off a cliff. The unilateral withdrawal from Gaza was not interpreted by Israel's enemies as an act of magnanimity or pragmatism. It was interpreted as a surrender. Rather than a historic demonstration of Israel's desire for peace, the evacuation of those 21 communities and the departure of every Israeli soldier from Gaza were seen by the Palestinian Authority as proof that violence pays. Advertisement And so, 20 years ago this week, the IDF was sent in and But that goodwill and fraternity were not reciprocated. 'Today you leave Gaza in humiliation,' Hamas chieftain all of Palestine will be hell for you." The central error of disengagement wasn't the belief that Israel could live without Gaza. It was the belief that Gaza, left to its own devices, would choose peace over jihad. With the Israelis out, Palestinians surged into the abandoned settlements and immediately Hamas turned Gaza into a forward operating base for terrorism: It imported Iranian rockets, dug hundreds of miles of attack tunnels, and embedded its arsenals in civilian areas to ensure any Israeli response would be politically costly. The withdrawal from Gaza didn't end the conflict; it entrenched it. Advertisement What was intended as a confidence-building measure turned out to be a confidence-destroying one. A radical concession meant to enhance Israel's security instead put many more Israelis at risk. Far from encouraging moderation, disengagement encouraged Hamas to intensify its brutal extremism. In the years that followed, Hamas expanded its power and arsenal. Rocket fire into Israel became routine. An Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was abducted and held by Hamas for five years. Children in Israeli towns like Sderot and Ashkelon grew up with 15-second air-raid warnings to reach shelter. All the while Hamas kept expanding its terror infrastructure, dispersing arms and fighters through its underground labyrinth. Every few years Jerusalem would respond to Hamas rocket attacks with several days or weeks of 'mowing the grass' — pinpoint bombing meant to buy a spell of relative quiet. It was never long, however, before the attacks resumed. Many Successive Israeli governments accepted this status quo, convinced that the alternative — reoccupying Gaza and destroying the Hamas regime — was too costly to contemplate. It was a judgment rooted in what Advertisement Daniel Pipes, the Middle East historian and analyst, conceptzia — so much so that they ignored Hamas's blood-curdling genocidal threats and dismissed its open preparations for a devastating blow that would overwhelm Israel's defenses. Then came Oct. 7, 2023. On that day Hamas slaughtered more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians. They burned homes, murdered entire families, raped and mutilated victims, and kidnapped more than 250 hostages. It was less a military operation than a pogrom. It was also the culmination of everything disengagement had made possible: a sovereign Hamas stronghold, armed and emboldened, able to commit mass atrocities with impunity. For all the condemnation of Israel's 'occupation' of Gaza, that occupation had in fact ended in 2005. Israel did not control Gaza's streets, neighborhoods, or governance. Yet after Israel left the territory became exponentially more dangerous, for Jews and for Palestinians. Disengagement may have removed Israeli settlers and soldiers — but it did nothing to remove the jihadists or lower their appetite for war. Now, even as Israel wages what This is not honest criticism of wartime conduct. It is the inversion of morality — the recasting of a nation fighting for its life as the villain, and of a terrorist organization dedicated to extermination as the victim. Hamas has built its entire war plan around the mass endangerment of Palestinian civilians: embedding rocket launchers and command posts in hospitals and mosques, turning schools into weapons depots, using apartment buildings as shields, and blocking civilians from fleeing battle zones. It is not a byproduct of the fighting that Gazans die in large numbers — it is Hamas's strategy. It knows that every Palestinian body pulled from the rubble will be blamed on Israel, and it exploits that certainty with cynical brazenness. At any moment, Hamas could end the war. It could release the Israeli hostages it Hamas's purpose is not just to wound Israel's reputation; it is to delegitimize Jews as moral actors altogether, to strip the Jewish state of the right to defend itself, and to normalize the corrosive idea that Israel's very existence is a provocation. Its defamations embolden Israel's enemies, sap the resolve of its friends, and distort the moral lens through which the world views the conflict. Just as Israel's pre-October 7 conceptzia blinded it to the scale of the physical threat from Gaza, too many in the democratic world are blind to the scale of the strategic threat in the information battlefield. In both arenas, illusions are dangerous — and the price of indulging them is paid in blood. The only way forward is to end Hamas's rule in Gaza once and for all — not to contain it, not to conciliate it, but to destroy it as a military, political, and ideological force. History shows that cataclysmic defeat can be the gateway to renewal: After World War II, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were crushed into unconditional surrender. Their regimes were dismantled, their ideologies discredited, and their societies rebuilt on democratic foundations. That transformation ultimately benefited the vanquished even more than their victors, giving ordinary Germans and Japanese decades of peace and freedom. Such a rebirth is devoutly to be wished for the Palestinians — but it will never be possible until Hamas, and the equally malign Palestinian Authority, are so utterly defeated that their war to destroy Israel is ended permanently. Only when Gaza is freed from leaders who glorify murder and annihilation can it begin to heal; only when there are Palestinian leaders who renounce the dream of eliminating the Jewish state can they begin to build a decent one of their own. And only when Israel prevails completely — militarily, morally, and politically — will both peoples have a chance to live side by side in the secure and mutually beneficial peace that has eluded them for so long. This article is adapted from the current , Jeff Jacoby's weekly newsletter. To subscribe to Arguable, visit . Jeff Jacoby can be reached at
Daily Mirror
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
UK demands Israel stop 'unimaginable' Gaza famine as children starve to death
The UK, Australia and other European states demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza, describing the humanitarian suffering as "unimaginable" as another five Palestinians die of starvation Horror-stricken Gaza is suffering a 'famine unfolding before our eyes,' a coalition of western countries declared on Tuesday. The UK, Australia and other European states demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza, describing the humanitarian suffering as "unimaginable". In a joint statement signed by the foreign ministers of 24 countries, they said famine is "unfolding before our eyes". It said: "The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation. Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised.' The grim warning happened as Israel continued to batter the Strip with missiles and ground attacks, killing at least 46 Palestinians since dawn on Tuesday. Another five Palestinians, including two children, died from starvation, taking the toll of those dying from lack of food to 227 since the war in the Strip began. Among those who have starved to death, according to health officials, were 103 children, and Israel has continued pounding the enclave daily. It comes after Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu recently 'completely lost it' with angry response to Keir Starmer. The military has been roundly condemned for its killing of Al Jazeera journalists based on the claim that one of them was a Hamas 'terrorist.' Both the UN and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's office have called for an independent investigation to probe the attack. The 24 foreign minister statement continued: "Due to restrictive new registration requirements, essential international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) may be forced to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories imminently, which would worsen the humanitarian situation still further. "We call on the government of Israel to provide authorisation for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating. Lethal force must not be used at distribution sites, and civilians, humanitarians and medical workers must be protected." The statement was signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The military has been roundly condemned for its killing of Al Jazeera journalists based on the claim that one of them was a Hamas 'terrorist.' Both the UN and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office have called for an independent investigation to probe the attack. The Government Media Office in Gaza reported that only 1,334 aid trucks out of the supposed 9,000 were allowed into Gaza over 15 days. Wadie Said, professor of law at the University of Colorado, says journalists cannot be targeted in conflicts as they are considered 'protected persons' under international law. The latest Israeli targeting and killing of Al Jazeera's journalists is 'remarkable', he said, in that the Israeli military 'engaged in a campaign of terrorisation of Anas al-Sharif directly. It's no longer being hidden, it's no longer being kept under wraps,' Said told Al Jazeera. The war began on October 7 2023 when Hamas broke out of Gaza and killed around 1,200 in southern Israel, kidnapping 250 and taking them back to the Strip. At least 50 remain in captivity , although only 20 are believed to be alive.
Indian Express
24 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Netanyahu warns of taking offensive to Gaza areas still beyond Israeli control — the shelter for 2 million Palestinians
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that during its upcoming offensive, his country's military will make inroads into areas inside Gaza that are outside his command. These areas have acted as the last shelter for 2 million Palestinians who have been driven out of their homes by Israeli military action and a blockade of humanitarian aid. The territory has seen famine-like conditions, with food and water scarce and deaths rising due to malnutrition. Netanyahu's plan may be some time away from getting implemented on the ground as a mobilisation beyond Gaza City, once the most populous area of the enclave, will take weeks. That is leading some to believe that the latest pronouncement by Bibi, as Netanyahu is known, may be a pressure tactic to extract more from Hamas during negotiations. The militant group still holds some Israeli hostages abducted during the attack on October 7, 2023, nearly 22 months ago, and the Israeli PM has underlined that the offensive will come to an end when all hostages are released and Hamas militants surrender. Israel currently holds nearly two-thirds of Gaza and any broadening of Israeli operations will likely be catastrophic, bringing further death and destruction to the war-ravaged territory. This will also birth a renewed flight of people who are already battling a severe hunger crisis. Last week, Israel unveiled plans to take over Gaza City, which has seen major raids and heavy bombardment throughout the war. Bombs dropped from Israeli planes and tanks killed at least 11 people in the area on Tuesday, witnesses and medics said. Netanyahu has now revealed that operations will also cover the area of 'central camps' and beyond. This was likely a reference to Nuseirat and Bureij camps in central Gaza that 'date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation,' news agency Associated Press reported. Israel has bombarded the area almost every day since its military retaliation began but no big ground operations in the area have been reported so far. Israel's military chief against Netanyahu's plan Even Israel's military chief of staff is not bullish about the plan, warning it could put the lives of the surviving hostages into danger. Moreover, it could end up as a death trap for Israeli soldiers. Foreign ministers of 24 countries including Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Japan, said on Tuesday the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached 'unimaginable levels'. 'Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,' the foreign ministers of 24 countries said in a joint statement. They have urged Israel to allow unrestricted aid into the enclave. That is crucial considering that five more people, including two children, died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said. The new deaths raised the number of such deaths to 227, including 103 children, since the war started, it added. Israel, on its part, accuses Hamas of stealing aid and denies any responsibility for hunger in Gaza, including the resultant deaths. Hamas leader looks to salvage US-led talks Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya is due in Cairo for talks to revive a US-backed ceasefire plan. The latest round, held in Qatar, ended in deadlock in late July as Israel and the Palestinian militant group blamed each other for the snail's pace of progress on a US proposal for a 60-day truce and plans for hostage release. Mediators are now seeking to revive that truce proposal. 'Hamas believes negotiation is the only way to end the war and is open to discuss any ideas that would secure an end to the war,' the official told Reuters. Investments in Israel may take hit The world's biggest wealth fund, which manages $2 trillion, has said that a review of investments into Israeli companies is likely. Norges Bank Investment Management, the Norway wealth fund, said this is part of its ongoing review of its portfolio over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank and may lead to some funds being pulled out, or divested. The fund had previously said it was ending contracts with all three of its external asset managers that handled some of its Israeli investments and 'has divested parts of its portfolio in the country over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza'.
