Israel to resume aid airdrops into Gaza tonight as IDF creates ‘humanitarian corridors' after growing ceasefire pleas
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
ISRAEL has resumed air-dropping foreign aid into Gaza and said it will take other steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in the besieged strip.
The Israeli military said "humanitarian corridors" would be established for the safe movement of UN convoys delivering aid to distraught Gazans.
11
Smoke rises after Israeli warplanes bombed buildings in a residential area
Credit: AFP
11
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in northern Gaza
Credit: AP
11
A mother cradles her 18-month-old child in Gaza where fears of famine are growing
Credit: Getty
11
A boy cries as he tries to receive food in the besieged territory
Horror scenes of mass starvation have sparked an international outcry after Israel restricted supplies to the territory.
Aid groups warned this week that Palestinians are on the brink of famine, with one in five children suffering from malnutrition.
The UN warned that civilians in the besieged enclave are becoming "walking corpses".
But Israel has denied responsibility, blaming Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's population.
read more on gaza
AID HORROR At least 20 dead as Hamas 'agitators' spark deadly crowd crush at Gaza aid site
The Israeli military said in a statement that the airdrops would be conducted in coordination with international aid organisations and would include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food.
Palestinian sources confirmed that aid has begun dropping in northern Gaza.
The IDF says aid drops would improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and disprove "the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip".
It says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the UN of failing to distribute it.
"The IDF emphasises that there is no starvation in the Gaza Strip; this is a false campaign promoted by Hamas," the Israeli military said in its Saturday statement.
"Responsibility for food distribution to the population in Gaza lies with the UN and international aid organisations.
Shocking moment thousands of Gazans overrun US-backed aid site as 'shots fired'
"Therefore, the UN and international organisations are expected to improve the effectiveness of aid distribution and to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas."
The UN said that Israel hadn't provided ample route alternatives for its convoys which have hindered aid access, adding that it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
An estimated 127 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
On Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
The military also said Saturday that it had connected a power line to a desalination plant, expected to supply daily water needs for about 900,000 Gazans.
Israel's foreign ministry said the military would "apply a 'humanitarian pause' in civilian centres and in humanitarian corridors" on Sunday morning.
The announcement came after indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas were broken off with no deal in sight.
The UN said that humanitarian pauses in Gaza would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance".
The Israeli military stressed that despite the humanitarian steps, "combat operations have not ceased" in the Gaza Strip.
Israel is keeping up its heavy bombardment in the face of global ceasefire pleas and huge protests in Tel Aviv.
11
Smoke plumes rising from Israeli bombardment in Beit Lahia on July 9
Credit: AFP
11
Flames rise in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border
Credit: Reuters
11
Flames rise in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border
Credit: Reuters
Explosions from fresh overnight strikes rocked the besieged coastal strip, with Israeli Defence Forces troops continuing to advance on Hamas lairs.
The terrorists are still hiding out within civilian communities after the cornered Islamist group repeatedly rejected ceasefire terms.
Israel has vowed to continue on the war path until they have secured the release of all of the remaining hostages snatched on October 7.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been adamant that Hamas must be wiped out in its entirety so it cannot attack ever again.
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron yesterday ramped up pressure on Israel to halt fighting as he announced France would soon recognise a Palestinian state.
Macron held emergency talks over the crisis with UK PM Sir Keir Starmer, who called conditions in the 25-mile enclave 'unspeakable and indefensible'.
Macron announced the move on X as he wrote: "True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine.
"We must also guarantee the demilitarisation of Hamas, and secure and rebuild Gaza.
"Finally, we must build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and ensure that by accepting its demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel, it contributes to the security of all in the Middle East. There is no alternative."
A formal announcement will be made at a session of the UN General Assembly in New York in five weeks time.
France will become the first G7 nation to view Palestine as its own state starting in September.
Donald Trump slammed Mr Macron's announcement, saying it "doesn't matter" as he left the US for a visit to Scotland.
11
French President Emmanuel Macron meets with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas last year
Credit: AFP
11
Donald Trump slammed Mr Macron's announcement saying it 'doesn't matter'
Credit: Getty
11
Sir Keir has declared that statehood is the Palestinians' 'inalienable right'
Credit: Reuters
The US was quick to condemn Paris as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington "strongly rejects" the announcement.
Sir Keir has already declared that statehood is Palestinians' 'inalienable right' but has yet to officially declare recognition.
Yesterday, the PM confirmed that the UK is working with Jordan on plans to air-drop aid into Gaza and evacuate children needing medical assistance.
In a readout of the call, Number 10 said the leaders had agreed "it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peace".
"The Prime Minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to air drop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance," a Downing Street spokesperson said.
However, the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency warned airdrops were "a distraction and screensmoke" that would fail to reverse deepening starvation in Gaza, and could in some cases harm civilians.
At least 59,106 people have been killed in Gaza since, according to the Gazan health ministry, which is said to be run by Hamas.
And almost two million Palestinians have reportedly been displaced from the region.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Pets' fates uncertain as owners deported by ICE
Pets are increasingly being abandoned or surrendered to animal shelters across the US due to their owners being detained or deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This influx is causing severe overcrowding in shelters, which are already struggling with staff shortages and declining adoption rates, raising concerns about animal welfare and potential euthanasia. Animal rescue organisations, including those in South Florida and Nashville, report a significant rise in pets from owners impacted by immigration crackdowns, a situation they were unprepared for. Specific instances include pets left behind in Los Angeles and New York City, with some animals found severely neglected after their owners were apprehended. The Department of Homeland Security says that ICE does not impound property, leaving the animals' fates uncertain.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
From dawn to dusk, a Gaza family focuses on one thing: finding food
Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip to the same question: How will they find food for themselves and their six young children? The couple has three options: Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging. If those all fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope. The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory. Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week the 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza.' Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for 2½ months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organizations say is needed. A breakdown of law and order has also made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices. Here is a look at a day in the life of the Sobh family: A morning seawater bath The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer. With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea. One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic. Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family's breakfast. Sometimes, neighbors or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing. Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she's lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water. 'One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress,' she said. A trip to the soup kitchen Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him. 'But food is rarely available there,' he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing 'and the kids sleep hungry, without eating.' Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, witnesses say. Israel says it only fires warning shots, and others in the crowd often have knives or pistols to steal boxes. Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg last month. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he's left with trying the kitchens. Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children — 10-year-old Youssef, 9-year-old Mohammed and 7-year-old Malak — head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza's desalination plant. The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street. A scramble for aid Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most in the crowds are men — faster and stronger than she is. 'Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed,' she said. If she's unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. 'You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything,' she tells them. Many answer her plea, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said. She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. 'They're poor people and her husband is sick,' he said. 'We're all hungry and we all need to eat.' During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children sleep during the heat — it stops them from running around, using up energy and getting hungry and thirsty. Foraging and begging in the afternoon As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbors. Otherwise, they scour Gaza's bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family's makeshift stove. They've become good at recognizing what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe — anything will do. One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day — it's what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left. 'I have to manage to get by,' Abeer said. 'What can I do? We are eight people.' If they're lucky, lentil stew for dinner After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life — food, water, fuel to cook — the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually it's a thin lentil soup. But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry. Abeer said she's grown weak and often feels dizzy when she's out searching for food or water. 'I am tired. I am no longer able,' she said. 'If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power.' ___
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- Glasgow Times
13 photos which tell story of Glasgow school and its famous ex-pupils
Famous ex-pupils of Whitehill Secondary in Dennistoun include leading lights of stage and screen, medicine, science and sport. The school opened in 1891 on Whitehill Street, replacing a building which had once housed the private school Dennistoun Academy, later renamed Whitehill Public School for Girls. Whitehill Secondary in the 1970s (Image: Glasgow City Archives) The first headmaster was James Henderson. In 1902, Whitehill became a Higher Grade school and in 1967 it became a comprehensive. In 1977, the school moved to its present site on Onslow Drive and the original building was demolished. (Image: Newsquest) In 2009, YDance officially launched its Free To Dance Project at Whitehill Secondary in a bid to encourage girls to get involved in dancing as an alternative to PE and other sports. A group of teenage pupils involved in the project treated fellow students to a performance. (Image: Newsquest) In June 1971, the principal prizewinners accepted their accolades – left to right, Brian Williams, 16; George Smith, 16; Fiona McIvor, 18; Ian Raitt, 17; Robert Livingston, 16; Robert Walker, 16; and Bashir Mohammed, 18. (Image: Iain Munro) Times Past reader Iain Munro shared photos of the old Whitehill Senior Secondary school magazine recently. Iain went to Whitehill from 1959 until 1963. READ NEXT: 'At the time, I lived in Riddrie with my parents, in close proximity to Barlinnie jail where my dad worked as a prison officer, and I travelled to and from Dennistoun by public transport, usually the 106 trolleybus,' says Iain, who now lives in the Wirral on Merseyside. 'The magazines are a fascinating reminder of my time at Whitehill.' (Image: Newsquest) Glasgow's first female Lord Provost Jean Roberts, pictured here with Princess Margaret, was a pupil at Whitehill. Trailblazer Jean was also the first woman to become convener of the electricity committee, first to be deputy chairman of the corporation, first to be city treasurer, and the first to be leader of the Labour group. After school, she initially trained as a teacher, and worked at Bishop Street Elementary School. (Image: Newsquest) Senior pupils in 2011 arrive by stretch limo for the Whitehill school prom. It was the early days of US-style high school proms becoming more popular in the city. (Image: Newsquest) Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, who was born in Dennistoun in 1948, was always getting into trouble for singing during lessons at Whitehill Secondary. It paid off, however, as Marie became global singing superstar Lulu, with a string of hits to her name. (Image: Newsquest) In the 1950s, girls and boys still studied different subjects at high school. This domestic science class in 1952 was just for the girls, while the boys studied technical courses such as woodwork. (Image: Newsquest) Artist and author Alasdair Gray was a pupil at Whitehill Secondary, where he received prizes for art and English. He attended Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957 and went on to make his living from writing, painting and teaching. (Image: Newsquest) Rangers and Aberdeen footballer Jim Forrest, who died in 2023 aged 79, was born in Townhead and educated at Rosemount Primary School in Royston and Whitehill Secondary School in Onslow Drive, Dennistoun. (Image: Newsquest) Ronald Cresswell, who died in 2021 aged 86, was a Scottish scientist who was at the forefront of the development of several groundbreaking drugs, including AZT, which is used to prevent and treat HIV. His initial interest was history but it was one of his teachers at Whitehill Secondary who got him interested in chemistry. Ronald also developed the statin, Lipitor, which helps reduce cholesterol. It was once the best selling drug in the world. (Image: Newsquest) Barry St John, who died in 2020 at the age of 76, was a famous backing singer for the likes of John Lennon, Pink Floyd and Elton John in the 1970s. She was born Eliza Janet Thomson in the Gallowgate and went to Whitehill Secondary School in Dennistoun. She is pictured here with American DJ Emperor Rosko in November 1968, the year he signed her. (Image: Newsquest) Dr June Almeida, pictured here at an electron microscope, was a pioneer of medicine, whose work led to the identification of the first human coronavirus. Some of the techniques used in the 2020 pandemic hark back to her work in the 1950s. She was born in 1930 and lived in a tenement near Alexandra Park. Her interest in biological science was sparked by the sad death from diphtheria of her six-year-old brother in 1940. June won the science prize at Whitehill Secondary School, but had to leave school in 1947, the family having no funds to send her to university. She went to work as a laboratory technician in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, which enabled her to study the microscopic examination of tissue samples at which she excelled.
