Pope Leo XIV "once again" calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
"I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict," the pontiff said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.
Pope Leo also expressed his "deep sorrow" for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest.
"I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations," the pope added.
The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 21st month.
The Vatican said in a statement on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Leo spoke on the phone, and Leo "repeated his appeal for a renewed push for negotiations, a ceasefire and an end to the war." The Vatican said Leo "again expressed his concern about the tragic humanitarian situation of the population in Gaza, whose children, elderly and sick are paying an agonizing price."
Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it was investigating.
"We need to dialogue and abandon weapons," the pope said earlier Sunday, after presiding over Mass at the nearby Cathedral of Albano.
"The world no longer tolerates war," Leo told reporters waiting for him outside the cathedral.
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16 minutes ago
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Jordan, other countries could airdrop aid into Gaza as humanitarian crisis worsens
The Kingdom of Jordan will airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza as Palestinians face widespread starvation and diplomatic talks over a ceasefire break down, a source familiar with the operation told ABC News. Jordan's Royal Air Force will restart the drop by beginning to draw from a stockpile of 500 tons of food in Amman, the source said. Military aircraft will drop the food into designated drop zones, which are being coordinated with Israeli authorities, according to an Israeli security official. The airdrops, an operation viewed by the humanitarian officials as a last resort, come as dire conditions in Gaza teeter toward a famine, which the United Nations warns is on the horizon. MORE: 'They're losing hope': What doctors, aid workers are seeing in Gaza amid hunger crisis Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who appeared in Washington this week alongside the Jordanian Foreign Minister, ignored questions from ABC News about how the U.S. could improve the deteriorating humanitarian situation for Gaza and particularly for the enclave's children, who are starving at alarming rates. President Donald Trump expressed frustration Friday morning after the U.S. and Israel recalled negotiating teams in the region Thursday, blaming gridlocked talks on Hamas and suggesting Israel would ramp up its war efforts. "They pulled out in terms of negotiating," Trump said. "It was too bad [that] Hamas didn't really want to make a deal." Hamas said Thursday it was "surprised" the US pulled back its negotiators, saying "mediators have expressed appreciation" for the terror group's "constructive and positive stance" in the talks. Trump said diplomacy is at a point where Israel is "going to have to finish the job," suggesting military action as an answer. "You're going to have to get rid of" Hamas, he said. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said "alternative options" would be weighed to bring Israeli hostages held by Hamas home. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed Witkoff's sentiment, but neither elaborated on what the options were. The president said aid is blocked by Hamas and that the U.S. "is going to do more" for the humanitarian situation in Gaza. MORE: More than 30 killed at controversial foundation's aid distribution sites in Gaza: Health officials Jordan's emergency humanitarian response would be joined by the United Arab Emirates, the Israel official said. Flights over Gaza coordinated by the Israel Defense Forces and COGAT, the Israeli organization in charge of facilitating aid into the Gaza Strip, could begin in the coming days, the Israeli source said. The renewed airdrops are expected to surpass the scale of airdrops conducted by Jordan in 2024, which delivered over 1,000 tons of aid to Palestinians, the source familiar with the operation told ABC News. Cases of severe malnutrition in children under 5 in Gaza have tripled in just two weeks, according to Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). At MSF clinics, 1 in 4 children who were screened -- as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women -- are malnourished, the emergency doctors say. One in three people in the enclave, 70% of whose territory is controlled by Israel, have not eaten for multiple days in a row, the World Food Programme said this week. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the largest UN agency operating in Gaza, warned in a post on X that airdrops are the "most expensive and inefficient way to deliver aid," calling them a "distraction to the inaction." Jordan conducted airdrops with US Central Command in the spring of 2024 in an effort to step up aid as the war in Gaza stretched into its sixth month. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked the Jordanian King in an April 2024 phone call, noting that the US-Jordanian airdrops delivered over 1,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians. MORE: More than 100 aid groups warn of 'mass starvation' in Gaza amid Israel's war with Hamas The war is now just short of two years, and aid is limited to a trickle of aid convoys and distribution coordinated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed private company that has faced widespread criticism as its aid distribution points have been marked with violence and chaos since they began operating at the end of May. Over 1,000 people have been killed at aid distribution sites since May, the UN has said. Israel said it had initiated a review into an incident Sunday in which dozens of Palestinians were killed at an aid site after acknowledging troops fired near crowds. It said the probe was ongoing but a "preliminary review indicates that the reported number of casualties does not align with existing information." Just over a third of aid trucks that entered Gaza between May 31 and June 2 were received by humanitarian organizations for distribution, the UN reported in June. The meager quantities of aid and GHF-run distribution sites are the only aid permitted by Israeli authorities. Trucks flowed into Gaza across the Kerem Shalom border crossing over the past week, according to an Israeli security official, who said as many as 150 reached international organizations in Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday. The UN said that as many as 500 trucks entered the Strip on a daily basis before the outset of the war on Oct. 7, 2023. The State Department said Thursday that Hamas was to blame for chaos and death at distribution sites and insufficient assistance reaching people in need. Hamas has said in the past that Israel is not allowing sufficient aid into the Strip. After the U.S. pulled a negotiating team meeting with Qataris intermediaries in Doha, Tommy Pigott, the State Department's Deputy Spokesperson, said ceasefire talks were not advancing because of Hamas, the terror organization whose October 7, 2023, attack on Israel initiated the war. "This humanitarian conflict lies at the feet of Hamas, who could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages and laying down their arms," Pigott said. The Jordanian Royal Air Force's C-130s, which conducted the drops in 2024 and can carry 14 tons of food each, will be tasked with the operation again, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News. The drops could include high-energy biscuits, each providing enough daily nutrients for a child. Two biscuits would sustain an adult for the day. Aid organizations say children in Gaza are starving to death in increasing numbers. A statement from UNICEF, the UN's agency for children, points to more than four who reportedly died in the last 48 hours -- and note that some 80% of the deaths in Gaza from malnutrition have been children. "These deaths are unconscionable - and could have been prevented," said Edouard Beigbeder, the agency's director for the Middle East. "The UN-led humanitarian response must be allowed to function fully through unfettered aid access to children in need," he said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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USAID, Reuters dismiss mountain of evidence showing Hamas steals humanitarian aid
The study's acknowledgment of severe limitations, combined with extensive documentation of Hamas aid diversion from multiple sources, raises serious questions about the reliability of its findings. A deeply flawed US government analysis, published by Reuters on Friday, astonishingly concluded there was no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian supplies. This finding directly contradicts overwhelming evidence and testimony, raising serious questions about the report's methodology and its challenge to the rationale for Israeli and US backing of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The critical flaw? This unsound analysis conspicuously ignored a mountain of evidence demonstrating systematic aid theft by Hamas throughout the 600-plus-day war. The USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance study, completed in late June and first reported by Reuters on Friday, examined 156 incidents of theft or loss reported by aid partners between October 2023 and May 2025. The analysis concluded there were "no reports alleging Hamas" benefited from US-funded supplies. However, the study's own acknowledgment of severe limitations, combined with extensive documentation of Hamas aid diversion from multiple sources, raises serious questions about the reliability of its findings. Study's acknowledged blind spots The USAID analysis itself candidly identified several critical limitations that may explain why it failed to detect what Palestinians on the ground describe as systematic theft: The study noted that because aid recipients cannot be vetted, supplies could have reached Hamas administrative officials without detection. Additionally, BHA staff lost access to classified intelligence systems during USAID's recent dismantlement, potentially missing crucial intelligence reports on Hamas diversions. Perhaps most significantly, the study relied entirely on self-reporting from aid organizations operating in what analysts describe as a "mafia-like" environment controlled by Hamas through violence and intimidation. "No organization wants to admit it handed over some aid to terrorists or mafia gunmen," noted a Jerusalem Post analysis in May. "But the organizations also know if they condemn Hamas, then they could be in danger." 'They're criminals, like ISIS' Just weeks before the USAID study was completed, Gaza residents were telling Israeli officials a dramatically different story. In recorded conversations released by the IDF, Palestinians described how Hamas systematically disrupts aid distribution to maintain control over supplies. "They don't want the people to receive aid, they want to foil the plan so that the aid will go to them, allowing them to steal it," one Gaza resident told a Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) officer in May. "They live on the aid... they want aid to come in through the United Nations and international organizations so they can steal it... I swear to you, they're criminals, like ISIS." Another civilian employed by World Central Kitchen provided direct testimony about theft: "When the supplies arrive, they try to steal." The testimonies also revealed the deadly consequences for Palestinians who attempt to bypass Hamas's control. "They killed my cousin yesterday because he went to UNRWA," one resident was recorded saying in a January conversation, referring to Hamas's murder of civilians seeking aid outside their system. In response to inquiries from The Jerusalem Post, the IDF reiterated the military's coordination with humanitarian efforts while condemning Hamas's exploitation of aid: "The IDF operates, and will continue to operate, in accordance with the directives of the political echelon. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that starves the population and endangers it to maintain its rule in the Gaza Strip. Hamas does everything in its power to block humanitarian aid, directly harming Gazan civilians." The statement emphasized that the IDF has enabled the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to operate independently in distributing aid, while securing new distribution zones to facilitate orderly food deliveries, even as military operations continue. Since May 19, humanitarian transfers to Gaza have resumed through two primary channels: distribution centers run by the US-backed organization and UN-coordinated aid. According to internal figures shared with the Post by military officials coordinating aid operations, nearly 4,500 humanitarian trucks have entered Gaza since May 19, split evenly between distribution centers and supplemental routes. These deliveries included 1.5 million weekly family food parcels, 2,500 tons of infant formula, and bulk supplies for bakeries and kitchens. The GHF, established specifically to bypass Hamas control, has also faced severe retaliation. By June, GHF reported that 12 of its local staff had been murdered and others tortured. Hamas has repeatedly attacked GHF distribution sites, with witnesses reporting deliberate shooting at civilians attempting to collect aid. 'The warehouse is at full capacity' Israeli intelligence has also intercepted revealing Hamas communications. In September 2024, N12 broadcast that a Hamas terrorist was recorded discussing stolen humanitarian aid: "At this point, we have everything... The warehouse is at full capacity." Even Palestinian Authority officials have contradicted the USAID findings. In April 2025, PA President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Hamas for aid lootings in the Gaza Strip, with WAFA quoting a presidential statement saying that "it held Hamas-affiliated gangs primarily responsible." Abbas emphasized that all of the looting gangs were "known to the Palestinian public and will top the blacklist to be held accountable and brought to justice in accordance with the law at the appropriate time." Aid crisis deepens as Israel disputes USAID findings The urgency of the aid situation was underscored Thursday when UNICEF warned that "severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen." The UN agency called for "unfettered aid access to children in need," highlighting the devastating humanitarian impact of the ongoing crisis. Yet the core question remains: why isn't aid reaching those desperate children? In a statement to thePost, David Mencer, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, offered a starkly different explanation than the USAID report: "Israel facilitates thousands of aid trucks into Gaza, but we know from multiple intelligence and international sources that Hamas diverts between 30% and 50% of that aid for its own use." This assessment directly contradicts the USAID findings and aligns with testimonies from Gaza residents and Palestinian Authority officials. "They steal food, fuel, and medicine meant for civilians, hoard it in their tunnels, and sell it on the black market to fund their war machine," Mencer added. "Hamas deliberately exploits the aid to starve their own people." The Israeli government's position suggests that the malnutrition crisis UNICEF describes isn't solely a matter of access, but rather a deliberate strategy by Hamas to weaponize humanitarian suffering - a claim supported by multiple Palestinian testimonies but notably absent from the USAID analysis. Also notably absent was any mention of the increasing number of truckloads of aid waiting for the UN and other international aid groups on the Gaza side of the border. The UN has blamed bureaucracy, but the GHF and the IDF have both separately attempted to offer solutions to the idling aid. A narrow scope While the USAID study noted 'no reports alleging Hamas' stole US-funded aid within the confines of the 156 incidents it reviewed, this exceedingly narrow finding stands in stark contrast to the overwhelming and documented broader reality in Gaza. The study's acknowledged limitations - including inability to vet recipients, loss of classified intelligence access, and reliance on organizations with strong incentives not to report Hamas involvement - suggest its findings should be viewed as incomplete rather than definitive. Yet despite these significant limitations, Reuters' reporting on the study came with a definitive headline proclaiming "no evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid" - a framing that obscures the report's narrow scope and methodological constraints. This pattern of transforming qualified findings into absolute declarations reflects a troubling trend in coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, where complex realities are reduced to misleading soundbites. 'Reuters' claim that there's 'no evidence' Hamas has profited from aid ignores mounting documentation and misleads the public in ways that fuel both antisemitism and conflict.' Jacki Alexander, the Global CEO of media watchdog HonestReporting, told the Post. 'This push to absolve Hamas only prolongs the war and endangers civilians. 'The media has a responsibility to report facts, not push narratives that shield terrorists and shift blame onto their victims.' She added. As warnings of hunger mount in Gaza, the disconnect between the USAID report and the testimonies of Palestinians living under Hamas control highlights the challenges of delivering assistance in a territory where aid flows, but too often into the hands of terrorists rather than starving families. Ultimately, for the civilians of Gaza, who risk their lives simply trying to access food aid, the academic question of whether Hamas's systematic theft can be documented matters far less than the brutal reality they face attempting to get their next meal. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
an hour ago
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PM signals UK will help Gaza aid airdrop amid calls for Palestinian statehood
Sir Keir Starmer has suggested the UK will play a role in dropping aid into Gaza by air, as he faces calls from 221 cross-party MPs to recognise a Palestinian state. Israel said on Friday it will allow airdrops of aid by foreign countries into Gaza to alleviate starvation in the Palestinian territory. The Prime Minister said the UK will 'do everything we can to get aid in via this route'. Sir Keir meanwhile faces growing calls to recognise a Palestinian state immediately, amid mounting global anger over the starving population in Gaza. Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents, have signed a letter calling on the Government to take the step at a UN meeting next week. France's president Emmanuel Macron announced his nation would formally recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, leading UK politicians to question whether the British Government would follow suit. US President Donald Trump suggested Mr Macron's announcement 'doesn't matter' as he left America for a visit to Scotland. But Sarah Champion, the senior Labour MP who organised the letter by parliamentarians, said recognition 'would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people'. Other senior Commons figures who signed the letter include Labour select committee chairs Liam Byrne, Dame Emily Thornberry and Ruth Cadbury. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, as well as Tory former minister Kit Malthouse, and Sir Edward Leigh – Parliament's longest-serving MP – also signed it. The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs. In a video statement released on Friday, Sir Keir made plain his desire for a ceasefire in the war. He said: 'I know the British people are sickened by what is happening. The images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying. 'The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.' Signalling the UK is willing to help get aid into Gaza via air, the Prime Minister added: 'News that Israel will allow countries to airdrop aid into Gaza has come far too late, but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route. 'We are already working urgently with the Jordanian authorities to get British aid on to planes and into Gaza.' Children who need specialist medical treatment will be evacuated from Gaza to the UK, Sir Keir added. The Prime Minister also called for an international coalition to 'end the suffering' in Gaza, similar to the coalition of the willing aimed at helping Ukraine. Sir Keir had earlier responded to calls for the recognition of a Palestinian state, insisting such a move needed to be part of the 'pathway' to peace in the Middle East, which he and allies are working towards. He added: 'Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.' In a statement released on Friday alongside the leaders of France and Germany, the Prime Minister urged Israel to stop restricting the flow of aid into Gaza. Charities operating in Gaza have said Israel's blockade and ongoing military offensive are pushing people there towards starvation, warning that they are seeing their own workers and Palestinians 'waste away'. The Prime Minister will meet the US president during his trip to Scotland, where he arrived on Friday evening. US-led peace talks in Qatar were cut short on Thursday, with Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce.
