UN chief says it's 'unacceptable' that Palestinians are 'risking their lives for food'
The head of the UN says he is "appalled" by reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza on Sunday.
Secretary-general Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation, and said: "It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food."
At least 31 people were killed near an aid distribution centre in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
The intervention by Mr Guterres came as 14 people were killed in an Israeli strike killed 14 people, mostly women and children, on Monday.
Concerns over safety of aid centres
Witnesses said the aid centre deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire at a roundabout near a hub for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial new aid organisation backed by Israel and the US.
However, Palestinian and Hamas-linked media have attributed the deaths it has reported on to an Israeli airstrike.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said "false reports have been spread".
It said in a statement on Sunday: "Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false."
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USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Boulder suspect's daughter dreamed of studying medicine. Now she faces deportation.
Boulder suspect's daughter dreamed of studying medicine. Now she faces deportation. Habiba Soliman moved to the U.S. hoping to study medicine. Then her father Mohamed Soliman was charged with a hate crime in an attack aimed at peaceful Jewish demonstrators. Show Caption Hide Caption Who is Boulder, Colorado, terror suspect Mohamed Soliman? Authorities say 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman attacked a pro-Israel event in Boulder. Here's what to know about the Colorado suspect . She moved to the United States with a dream of studying medicine to transform lives. Then her father was charged with attempting to take them in connection with a fiery assault on pro-Jewish protesters in Boulder, Colorado. Now Habiba Soliman, daughter of Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, faces deportation along with the rest of her family. The family, originally from Egypt, moved to the U.S. from Kuwait. Habiba Soliman recently graduated from high school, but her aspirations were upended when her 45-year-old father was charged with a federal hate crime and 16 counts of attempted murder related to the attack that left a dozen people burned, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. Two remain hospitalized. Her life had been headed in a positive direction before the attack on the weekly demonstration in support of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, which came three days after her high school graduation. A federal affidavit says the elder Soliman told investigators he planned the attack for a year and waited for his daughter to graduate before carrying out the plot. Prior to the attack, Habiba Soliman had written about her hope of accomplishing great things in the U.S. 'Coming to the USA has fundamentally changed me,' she wrote in an application for a Colorado Springs Gazette 'Best and Brightest' scholarship. 'I learned to adapt to new things even if it was hard. I learned to work under pressure and improve rapidly in a very short amount of time. Most importantly, I came to appreciate that family is the unchanging support.' She won the scholarship and was profiled in the Colorado newspaper where she shared her dream of a "future medical career" in the U.S. Instead, the White House said on X on Tuesday that Mohamed Soliman's wife and five children 'could be deported by tonight.' FBI and police officials said Monday the family has cooperated with investigators. The family is in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and could not be reached for comment."This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,'' Noem said on the X platform. "We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.'' Why did she want to pursue medicine? Habiba Soliman's interest in medicine goes back to her father, according to a Colorado Springs Gazette profile celebrating her winning one of the outlet's "Best and Brightest" senior class scholarships. She told the outlet that she wanted to study medicine after seeing how her father regained the ability to walk after a difficult surgery. She described the result as 'magic.' Moving to the U.S. from Kuwait provided her new opportunities to pursue her dream. Her favorite activity was volunteering at a local hospital which would help in a 'future medical career,' she wrote in her scholarship application. Representatives at the hospital, UCHealth, did not immediately respond to requests for information on how long she volunteered or what her tasks were. 'Best and Brightest' Soliman was among 20 winners of the Best and Brightest scholarship, according to Christopher P. Reen, chair of the board of Gazette Charities. 'Recipients were selected through a highly competitive process that evaluated academic excellence, leadership, character, and a strong commitment to community service - her application and credentials met the program requirements,' Reen said to USA TODAY. 'However, outside of the program and the criteria, we cannot speak on behalf of specific scholars.' The scholarship affords winners a chance to have their academic excellence and future aspirations recognized in the local paper. Soliman was part of the 34th class of winners, according to the Gazette. Applicants need to have a minimum 2.5 GPA, display a commitment to community and have a vision for their future, according to the 2025 application. She was the only winner from her high school, the Thomas MacLaren School, an award-winning charter school founded in 2009. Nearly 950 students attend the Kindergarten through 12th grade school, according to the website. Overcoming challenges Among essay questions Best and Brightest applicants answer is a 'defining moment' prompt: 'What obstacle(s) have you faced and what did you learn from that experience?' Habiba Soliman wrote about how difficult it was to move to the U.S. from Kuwait. According to federal officials, Mohamed Soliman entered the United States in late 2022 on a tourist visa, and later requested asylum. It's unclear if they entered the country together. According to the Gazette, she at least joined MacLaren as a sophomore, a year which she described as a disaster where she had no friends as she struggled to learn English. Later she went on to start an Arabic club at the school and also made an effort to welcome new students, according to the Gazette. Madalyn Rilling, a MacLaren teacher who wrote a letter of recommendation for Soliman, said the immigrant student had quickly grown into a class leader through her thoughtful questions. '(Habiba's) English skills have improved to a fluent level and she has become an even more advanced student,' Rilling wrote. Rilling and other MacLaren representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Facing deportation The White House has taken to X to highlight the potential repercussions Mohamed Soliman's wife and five children potentially face for his actions. 'Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed's Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding Call Coming Soon,' the White House said in a post on the Elon Musk platform. The family is not the first connected to a suspected criminal to face deportation under the administration of President Donald Trump. Three Venezuelans tied to the man who killed 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley were also arrested and slated to be deported after Trump came into office in 2025. Jose Antonio Ibarra was convicted in 2024 of murdering Riley and sentenced to life in prison. His brothers Diego Jose and Argenis as well as his former roommate Rosbeli Flores-Bello were all imprisoned in 2024 for possessing false immigration documents. But shortly after coming into office, Trump's Department of Justice announced that they would be deported. Argenis Ibarra and Flores-Bello were immediately placed into Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody following the March 19 announcement. Diego Ibarra is expected to be turned over to immigration officials following completion of a 48-month federal prison sentence. Contributing: Trevor Hughes, John Bacon and Jorge L. Ortiz.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Michael Goodwin: Colorado attack proves America needs some common sense on immigration
During a long-ago spate of police misconduct issues, then-NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly noted with dismay that some of the accused had only recently joined the police force. 'It's frustrating,' Kelly told me at the time, 'because we try very hard not to recruit our problems.' It's a common-sense principle that America has lost sight of when it comes to immigration. From antisemitism to street crime, the nation is bedeviled by an explosion of violence and hate. Even a cursory review reveals that a significant portion of the wrongdoing is being committed by immigrants, most of them here illegally, thanks to Joe Biden's insane open border policy. Turning on America A key distinction involves the leaders of the pro-Hamas campus turmoil. Many are foreign students from Muslim nations legally admitted on student visas, only to turn on America and Israel once they got here by supporting a terrorist organization. The result is that in both street crime and antisemitism, we have been importing far too many of our problems. The two streams came together in the heinous attack in Boulder, Colo., where Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, was charged with throwing firebombs at people marching in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Twelve people were injured, some with serious burns. Soliman and his family were living in the US illegally — a fact most media accounts didn't mention. Boulder County Sheriff's Office/AFP via Getty Images Witnesses said Soliman was shouting 'Free Palestine' as he threw Molotov cocktails, and he later said he aimed to 'kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,' according to the FBI. Reports say he was planning the attack for a year and told officials he would do the same thing again if given the chance. Soliman and his family were living in the US illegally — a fact most media accounts didn't mention. He arrived in August 2022 on a B2 visa, which is granted for tourism and family visits. It expired in February 2023, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which said he then applied for asylum, and got work authorization permits that also had expired. His wife and five children were taken into custody by ICE officials, and Fox News reported Tuesday they are being fast-tracked for deportation. None of this is to suggest all immigrants are likely to commit violent crimes. Rather, the recent pattern points up the need for serious vetting of immigrants before they are admitted. It also means there must be continued monitoring of their conduct, lest they violate the conditions of their stay and victimize Americans. Our nation doesn't need them because millions of people around the world who play by the rules and wait their turn to enter are almost certain to contribute more to America. They will be better citizenship candidates than those who simply walked across the border and made a phony claim of asylum. Common sense For most of our history, those were regarded as common-sense standards that were supported by both political parties, and most people were proud to call America a nation of immigrants. But as trust in the federal government declined and leftist ideologues rewrote history to declare the US a hotbed of racism and xenophobia, the government backed off enforcement. Biden was the absolute worst. His decision to let in as many as 15 million people without vetting is already proving to be one of the biggest, enduring mistakes any president ever made. The good news is the open border was a top reason Donald Trump was elected. Although his abrupt moves with tariffs have diminished public confidence in his handling of the economy, the president remains in solid positive territory among voters for his hard-line approach to illegal immigration. For good reason — he managed to virtually seal the border, as he said he would, and is trying to keep his promise to deport criminal aliens. Similarly, his aggressive moves against Harvard, Columbia and other elite colleges over the rampant harassment and intimidation of Jewish students aims to force the schools to fulfill their obligations under civil rights laws while also deporting foreign students who violate the terms of their visas. Naturally, Democrats oppose all this. Not a single congressional Democrat objected to Biden's unprecedented decision to leave the border open for the better part of four years, nor did blue state mayors and governors demand that he shut it. The invasion remains an economic and social disaster that cost the federal government, states and cities untold billions of dollars, a bleeding that hasn't ended yet. New York City alone spent at least $5 billion to house and feed more than 200,000 people who showed up uninvited, and a significant number have been arrested for shoplifting, robbery and other crimes. Around the nation, some who came during the Biden madness have been convicted of notorious murders while others have been arrested on human trafficking, gang and narcotics charges. Although studies of previous immigrants show they commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans, the vast numbers Biden allowed in dwarf any other four-year span in our history. Consider that over 50 years, from 1880 to 1930, some 27 million people legally migrated to the United States in what has been called the largest migration in human history. On an annual basis, the illegals came in far greater numbers under Biden and present a continuing potential source of trouble. If even 10% of the 15 million commit just one crime a year, that's an additional 1.5 million crimes annually. Against that backdrop, it is absolutely bizarre that so many Dems have made a top priority of letting foreign troublemakers stay in the United States. Whether it's a criminal gang member or a student leading riots, they effectively take the position that nobody should be deported without a due process system that can drag on for years. Many gang members Never mind that some are hardened gang members, drug dealers, human traffickers and mental patients who were kicked out of their home countries and prisons and sent to America. Naturally, the leftist media also opposes anything Trump does, including his effort to deport criminal aliens. The Colorado case seems to have provoked handwringing in many newsrooms, to judge by hair-splitting accounts about whether the suspect was here legally. Trump had no doubts, posting on social media that Sunday's attack was 'yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland.' Like him or not, he's absolutely right.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Family of Boulder attack suspect taken into immigration custody
DENVER (KDVR) — U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem confirmed the family of the suspect in Sunday's attack in Boulder of Israeli hostage supporters is in federal custody. Noem said the department is investigating whether they knew about Mohamed Sabry Soliman's alleged plans to attack demonstrators during a planned peaceful march calling for the release of the hostages in Gaza. Soliman has been charged at both the federal and state levels of attacking the demonstrators, who were from the group Run for Their Lives, with Molotov cocktails as they walked along the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Suspect planned Boulder attack for a year, officials say: Live updates Twelve people were injured in the attack, and three people remained at UCHealth for burns as of Monday evening. 'Today, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado terrorist, and illegal alien, Mohamed Soliman, into ICE custody,' Noem said in a video posted on X Tuesday afternoon. 'We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.' The White House took to X on Tuesday, saying the family is being processed for expedited removal and could be removed as soon as Tuesday night. 'The only defense, the only way to stop that is if the defendant's wife expresses a fear to the Department of Homeland Security that she's afraid to go back to go back to Egypt for whatever reasons she may have,' Immigration Attorney Matthew Barringer told FOX31's Vicente Arenas. Soliman and his family lived in Colorado Springs, and neighbors of the Boulder attack suspect told FOX31's Nexstar partner station FOX21 they were 'shocked,' and 'scared' after the attack. What to know as investigation builds in Boulder's Pearl Street Mall attack 'I've had good words with him, he was a nice regular guy,' said one neighbor. 'He went to work with his family, you didn't bother him, he didn't bother you, so I'm completely shocked. He was super nice.' An attendee of the mosque that Soliman and his family also attended told the New York Times she was stunned he would do something like that, given the kindness of his other family members. She also said her own daughter looked up to one of Soliman's children. Soliman is facing both state and federal charges. 'Exactly which of those two judicial proceedings goes first, or to what extent the feds will wait and see what happens in the state court is a little unknown at this time,' FOX31 Legal Analyst Christopher Decker told Arenas. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
