Mother of jailed British activist admitted to hospital while on hunger strike
Laila Soueif's family said she had been admitted to St Thomas's Hospital in London on Thursday night with dangerously low blood sugar levels, but continues to refuse medical intervention.
Ms Soueif has been on hunger strike for 242 days in protest against the imprisonment of her son, Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who has been in jail in Egypt since September 2019.
In December 2021, Mr Abd El-Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison for spreading false news and should have been released last year.
UN investigators have declared his imprisonment in breach of international law and earlier this year Sir Keir Starmer promised he would 'do everything I can' to ensure his release.
In a statement on Friday, Ms Soueif's family said she had received glucagon treatment, which induces the liver to break down stored fat to obtain glucose, but continued to refuse treatment that would provide her with calories.
She has lost 42% of her bodyweight, now weighing 49kg, and has not eaten food since September 29 2024.
She was previously admitted to hospital in February, with doctors warning she was at 'high risk of sudden death', and in early March agreed to move to a partial hunger strike following a call between Sir Keir and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
But she resumed her full hunger strike on May 20, saying: 'Nothing has changed, nothing is happening.'
Mr Abd El-Fattah has been on his own hunger strike for 90 days following his mother's admission to hospital in February.
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Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
US-backed Gaza aid group names evangelical as chairman
UNITED NATIONS, June 3 (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Tuesday named as its executive chairman an American evangelical Christian leader who has publicly backed President Donald Trump's proposal for the United States to take over the Palestinian enclave. The appointment of Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore, a former evangelical adviser to the White House during Trump's first term in office, came as health officials said at least 27 people died and more than 150 were injured trying to reach a GHF aid site. "GHF is demonstrating that it is possible to move vast quantities of food to people who need it most — safely, efficiently, and effectively," Moore said in the foundation statement. "GHF believes that serving the people of Gaza with dignity and compassion must be the top priority." The GHF began operations one week ago under a distribution model criticized by the United Nations as the militarization of aid. The GHF says so far it has given out seven million meals from so-called secure distribution sites. It uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get aid into Gaza. The U.N. and aid groups have refused to work with the GHF because they say it is not a neutral operation. U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher has said it "makes aid conditional on political and military aims" and uses starvation as "a bargaining chip." The appointment of Moore could fuel U.N. concerns, given his support for the controversial proposal Trump floated in February for the U.S. to take over Gaza and develop it economically. After Trump proposed the idea, Moore posted video of Trump's remarks on X and wrote: "The USA will take full responsibility for future of Gaza, giving everyone hope & a future." The U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the appointment of Moore, who has accused the U.N. of ignoring "bad guys" stealing aid in Gaza. The U.N. has long-blamed Israel and lawlessness in the enclave for impediments getting aid into Gaza and distributing throughout the war zone. Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies. In a reference to the new GHF-led aid model, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week said Israel was "taking control of food distribution" in Gaza. "The @UN & others should clean up their act & work with America," Moore posted on May 26. "Surely, these old U.S. & E.U.-funded humanitarian orgs won't let people starve in exchange for being 'right' when they know what they have done hasn't worked & has, in fact, made a terrible war worse?" The war in Gaza has raged since 2023 after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in an October 7 attack and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, and Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Moore visited Israel about three months after the 2023 Hamas attack and wrote: "Never have I seen such horror." Just a couple of weeks later, he posted a video titled "Come visit beautiful Gaza," which sought to portray Gaza as a tourist destination if it wasn't for Hamas militants. Trump has said Gaza has the potential to be "The Riviera of the Middle East." The United Nations has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
South Wales Guardian
6 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Hunger-striking mother of jailed activist prepared to die to ‘get Alaa out'
Laila Soueif called on the Prime Minister to pressure Egyptian authorities to release democracy activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who has dual nationality. She said if she did not survive, her death should be used as a leverage to set her son free. Speaking to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 from St Thomas' Hospital in London, Mrs Soueif said: 'My message is: use my death as leverage to get Alaa out. 'Don't let my death be in vain.' Mrs Soueif, who has lost 42% of her bodyweight and weighs 49kg, has not eaten for more than eight months and doctors say she is at risk of sudden death. She told the broadcaster: 'It's something that I passionately don't want to happen. 'Children want a mother, not a notorious mother – whether the notoriety is good or bad – but if that's what it takes to get Alaa out of jail and to get all my children and grandchildren's life back on track, then that's what I'm going to do.' In December 2021, Mr Abd El-Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of spreading false news, and should have been released last year. In a conference outside the hospital on Tuesday, Sanaa Seif, Mrs Soueif's daughter, said her mother's blood sugar was still very low but that she was conscious. She said: 'She is fighting and I hope the Foreign Office uses this time her body has given us well.' Mis Seif said she was supposed to have flown to Cairo on Tuesday to see her brother but stayed to be with her mother. She had received two letters from Mr Abd El-Fattah – one of which was 'very confused and short', saying simply 'Take care of yourself'. 'I am really worried about him,' she said. She also said she wanted to save her mother's life but understands her position 'as a mother'. Ms Seif said: 'The only reason she cares about staying alive is us. She doesn't want to go on living life like this and I understand that.' Ms Seif accused the Foreign Office of not working fast enough and claimed no one from the Prime Minister's office had been in touch directly about the state of negotiations for around three weeks. She said: 'We are going by the hour; they were measuring her vitals by the hour, at some point every 15 minutes. 'I expressed my frustration how it is insane that they (the Government) are taking weeks. They have not told me they have changed their pace.' Ms Seif added: 'I imagine that means they don't have much to say.' She also urged Foreign Secretary David Lammy to follow through on what he said when in opposition and limit the Egyptian ambassador's access to Whitehall. Conservative former minister Sir John Whittingdale, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Today programme Mr Abd El-Fattah was a 'political activist' who had not committed 'any crime that we would recognise'. He said Mr Lammy was 'outspoken' in opposition but that his action in Government since then 'simply hasn't had an effect'. Sir John also called on the Foreign Office to change its travel advice for Egypt to warn Britons there is a risk they could 'fall foul of the Egyptian authorities'. 'Egypt gets a huge income from tourism, a lot of that tourism comes from Britain and I think that might well put the pressure on that is obviously needed,' he said. A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: 'We are committed to securing Alaa Abd El-Fattah's release. 'The Foreign Secretary stressed the urgency of the situation in a call with his counterpart on Sunday morning, and further engagement at the highest levels of the Egyptian government continues. 'We are deeply concerned by Laila's hospitalisation. We remain in regular contact with Laila's family and have checked on her welfare.'
Sky News
6 hours ago
- Sky News
Chaos, confusion and killings: How the Israeli-backed aid plan in Gaza is unravelling
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed near aid distribution compounds in recent days, prompting renewed criticism of the controversial new Israeli-backed aid system for the Gaza Strip. Only one of the four compounds has opened every day since 27 May, when the new system was launched. It lies in the far south-west of the Gaza Strip, near the ruins of a town known as Swedish Village. In just eight days, at least 64 people have been killed while seeking aid at the Swedish Village compound, according to Gaza's health ministry. What is the new aid system? Until recently, aid into Gaza was managed by the United Nations, which would distribute food and medicine from hundreds of points around the territory. Israel says this aid was being routinely diverted towards Hamas, though it has not provided evidence of this. Under the new system implemented by Israel and the new US-based organisation Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, aid is supposed to be distributed from four militarised compounds - three of which are in the far south of the Gaza Strip. The project has been criticised by the UN and the charity sector, who say it puts Palestinians at risk and forces them to travel many miles to receive aid. That includes 27 who were reportedly killed on Tuesday morning, according to local officials and the nearby Red Cross field hospital. The IDF said its forces had opened fire on "individual suspects who advanced towards troops" after "deviating from the designated access routes" near the distribution centre, and said it was looking into reports of casualties. "Warning shots were fired approximately half a kilometre away from the humanitarian aid distribution site toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops in such a way that posed a threat to them," a spokesperson said. "After the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced towards the troops." The shootings happened at the al Alam roundabout, around 1km from the aid compound, and began at around 4am, according to witnesses. In the footage below, verified by Sky News, gunfire can be heard as hundreds of Palestinians walk southwards towards the aid compound. The attack on Tuesday was the fourth to take place at al Alam roundabout, and the third in three days. Two days earlier, on 1 June, at least 31 people were reportedly killed. Sky News has verified footage, too graphic to publish, that shows eight bodies scattered on the beach near al Alam. Eye-witness testimonies suggest a similar cause - that some Palestinians strayed from the indicated route, or advanced towards the compound too early, and were shot by the IDF. "I didn't expect to see such a large number of people in the distribution area," wrote one man in a social media post. "Tanks were firing at the ground [...] to try to scare people and prevent them from approaching al Alam, but people did not listen to it and began to move forward." The IDF says its troops did not fire at civilians near or within the aid compound, and has said reports to the contrary are false. Later that day, the GHF released undated footage which it said showed that aid was distributed at the site without incident. Sky News was not able to verify the footage, which had been edited, but it showed the inside of an aid compound rather than the roundabout area where the shooting is alleged to have taken place. The Israeli military later published footage which it said showed gunmen shooting at people collecting aid. On Tuesday, Israeli deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel said this footage "shows some of Hamas's tactics to actually try and prevent Gazan civilians from coming and collecting aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund collection centres and humanitarian distribution points". However, Sky News has confirmed the footage was taken in a Khan Younis neighbourhood far from any GHF distribution compound. Why is the new aid system so dangerous? Sky News has analysed video from the area, heard eye-witness testimony, combed social media and spoken to Gaza aid experts to understand what has been happening. In an official GHF WhatsApp channel on Tuesday morning, Palestinians complained about the rush to secure packages inside the distribution centre and the failure of the guards to maintain order. "Literally, in less than five minutes it was finished," said one user who attended the Swedish Village site that morning. "I went there four times and did not receive anything," said another. "I entered at the appointed time and found people upset, having gone in two hours early. God knows how." Sam Rose, acting director of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in Gaza, told Sky News the lack of order at the distribution sites means Palestinians have little incentive to obey the rules if that means they will be pushed to the back of the queue. "People are just grabbing whatever food parcels they can get their hands on," he says. When UNRWA was in charge of distributing aid, Rose says, "we would do orderly distributions where a certain number of people are called and invited to receive their food every day at hundreds of distribution points". "When they receive that food, they were counted off, and those details were then shared with other food providers to ensure that food is distributed as equitably and as comprehensively as possible," he says. "We're seeing nothing of that. We're basically just seeing riots." 0:29 Instructions have been chaotic and contradictory Sky News analysis suggests that issues with aid distribution are being compounded by poor communication from the group organising the sites, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The group's website has no information about opening times or where to find this information. A Facebook page under the GHF's name, marked as "verified" by Meta, appears to be the only official channel for updates. It has just 3.8 thousand followers, with its posts regularly receiving fewer than 50 engagements. Even those closely following the page to learn when and where to find aid rarely receive more than an hour's notice. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this week, the opening of the Swedish Village site was announced after 4am, with the site due to open at 5am. The instructions given to Palestinians are also confusing and contradictory. In the post on Tuesday morning, for instance, the GHF instructed Palestinians that they were not allowed to proceed south past the al Alam roundabout until 5am. The accompanying map indicated the point at which Palestinians were to stop, along with coordinates. However, this was not the al Alam roundabout, but a junction 740 metres earlier. It is not clear whether the IDF expected Palestinians to stop at the roundabout or at the indicated location. Eyewitnesses later reported that the IDF shot and killed 27 Palestinians near the roundabout. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said that those killed were shot "after moving beyond the designated safe corridor". The new system has only provided 13% of the necessary meals Problems with crowds at the new aid distribution centres began on the first day they came into operation. On 27 May, the Swedish Village aid compound was overwhelmed by a crowd of Palestinians seeking aid. The crowd, which had been contained inside a fenced entrance area, was able to easily topple the fences and scale the sand berms which surround the compound. Analysis of footage from that day shows that the fences do not appear to be fixed to concrete foundations, making them relatively flimsy. "As long as two million people try to come every day, there will definitely be massacres," said one user in the GHF WhatsApp group. "Of course, the reason is due to the idea that there is only one point for receiving - other points must be opened." The UN estimates that half of Gaza's 2.1 million people live in the north of the territory, yet the GHF has not set up any aid distribution sites in this region. It has three sites in the far south of the Gaza Strip, and one in the central region. The latter has only opened once so far, for a single day. UNRWA's Sam Rose says this set-up makes it "inevitable" that "thousands upon thousands" of people would seek aid at the Swedish Village compound, which has been the only open compound in recent days. "[The GHF] are simply not able to cope with the crowds, with the complete desperation of people who have absolutely no choice, if they want to get food for themselves and their family, but to go through this," he says. "Wave upon wave of people are seeking the only means to get food, and this is the inevitable consequence of it. "No entity with any clue about distribution of aid would have proposed such an inhumane system." This issue is compounded by the limited quantities of food available. Even by its numbers, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is feeding only a fraction of Gaza's population. On Monday, the organisation said it had distributed 5.9 million meals during its first week in operation, or an average of 840,000 per day. The organisation has previously said three meals are enough to feed one person per day, meaning over the past week, it has distributed enough meals to feed just 13% of Gaza's population. "It seems that the group's goal is to make us look like a barbaric people," said one Palestinian in the GHF WhatsApp. "If there was a system, everyone would get what they want, and things would be fine." The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
