Israeli forces fire on people waiting for aid in Gaza, killing 25, witnesses and hospitals say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza early Tuesday, killing at least 25 people, Palestinian witnesses and hospitals said.
The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, which received the victims, said the Palestinians were waiting for the trucks on the Salah al-Din Road south of Wadi Gaza.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire as people were advancing eastward to be close to the approaching trucks.
'It was a massacre,' said Ahmed Halawa. He said tanks and drones fired at people, 'even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or wounded.'
Hossam Abu Shahada, another eyewitness, said drones were flying over the area, watching the crowds first, then there was gunfire from tanks and drones as people were moving eastward. He described a 'chaotic and bloody' scene as people were attempting to escape.
He said he saw at least three people lying on the ground motionless and many others wounded as he fled the site.
The Awda hospital said another 146 Palestinians were wounded. Among them were 62 in critical condition, who were transferred to other hospitals in central Gaza, it said.
In the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the same incident.
The deaths were the latest in Israel-Hamas war in Gaza which killed about 56,000 Palestinians, according to the strip's health ministry.
The ministry doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants but say more than a half of the dead were women and children.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostages.
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Washington Post
20 minutes ago
- Washington Post
The politics of abortion have changed. Here's how.
Good morning, Early Birds. Here's hoping we see James Wood in the Home Run Derby. Send tips to earlytips@ Thanks for waking up with us. In today's edition … How abortion politics have changed in three years … An exciting race brewing in New York City … A well-funded, bipartisan anti-Trump political group launches … but first … Here's the latest on Iran. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran last night on Truth Social. Both sides would finish their operations against each other, then halt hostilities by around midnight Eastern time. 'This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn't, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!' he wrote. Israel and Iran didn't immediately confirm the ceasefire, leading to some skepticism from Democrats that it would hold. 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CNN
22 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump takes his go-it-alone approach to NATO summit after announcing Israel-Iran ceasefire
When President Donald Trump travels here Tuesday for a consequential summit of NATO leaders, he'll arrive toting a freshly brokered ceasefire he hopes can prove to his skeptics — including at the conference — that he is a peacemaker at heart. The arrangement between Israel and Iran came after an intensive afternoon of diplomacy at the White House, but hours after it was set to take effect, Israel accused Iran of firing several missiles and vowed to respond 'with force.' Tehran denied violating the truce. Trump hopes the ceasefire — if it holds — will act as vindication for the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, which drew a mixed response from leaders here in Europe, who feared becoming embroiled in a wider war. In the end, the deal Trump announced Monday was brokered with the help of Qatar, and appeared to leave the Europeans on the sidelines. White House officials said the diplomatic arrangement would not have been possible had Trump not ordered the bombing run over the weekend. 'Congratulations to everyone!' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Monday evening as he revealed the parameters of what he called the end of the '12 Day War.' At least in Trump's mind, the deal could bolster his stature as a global deal maker at a moment when his ability to strike peace agreements is being tested. As he steps back onto the world stage, the president appears eager to demonstrate his ability to bring warring parties to the table — even if he hasn't yet been able to resolve the European conflict in the background of this week's gathering. This week's Hague summit had been carefully planned over months to avoid angering Trump and paper over the significant differences that remain between Europe and the United States on how to manage the war in Ukraine. The centerpiece is a short and focused final statement — designed to avoid any disputes over language — that will formalize a new plan to raise annual military spending targets to the figure Trump had demanded: 5% of GDP. (Trump, however, told reporters on Friday that the US shouldn't have to meet that target.) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will have a seat at a pre-summit dinner on Tuesday evening, which Trump is expected to attend. But the Ukrainian leader won't participate in the one-day summit on Wednesday, underscoring his stalled ambitions for his country to join NATO — an outcome Trump has ruled out. Already, divisions between Trump and European leaders over Ukraine had threatened to foil attempts by NATO to signal a unified front to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has appeared reluctant to apply new sanctions on Moscow, even as his peacemaking efforts have stalled, and so far hasn't approved any new military assistance to Ukraine. 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Even before he gave the go-ahead to launch strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump openly dismissed European efforts at brokering a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. 'Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe, they want to speak to us,' Trump told reporters Friday, hours before US stealth jets took off on a bombing run in Iran. 'Europe is not going to be able to help on this one.' A few days beforehand, he departed early from the Group of 7 summit in Canada rather than remaining at the mountainside gathering to strategize on Iran with leaders whose own countries could have become embroiled in the widening conflict. The president's solitary approach has hardly come as a surprise to European leaders, who found themselves sidelined in the lead-up to the US strikes. Trump made clear over the weekend he believed only the US had any real standing to intervene, and declared afterwards, 'only American weapons could do what has been done.' Trump views multilateral organizations like the G7 and NATO skeptically, believing instead that direct interactions between countries is a more fruitful approach to world affairs. He has previously written off NATO as an attempt to wring resources from the United States to protect nations on the other side of an ocean. At a 2018 NATO summit during his first presidency, he left fellow leaders shaken when he said during a closed-door meeting he would considering doing his 'own thing' if they didn't significantly boost their defense spending. Trump's loud calls for increased investment in defense among NATO members have yielded results. More countries now meet the alliance's threshold than they did when he first entered office in 2017. But he has continued to insist it's not enough, particularly as the war in Ukraine rages. Now, however, the recent tensions in the Middle East may overshadow the war playing out in Europe.
New York Post
23 minutes ago
- New York Post
Israel to resume ‘intense operations to attack Tehran' after claiming Iran violated cease-fire
Israel claims Iran launched missiles into their airspace two hours after the warring nations agreed to a cease-fire. Explosions and sirens were heard across northern Israel midmorning on Tuesday. 'In light of the severe violation of the ceasefire carried out by the Iranian regime, we will respond with force,' Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Eyal Zamir, said. 3 The IDF said it intercepted over 15 UAVs launched from Iran overnight. IDF 3 Israeli soldiers and rescue team work amid the rubble of residential buildings destroyed by an Iranian missile strike that killed several people, in Beersheba, Israel. AP 3 Emergency and rescue responders recover human remains from the rubble of a building after a ballistic missile fired from Iran strike a building at the city on June 24, 2025 in Beer Sheva, Israel. Getty Images Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the Israeli military would resume 'the intense operations to attack Tehran and to destroy targets of the regime and terror infrastructure.' Iran's military denies attacking Israel after reaching the cease-fire agreement, which was hoped to put an end to the 12-day war. With Post wires
