Gaza civil defence says Israeli fire kills 67 aid seekers
The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire", soon after it crossed the border from Israel and cleared checkpoints.
Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City.
Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres.
The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys.
In the southern Gaza Strip, the civil defence agency said six others were killed on Sunday near an aid distribution centre northwest of Rafah, where dozens of people lost their lives a day earlier.
- 'Sniper' fire -
In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and "deadly overcrowding and pushing".
"The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest," he added.
"Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone."
Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the death toll was 67 and expected to rise while the WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable".
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties.
The army has maintained that it works to avoid harm to civilians, saying this month that it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground "following lessons learned" from a spate of similar incidents.
- Papal call -
The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed his regret to Pope Leo XIV after what he described as a "stray" munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.
At the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pope slammed the "barbarity" of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church.
The strike was part of the "ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza", he added.
"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 Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after travelling to the devastated territory in a rare visit on Friday.
- 'Expanding' operations -
Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military told residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately.
Israel was "expanding its activities" against Hamas around Deir el-Balah, "where it has not operated before", the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
The announcement prompted concern from families of hostages held since October 7, 2023 that the Israeli offensive could harm their loved ones.
Delegations from Israel and militant group Hamas have spent the last two weeks in indirect talks on a proposed 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
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Sydney Morning Herald
26 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Aid to Gaza has been co-opted and weaponised
Sean Kelly says the 'unsayable' — the Israeli government is starving Gazans (' The moral test for Labor has shifted on Gaza: Words are not enough', July 28.). In March 2025, Israel prohibited the delivery of aid to Gazans by independent organisations such as the UN, replacing it with the Israeli-appointed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) which provides aid sporadically. Netanyahu insists that Hamas was looting independent deliveries. No evidence of this has ever been revealed. On the contrary, facts indicate that, until March, enough aid was getting through to prevent starvation. Since then, the GHF has failed to provide adequately for Gazans. Even the American head of GHF, Jake Wood, has resigned because the aid plan failed to uphold the principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality. He acknowledged that he witnessed innocent Gazans being fired upon while seeking aid. Netanyahu argues that Hamas must be defeated before aid can flow freely. He also vowed to 'defeat' Hamas in 2014. How much longer must starving Gazans wait? Nell Knight, Avoca Beach I think Premier Chris Minns needs to read the room better (' Pro-Palestine demonstration across Sydney Harbour Bridge to be blocked ', July 28). The Sydney Harbour Bridge carrying tens of thousands protesting against the starvation in Gaza would send a powerful image about Australians' attitudes about the current situation to the world. It would have far more impact than the words of politicians. What's the point of having such iconic locations that are immediately identifiable without being able to leverage them? Dale Bailey, St Leonards It was with some distress that I saw reports of the opposition's Dan Tehan pulling the 'where are the facts?' card on Gaza. Is this the blood-stained hill the Liberal Party wish to take a stand on? Politics so often sweeps real human choices under the rug, saying 'that's politics', or 'someone needs to make the tough decisions', divesting themselves of any real choice in the matter. The tough decision would have been to support the government to do anything it can to find a solution whereby civilians do not get slaughtered, and preventing the creation of a new generation of vengeance-fuelled agents of change. A moral party should be helping disclose the facts together with the government. You want the facts? Then go looking for them together. Stop treating politics like a two-team football league. Be a team player for the country and a better world instead. James Cottam, Enmore The opposition's insistence that criticism of the Israeli government be muted because it's all Hamas' fault sounds a lot like support for the infamous domestic violence excuse: 'Look what you made me do.' 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These crises are totally the predictable results of policies which have backfired and now appear to be soon to cause more misery as the crime enforcement is ramped up to try to redirect revenue away from criminals who exploit millions of addicts. Andrew Cohen, Glebe The government and the anti-tobacco and vaping lobby groups are wasting their time. Draconian taxation and prohibition does not work. I can understand that they have the best of intentions, and have been chuffed that their jackbooted approach was considered the toughest in the world, but we live in a free country and a more mature, respectful approach to those who choose to smoke and vape is recommended. With a cut in taxes and the legalisation of vaping (including applying a lower level of taxation) the illicit trade would crumble and products would again be properly regulated. This is what every other developed, free country has done. Peter Barrett, Woonona Calming cannabis Cannabis is effectively legal. I have neither bought nor consumed it, but many people I know do it regularly (' The cannabis factory: How one doctor wrote 72,000 scripts in two years ', July 28). It is cheaper than alcohol and nicotine-derived products. It calms the user down and so reduces the level of violence and anxiety that are symptomatic of other drugs. True, it stays in the system longer and can still have long-term negative side-effects. But properly taxed and regulated, cannabis would be a better companion than Jack Daniels and Peter Stuyvesant. David Neilson, Araluen (NT) Joyce wide of target As part of his mission to demolish the net-zero emissions target, Barnaby Joyce declares that he wants people to have the cheapest forms of power generation, which he says are coal and nuclear (' Why Barnaby's war on net zero's already sunk ', July 26). If Barnaby were to have a look at the Open Electricity (National Electricity Market) website, he would soon see that renewables consistently come into the market at a cheaper price than coal. And given that most of our coal-fired power stations are reaching the end of their lives, it is even clearer that the price of coal-fired power will be way more expensive once the costs of building new power stations are factored in. Catherine Rossiter, Fadden (ACT) Amid his ramblings on climate change, Barnaby Joyce did make a valid point. Even if Australia's domestic energy consumption involved 100 per cent zero emissions, this would have negligible effect on global warming. For Australia to achieve any significant effect, we would need to cease exports of our coal and gas. But the annual revenue from these sources is respectively about $55 billion and $90 billion dollars. Are we as a nation prepared to forego this money, and how would it affect our economy? Regarding net zero emissions, there may be times when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow, meaning that we would occasionally need to fall back on gas temporarily to generate instant power. Perhaps total net zero is an illusion. Bruce Johnson, Lakewood The writers to this letters page are constantly questioning why the voters of New England consistently elect Barnaby Joyce as an MP (Letters, July 28). The simple reason is that most people in New England electorate enjoy a standard of living that is better than the average Australian and, as such, vote conservatively, the way their parents and grandparents voted. Barnaby is simply the beneficiary of that tradition. John Maunder, Quirindi Correspondent Neil Ormerod doesn't seem to understand the way the world works (Letters, July 27), and his analogy of coal being like heroin is taking it too far. At this point, the world needs fossil fuel. Countries around the world realise this. Has Neil heard of supply and demand? 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In my view, strip-searches of adults, if deemed to be both absolutely necessary and completely lawful, should not as far as possible be carried out by police but by trained medical and trauma-informed care personnel. Moreover, police strip-searching of minors anywhere anytime is tantamount to institutionally sanctioned child abuse and should be totally banned. Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills History shows that prohibition doesn't work. Even the financial pseudo-prohibition of cigarettes is failing. Meanwhile, in Portugal, where drug possession has been decriminalised, drug use has not increased, but there has been a significant increase in people entering rehabilitation. Overdoses, deaths and drug-related offences have been dramatically reduced. Decriminalisation of drug possession/usage, drug-testing facilities and increased funding for rehabilitation does work, with further evidence in Oregon and Washington state trials in America. Our politicians need to stop worrying about how strong they appear and focus on what works. The carrot always beats the stick, especially with the young. Rowan Godwin, Rozelle Could it be that the harms caused by police in using sniffer dogs and strip-searching young people are greater than those purportedly caused by the drugs themselves? Either way, I'd like to see the police searching people of all ages at the restaurant at the NSW Parliament. It would only take that to occur once and the practice would cease overnight. Well, Mr Minns? Shaun Davies, St Peters The push to eliminate strip-searches is both wrong and dangerous. The number of people found with drugs is small because of the fear of being nabbed. The message that the use of illegal drugs is criminal is a good one. Roger Cedergreen, Kirrawee Marina madness It's great to see residents fighting to stop the extension of the Woolwich marina (' Outrage at bid to expand marina ' July 28). We lost the battle in Blackwattle Bay. The new fish market is being built in the bay instead of on the existing site. New marinas and extensions are appearing and recreational activities such as rowing and dragon boat racing are increasingly problematic. The bay is fast becoming a pond like Darling Harbour, surrounded by commercial interests. Keep up the good fight to stop it happening on your side of the harbour. Richard Spencer, Glebe Higher ground In July 2022, at the height of the devastating rains and floods that followed the Black Summer bushfires, there was a call for Warragamba Dam's wall to be raised by 14 metres. Perhaps, with what we have learned now, the call should have been for developers to raise houses built on the floodplains by 14 metres (Letters, July 28). My cottage on a tributary of the Hawkesbury River was built in 1953 as a family fishing retreat by someone who knew about water and how it behaves. Yes, the water rose alarmingly three years ago, but the older houses here were safe because they had been built well back from the river many years ago by people who knew their trade. Alexandra Szalay, Coba Point All about size It's hardly surprising that Springwood residents value convenience, choice and apparent competition (' Woolies plan splits suburb' ', July 28). However, closer reading of the DA exposes the following serious shortcomings: extra pedestrian crossings, a roundabout fenced against pedestrians, an extra two customer carparks and an underground truck loading bay. All this in a tiny section of road a mere 150 metres long which is also the only access road to two childcare centres and the community's cultural precinct (theatre, community hub, library, gallery). There is ample evidence that a development of such magnitude cannot fail to damage the businesses and prosperity of any community. Residents are not necessarily opposed to this proposal, but to the sheer scale of it. We just want the best outcome for Springwood. Only the Blue Mountains residents know how to cut off their nose to spite their amenity. As a former resident of Leura for four years and then Springwood in the 80s and 90s, I remember fondly all the campaigns to keep development out of the Blue Mountains – Kmart in Katoomba, Fairmont Resort in Leura, Macca's in Blaxland. We lived in Springwood for eight of those years and how I would have loved a new Woolworths to walk up to, instead of having to drive to Winmalee, Katoomba or even Penrith Plaza to do more detailed shopping. There are many things I would have preferred not to have ever changed, but fortunately the splendid Blue Mountains themselves always knows how to outshine any crass developments. Reina French, Oak Flats Local control best I support Joanna Mendelssohn's support for council owned and operated childcare centres (Letters, July 27). This seems to be a field where good profits are assured – three large new centres have recently been built in my surrounding suburbs. This is a sector where council-owned and other non-profit agencies could have been encouraged. The federal Liberals had a fondness for small businesses and struck out in the profit-driven direction. Sadly, the cat is now out of the bag. David Rose, Nollamara (WA)
ABC News
26 minutes ago
- ABC News
Why genocide experts believe Israel is guilty of the crime of crimes
A defiant Israel has agreed to allow more aid into the Gaza strip while insisting that claims of starvation are being fabricated. Since stopping aid deliveries in March more and more nations and International law experts have accused Israel not only of war crimes but of the much more serious international crime of genocide, a deeply contested claim. But what constitutes genocide and what should nations who are signatories to the UN declaration be doing to stop it? GUESTS: Dr Omar Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University Dr Simon Adams, former Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Sareta Ashraph, a barrister specialising in international criminal law
AU Financial Review
an hour ago
- AU Financial Review
Trite to say, but Israel is losing global PR battle
Regardless of where the blame lies for the humanitarian aid crisis in Gaza, the tragic pictures of starving Palestinian children are jolting public consciousness and galvanising global opinion regarding Israel's war to eliminate Hamas and the question of recognising the independent state of Palestine. Israel had a legitimate right to root out the terrorist organisation responsible for the October 7 atrocities that murdered 1200 Israeli citizens. However, 661 days later, the conflict is continuing to wreak unspeakable suffering on Gazans deprived of essential supplies of food and water.
