Hamas offers aid for hostages if Israel stops airstrikes, opens Gaza corridors
The group insists Israel must permanently open humanitarian corridors and pause airstrikes during aid distribution.
Israeli officials report that 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with only 20 believed to be alive.
Hamas has so far blocked humanitarian groups from accessing the captives, leaving families with little information about their conditions.
A recent video released by Hamas showed Israeli hostage Evyatar David, appearing severely emaciated, digging what he described as his own grave.
The footage sparked international outrage, with France, Germany, the UK, and the US condemning the treatment of hostages.
The UN Security Council will hold a special session on Tuesday to address the issue.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the Red Cross to assist the hostages, while the Hostages Families Forum accused Hamas of holding innocent people in 'impossible conditions' for over 660 days.
The group demanded immediate release, warning that any deaths would be on Hamas's hands.
Meanwhile, Gaza's health ministry reported six more starvation-related deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 175 since the war began.
Israel allowed a limited fuel shipment to enter Gaza, but aid agencies say far more is needed to prevent famine.
Egypt's Al Qahera News reported two trucks carrying 107 tons of diesel were set to enter Gaza, though confirmation was pending.
The Israeli military agency COGAT stated four UN fuel tankers had arrived to support hospitals and essential services.
Belgium and Jordan conducted an aid airdrop, while France delivered 40 tons of humanitarian supplies.
However, witnesses say many aid trucks have been looted by desperate civilians and armed groups.
The Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. – Reuters
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Sinar Daily
2 hours ago
- Sinar Daily
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THINK of the infamous glass bridge scene in Squid Game: a line of desperate contestants, suspended high above the ground, forced to choose between panels of glass - one tempered, the other a death trap. Each step is a gamble. Behind them, time is ticking; ahead, only fear. Below, death awaits. Now shift that image to Gaza. Barefoot children, limping fathers and hollow-eyed mothers race beneath parachuting aid packages in an open-air prison. The skies rain not salvation, but risk - boxes that might fall safely or crash onto a crowd. Each run is a gamble. There is no courage here, only desperation. No winners, only survivors or casualties. The world watches - entertained, horrified or indifferent. But this is no game. Aid packages falling from the sky over Gaza - parachutes drifting in cinematic slow motion, filmed from military aircraft and broadcast with dramatic flair - might seem like a gesture of compassion. But the reality is far darker. This is not humanitarianism - it's a performance. And for Palestinians, it's beginning to feel like a deadly game show. This handout photo taken over Gaza and released on August 1, 2025 by the Spanish Ministry of Defence shows the release of humanitarian aid from a Spanish Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas airplane over Gaza. (Photo by HANDOUT / Spain Defence Ministry / AFP) On July 27 this year, Israeli aircraft began dropping aid into northern Gaza after announcing limited daily pauses in its offensive. But almost immediately, the truth broke through the façade: the airdrops injured several Palestinians, according to Al Jazeera. Crates fell in chaotic fashion, endangering the very people they were supposedly meant to help. The image of people sprinting across bombed-out streets, risking injury or death just to grab a bag of rice, is chilling. It resembles something out of Squid Game, where survival becomes sport, and the powerless must scramble for basic needs under the watchful eye of the powerful. Dangerous, Chaotic, and Deeply Insufficient Each airdrop delivers only a symbolic fraction of what is actually needed. Gaza is home to over two million people. Yet scattered pallets, with no distribution system, are expected to feed entire communities. Worse still, aid packages often land in dangerous zones, the sea or inaccessible areas. Several Palestinians have died trying to retrieve them. This is not aid. This is a deadly lottery. The weakest lose. The desperate suffer. And the powerful film it. Nine-year-old malnourished Palestinian girl Mariam Dawwas is carried by her mother in the Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City on August 2, 2025. The World Health Organisation warned on July 27 that malnutrition was reaching "alarming levels" in Gaza. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP) Israel Prefers Airdrops - But Why? In a stunning moment of irony, Israel publicly announced that it would allow foreign governments to airdrop aid into Gaza. Think about that: the same state that bombs aid convoys and blocks trucks at land crossings is now saying, 'Go ahead - toss food from the air.' Why approve airlifts but restrict trucks? Because airdropping aid allows Israel to control the narrative. It gets to appear cooperative, while continuing to restrict the kind of aid that actually reaches people effectively. Allowing airdrops is a way to avoid allowing real access. It creates an illusion of generosity, while avoiding pressure to lift the siege, stop the bombing or allow UN convoys through. It's not a humanitarian breakthrough - it's a carefully calculated performance. Airdrops Are Political Theatre As shown in viral social media critiques like this one, airdrops serve more as PR (public relations) tools than real relief efforts. The visuals - parachutes over war-torn neighbourhoods - make headlines. 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It shifts the narrative from one of occupation, apartheid and genocide to one of vague 'tragedy,' as if this were a natural disaster rather than a deliberate act. These stunts reduce Palestinians to figures in a crisis simulation. They are not contestants in a survival show. They are a people enduring displacement, starvation and bombardment. Their dignity is stripped away when they are forced to chase parachutes for food while the world claps from a distance. Humanitarian aid should empower - not humiliate. But these airdrops do the opposite. They turn survival into spectacle, while world powers refuse to address the root cause: a brutal siege and a military campaign that has devastated Gaza's civilian population. Gaza Needs Ceasefire - Not Cameras If the international community is serious about saving lives, it must demand: An immediate and lasting ceasefire Fully opened land crossings for medical and food aid Unimpeded humanitarian access led by neutral agencies Accountability for war crimes And above all, justice for Palestinians, not photo ops Until that happens, these airdrops remain what they truly are: A PR stunt for the complicit and an insult to the oppressed. In Gaza, aid should fall through borders - not from the sky. And certainly not like it's a scene out of a Squid Game show. Revda Selver is Friends of Palestine Public Relation and Media Executive. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Sinar Daily.
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Hiroshima mayor urges Trump visit after A-bomb comments
FILE PHOTO: Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, flanked by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, bow in front of the cenotaph dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing as they visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan June 19, 2025, in this photo taken by Kyodo. - Kyodo/via Reuters TOKYO: Donald Trump should visit Hiroshima to see the effects of nuclear weapons, the Japanese city's mayor said Wednesday (July 2) after the US president likened the 1945 atomic bombings to recent air strikes on Iran. "It seems to me that he does not fully understand the reality of the atomic bombings, which, if used, take the lives of many innocent citizens, regardless of whether they were friend or foe, and threaten the survival of the human race," Mayor Kazumi Matsui told reporters. "I wish that President Trump would visit the bombed area to see the reality of the atomic bombing and feel the spirit of Hiroshima, and then make statements," Kazumi said. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and then another on Nagasaki three days later. Shortly afterwards, Japan surrendered, ending World War II. Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and about 74,000 others in Nagasaki, including many from the effects of radiation exposure. It was the only time that atomic weapons were used in warfare. On June 22, following days of Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic, the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. Soon afterwards, Iran and Israel agreed a ceasefire, ending their 12-day war. "I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing," Trump said last Wednesday. "That ended that war and this ended (this war)," Trump said at a NATO summit in The Hague. His comments prompted anger from survivors and a small demonstration in Hiroshima. Last week, the city's assembly passed a motion condemning remarks that justify the use of atomic bombs. Japan's atomic bomb survivors' group Nihon Hidankyo won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and while accepting the prize, called on countries to abolish the weapons. - AFP
Free Malaysia Today
4 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Netanyahu expresses ‘profound shock' over hostage videos
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