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Israel announces Gaza aid airdrops, corridors amid international pressure after starvation crisis
Palestinians gather as they carry aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, amid a hunger crisis, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, July 20, 2025. File Image/Reuters
Israel's military announced that airdrops of humanitarian aid over Gaza would begin Saturday night, along with new corridors for United Nations convoys, following growing reports of starvation-related deaths in the territory. The announcement came after months of warnings from experts about famine conditions due to Israeli restrictions on aid access.
In a statement released late Saturday, the Israeli military said it would also implement 'humanitarian pauses' in densely populated areas, but stressed that combat operations against Hamas would continue. Israel's foreign ministry added that the pauses would begin Sunday in 'civilian centres' alongside the aid corridors. However, the military maintained there is 'no starvation' in Gaza, where over two million people—mostly displaced—are heavily dependent on aid to survive.
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The exact locations for the planned airdrops and humanitarian corridors were not specified. The military said the effort would be coordinated with international aid organizations. The newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by Israel, may also play a role. GHF chair Johnnie Moore said the group is ready to assist.
The move follows intensifying global criticism—including from Israel's allies—after hundreds of Palestinians were killed in recent weeks while attempting to access food. Witness accounts from Gaza paint a grim picture: health workers too weak from hunger to function, children dying from malnutrition, and people risking their lives under fire in desperate attempts to reach food aid.
On Saturday, at least 53 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire, many of them while seeking aid, according to Gaza's health officials and ambulance services. In two incidents near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on crowds waiting for aid trucks. At least a dozen were killed in one of the incidents, according to staff at Gaza's Shifa hospital. The military claimed it fired warning shots in response to an 'immediate threat.'
A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, described how people mistook an incoming light for aid trucks, only to discover it was Israeli tanks. 'We went because there is no food … and nothing was distributed,' he said, adding that his uncle was among the dead.
Later that evening, Israeli troops reportedly fired at another crowd gathered around a U.N. aid convoy, killing at least 11 and injuring 120, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital. The death toll was expected to rise.
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AP footage from the scene showed men carrying a body and sacks of flour. 'You die to fetch some food for your children,' said one man, Fayez Abu Riyala, visibly exhausted and sweating.
In southern Gaza's Khan Younis, Israeli forces reportedly shot and killed nine people trying to access aid via the Morag corridor. There was no immediate military comment. Elsewhere, Israeli airstrikes killed four people in a Gaza City apartment and eight—including four children—in a tent camp in Muwasi, according to hospitals.
The aid airdrops were requested by Jordan and are expected to include food and baby formula. The UAE said its airdrops would begin 'immediately,' while the UK announced plans to support airdrops and evacuate children needing medical care.
However, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned that airdrops are 'expensive, inefficient, and can even kill starving civilians,' and will not address the root of the starvation crisis or prevent aid from being diverted.
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While the Israeli army claims it is not limiting the number of trucks entering Gaza, the UN says military restrictions and lawlessness on the ground are hampering delivery. Hamas police, once responsible for securing aid convoys, have been largely wiped out by airstrikes.
According to Israel, more than 250 aid trucks entered Gaza this week. That's far below the approximately 600 trucks that crossed daily during a ceasefire that ended in March.
International pressure on Israel continues to build. Over 25 Western-aligned nations and more than 100 aid and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, criticizing the blockade and Israel's new aid delivery model.
The UN human rights office says more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach aid since May—many near the newly established GHF distribution sites.
Even aid workers are struggling to secure food. Inside Gaza, malnourished children with no prior health issues have started dying from hunger.
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'All we want is enough food to stop starving,' said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City, where he was trying to feed his family of six.
Meanwhile, an activist boat named Handala attempting to deliver aid to Gaza livestreamed video of Israeli forces boarding it around midnight. Israeli authorities have not commented on the incident.
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Mint
5 minutes ago
- Mint
Why isn't enough food getting into Gaza?
JERUSALEM—About 10 miles stand between truckloads of food and flour and the more than two million hungry Palestinians who need it. Yet only a trickle is reaching them. The biggest obstacle right now between stockpiles of food just beyond the border and Gaza's most vulnerable people—starving children, women, elderly and injured—is a breakdown of law and order. Chaotic mobs ransack every food-bearing truck that enters, aid workers say. The masses are largely made up of desperate civilians, armed criminals looking to sell it on the black market—or a dangerous mix of both. Officials and aid groups have no control over where it goes from there. Antoine Renard, a United Nations official in Gaza, recalls how a wave of gaunt-faced men converged on his armored vehicle and the convoy of aid trucks following him as they tried to reach the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah on Tuesday. He said the vehicle rocked from side to side as the men swarmed, jostling over the cargo. 'I've never seen anything even a little bit like this," said Renard, who has worked with the U.N.'s food agency, the World Food Program, for more than 20 years and now heads its operations in the Palestinian territories. 'I have never, ever seen this level of despair." Israel and the U.N. have traded blame for the worsening hunger crisis that experts warn is now tipping into famine. Israel says the U.N. has failed to distribute the food that it allowed in. The U.N. says Israel created impossible conditions that put staff and civilians at risk, while impeding their work with delays and restrictions on movement. At the core of the crisis is extreme and widespread food scarcity. Israel banned all aid and commercial goods from entering Gaza in early March in what it said was an effort to pressure Hamas. Israel says the group steals aid to fund its war effort, which Hamas denies. Aid groups say they have seen no evidence of systematic diversion. Israel started letting in much smaller volumes of aid in late May as food supplies dwindled, but it hasn't been nearly enough. The World Food Program says almost 95% of its trucks entering the Gaza Strip are looted before they reach their destination. It says the only solution is to flood the enclave with food until scarcity no longer drives civilians to risk their lives for a bag of flour, or provides an opportunity for militants and criminals to exploit their desperation. Under growing international pressure, Israel took steps recently to ease the flow of aid. It started with airdrops, then announced a pause in fighting in some parts of the strip and the creation of humanitarian corridors. Israeli officials say the country isn't blocking aid and is doing more to facilitate it. 'The bottleneck, regarding food reaching the people of Gaza, is the U.N. agencies not distributing the aid, not picking it up and not distributing it," a senior Israeli military official told The Wall Street Journal. Until Israel recently eased some restrictions, the U.N. also had difficulty getting aid in at all. Part of the problem stemmed from the overall unworkable conditions of destroyed roads, chronic fuel shortages and frequent fighting along what few routes were available, despite deconfliction efforts. Medical workers say they are now battling the worst hunger crisis to grip the enclave since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked the war in Gaza. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a group of experts set up to study hunger crises around the world, said Tuesday that the 'worst-case scenario of famine" is currently unfolding in Gaza. Since a cease-fire collapsed in March, Israel has taken control of roughly 70% of Gaza, Israeli officials say, pushing the population into a small area along the coast and creating a large civilian-free zone all around them occupied by soldiers. To reach population centers, aid must traverse this territory. Aid can enter Gaza through one of four border crossings, a senior Israeli military official told the Journal, but the lion's share comes through just two—Zikim in the north and Kerem Shalom in the south. The most perilous part of the journey is when an aid convoy crosses out of Israeli-held territory, as crowds must come close to Israeli military positions to be first to grab the supplies. They frequently overtake the aid convoys, swarming the trucks and taking everything they can carry, at times drawing deadly fire from Israeli soldiers. In the north, Palestinians often go deep inside Israeli-held territory, which the military refers to as a dangerous combat zone and warns them not to enter, to intercept aid convoys a mile or two from the border, according to the WFP. And in the south, Egyptian officials told the Journal that almost all aid coming from the country is ambushed by criminal gangs almost immediately after it enters through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. Some of it is sold for exorbitant prices at markets, they said. Most is completely unaccounted for. 'Some aid makes it in, yeah…but thieves steal 90% of it and sell it for insane prices," said Mohammed Al-Saafin, a 25-year-old Gazan sheltering in Deir al-Balah. 'Total robbery, but we have no choice," he said. Currently, there are two distribution channels for aid. One is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, a controversial new initiative backed by Israel and run by private American contractors. The other is a U.N.-led system it was meant to replace. Israel allowed both to start bringing aid into Gaza in late May. Both have been completely overwhelmed, as hunger was already widespread by then. Palestinians carrying aid in the central Gaza Strip on Friday. GHF has four distribution points, three of them in the south, all within areas under Israeli control. That meant Gazans largely have to travel by foot or donkey cart through a militarized zone to get there. Large crowds drawn to the sites have at times come under fire by Israeli soldiers when they were perceived to pose a threat. Before the blockade, the U.N. had a network of more than 200 distribution sites throughout the Gaza Strip. It has warehouses peppered around dense areas like Deir al-Balah and Gaza City, which it kept regularly stocked with food from its stockpiles kept in Israel's Port of Ashdod, as well as in Jordan and Egypt. From there, partner organizations would load up and take it to community kitchens or pickup points closer to where people live. Since the U.N. was allowed to resume aid distribution on May 21, almost none of World Food Program's trucks have reached the warehouses, and its distribution network has collapsed, according to U.N. officials. Part of the problem is that even when Israel technically allowed the U.N. to start delivering aid again, the military frequently denied its movements. This meant that from May 21, when aid resumed, to July 26, the day before Israel started easing restrictions, there was very little aid entering the Strip and people were largely relying on food stored during the cease-fire. The U.N. uses a standard protocol in many of the war zones where it operates around the world called the Humanitarian Notification System, according to U.N. officials. In noncombat zones, it notifies armed actors of movements by its agencies and partners so they can avoid harming aid workers. In battle zones, it coordinates with the warring parties to ensure a safe route. In the period from May 21 and July 26, 53% of U.N. requests to coordinate movements were either denied or impeded by Israeli authorities, according to data provided by the U.N.'s humanitarian agency, OCHA. During that time, the U.N. said 271 movements were facilitated, which means they were approved and accomplished, while 288 were denied by Israel. Another 99 were canceled by the U.N. or its partners, either because they determined it wasn't safe, were routed on roads known to be impassable or for other prohibitive reasons, OCHA said. An Israeli military vehicle near the Gaza border recently. A further 119 movements were in some way impeded by Israel, OCHA said. That could mean that the military caused long delays, detained their staff, changed their route with little notice or hindered them in other ways that kept them from being fully accomplished. The Israeli military unit charged with humanitarian coordination, called COGAT, didn't respond to a request for comment on the figures. A senior Israeli military official told the Journal recently that delays and denials are made out of necessity to avoid potential conflicts. Since Sunday, the proportion of requests that are approved has markedly increased, raising questions by aid groups about how Israel is able to facilitate more movements now than it could before, even though conditions on the ground have deteriorated further. 'Aid doesn't reach people because of the chaos," said Nahid Shuhiber, who runs a transportation company that provides trucks for aid agencies inside Gaza. Israel, he said, 'is not interested in creating order." Write to Feliz Solomon at
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First Post
5 minutes ago
- First Post
Has India really stopped buying oil from Russia as Trump claims?
US President Donald Trump says India 'is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia', calling it a 'good step' if true. But Indian officials deny knowledge of any halt, while reports suggest some state refiners briefly paused purchases read more Employees manually fill containers with diesel during a power cut at a fuel station in New Delhi, July 31, 2012. Representational Image/Reuters Speaking to reporters in Washington on Saturday, United States President Donald Trump said: 'I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia. That's what I heard, I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens.' The comment is Trump's latest in a slew of remarks against India's purchasing of Russian crude oil. Trump has launched a campaign of economic pressure against countries continuing to engage with Russia, threatening tariffs and penalties as leverage to force a resolution to the war in Ukraine. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Days earlier, his administration announced a sweeping set of trade measures that would affect around 70 nations, including India. As part of this, a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods entering the United States took effect, alongside a separate penalty related to purchases of Russian oil and military hardware. Trump also warned that countries buying Russian oil could face tariffs as high as 100 per cent if Moscow does not agree to a peace deal by mid-August. His stance has raised concerns about the potential impact on global markets, given India's role as the largest importer of Russian seaborne crude since 2022. In a strongly worded post on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at India's trade practices and its reliance on Russian defence and energy sectors. 'Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of energy, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine — All things not good!' In another comment, he took an even sharper tone: 'I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let's keep it that way…' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The question: Has India really stopped buying Russian oil? In response to speculation, Indian officials and sources have sought to clarify the country's position. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not confirmed any change in policy and has made it clear that energy sourcing decisions remain based on price and national interest. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, when asked about reports suggesting Indian oil firms had stopped taking Russian crude, said during his weekly briefing, 'We take decisions based on the price at which oil is available in the international market and depending on the global situation at that time. As for the specifics of your particular question, I am not aware of it. I don't have details of these specifics.' Privately, an MEA source echoed this line, telling ANI that energy decisions are grounded in economic realities: 'India's energy purchases are driven by national interests and market forces. We do not have any reports of Indian oil firms halting Russian imports.' Reports of a temporary pause by state refiners While there has been no formal announcement from New Delhi, multiple reports suggest some state-owned refiners may have temporarily paused buying Russian oil in the past week. According to Reuters, India's key state refiners — including Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd — did not seek Russian crude cargoes recently. This development comes amid narrowing discounts on Russian oil and increased warnings from Washington about the risks of continuing purchases. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A man stands at an Indian Oil fuel station in Sonipat, March 5, 2025. Representational Image/Reuters These refiners, which control over 60 per cent of India's combined refining capacity of 5.2 million barrels per day, frequently purchase Russian oil on a 'delivered' basis, meaning suppliers handle shipping and insurance. When they did not place orders, they turned instead to the spot market, buying mostly West Asian and West African crude grades such as Abu Dhabi's Murban. Notably, the country's private refiners — Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy — are the largest individual buyers of Russian crude in India, but the state-owned companies dominate the overall refining landscape. Whether these pauses represent a longer-term shift or merely a short-term adjustment remains unclear. India's reliance on Russian crude since 2022 India became the world's biggest importer of Russian seaborne oil after Europe stopped most purchases in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This marked a significant pivot in global energy flows: before 2022, Europe had been Russia's largest oil buyer. India now sources nearly 2 million barrels per day from Russia — roughly 35 per cent of its total oil imports — amounting to over $50 billion worth of purchases in the 2024-25 fiscal year, according to official data. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The range of Russian crude reaching Indian shores is wide. Imports include Urals from Russia's western ports, ESPO and Sokol from the Pacific, and some grades from the Arctic. Urals, the largest Russian export grade, is particularly reliant on India; up to 70 per cent of its exports are absorbed by Indian refiners. Russia's state oil giant Rosneft has also become deeply intertwined with India's refining sector, holding a significant stake in one of the country's largest refineries, which further cements the commercial relationship. Why purchasing Russian oil is not illegal Officials and industry sources defending India's Russian oil imports underline that the purchases are not only lawful but beneficial for global energy stability. Sources speaking to ANI stressed that Russian oil has never been sanctioned outright by the US or the European Union. Instead, a price-cap mechanism was introduced by the G7 and EU to restrict Moscow's revenues while ensuring crude continued to flow into world markets. India has adhered to this framework, ensuring all purchases stayed below the cap — currently $60 per barrel — while securing affordable energy supplies. The same sources argued that India's strategy helped prevent a worse crisis: 'Had India not absorbed discounted Russian crude combined with OPEC+ production cuts of 5.86 mb/d, global oil prices could have surged well beyond the March 2022 peak of US $137/bbl, intensifying inflationary pressures worldwide.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This perspective paints India not as an outlier, but as a stabilising force in global oil markets, especially at a time when other buyers, including the EU, continue to import Russian-origin energy in other forms. For instance, during this period, the EU remained the largest buyer of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), accounting for 51 per cent of exports, with China and Japan following. How Moscow could retaliate Analysts warn that any sharp reduction in Indian demand for Russian oil could provoke a major response from Moscow. Russia's exports to India are so vital that they now make up a substantial share of the Kremlin's revenues. Experts at JP Morgan have cautioned that if India's imports were disrupted, Moscow could retaliate by closing the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline from Kazakhstan. This pipeline is critical for US energy majors like Chevron and Exxon, who have significant investments in Kazakh production. Any closure of CPC would create another severe supply shock, reverberating across the global oil market. How India would manage without Russian oil If India were to scale back or halt Russian purchases, the adjustment would be complicated and costly. Refiners would have to increase imports of US and West Asian crude or reduce refining activity. Either path could send ripples through the global economy. A cut in refining runs would immediately tighten diesel supply. India is a significant exporter of refined fuels, especially diesel, to Europe. Reduced output in India would likely push European diesel prices higher. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Switching suppliers on a large scale would also require logistical and contractual adjustments. India's refiners have integrated Russian crude into their operations over the past two years; unwinding that flow would not happen overnight. Meanwhile, private refiners — which account for a large chunk of Russian crude purchases — have not publicly signalled any change. Donald Trump's claim that India has stopped buying Russian oil remains unverified. With inputs from agencies
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First Post
35 minutes ago
- First Post
Indian refiners still buying oil from Russia, report claims amid Trump's 'halt' remark
Indian refiners reportedly keep buying Russian crude oil for economic reasons, despite US President Trump's claim that India stopped. Earlier, the ministry of external affairs had defended India's longstanding partnership with Russia read more Advertisement Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. File image/ Reuters Indian refiners have not stopped buying crude oil from Russia, news agency ANI has reported, citing sources in the government. 'Their supply decisions are guided by price, grade of crude, inventories, logistics and other economic factors,' the agency quoted the source as saying. The sources also highlighted Russia's crucial place in the global oil market, being the world's second-largest exporter of crude. Fears of Russian oil being pushed out of the market and the consequent dislocation of traditional trade flows drove dated Brent crude prices to soar to US$137 per barrel in March 2022. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'In this challenging environment, India, as the world's third-largest energy consumer with 85 per cent crude oil import dependence, strategically adapted its sourcing to secure affordable energy while fully adhering to international norms,' said the sources. Earlier, US President Donald Trump on Friday (August 1) said he heard that India is no longer purchasing oil from Russia. While speaking to the reporters, Trump went on to describe the alleged halting of oil purchases as a 'good step'. 'I understand India no longer is going to be buying oil from Russia,' Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for his weekend trip to his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey. 'That's what I heard. I don't know if that's right or not, but that's a good step. We'll see what happens,' he said. Trump's statement came after news agency Reuters reported, citing sources, that Indian state-owned refineries suspended Russian oil purchases last week amid threats of tariffs from US and narrowing price discounts. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday responded to the criticisms hurled by the Trump administration and defended India's longstanding partnership with Russia. 'India and Russia share a steady and time-tested partnership,' he said. Jaiswal also reaffirmed the strength of the India-US relationship, noting it is based on 'shared interests, democratic values, and robust people-to-people ties,' and expressed confidence that bilateral relations would continue to move forward despite current tensions.
