BBC, Reuters among 4 news organizations saying their journalists face starvation in Gaza
Four leading news organizations said Thursday their journalists in Gaza are facing the threat of starvation as the Israel-Hamas war grinds on, while top U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff was to meet with key negotiators from the Middle East for talks on the latest ceasefire proposal and the release of hostages.
"We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families," said a joint statement by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the BBC.
"For many months, these independent journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering."
The statement called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza and allow adequate food supplies into the territory. Israel has barred international media from entering Gaza independently throughout the 21-month war.
It came a day after more than 100 charity and human rights groups said that Israel's blockade and ongoing military offensive are pushing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip toward starvation.
WATCH | 'Mass starvation' in Gaza, WHO chief says, urgently calling for aid:
'People are starving' in Gaza, says WHO chief
20 hours ago
Also Thursday, Hamas confirmed it had sent its latest ceasefire proposal to Israel, with an Israeli official calling it "workable," although no details were provided. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on record.
Ceasefire deal on the table
Top U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to head to Italy on Thursday to meet top Israeli negotiator Ron Dermer and discuss the ceasefire deal on the table, according to Israeli and U.S. officials.
For Israel, sending Dermer — a close Netanyahu confidant — to the meeting marks a show of seriousness in reaching a deal.
The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce.
WATCH | Parents are resorting to desperate measures to feed their children, aid worker says:
Canadian aid worker in Gaza says she feels 'helpless' as hunger crisis deepens
1 day ago
Jack Latour, a Canadian nurse working with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, says parents are resorting to desperate measures to feed their children as conditions on the ground deteriorate. 'We are seeing now families with multiple children that have severe acute malnutrition, instead of just maybe the youngest one,' Latour says.
The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest single attack in Israel's history.
Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times.
Israeli forces on Thursday hit the central Gaza towns of Nuseirat, Deir Al-Balah and Bureij.
Health officials at Al-Awda Hospital said three people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Nuseirat, three more died from tank shelling in Deir Al-Balah, and separate airstrikes in Bureij killed a man and a woman and wounded several others.
Nasser hospital said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern Gaza near the so-called Morag axis between Khan Younis and Rafah. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired a projectile overnight from Khan Younis toward an aid distribution site near Morag. It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were linked.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
22 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Confronted by crises, Philippine president delivers state of the nation speech
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is delivering his state of the nation speech while confronting diverse crises midway through his six-year term, including recent deadly storms with more than 120,000 people encamped in emergency shelters, turbulent ties with the vice president and escalating territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea. About 22,000 policemen were deployed Monday to secure the House of Representatives complex in suburban Quezon city in the capital region before Marcos' address to both chambers of Congress, top government and military officials and diplomats. Thousands of protesters staged rallies to highlight a wide range of demands from higher wages due to high inflation to the immediate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte over a raft of alleged crimes. Marcos' rise to power in mid-2022, more than three decades after an army-backed 'People Power' revolt overthrew his father from office and into global infamy, was one of the most dramatic political comebacks. But he inherited a wide range of problems, including an economy that was one of the worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which worsened poverty, unemployment, inflation and hunger. His whirlwind political alliance with Duterte rapidly floundered and she and her family, including her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, became her harshest critics. The former president was arrested in March in a chaotic scene at Manila's international airport and flown to be detained by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for an alleged crime against humanity over his deadly anti-drugs crackdowns while still in power. Sara Duterte became the first vice president of the Philippines to be impeached in February by the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Marcos' allies, over a range of criminal allegations including largescale corruption and publicly threatening to have the president, his wife and Romualdez killed by an assassin if she herself were killed during her disputes with them. The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the impeachment case was unconstitutional due to a key procedural technicality, hampering Duterte's expected trial in the Senate, which has convened as an impeachment tribunal. House legislators said they were planning to appeal the decision. Unlike his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who nurtured cozy ties with China and Russia, Marcos broadened his country's treaty alliance with the United States and started to deepen security alliances with Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada France and other Western governments to strengthen deterrence against increasingly aggressive actions by China in the disputed South Chin Sea. That stance has strained relations between Manila and Beijing. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the Marcos administration would continue to shift the military's role from battling a weakening communist insurgency to focusing on external defense, specially in the disputed South China Sea, a vital global trade route where confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces have intensified in recent years. 'The president's statements were, we would be unyielding and resistant to Chinese aggression in the West Philippines Sea,' Teodoro said in an interview by the ABS-CBN TV network, using the Philippine name for the stretch of disputed waters off the western Philippine coast. 'We've been gearing up towards that mission.' Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Marcos in the White House for talks on tariffs, trade and further boosting their countries' treaty alliance. After returning to Manila, Marcos traveled to an evacuation center outside Manila to help distribute food and other aid to villagers displaced by back-to-back storms and days of monsoon downpours that have flooded vast stretches of the main northern Luzon region, including Manila. More than 6 million people were affected by the onslaught, which left more than 30 others dead, mostly due to drownings, landslides and falling trees.
Winnipeg Free Press
22 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Yemen's Houthis threaten to escalate attacks on ships linked to companies dealing with Israel
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The rebel Houthi group in Yemen has said it will target merchant ships belonging to any company that does business with Israeli ports, regardless of nationality, as part of what it described as the next phase of its operations against Israel. The Iran-backed Houthis launched a campaign targeting merchant vessels in response to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, saying they were doing so in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Their attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which $1 trillion of goods usually passes each year. In an announcement late Sunday night, the Houthis said they had 'decided to escalate their military support operations and begin implementing the fourth phase of the naval blockade' against Israel. They warned that they would target 'all ships belonging to any company that deals with the ports of the Israeli enemy, regardless of the nationality of that company, and in any location within the reach of our armed forces.' The vessels would be targeted regardless of their destination, they added. The group said countries should pressure Israel to stop the war in Gaza and lift its blockade on the Palestinian territory 'if they want to avoid this escalation.' Earlier this month, the Houthis attacked and sank two Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carriers – the Magic Seas and the Eternity C. The attack on the latter left four crew members dead and 11 more were taken captive, while all 22 crew members of the Magic Seas were rescued before the ship sank. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones. The rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war and later became the target of an intense, weekslong airstrike campaign ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. In May, the U.S. announced a deal with the Houthis to end the airstrikes in return for an end to shipping attacks, although the rebel group said the agreement did not include halting attacks on targets it believed were aligned with Israel.
Toronto Star
28 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Kim Jong Un's sister rejects outreach by South Korea's new president
Asia SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed overtures by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that its 'blind trust' in the country's alliance with the U.S. and hostility toward North Korea make it no different from its conservative predecessor. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed overtures by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that its 'blind trust' in the country's alliance with the U.S. and hostility toward North Korea make it no different from its conservative predecessor. Kim Yo Jong's comments imply that North Korea — now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia — sees no need to resume diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime soon. Experts say she likely hopes to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington. More from The Star & partners
