Palestinians mourn journalist killed in Israeli strike in Gaza
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Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
German foreign minister tones down Palestinian recognition talk on West Bank trip
BERLIN, Aug 1 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul sought to tone down previous comments about his country's position on Palestinian statehood during a trip to the West Bank on Friday, saying Germany had no immediate plans to recognise a Palestinian state. Wadephul's comment followed sharp criticism from Israeli officials over his earlier suggestion, before he left for the trip, that Germany could respond to any unilateral Israeli actions with recognition of a Palestinian state. Far-right Israeli government minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had written on X: "80 years after the Holocaust, and Germany returns to supporting Nazism". After meeting Israel's foreign minister, prime minister and president on Thursday evening, Wadephul explained on Friday that Germany did not plan to recognise a Palestinian state immediately, "as that is one of the final steps to be taken" as part of a two-state solution. Wadephul's attempt to clarify his remarks highlights Germany's longstanding difficulty in taking a clear position on the issue, caught between growing international pressure to hold Israel accountable for its actions and Germany's own post-Holocaust commitment to ensuring Israel's security. He called on Israel to ensure safe access for United Nations agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying the current restrictions were worsening the crisis. "The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza must end now," Wadephul said, stressing that aid distribution through the UN had long worked effectively and needed to resume without obstacles. He said Germany would provide an additional 5 million euros ($5.7 million) to the UN World Food Programme to support bakeries and soup kitchens and fund a field hospital in Gaza City. Asked about Israeli concerns that aid could be diverted by Hamas, Wadephul acknowledged that misuse could not be fully ruled out but said it was no reason to block relief efforts. "The best way to prevent Hamas from misusing supplies is to deliver more aid and ensure full coverage for the population," he said. He also condemned rising violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, adding that Berlin would continue pushing at the European level for sanctions on violent settlers. ($1 = 0.8759 euros)
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump envoy visits Gaza amid war of words over 'starvation' claims - as Germany, France, Spain, Jordan and UAE join forces to airdrop supplies
Donald Trump 's special envoy Steve Witkoff inspected a food distribution centre in war-torn Gaza today amid an escalating war of words over 'starvation' claims. The UN has warned that widespread famine is a looming threat in the besieged strip and claims hundreds of Palestinians have been shot while trying to collect aid near distribution sites. But Israel insists that Gaza is not facing starvation and says Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, posted on X that he and Witkoff had gone to Gaza 'to learn the truth' about the private aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by the United States. 'We received briefings from IDF (the Israeli military) and spoke to folks on the ground. GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!' Huckabee said. 'Hamas hates GHF because it gets food to people without it being looted by Hamas.' The foundation, on its own X account, posted that it had been a 'privilege and honor' to host Witkoff and Huckabee as the group delivered its 100-millionth meal in Gaza, fulfilling Trump's 'call to lead with strength, compassion and action'. Witkoff's visit comes as Germany, France, Spain, Jordan, and UAE have joined forces to airdrop supplies into the Palestinian territory. France on Friday started to air-drop 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza as it urged Israel to allow full access to the area which it said was slipping into famine. 'Faced with the absolute urgency, we have just conducted a food airdrop operation in Gaza. 'Thank you to our Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support, and to our military personnel for their commitment,' President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media platform X. 'Airdrops are not enough. Israel must open full humanitarian access to address the risk of famine,' he added. A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday that a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot earlier in the day had told broadcaster franceinfo that France was sending four flights carrying 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid each to Gaza from Jordan. France participated six times in the European humanitarian airlift set up in mid-October 2023 by the European Union to Jordan and Egypt to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, Macron's office said. The European airlift enabled the organisation of more than 60 flights carrying over 3,350 tons of humanitarian cargo, with most of the donations in-kind transiting through Egypt and Jordan, according to Macron's office. Part of this aid has still not entered Gaza due to a lack of agreement from the Israeli authorities, the president's office said. The UN's rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 people had been killed seeking aid in Gaza since May 27 - 105 of them in the last two days of July. 'Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,' the UN office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near the US-backed food sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys. In its report on the GHF centres on Friday, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of illegally using starvation as a weapon of war. 'Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,' said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. 'US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.' A Palestinian woman in northern Gaza's Jabalia gestures at a plane conducting an airdrop of aid in the Israel-besieged Palestinian territory on August 1, 2025 Responding to the report, the military said GHF worked independently, but that Israeli soldiers operated 'in proximity to the new distribution areas in order to enable the orderly delivery of food'. It accused Hamas of trying to prevent food distribution and said that it was conducting a review of the reported deaths, adding it worked to 'minimise, as much as possible, any friction between the civilian population' and its forces. After arriving in Israel on Thursday, Witkoff held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to resolve the almost 22-month-old war, feed desperate civilians and free the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militants. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and free the captives, but is under international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and threatened many more with famine. Following his discussions with Witkoff, Netanyahu met Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of Germany, another staunch Israeli ally, who nonetheless delivered a blunt message. 'The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination,' Wadephul told reporters after the meeting, urging the government 'to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality'. 'I have the impression that this has been understood today,' he added. Meanwhile, Slovenia has become the first country in the European Union to ban all weapons trade with Israel over its war on Gaza. It said it was moving ahead 'independently' because the EU was 'unable to adopt concrete measures … due to internal disagreements and disunity'. Amid the devastating war in Gaza, where 'people … are dying because humanitarian aid is systematically denied them', it was the 'duty of every responsible state to take action, even if it means taking a step ahead of others'. It added that the government had not issued any permits for the export of military weapons and equipment to Israel since October 2023 because of the conflict.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Iran amputates hands of three 'thieves' in rare use of brutal Sharia law punishment
Iranian authorities have amputated the hands of three convicted 'thieves' in a rare use of the brutal Sharia law punishment. The savage punishment, usually reserved for repeat offenders, was given to three men at Urmia Prison in the West Azerbaijan province, in northwest Iran, on Thursday at around 1am. The men, described by Iran's judiciary website as 'professional thieves', were arrested between August 2017 and November 2019 and convicted in a 'grossly unfair' trial in which the court sentenced them to have four fingers on their right hands completely cut off. They had 'more than 40 private plaintiffs across four provinces', the judiciary's Mizan website said. 'The sentence of hand amputation for three professional thieves with a history of multiple thefts was carried out in West Azerbaijan province', it added. Mizan said the amputations had been carried out after Iran's top court upheld the sentences against the trio, and after they had not cooperated with 'many' attempts to negotiate the return of the stolen items. The claimed that returning the stolen goods, mostly gold jewelry, would have allowed them 'to benefit from legal leniency and repentance'. Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Sarah Hashas said the amputations were 'based on 'confessions' obtained under torture and following grossly unfair trials'. 'They are a chilling reminder of the Iranian authorities' readiness to inflict irreversible suffering and that Iran's judicial system is a vital cog in the machinery of torture', she added. The three men were sentenced to 'amputation of four fingers from the right hand from the base, so that the thumb remains' despite testimony that their confessions were extracted under torture, according to documents obtained by Iran Human Rights organisation (IHRNGO). Since getting the gruesome sentence, all three had gone on multiple hunger strikes in prison to protest the inhumane conditions they have been subjected to, as well as their conviction. IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: 'The international community must not tolerate the implementation of medieval and degrading sentences like finger amputations in the 21st century.' The Sharia-based penal code was introduced in Iran after the Islamic revolution of 1979. It provides for amputation as a punishment for certain offences, although human rights groups have condemned its use as 'cruel' and 'inhumane'. Last month Iranian authorities amputated the hands of two men who had been repeatedly convicted of theft. According to the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre, Iranian authorities have amputated the fingers of at least 131 men since January 2000.
