New clashes rock Syria
The United Nations called for an end to the "bloodshed" and demanded an "independent" investigation of the violence, which has claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The renewed fighting raised questions over the authority of interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose interim government also has difficult relations with the Kurdish and Alawite minorities.
It was Sharaa who ordered government forces to pull out, saying that mediation by the United States and others had helped avert a "large-scale escalation" with Israel.
Renewed fighting erupted Friday between Bedouin tribal factions and the Druze at the entrance to Sweida, an AFP correspondent said.
About 200 tribal fighters clashed with armed Druze men from the city using machine guns and shells, the AFP correspondent said, while the Observatory also reported fighting and "shelling on neighbourhoods in Sweida city". In the corridors of the Sweida National Hospital, a foul odour emanated from the swollen and disfigured bodies piled up in refrigerated storage units, an AFP correspondent reported.
A small number of doctors and nurses at the hospital worked to treat the wounded arriving from the ongoing clashes, some in the hallways. Omar Obeid, a doctor at the government hospital, told AFP that the facility has received "more than 400 bodies since Monday morning".
"There is no more room in the morgue, the bodies are in the street" in front of the hospital, added Obeid, president of the Sweida branch of the Order of Physicians.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business Recorder
Gaza civil defence says Israeli attacks kill 26
GAZA CITY: Gaza's civil defence agency said 26 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on Tuesday, including 14 who were waiting near an aid distribution site inside the Palestinian territory. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that eight people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid near the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis. Six more people were killed and 21 injured by Israeli fire in central Gaza while waiting for food near a distribution centre, according to Bassal. The Israeli army told AFP it was looking into the incidents. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. Hamas says it will allow aid for hostages if Israel halts airstrikes, opens permanent humanitarian corridors Thousands of Gazans gather daily near food distribution points across Gaza, including four belonging to the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect rations. Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods and aid into Gaza since the start of the war nearly 22 months ago have led to shortages of food and essential goods, including medicine, medical supplies and fuel, which hospitals rely on to power their generators. Bassal said that five people were killed by a nightly air strike on a tent in Al-Mawasi in south Gaza, an area Israeli authorities designated as a safe zone early on in the war. 'It's said to be a green zone and it's safe, but it's not. They also say that the aid (distribution) is safe, but people die while obtaining aid,' said Adham Younes, who lost a relative in the strike. 'There's no safety within the Gaza Strip, everyone is exposed to death, everyone is subject to injury,' the 30-year-old told AFP. Mahmud Younes, another Gazan who said he witnessed the strike, said: ''We found women screaming – they were covered in blood. The entire family has been injured.' Bassal of the civil defence agency said that six more people were killed in a strike near Gaza City, and one in a strike near the southern city of Khan Yunis. The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing and the largest armed force in Gaza, said in a statement Tuesday that they had bombarded an Israeli command-and-control centre in south Gaza's Morag Axis, an Israeli-controlled corridor.
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Express Tribune
Pakistan Sends 28th Aid Shipment to Gaza as Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
Listen to article Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan on Monday dispatched its 28th humanitarian consignment to Gaza, carrying 100 tons of essential food and medical supplies, in a continued show of solidarity with the Palestinian people. The aid is part of the foundation's ongoing relief efforts for the war-affected population in the besieged enclave. Alhamdulillah! Alkhidmat has sent a new consignment of 100 tons of relief goods from Islamabad for Palestinian families in Gaza facing a severe food crisis.#Alkhidmat #gaza #palsetine #Support #Palestine — Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan (@AlkhidmatOrg) August 4, 2025 The consignment, arranged in coordination with the Government of Pakistan and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), was flown from Islamabad via a special aircraft to Amman, Jordan, from where it will be transported to Gaza for distribution among displaced families. The aid dispatch comes at a time when humanitarian conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNRWA, child malnutrition rates have tripled in the last three months, and the region faces a risk of famine if access is not urgently expanded. On July 10, children and women were killed and injured while waiting for nutrition supplies in Gaza. The killing of families trying to access life-saving aid is unconscionable. UNICEF's @TedChaiban shares what's needed urgently for children in Gaza. — UNICEF (@UNICEF) August 2, 2025 Aid organisations say at least 600 aid trucks are needed per day to meet the Strip's basic humanitarian needs. Nearly 1,600 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Israel eased restrictions in late July Local Palestinian health authorities reported that at least 80 people were killed on Sunday by Israeli airstrikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian medics, several of the victims were attempting to reach aid distribution points in the central and southern regions of the enclave. Among the dead was a staff member of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The organization stated that an Israeli strike hit its headquarters in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, sparking a fire on the building's first floor. Growing hunger At least 41 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including 20 people who were seeking aid, hospital sources told Al Jazeera. The killings come as the United Nations warns that Gaza is on the brink of famine, with one in three residents reportedly going days without food. 'Over 320,000 young children are now at risk of acute malnutrition,' said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, in a statement on Friday following his recent visit to Israel, Gaza, and the occupied West Bank. Hospitals in Gaza have recorded six new deaths from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including one child, according to the Gaza Health brings the total number of people who have died from hunger-related causes since the start of the war to 181, including 94 children. As starvation continues to spread across the Gaza Strip, harrowing images of emaciated children and rising reports of hunger-related deaths have sparked global outrage, pressuring Israel to allow increased humanitarian aid into the territory earlier this week. Ceasefire The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to 'fulfill its responsibilities' by imposing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and carrying out an official visit to the region to witness the situation firsthand. In a statement shared on social media, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on the UN Security Council to 'stop the crimes of genocide, displacement, and annexation against our people' and to act on the resolutions of a recent UN conference advocating for a two-state solution. The ministry warned that over two million Palestinians in Gaza are trapped in a 'tight death circle' — facing relentless violence, starvation, thirst, lack of medical care, and the denial of all fundamental human rights. Israel's war on Gaza The Israeli army has launched a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing at least 58,667 Palestinians, including 17,400 children. More than 139,974 people have been injured, and over 14,222 are missing and presumed dead. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Business Recorder
3 days ago
- Business Recorder
Six more die of hunger in Gaza, Israel says UN trucks make fuel delivery
CAIRO: Six more people died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza over the past 24 hours, its health ministry said on Sunday as Israel said it allowed a delivery of fuel to the enclave, in the throes of a humanitarian disaster after almost two years of war. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from what international humanitarian agencies say may be an unfolding famine to 175, including 93 children, since the war began, the ministry said. Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said two trucks carrying 107 tons of diesel were set to enter Gaza, months after Israel severely restricted aid access to the enclave before easing it somewhat as starvation began to spread. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said later in the day that four tankers of UN fuel had entered to help in operations of hospitals, bakeries, public kitchens and other essential services. There was no immediate confirmation whether the two diesel fuel trucks had entered Gaza from Egypt. Gaza's health ministry has said fuel shortages have severely impaired hospital services, forcing doctors to focus on treating only critically ill or injured patients. Fuel shipments have been rare since March, when Israel restricted the flow of aid into the enclave in what it said was pressure on Hamas militants to free the remaining hostages they took in their October 2023 attack on Israel. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza but, in response to a rising international uproar, it announced steps last week to let more aid reach the population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, approving air drops and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. UN agencies say airdrops are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and open up access to the territory to prevent starvation among its 2.2 million people, most of whom are displaced amidst vast swathes of rubble. COGAT said that during the past week over 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organisations. Meanwhile, Belgium's air force dropped the first in a series of its aid packages into Gaza on Sunday in a joint operation with Jordan, the Belgian defence ministry said. France on Friday started to air-drop 40 tons of humanitarian aid. LOOTED AID TRUCKS The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that nearly 1,600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. More than 700 trucks of fuel entered the Gaza Strip in January and February during a ceasefire before Israel broke it in March in a dispute over terms for extending it and resumed its major offensive. Palestinian local health authorities said at least 40 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across the coastal enclave on Sunday. Deaths included persons trying to make their way to aid distribution points in southern and central areas of Gaza, Palestinian medics said. Among those killed was a staff member of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which said an Israeli strike at their headquarters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza ignited a fire on the first floor of the building. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in a cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's air and ground war in densely populated Gaza has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to enclave health officials. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
