Dozens killed while seeking aid at Gaza crossing as US envoy heads to Israel for talks
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The latest violence around aid distribution came as the US Middle East envoy was heading to
Israel for talks.
Israel's continuing military offensive and blockade have led to the 'worst-case scenario of famine' in the coastal territory of some 2 million Palestinians, according to the leading international authority on hunger crises.
A breakdown of law and order has seen aid convoys overwhelmed by desperate crowds.
US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has led the Trump administration's efforts to wind down the nearly 22-month war and release hostages taken in Hamas' October 7 attack that sparked the fighting, will arrive in Israel on Thursday for talks on the situation in Gaza.
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Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the dead and wounded were among crowds massed at the Zikim Crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid to northern Gaza. It was not immediately clear who opened fire and there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which controls the crossing.
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AllAfrica
10 hours ago
- AllAfrica
Why Trump can't stop the Ukraine and Gaza wars
In yet another twist in his unpredictable decision-making, US President Donald Trump has dramatically shortened his original 50-day ultimatum to Vladimir Putin to call a ceasefire in Ukraine to a mere ten days. It's an unmistakable sign of Trump's frustration with the Russian leader, whom he now appears to view as the main obstacle to ending the war. Progress has been similarly limited on another of Trump's flagship foreign policy projects: ending the war in Gaza. As a humanitarian catastrophe engulfs the territory, Trump and some of his MAGA base are finally challenging Israel's denials that, after almost two years of war, many Gazans now face a real risk of starvation. In neither case have his efforts to mediate and bring an end to the violence borne any fruit. But not all of Trump's efforts to stop violence in conflicts elsewhere in the world have been similarly futile. The administration brokered a ceasefire between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which the two countries' foreign ministers signed in Washington on June 27. The US president has also claimed to be behind the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May after the two sides had engaged in several days of fierce combat following a terror attack in Indian-administered Kashmir by a Pakistan-backed rebel group. And, drawing a clear parallel between this conflict and the border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand in July, Trump announced he had pushed both countries' leaders to negotiate a ceasefire. All of these ceasefires, so far, have held. By contrast, the ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, to which Trump contributed in January, even before he was inaugurated for his second term, broke down in March and fighting has escalated ever since. A short-lived ceasefire in Ukraine in April was barely worth its name given the countless violations. Three factors can explain Trump's mixed record of peacemaking to date. First, the US president is more likely to succeed in stopping the fighting where he has leverage and is willing to use it to force foreign leaders to bend to his will. For example, Trump was very clear that there would be no trade negotiations with Thailand or Cambodia 'until such time as the fighting STOPS.' The crucial difference, so far, with the situation in the war against Ukraine is that Trump has, and has used, similar leverage only with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. This led to a US-Ukraine agreement on a 30-day ceasefire proposal just two weeks after the now-notorious row between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office. The mere threat of sanctions against Russia, by contrast, has done little to persuade Putin to accept whatever deal might Trump offer him. Trump's threats – which he has never followed through on – did not work in January or May. The Kremlin's initial reactions to the latest ultimatum from the White House do not indicate a change in Putin's attitude. A second factor that may explain why Trump has had peacemaking success in some cases but not others is the level of complexity of US interests involved. When it comes to US relations with Russia and Israel, there is a lot more at stake for Trump. The US president still appears keen to strike a grand bargain with Russia and China under which Washington, Beijing and Moscow would agree to recognize, and not interfere in, their respective spheres of influence. This could explain his hesitation so far to follow through on his threats to Putin. Similarly, US interests in the Middle East – whether it's over Iran's nuclear program or relations with America's Gulf allies – have put strains on the alliance with Israel. Trump also needs to weigh carefully the impact of any move against, or in support of, Israel on his domestic support base. In the deal Trump brokered between Rwanda and the DRC, the issues at stake were much simpler: access for US investors to the mineral riches of the eastern DRC. Just days into his second term, Trump acknowledged that the conflict was a 'very serious problem.' Congo's president, Felix Tshisekedi, responded by offering the US access to minerals in exchange for pushing Rwanda to a deal to end the invasion and stop supporting proxy forces in the DRC. This leads to the third factor that has enabled Trump's peace-making success so far: simpler solutions are easier to achieve. Thailand and Cambodia and India and Pakistan can go back to the situation before their recent fighting. That does not resolve any of the underlying issues in their conflicts, but returns their relations to some form of non-violent stability. It is ultimately also in the interests of the conflict parties. 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This ultimately suggests that the White House simply may not have the bandwidth for the level of engagement that would be necessary to get to a deal in Ukraine and the Middle East. This is a self-inflicted opportunity lost, not only for the United States but also for the long-suffering people of Ukraine and the Middle East. Stefan Wolff is professor of international security, University of Birmingham This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The Standard
18 hours ago
- The Standard
Trump envoy to inspect Gaza aid as pressure mounts on Israel
Demonstrators lift placards and chant slogans during an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv on July 31, 2025, calling for a stop to the war in Gaza, and for the release of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
RTHK
a day ago
- RTHK
Trump envoy to inspect Gaza aid
Trump envoy to inspect Gaza aid Steve Witkoff is to visit Gaza to inspect aid distribution amid concerns of famine in the besieged enclave. Photo: Reuters President Donald Trump's envoy met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ahead of a visit to inspect aid distribution in Gaza, as a deadly food crisis drove mounting international pressure for a ceasefire. Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in months of stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, met Netanyahu shortly after his arrival, the Israeli leader's office said. He is to visit Gaza on Friday, the White House said. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Witkoff, who visited Gaza in January, would inspect "distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground". German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also met Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and afterwards declared: "The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination. "Here, the Israeli government must act quickly, safely and effectively to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality," he said. "I have the impression that this has been understood today." In an example of the deadly problems facing aid efforts in Gaza, the territory's civil defence agency said that at least 58 Palestinians were killed late on Wednesday when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd attempting to block an aid convoy. The Israeli military said troops had fired "warning shots" as Gazans gathered around the aid trucks. An AFP correspondent saw stacks of bullet-riddled corpses in Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital. Jameel Ashour, who lost a relative in the shooting, told AFP at the overflowing morgue that Israeli troops opened fire after "people saw thieves stealing and dropping food and the hungry crowd rushed in hopes of getting some". Witkoff has been the top US representative in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas but talks in Doha broke down last week and Israel and the United States recalled their delegations. Israel is under mounting international pressure to agree a ceasefire and allow the world to flood Gaza with food, with Canada and Portugal the latest Western governments to announce plans to recognise a Palestinian state. Trump criticised Canada's decision and, in a post on his Truth Social network, placed the blame for the crisis squarely on Palestinian militant group Hamas. "The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!" declared Trump, one of Israel's staunchest international supporters. Earlier this week, however, the US president contradicted Netanyahu's insistence that reports of hunger in Gaza were exaggerated, warning that the territory faces "real starvation". (AFP)
