Shootings at Gaza aid distribution sites: Situation an ‘impasse', ‘anarchy'
At least dozens of Palestinians were killed near aid distribution sites in Gaza since the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operating in the enclave late last month. 'We don't know who's exactly doing the shooting right now, it could be Hamas, it could be one of these Islamist militias we've recently found out Israel is backing with arms, or it could be the Israeli army', FRANCE 24's Noga Tarnopolsky said, adding that the situation is 'some sort of impasse and anarchy, and people who need the aid are just not getting it'.
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France 24
6 hours ago
- France 24
Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near aid centre
The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired "warning shots" at individuals that it said were "advancing in a way that endangered the troops". The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week. Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), "six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout", where they had gathered to seek humanitarian aid from the distribution centre around a kilometre (a little over half a mile) away. Palestinians have congregated at the roundabout almost daily since late May. AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports. Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout. "As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians," Abu Hadid said. Activist boat nears Gaza The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month-long aid blockade on the territory. UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals. On Saturday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,772, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable. The war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine. The aid boat Madleen, organised by an international activist coalition, was sailing towards Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel's naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organisers said. "We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. "We are all good," she added. In a statement from London, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza -- a member organisation of the flotilla coalition -- said the ship had entered Egyptian waters. The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies and warned that any interception would constitute "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law". The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before Hamas's October 2023 attack and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce it. "For this case as well, we are prepared," army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Tuesday. Body of Thai hostage recovered "We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly." A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel's naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead. The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in Gaza in recent weeks in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war. On Saturday, the military issued evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, saying they had been used for rocket attacks. Separately, in a special operation in the Rafah area on Friday, Israeli forces retrieved the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, Defence Minister Israel Katz said. "Nattapong came to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture, out of a desire to build a better future for himself and his family," Katz said. He was "brutally murdered in captivity by the terrorist organisation Mujahideen Brigades", the minister charged. The Mujahideen Brigades is an armed group close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad that Israel has also accused over other deaths of hostages seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border. The military said Nattapong's family and Thai officials had been notified of the operation. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said the country was "deeply saddened" by his death. During the October 2023 attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead.
Euronews
7 hours ago
- Euronews
Israel recovers body of Thai national taken by Hamas on 7 October
After their 2-0 defeat against Venezuela in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, the Bolivian national team has faced a new setback: the Venezuelan authorities have prevented their flight from leaving Maturin airport, without offering clear explanations. The Bolivian delegation, which claims it had all the necessary documentation and permits to return to its country, was forced to return to its hotel in the middle of the night after hours of waiting without authorisation to leave Venezuela. The technical director of the Venezuelan team, Óscar Villegas, said that the situation took them by surprise, as they had previously asked a Bolivian government minister to coordinate with the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro to facilitate their departure. Harold Howard, in charge of security and logistics for the team, spoke of "sabotage" by the Venezuelan regime, explaining that they were informed of an alleged problem with "air traffic" as the reason for the hold-up, despite the fact that there were only two planes landing at the time. The incident has generated outrage in the Bolivian sporting and political community, which has called on the national authorities to intervene and demand answers from the Venezuelan government. The situation has also affected the planning of the Bolivian team, which was scheduled to leave for La Paz at around 5:00 (local time) and train that afternoon ahead of Tuesday's match with Chile in El Alto. This episode adds to a series of obstacles and problems that, according to complaints, Maduro's regime has imposed on foreign delegations, displaying a lack of reliability and transparency in the treatment of visiting teams. Israel says it has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage kidnapped into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, as it continues its military offensive across the strip, killing at least 95 people in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza's health ministry. The prime minister's office said Saturday that the body of Thai citizen Nattapong Pinta was returned to Israel in a special military operation. Pinta was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity near the start of the war, said the government. This comes two days after the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages were retrieved. Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza, of whom Israel says more than half are dead. The defence minister said on Saturday that Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area. He had come to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture. The army said he was taken into Gaza by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that it said had also abducted and killed Shiri Bibas and her two small children. It's also the same group that took the two Israeli-American hostages, Judith Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved by the army on Thursday. Later on Saturday, the Israeli army announced that they believed to have found the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, killed in Gaza last month. The IDF also said that four of its soldiers were killed when a building collapsed following a booby trap in southern Gaza's Khan Younis on Friday. Pinta's body was found based on information received from the hostage task force and military intelligence, the IDF explained. A statement from the hostage forum, which supports the hostages, said it stands with Pinta's family and shares in their grief. It called on the country's decision makers to bring home the remaining hostages and give those who have died a proper burial. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas militants. Many of the Thai agricultural workers lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, and Hamas militants overran those places first. A total of 46 Thais have been killed during the conflict, according to Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before Pinta's body was retrieved, three Thai hostages remained in captivity and two were confirmed dead. The fate of Pinta was uncertain until today, according to the hostage forum. Four strikes hit the Muwasi area in southern Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, one strike hit an apartment, killing seven people including a mother and five children. Their bodies were taken to Shifa hospital. Israel said Saturday that it's responding to Hamas' 'barbaric attacks' and is dismantling its capabilities. It said it follows international law and takes all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Staff at Nasser hospital where six of the bodies were taken, said they were killed while on their way to get food assistance. Israel's army said Saturday that despite prior warnings that the area is an active combat zone during night time hours, several suspects attempted to approach army troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight 'in a manner that posed a threat to the troops'. The army said the troops called to drive them away but as they continued advancing they fired warning shots. The army said it was aware of reports of casualties. An army official who can't be named in line with military procedures, said the warning shots were fired approximately one kilometer from the aid distribution site. Estonia will lease space at Tartu Prison to Sweden and accept up to 600 inmates under a new agreement being negotiated between the two countries. The draft legislation has been sent to the parliament. Meanwhile, the Estonian Office of the Chancellor of Justice and the Internal Security Service emphasise the risks that placing foreign prisoners in Tartu may bring. Amid the possible worsening situation for the Estonian prisoners, the main concern is that people with connections to extremism or international organised crime may arrive in Estonia. The Internal Security Service has forwarded the recommendations to the government and hopes that it will take them into account to the greatest extent possible. Marta Tuul, spokesperson of the Internal Security Service commented on Estonian TV: "The main concerns we see are that people with connections to extremism or international organised crime do not arrive in Estonia. We also see that foreign prisoners may begin to be visited by individuals with connections to extremism or international organised crime." In 2023, the number of inmates in Estonia dropped below 2,000 for the first time and has been decreasing by about one hundred people each year. Meanwhile, the Swedish government aims to impose tougher and longer sentences, making it unlikely that the number of prisoners there will decline in the near future. Indrek-Ivar Määrit, Head of Inspection Department of the Office of the Chancellor of Justice told Estonian public TV: "For us, there are three main concerns here: Firstly, the situation of Estonian prisoners must not worsen because foreign prisoners are coming. Secondly, these foreign prisoners themselves must be treated in accordance with Estonian law and international requirements. And thirdly, in the broadest sense, Estonia's internal security should not be endangered, and we are not only mindful of the danger that these people themselves pose, but also the danger that may accompany this process." For Swedish offenders, the Estonian state plans to use the S-Wing of Tartu Prison, which has approximately 350 places across 175 cells, followed by the E-Wing, which has 631 places in 318 cells. Rait Kuuse, Secretary General for Prisons at the Ministry of Justice further elaborated on the plams: "We prefer not to accept prisoners who are women or children. These would be male prisoners, either people convicted of crimes against the person or convicted of drug crimes, who do not have signs of being part of a network and who should not pose a significant threat to Estonia as a whole." Through the agreement, Estonia hopes to generate at least €30 million in additional revenue.
France 24
8 hours ago
- France 24
Israeli fire killed dozens near aid centre, Gaza rescuers say
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