Obama calls for aid access to Gaza, says ‘no justification' for withholding food
Obama's comments, posted on the social media platform X, were made in response to a New York Times op-ed by renowned Spanish-American chef José Andrés, founder of the relief organisation World Central Kitchen, which provides food in disaster and war zones.
Andrés' article, titled 'A Call to the World's Conscience to Save Gaza from Starvation,' detailed the hunger catastrophe facing civilians in Gaza due to the Israeli siege and the ongoing war.
'While a lasting solution to the crisis in Gaza requires the return of all hostages and a halt to Israeli military operations, these articles underscore the immediate need for action to prevent the tragedy of innocent people dying from preventable hunger,' Obama wrote. 'Aid must be allowed to reach Palestinians in Gaza. There is no justification for withholding food and water from civilian families.'
In his op-ed, Andrés wrote: 'There is no justification for the world to stand idly by while two million people teeter on the brink of widespread famine.'
'This is not a natural disaster caused by drought or crop failure, but a man-made crisis, which is also solvable by human means that could save lives today,' he added.
The founder of World Central Kitchen noted in his article that Israel, as the occupying power, has the responsibility to ensure the survival of civilians. He criticised the plan of the Israeli-backed 'Gaza Humanitarian Foundation' to distribute food from limited centres, saying it forced the hungry to walk for miles and threatened their lives.
Andrés said it was time to rebuild the aid system. 'Food cannot be delivered to Gaza fast enough. According to the World Food Program, a third of Gaza's population has gone without food for several consecutive days. Children are dying of starvation in rapidly increasing numbers,' he wrote.
He mentioned that his organisation, World Central Kitchen, along with its partners in Gaza, provides tens of thousands of meals daily. 'Since the beginning of the war, we have distributed more than 133 million meals through field and community kitchens,' he said.
Andrés explained that his organisation had proposed urgent measures to correct the course of aid distribution in Gaza, such as opening safe humanitarian corridors for all organisations working in the strip, increasing the production of hot meals, and delivering food directly to people where they are. He also noted that his organisation had proposed producing one million meals a day by establishing five large kitchens in safe areas.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Egypt Independent
33 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
At least 21 killed in attack on east Congo church by Islamic State-backed rebels, civil leader says
Kinshasa, Congo AP — At least 21 people were killed on Sunday in an attack on church premises in At least 21 people were killed on Sunday in an attack on church premises in eastern Congo by Islamic State-backed rebels, according to a civil society leader. The attack was carried out by members of the Allied Democratic Force (ADF) around one am inside the premises of a Catholic church in eastern Congo's Komanda. Several houses and shops were also burnt. 'More than 21 people were shot dead inside and outside and we have recorded at least three charred bodies and several houses burned. But the search is continuing,' Dieudonne Duranthabo, a civil society coordinator in Komanda, told The Associated Press. Earlier this month, the group killed dozens of people in Ituri in what a United Nations spokesperson described as a bloodbath. A spokesperson for the Congolese army in Ituri province, where Komanda is located, confirmed 10 dead. 'What we know this morning is that there was an incursion by armed men with machetes into a church not far from Komanda, where about 10 people were killed and massacred and some shops were set on fire,' Lt. Jules Ngongo, the DRC Army's spokesperson in Ituri, said. The ADF, with ties with the Islamic State, is a rebel group that operates in the borderland between Uganda and Congo, has routinely conducted attacks against civilian populations. 'We are truly disappointed because it is incredible that such a situation could occur in a town where all the security officials are present,' Duranthabo said. 'Some citizens have started fleeing the area and are heading towards Bunia. 'We demand military intervention as soon as possible, since we are told the enemy is still near our town.' The ADF was formed by disparate small groups in Uganda in the late 1990s following alleged discontent with Yoweri Museveni. In 2002, following military assaults by Ugandan forces, the group moved its activities to neighboring DRC and has since been responsible for the killings of thousands of civilians. In 2019, it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The ADF's leadership conceives of an Islamist government in the East African country. The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) has long struggled against the rebel group, and it has now been grappling with a complex web of attacks since the renewed hostilities between the Rwanda-backed M23.
Egypt Independent
34 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
China pitches global AI governance group as the US goes it alone
China has proposed a global action plan to govern artificial intelligence, just days after the United States unveiled its own plan to promote US dominance of the rapidly growing field that's become a key bargaining chip in trade talks between the economic powerhouses. Chinese Premier Li Qiang unveiled China's vision for future AI oversight at the World AI Conference (WAIC), an annual gathering in Shanghai of tech titans from more than 40 countries. Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaks at the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 26, 2025. Agatha Cantrill/AFP/Getty Images 'Overall, global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences, particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules,' said Li in his speech on Saturday. 'We should strengthen coordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible.' Li's remarks came just days after the Trump administration unveiled its 28-page AI action plan, which aims to remove 'bureaucratic red tape' and establish US dominance in the sector. While Li did not directly refer to the US in his speech, he alluded to the ongoing trade tensions between the two superpowers, which include American restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports — a component vital for powering and training AI, which is currently causing a shortage in China. 'Key resources and capabilities are concentrated in a few countries and a few enterprises,' said Li in his speech on Saturday. 'If we engage in technological monopoly, controls and restrictions, AI will become an exclusive game for a small number of countries and enterprises.' People visit the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. Go Nakamura/Reuters AI chips have become a key bargaining tool between US and China in trade negotiations, which continued this week with a meeting in Stockholm. Before the latest round of talks, both countries appeared to make concessions, with Washington lifting its ban on sales of a key Nvidia AI chip to China, and Beijing suspending its antitrust investigation into American chemical firm DuPont. Speaking from Scotland on Sunday, Trump said the US is 'very close to a deal with China,' but offered no further details. The current deadline for a deal expires on August 12. Billions spent in global AI race China has not been shy about promoting its AI ambitions: with more than 5,000 AI companies, and a core AI industry valued at 600 billion yuan ($84 billion) in April 2025, the nation is all-in on its tech rivalry with the US. This surge is being fueled by enormous government and private sector spending. Between 2013 and 2023, state venture capital firms invested an estimated $209 billion into AI-related businesses, according to research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private think tank based in Massachusetts, and this year alone, public sector spending on AI is expected to top 400 billion yuan ($56 billion). It's still a fraction of what the US spends — private AI investment in the US reached $109.1 billion in 2024, around 12 times China's $9.3 billion — but China's commitment to the AI race is evident in other ways. Since 2017, China has published more patents for generative AI inventions annually than all other countries combined, according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization. People watch a humanoid robot play boxing at a Unitree booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. Go Nakamura/Reuters All this investment is narrowing the gap between the US and China in the AI race. Earlier this year, the launch of one-year-old Chinese startup DeepSeek's new AI model R1 caused chaos on Wall Street and demonstrated China's technical capabilities by quickly outpacing models by Meta and Anthropic. It was allegedly developed for just $5.6 million, a fraction of the cost spent to make other models like ChatGPT (over $100 million) and Gemini (almost $200 million.) More recently, another startup Moonshot's Kimi K2 model released earlier this month also sent ripples in the AI community for its lower cost and capabilities that outperform some Google and OpenAI's models. The rapid development of China's AI market is even predicted to break even within the next few years, delivering a 52% return on investment as early as 2030, according to research from financial services firm Morgan Stanley. Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, also called for 'robust governance' of artificial intelligence to mitigate potential threats, including misinformation, deepfakes, and cybersecurity threats. People visit a Rokid booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. Go Nakamura/Reuters 'These developments demand urgent, coordinated action from the international community to ensure AI serves human welfare and social good,' he said in his speech at the conference, adding that AI implementation in ASEAN could further expand the region's rapidly growing digital economy and 'increase the region's GDP by 10-18%.' Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt reiterated the call for international collaboration, explicitly calling on the US and China to work together. 'As the largest and most significant economic entities in the world, the United States and China should collaborate on these issues,' said Schmidt at WAIC. 'We have a vested interest to keep the world stable, keep the world not at war, to keep things peaceful, to make sure we have human control of these tools.' Other speakers included computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, sometimes referred to as 'the godfather of AI' and French AI researcher and special envoy Anne Bouverot. Latest robot tech displayed Launched by Singaporean think tank Artificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII), the conference has been held in Shanghai since its inception in 2018 and has been an important platform for Chinese companies to showcase their technology to the world. Related article Will a dice-playing robot eventually make you tea and do your dishes? The event — which in the past has been attended by key figures in the tech industry, including Elon Musk and Jack Ma — features technology exhibitions, expert keynotes and discussion panels in a bid to further AI research, development and governance, something China hopes to play a leading role in. Attended by more than 800 companies, WAIC 2025 was again dominated by Chinese tech firms, including Tencent, Alibaba, SoftBank-backed Keenon Robotics and robotics startup Unitree, with appearances from several major US corporations like Tesla, Alphabet, and Amazon. A cosplayer presents the new AI doll Mochi at the Nubia booth at the Shanghai New Expo Center during the WAIC (World Artificial Intelligence Conference) 2025 in Shanghai, China, on July 28, 2025. Ying Tang/NurPhoto/Shutterstock A PsiBot robot plays mahjong during the 2025 World AI Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, on July 27, 2025. VCG/Getty Images Visitors explored tech innovations across 3,000 exhibits, which included over 100 new product debuts. They included new AI models from Tencent Holdings and Hong Kong-based company SenseTime, Alibaba's first AI-powered smart glasses, new popcorn-serving bipedal robot models from Keenon Robotics, and cute companion 'pet' robots from Shenzhen startup ZTE. Other key exhibitions at the three-day event included Unitree's G1 boxing robot, which quickly caught the attention of visitors and became a fan favorite on social media, dancing robot dogs developed by China Mobile, and PsiBot's mahjong-playing humanoid.
Egypt Independent
an hour ago
- Egypt Independent
Israeli settler kills Palestinian activist who worked on Oscar-winning film
Odeh Hathalin, who was a consultant on 'No Other Land,' a film that documents Israeli settler and military attacks on the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, was shot in the village of Umm al-Khair, in that same community. Israeli police said its forces arrived at the scene and detained an Israeli civilian, who was later arrested for questioning. Police did not identify the man they arrested. The Israeli military claimed that 'terrorists hurled rocks toward Israeli civilians near Carmel,' an Israeli settlement near Umm al-Khair. Hathalin's shooting was first reported by Yuval Abraham, the Israeli investigative journalist who co-directed 'No Other Land.' Abraham said Hathalin was 'shot in the upper body' and was in critical condition. Later, the Palestinian health ministry said he had died of his injuries. Many settlers are armed, and violence in the West Bank has surged since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. At least 964 Palestinians have been killed since then by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the United Nations. Settlers have a strong influence on Israeli politics, and in the rare cases where they are arrested for violent attacks against Palestinians, they are often released without charge. Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. Ofer Cassif, a left-wing member of Israel's parliament, has demanded that authorities launch an investigation into Hathalin's death. 'The incident occurred in broad daylight, in front of cameras, with no fear of legal consequences – testament to the paralysis of law enforcement and the complete sense of immunity enjoyed by violent settlers,' Cassif wrote in a letter to Israel's Attorney General. Basel Adra, a Palestinian journalist and a co-director of 'No Other Land,' shared testimony to his 'dear friend' Hathalin. 'He was standing in front of the community settler in his village when a settler fired a bullet that pierced his chest and took his life. This is how Israel erases us – one life at a time,' Adra wrote in a post on Instagram. Last month, Hathalin was detained at San Francisco International Airport upon arrival and deported after immigration officials revoked his visa, local media reported. He had been invited to visit a California synagogue as part of an interfaith speaking tour. CNN reported in March that settlers had also targeted Hamdan Ballal, another co-director of 'No Other Land,' outside his home in the village of Susya, also in Masser Yatta. Ballal, who had recently returned from Los Angeles to accept an Oscar for the film, told CNN he thought the group of settlers would kill him. He was detained by Israeli soldiers, handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten. The film 'No Other Land,' which tracked the destruction of the Masser Yatta community between 2019 and 2023, won Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2024 Oscars. Its final scene shows Adra's cousin, Zakara al-Adra, being shot by an Israeli settler in October 2023.
