Israel expands Gaza assault as Ireland and 24 other nations say suffering of civilians has reached ‘new depths'
expanded its assault on Hamas on Monday, advancing for the first time during the 21-month war towards parts of central
Gaza
previously spared the worst devastation of the war.
Gaza's health ministry said at least 130
Palestinians
had been killed in Deir el-Balah and other areas of central Gaza in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks.
The escalation came as Israel rejected international criticism of its conduct in the Gaza war, describing a statement by 26 countries, including Ireland, as 'detached from reality,' saying Hamas was responsible for the continued suffering of Gaza civilians.
The 25 countries and the EU
commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management, including the United Kingdom, France and Canada, called on Monday, July 21st, for the war in Gaza to end immediately.
READ MORE
The signatories condemned the 'inhumane killing of civilians' seeking aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites.
The foreign ministers of the countries, all members of the OECD, published a joint statement urging the Israeli Government to 'immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life-saving work safely and effectively.'
'The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,' the statement read. 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.'
The statement, signed by
Tánaiste Simon Harris
and other foreign ministers, says the signatories are 'prepared to take further action' to bring about a ceasefire in the Middle East.
Israel's foreign ministry said the international criticism sent the wrong message to Hamas.
'All claims about the absence of a ceasefire deal and release of hostages should be directed at the terrorist organisation that started this war and is prolonging it,' the foreign ministry said.
'The declaration does not mention Hamas's role and responsibility for the situation. It is solely responsible for the continued suffering on both sides.'
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Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir Al-Balah, where it believes hostages are
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Incidents of Palestinians being killed while trying to collect food from distribution points run by the controversial GHF are reported almost every day.
Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 93 Palestinians had been killed queuing for food on Sunday, but Israel has questioned these figures. The Israeli military posted a video clip on Monday of which appeared to show Gaza residents cheering Israeli soldiers after taking food parcels from an aid truck.
United Nations secretary general António Guterres
said he was appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, 'where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing,' his spokesperson said.
'He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition,' UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Smoke and flames erupt from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Monday, July 21st. Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi/ AP
The latest developments came as ceasefire talks in Doha appeared to be deadlocked.
US envoy Steve Witkoff does not plan to join the proximity talks taking place in the Qatari capital between Israel and Hamas until the gaps have narrowed sufficiently to enable him to close a deal.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said more than 59,000 people have been killed in the war, which began with the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023 during which 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped. Fifty hostages remain in Hamas captivity, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
Meanwhile, President Michael D Higgins said the latest developments in Gaza were aimed at destroying infrastructure to the point that would be 'nothing to return to on the part of those displaced.'
'It is now time for us to hear from an independent body or the European Union itself as to how the recently negotiated access of aid to those dying of starvation and dehydration, including the tiny infants and breastfeeding mothers who are going to die due to dehydration, is being provided,' he said.
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
‘Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die': News agency staff warn journalists face starvation
Staff at an international news agency have warned that its reporters in Gaza are facing imminent death from starvation and exhaustion. The statement from AFP's Société des Journalistes marks the first time in the agency's 80-year history that a humanitarian alert has been issued on behalf of its own journalists. The warning from the staff union comes at a time when malnutrition and starvation are killing Palestinians faster than at any point in the 21-month war, according to local health officials. A total of 33 people, including 12 children, have died in the past 48 hours from malnutrition, according to the Gaza health ministry. AFP's Société des Journalistes (SDJ) said that since the withdrawal of AFP staff journalists from Gaza in 2024, the agency has relied on a team of freelancers – one text reporter, three photographers and six video journalists – to report from inside the besieged territory. READ MORE 'Along with a few others, they are now the only ones reporting what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering this territory for almost two years,' the statement notes. 'We refuse to see them die.' It draws particular attention to Bashar, a 30-year-old photojournalist who has worked with AFP since 2010. 'On Saturday 19th July, he posted a message on Facebook: 'I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can't work any more.'' It said Bashar lives with his family in the ruins of their home in Gaza City, moving between camps in search of safety. 'On Sunday morning, he reported that his eldest brother had 'fallen, because of hunger'.' Though these journalists receive monthly payments from AFP, it said the economic collapse inside Gaza has rendered salaries 'nearly useless'. 'Even if these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, there is nothing to buy, or else at totally exorbitant prices. The banking system has disappeared, and those who exchange money between online bank accounts and cash take a commission of almost 40 per cent.' Transport, it says, has become nearly impossible and extremely dangerous. 'AFP can no longer use its vehicle, let alone procure petrol to fuel it and transport its journalists for their reporting. In any case, travelling by car would make them a target for the Israeli air force. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart.' Ahlam, another AFP journalist, continues to report from the south of Gaza, according to the statement. [ 'Famine is spreading and people are dying': UN urges Israel to allow fuel into Gaza Opens in new window ] 'And she wants to 'bear witness' for as long as possible. 'Every time I leave the tent to cover an event, do an interview or document something, I don't know if I'll come back alive.'' ''The biggest problem,' she confirms, 'is the lack of food and water.'' According to the SDJ, the situation for these journalists is deteriorating by the day. 'They are young and losing their strength. Most of them no longer have the physical capacity to travel around the enclave to do their job. Their heart-rending cries for help are now a daily occurrence. 'Over the last few days, we have learned from their brief messages that their lives are hanging by a thread and that the courage they have shown for months to bring news to the world will not be enough to pull them through. 'The idea that we could hear of their passing at any time is unbearable to us. On Sunday, Bashar wrote: 'For the first time, I feel defeated.' Later that day, he told one of us that he was grateful to him 'for explaining what we go through every day between death and hunger'. 'Ahlam is still standing. 'I'm trying to continue doing my job, to carry the voice of the people, to document the truth in the face of all the attempts to silence it. Here, resisting is not a choice – it's a necessity.'' The SDJ said the crisis was without precedent in the agency's history. 'Since AFP was founded in August 1944, some of our journalists were killed in conflict, others were wounded or made prisoner, but there is no record of us ever having had to watch our colleagues starving to death.' AFP management said it shared the SDJ's concerns. 'Since October 7th, Israel has blocked access to the Gaza Strip for all international journalists. In this context, the work of our Palestinian freelancers is crucial to informing the world,' it said in a statement. 'But their lives are in danger, so we urge the Israeli authorities to allow them to evacuate immediately along with their families.'
Irish Independent
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Trump pulls US out of ‘woke' and ‘divisive' UNESCO for second time
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an hour ago
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Iran's leaders turn to a new brand of nationalism after Israeli and US attacks
The event had all the typical trappings of Ashura, Iran's ritualistic Shi'ite Muslim mourning period. The kneeling crowds were dressed in black. They beat their chests in unison. Then Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , beckoned the man leading the chants and whispered in his ear. Grinning, the singer broke into a tune that would have been wildly out of place at a religious ceremony for the Islamic Republic just a few weeks ago: 'Ey Iran, Iran', a patriotic anthem. 'In my soul and spirit, you remain, O homeland,' he sang, as the crowd recited the words back to him. 'Wasted be the heart that does not tremble for you.' Iran has emerged from its war with Israel – briefly joined by the United States – deeply wounded. Its military defences are battered, its nuclear programme was pummelled and its population has been devastated by a heavy civilian toll over the 12-day war. READ MORE Amid that bleak outlook, the country's leaders see an opportunity. Outrage over the attacks has sparked an outpouring of nationalist sentiment, and they hope to channel that into a patriotic moment to shore up a government facing daunting economic and political challenges. A billboard in Tehran depicts missiles and the mythological figure of Arash the archer. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times The result has been an embrace of ancient folklore and patriotic symbols that many of Iran's secular nationalists once saw as their domain, not that of a conservative theocracy that often shunned Iran's pre-Islamic revolutionary heritage. In the ancient city of Shiraz, a billboard depicts Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu kneeling before a statue of Shapur I, the third-century Persian king, mimicking a frieze from the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis. In Tehran's Vanak Square, a popular shopping area, a billboard has been erected for Arash the Archer, the mythological figure said to have created Iran's borders by launching his life force from an arrowhead. Now, instead of arrows, it is the missiles of the Islamic Republic being fired across his bow. 'We are witnessing the birth of a fusion of Shi'ite identity and Iranian nationalism – and it is the result of the attack on Iran,' said Mohsen Borhani, a law professor at Tehran University and well-known political commentator. With no reliable polling data to offer insights on popular sentiments, the effectiveness of this patriotic craze has been hotly debated among Iranians and analysts alike. Some Iranians are sceptical that any newfound nationalism will increase the government's popularity, arguing that it simply reflects the widespread anger over the Israeli and US attacks. Government supporters gather in Tehran to commemorate victims of Israel's recent attacks. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times Before the Israeli attacks, some Iran analysts had expected domestic turmoil this summer: Alongside an economic crisis, Iran's water, electricity and fuel supplies had been failing as temperatures soared. The war seems to have led to an opposite effect. Now some Iranians appear willing to stomach more government restrictions, including the tightening of internet access. The Iranian government has also begun a massive crackdown against what it says are infiltrators and spies, but which rights groups say is also sweeping up dissidents and minorities. US president Donald Trump and Netanyahu's calls for Iranians to rise up against the government in the wake of the strikes has led even some critics of the Iranian government to argue that they could not countenance protesting right now. 'People do not want domestic change to be driven by foreign governments,' Lida, who works in Tehran, told The New York Times in a voice message. She asked not to be identified by her full name because of the government's warnings against contact with foreign media. 'It goes against my national pride that a country comes and violates my land and hits our nuclear sites,' she said. 'OK, fine, this nuclear programme is not my dream or aspiration, but in the end it is part of my land and territory.' This is not the first time that leaders of the Islamic Republic have leaned on nationalism or traditional symbols in times of crisis. At the end of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, historians say, Iran's revolutionary leadership often turned to nationalist rhetoric. But the scale and scope of the latest effort to galvanise the population is different, Iran experts say. 'The revolutionary leadership has recognised that when the going gets tough you have to dive deep into that nationalist rhetoric to bring people together,' said Ali Ansari, the founding director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. 'They want to use the war as a way of encouraging national solidarity – something that they haven't had for many years.' That approach was especially striking as the country entered Muharram at the end of June, a period of mourning in Shi'ite Islam that lasts for about a month. Ashura, marking the 10th day of that period, is when Shi'ites grieve for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. This year, Iran's madahs, or religious singers, brought politics into the celebrations. At shopping malls in the city of Yazd, they blended pious verses into patriotic songs that were once banned – including a religious version of an anthem penned during the second World War, and often associated with the era of the Pahlavi monarchy that the Iranian revolution overthrew in 1979. Some Iranians have not welcomed the fusion of nationalist and Islamic rhetoric, including the family of Tooraj Negahban, the lyricist who penned Ey Iran, Iran. The madah who recited it in front of Khamenei wove in religious phrases including 'Iran of Karbala' and 'Iran of Ashura'. A critic of the Islamic Republic, Neghaban died in exile in Los Angeles in 2008. 'For years, you have silenced our voices. You have erased our names from books and the media,' the family wrote in a post on an Instagram page in his name. 'Now that you have nothing left to shout, you are singing the same anthems you used to curse.' Some Iranians, like Borhani, the Tehran University professor, argue that the theocracy's turn to nationalism shows that religion alone can no longer galvanise Iran's 90 million people, particularly those in their 30s or younger, who form the bulk of the population. Others say the widespread use of patriotic tunes in Ashura rituals around the country has created an authentic new expression of Iranian patriotism. Shahrzad, a university student in Tehran, described the shift as 'engineered nationalism.' 'Authentic nationalism comes from the streets, from protests, from shared pain, not from government podiums,' she said in a voice message. Even if the war – and the wave of nationalism it has spurred – has helped the government retain control, some question how long it will last. 'When the dust settles and people start to ask questions, they will see that there's still no water, still no gas, still no electricity,' Ansari said. 'Everything depends on the country having an economic renaissance – and it can't do it.' – The New York Times
