Gaza civil defense says 20 killed by overturned aid truck
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Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Cruelty becoming enemy of peace in Gaza, UN torture expert warns after hostage videos emerge
NEW YORK CITY: The UN's special rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, on Friday reiterated her urgent call for the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, after disturbing videos showing severely emaciated captives emerged this week. 'Cruelty is being used as psychological warfare, with devastating consequences for individuals, families, societies and for peace,' Edwards said from Geneva. She warned that the conflict in Gaza is increasingly being fought in the public arena, with graphic media coverage intensifying the psychological harm. Last weekend, Hamas released a disturbing video of 24-year-old Evyatar David, an Israeli taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival during the Oct. 7 attacks. He appeared extremely thin and pale, so much so that his father said he barely recognized his son. The video showed David, under the control of his Hamas captors, being forced to dig what appeared to be his own grave inside a narrow underground tunnel. Out of respect for the wishes of David's family, the video is not being shown as they believe he is being used for cruel propaganda purposes. They called for urgent international action to help secure his release. Edwards said that it is not only hostage-takers who could be held criminally liable under international law, but also any individuals or groups that aid in concealment or detention. 'Anyone involved must be held to account for their involvement, in a court of law,' she said. She also appealed to countries with influence in the region to help break the deadlock in ceasefire negotiations, and called for international observers to be granted immediate access to all hostages and detainees. 'If anyone was immune to the cruelty being inflicted on the hostages, these latest videos should be proof enough,' Edwards said. She also repeated her broader calls for an end to hostilities in Gaza, the urgent expansion of humanitarian aid to the territory, the release of arbitrarily detained Palestinians, and independent investigations into all alleged violations of international law. She urged all parties to resume negotiations toward a comprehensive peace settlement based on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
‘I don't create suffering, I document it:' Gaza photographer hits back at Bild over accusation of staging scenes
LONDON: Gaza-based photojournalist Anas Zayed Fteiha has rejected accusations by the German tabloid Bild that some of his widely circulated images — depicting hunger and humanitarian suffering — were staged rather than taken at aid distribution sites. Fteiha, who works with Turkiye's Anadolu Agency, described the claims as 'false' and 'a desperate attempt to distort the truth.' 'The siege, starvation, bombing, and destruction that the people of Gaza live through do not need to be fabricated or acted out,' Fteiha said in a statement published on social media. 'My photos reflect the bitter reality that more than two million people live through, most of whom are women and children.' The controversy erupted after Bild published an article on Tuesday alleging that Fteiha's photos were manipulated to amplify narratives of Israeli-inflicted suffering — particularly hunger — and citing content from his personal social media accounts to suggest political bias. The German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung also questioned the authenticity of certain images from Gaza, though without naming Fteiha directly. Beware of fake news. A joint investigation by @SZ and @BILD reveals how Hamas uses 'Pallywood', staged or selectively framed media, to manipulate global opinion. At the center is Anas Zayed Fteiha, a Palestinian photographer for Anadolu and an open Israel- and Jew-hater, whose… — Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) August 5, 2025 Bild claimed the emotionally charged imagery served as 'Hamas propaganda,' a charge Fteiha rejected as 'ridiculous' and a 'criminalization of journalism itself.' 'It is easy to write your reports based on your ideologies, but it is difficult to obscure the truth conveyed by the lens of a photographer who lived the suffering among the people, heard the children's cries, photographed the rubble, and carried the pain of mothers,' Fteiha said. Fteiha also accused Bild of repeated breaches of journalistic ethics, citing previous criticism and formal complaints against the paper for publishing misinformation. The episode has fueled a broader debate on the challenges of reporting from conflict zones such as Gaza, where foreign press access is restricted and local journalists are often the only source of visual documentation. Following Bild's allegations, several news agencies, including AFP and the German Press Agency, severed ties with Fteiha. However, Reuters declined to do so, stating that his images met the agency's standards for 'accuracy, independence, and impartiality.' 'These aren't outright fakes, but they do tap into visual memory and change how people see things,' said photography scholar Gerhard Paul in an interview with Israeli media. עושים סדר בסערת תמונות הרעב בעזה. נפתח בהערה חשובה: אנחנו מבינים שמדובר בדיון רגיש שמלהיט את הרוחות, אבל גם הוא צריך להתבסס על עובדות. אז הנה העובדות — פייק ריפורטר | FakeReporter (@FakeReporter) August 6, 2025 Christopher Resch, of Reporters Without Borders, said that while photographers sometimes 'guide' subjects to tell a visual story, that does not invalidate the reality being portrayed. 'The picture should have had more context, but that doesn't mean the suffering isn't real,' he said, cautioning media outlets against labeling photojournalists as 'propaganda agents,' which he warned could endanger their safety. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar also weighed in, using his official X account to describe one of the accused images — used on the cover of Time magazine — as an example of 'Pallywood' — a portmanteau of 'Palestine' and 'Hollywood' — to sway global opinion. However, the credibility of Bild's report has itself come under scrutiny. Israeli fact-checking group Fake Reporter posted a series of rebuttals on X, disputing several claims. The group pointed out that the Time magazine cover image often linked to Fteiha was taken by a different photographer, and argued that claims the children in the photograph were not at an aid site were 'inaccurate.' 'From our examination, one can see, in the same place, an abundance of documentation of food being distributed and prepared,' the group wrote.
Arab News
9 hours ago
- Arab News
Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian official and bodyguard in east Lebanon
BEIRUT: An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed a number of people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said Friday. The Thursday afternoon airstrike near the Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa killed Mohammed Wishah, a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the group said in a statement. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Senior PFLP official Marwan Abdel-Al mourned in a post on social media the death of Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein. 'We have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls to freedom,' Abdel-Al wrote. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the airstrike on east Lebanon killed six people and wounded 10, without identifying the victims. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, Israel has targeted Palestinian officials in Lebanon, including PFLP members. Three FPLP members were killed in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment last September. A FPLP official said Wishah had been in Lebanon to meet with other officials with the group and was on his way back to Syria when the airstrike happened. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to the media. The PFLP statement said Wishah was born in the Gaza Strip in 1954 and spent five years in Israeli jails shortly after he joined the Palestinian group in 1973. For many years, the leftist and secular PFLP has been the second-largest member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group. On Friday morning, an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a coastal highway in south Lebanon killing citizen journalist Mohammed Shehadeh, NNA said. Hezbollah later said Shehadeh was one of its members. Since the 14-month Israel- Hezbollah war ended with Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes on Lebanon mainly targeting Hezbollah members.
