Latest news with #EYADBABA
Newsweek
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Recognizing a Palestinian State Is Important but No Substitute for Ending the Atrocities in Gaza
On Monday, a plastic water bottle washed up on a beach in Gaza, half filled with red lentils. Nestled among the pulses was a handwritten note which read: "Forgive us, dear brothers. This is all we are able to do." The bottle likely originated in Egypt, where scores of families have poured dried foods into empty containers and launched them into the Mediterranean, in a bid to symbolically pierce Israel's monthslong blockade of vital aid into Gaza. The simplicity of the gesture—a small quantity of grain dispatched in the most rudimentary of vessels—draws a contrast with the technologically dominant Israeli state, a U.S.-backed nuclear power deploying the most advanced weaponry against a weak and captive population, nearly half of whom are children. Moreover, the sender's expression of both solidarity and helplessness captures well the mood of an outraged regional and global public, reckoning with its powerlessness in the face of the accumulating moral depravity in Gaza. Displaced Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp haul food parcels and other items they managed to get from a GHF aid distribution point at the so-called Netzarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip on July... Displaced Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp haul food parcels and other items they managed to get from a GHF aid distribution point at the so-called Netzarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip on July 30, 2025. More EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images The injustice in Gaza has taken on the shape of Matryoshka dolls. In the context of an unprecedented military campaign widely accepted as amounting to genocide, itself nested within a brutalizing and unlawful 75-year occupation, encased within a larger ideology of racial superiority, Israel has now systematically weaponized hunger against 2.2 million civilians. In July, 63 people died from Israel's enforced starvation. Alongside, more than 1,000 men, women, and children have been shot dead by Israeli forces while seeking food at the few remaining aid sites. Fresh out of reasoned arguments, Israeli leaders are left invoking Hamas' attack on October 7 as justification for their own crimes. On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar insisted that Israel was not to blame for what he would only concede were "tough conditions" in Gaza. "Who is responsible for this war?" he put to a roomful of journalists. "Hamas. Hamas initiated the war with its October 7th massacre. Hamas is responsible for the war's continuation." Similarly, when the Likud official Michael Kleiner was pressed about Israel's bombardment and blockade, he said, "My complaint is against people in Europe who don't support us and don't put their finger on the real party to blame, the one who started the war. [Without] October 7th, not one single baby in Gaza would have been harmed." But this position is morally and legally indefensible. In international law, as in the just war traditions of almost all civilizations, there is a clear separation between the legality of going to war in the first place (jus ad bellum), and the legality of how a war is conducted once it starts (jus in bello). Even if Israel's long occupation is bracketed and it is accepted that Hamas began the war on October 7, that reality should have no bearing whatsoever on how Israel can prosecute its response. The purpose of jus in bello, or international humanitarian law, is to limit the suffering in war, no matter who started it. Moreover, summoning the horrors of October 7 only brings into sharper focus the scale of Israel's atrocities. It is precisely because October 7 was so terrible that what Israel has wrought in Gaza is intolerable. The murder of 1,200 people, including 36 children, in a surprise attack by a terrorist group was an abominable crime. By extension, the slaughter of 60,000 people, including at least 14,000 children, and the imposition of manmade famine, in a pre-meditated campaign by a US-allied democracy, is many more times as criminal. After 21 months of medieval destruction in Gaza, and after the worst-case scenario of famine has already been realized, the international community is finally groping for a response. The European Commission has proposed to partially suspend Israel from its flagship research funding initiative. Brazil has withdrawn from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. For G7 states like Britain and France, the central line of effort is promising to officially recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. in September. Acknowledging Palestinian self-determination is an overdue and essential symbolic step. However, it is unclear how the lightening rod of Palestinian statehood will end the daily massacres in Gaza or reverse the ongoing famine, particularly as Israel remains both defiant and cosseted by the U.S. Alone, the recognition of Palestinian sovereignty will surely represent cold comfort to the mothers rendered bystanders as their infants waste from hunger, to the famished civilians who will be shot by Israeli snipers while queuing for food, or to the children who will be murdered, maimed, or orphaned by Israeli bombs in the coming hours, days, and weeks. The celebrated Lebanese composer and playwright Ziad Rahbani, son of the iconic singer Fairuz, died suddenly on July 26. Among his most famous lines, from the play Bennesba Libukra Chou, is the urgent question: "They say tomorrow will be better. But what about today?" Dr. Alia Brahimi is a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Middle East Programs and the author of Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror (Oxford University Press). The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
A week of fending off hunger in Gaza
Naeema, a 30-year-old Palestinian mother, carried her malnourished 2-year-old son, Yazan, in their damaged home in the Al-Shati refugee camp on July 23. The World Food Programme said nearly one in three people in Gaza are not eating for days at a stretch and "thousands" were "on the verge of catastrophic hunger." OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images .image { margin-top: 100px; } .image figcaption { display: block; max-width: 750px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; font-size: 18px; caption-side: bottom; line-height: 1.5; } Men carried sacks of flour after raiding a truck that was carrying foodstuffs, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22. -/AFP via Getty Images A Palestinian woman grieved over the body of a man killed at a food distribution point in the southern Gaza Strip, at the Nasser hospital on July 19. -/AFP via Getty Images Palestinian children waited for a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22. -/AFP via Getty Images A displaced Palestinian child sat next to a pot of lentil soup that he received at a food distribution point in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on July 25. OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images Palestinian mothers sat with their malnourished children as they awaited treatment at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 24. -/AFP via Getty Images A Palestinian boy waited for a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22. -/AFP via Getty Images Israeli activists took part in a protest against the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel's measures regarding food distribution, and the forced displacement of Palestinians, in Tel Aviv on July 22. Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press Rama, a 4-month-old malnourished Palestinian girl, laid in a hospital bed as she awaited treatment at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 24. -/AFP via Getty Images A woman caressed a child's head as Palestinians waited at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 19. EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images People carried sacks of flour walk along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on June 17 after humanitarian aid trucks reportedly entered the northern Gaza Strip through the Israeli-controlled Zikim border crossing, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images The mother of Yahya Fadi al-Najjar, an infant who died due to malnourishment, mourned as she held his body during the funeral at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 20. -/AFP via Getty Images A Palestinian girl sought out a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22. -/AFP via Getty Images Crowds struggled to get to the beginning of the line at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 19. EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images A displaced Palestinian girl took a sip of lentil soup that she received at a food distribution point in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on July 25. OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images Palestinians gathered at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 19. EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images Mohammed al-Mutawaq, an 18-month-old Palestinian boy suffering from medical issues and displaying signs of malnutrition, lay on a mattress inside a tent in the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 24. OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images
Sinar Daily
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Sinar Daily
UNRWA warns of Israeli plan to create 'mass internment camps' in southern Gaza
Israel has long been laying the groundwork for such a plan through the establishment of aid distribution points in southern Gaza. 15 Jul 2025 09:40pm A Palestinian girl finds his way amid the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025. - (Photo by EYAD BABA / AFP) RAMALLAH - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) media advisor, Adnan Abu Hasna in Gaza, has raised alarm over Israel's reported plans to establish what it calls a "humanitarian city" in southern Gaza. Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) reported that he warned that the initiative is essentially a blueprint for mass internment camps. In a press statement, Abu Hasna said Israel has long been laying the groundwork for such a plan through the establishment of aid distribution points in southern Gaza. "Now, they are openly declaring their intent to forcibly displace the population of Gaza into collective detention camps in Rafah, as a prelude to their expulsion from Palestinian land,' he stated. He warned that this development signals Israel's continued commitment to the forced transfer of Gaza's population, expressing deep concern over the extreme pressure being applied to Palestinians. A Palestinian man finds his way amid the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025. - (Photo by EYAD BABA / AFP) "The total collapse of the healthcare system, absence of aid, and depletion of fuel are all being weaponised to coerce the population into voluntary displacement,' he said. He further cautioned that the so-called humanitarian zone is incapable of hosting Gaza's 2 million residents within just 60 square kilometres of devastated land, describing the area as uninhabitable and void of any semblance of life or future. Abu Hasna urged the international community to intervene immediately to halt what he described as a dangerous and deliberate attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians under the guise of humanitarian relief. - BERNAMA
Toronto Sun
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Hamas says it has given 'positive' response to ceasefire proposal in Gaza
Published Jul 04, 2025 • 5 minute read Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike in the Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, July 4, 2025. Photo by EYAD BABA / AFP / Getty Images DEIR al-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza early Friday, while a hospital said another 20 people died in shootings while waiting for aid. Meanwhile, Hamas said it had given a 'positive' response to the latest proposal for a ceasefire, though it said negotiations were needed on how to implement it. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The U.N. human rights office says it has recorded 613 Palestinians killed within the span of a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid. Most were killed while trying to reach food distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization, while others were massed waiting for aid trucks connected to the United Nations or other humanitarian organizations. Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said 'it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points' operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In a message to The Associated Press, Shamdasani said that of the total tallied, 509 killings were 'GHF-related,' meaning at or near its distribution sites. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Information keeps coming in,' she added. 'This is ongoing and it is unacceptable.' The GHF has denied any serious injuries or deaths on its sites and says shootings outside their immediate vicinity are under the purview of Israel's military. In a statement Friday, GHF cast doubt on the casualty figures and accused the U.N. of trying 'to falsely smear our effort.' The Israeli military also issued new evacuation orders Friday in northeast Khan Younis and urged Palestinians to move west ahead of planned military operations against Hamas in the area. The new evacuation zones pushed Palestinians into increasingly smaller spaces by the coast. 20 killed Friday while seeking aid Since GHF began distributions in late May, witnesses have said almost daily that Israeli troops open fire on crowds of Palestinians on the roads leading through military-controlled zones to the food centres. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said at least three Palestinians were killed Friday on their way to GHF sites in the area of Rafah in southern Gaza. The Israeli military has said previously it fires warning shots to control crowds or at Palestinians who approach its troops. On Friday, in reaction to the U.N. report, it said in a statement that it was investigating reports of people killed and wounded while seeking aid and that it had given instructions to troops in the field based on 'lessons learned' from reviewing the incidents. It said it was working at 'minimizing possible friction between the population' and Israeli forces, including by installing fences and placing signs on the routes. Separately, witnesses have said Israeli troops open fire on crowds of Palestinians who gather in military-controlled zones to wait for aid trucks entering Gaza for the U.N. or other aid organizations not associated with GHF. The crowds are usually made up of people desperate for food who grab supplies off the passing trucks. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On Friday, 17 people were killed waiting for trucks in eastern Khan Younis in the Tahliya area, officials at Nasser Hospital said. Three survivors told the AP they had gone to wait for the trucks in a military 'red zone' in Khan Younis and that troops opened fire from a tank and drones. It was a 'crowd of people, may God help them, who want to eat and live,' said Seddiq Abu Farhana, who was shot in the leg, forcing him to drop a bag of flour he had grabbed. 'There was direct firing.' Airstrikes also hit the Muwasi area on the southern end of Gaza's Mediterranean coast, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes are sheltering in tent camps. Of the 15 people killed in the strikes, eight were women and one was a child, according to the hospital. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Israel's military said it was looking into Friday's reported strikes. U.N. investigates shootings near aid sites In its statement reacting to the U.N. rights office report, GHF accused the U.N. of taking its casualty figures 'directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry' and of 'promoting Hamas' false propaganda.' Shamdasani, the U.N. rights office spokesperson, told the AP that the data 'is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical, human rights and humanitarian organizations.' Rik Peeperkorn, representative of the World Health Organization, said Nasser Hospital, the biggest hospital operating in the south, receives dozens or hundreds of casualties every day, most coming from the vicinity of the food distribution sites. The overwhelmed hospital has become 'one massive trauma ward,' he said. The WHO supports Nasser Hospital and other health facilities. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The International Committee of the Red Cross also said in late June that its field hospital near one of the GHF sites has been overwhelmed more than 20 times in the previous months by mass casualties. It said the casualties had been on their way to the food distribution sites, and 'the vast majority of patients suffered gunshot injuries.' Also on Friday, Israel's military said a soldier was killed in combat in the north of Gaza and it was investigating. Over 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza. Efforts ongoing to halt the war The recent killings took place as efforts to halt the 21-month war appeared to be moving forward. 'We'll see what happens. We're going to know over the next 24 hours,' U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One late Thursday when asked if Hamas had agreed to the latest framework for a ceasefire. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A Palestinian official told AP on Friday that Hamas is still working on its response the proposal presented to it by Egyptian and Qatari mediators. He said the response will be positive but added that Hamas is insisting on guarantees regarding an Israeli withdrawal to positions it held on March 2, during a previous ceasefire, and an end to the war following a 60-day truce as well as ending the GHF system for distributing aid. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk the press. Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. The Health Ministry in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory has passed 57,000. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages. — Kullab reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten reported from Geneva and AP writer Julia Frankel contributed. Weird Toronto Blue Jays Ontario Sunshine Girls Celebrity
CBS News
04-06-2025
- General
- CBS News
U.S.-backed Gaza aid group halts work for a day, reportedly asks Israel to minimize risks to Palestinians
The controversial U.S.-backed humanitarian aid operation in Gaza, which has been mired by reports of dozens of Palestinians being killed trying to reach its distribution hubs in the war-torn enclave since it started work just over a week ago, said it was pausing its operations for Wednesday. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement posted on social media that the pause was "for update, organization, and efficiency improvement work," but the Reuters news agency said the U.S. entity was trying to address security concerns. GHF said in its brief statement that operations would resume on Thursday. The United Nations and other aid agencies have refused to work with the group, calling it a distraction and accusing it of weaponizing access to desperately needed food. More than 50 people have been killed by Israeli forces near the sites, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which has called the GHF effort a trap for hungry Palestinians. The Israeli military has denied the accusations and accused Hamas of shooting at people seeking aid. GHF did not immediately respond to a CBS News request for more information on the one-day shutdown of its four distribution hubs in southern Gaza. Palestinian children carry pots as they wait for a hot meal at a food distribution point in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, run by international charity groups, June 4, 2025. EYAD BABA/AFP/Getty The funding, operational details and origins of the GHF have remained murky since its inception, and it has been plagued not only by grave questions about security for civilians accessing its hubs, but by potentially existential issues regarding its internal operations. The move comes just days after GHF said it would shutter its Switzerland-based office after officials there told CBS News the foundation was violating Swiss rules for non-governmental organizations. It also comes just a day after The Washington Post reported that U.S.-based consulting firm Boston Global had severed its ties with the group and launched an internal review over its involvement with GHF. GHF said it began work in Gaza on May 27, but it remains unclear where it is based and who is funding its operations. Its official website consists only of a homepage bearing its name and the message: "More information coming soon." The Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed GHF spokesperson on Wednesday as saying the group had asked the Israel Defense Forces to "guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks" around its ongoing military operations in Gaza, and to develop more clear guidance for civilians seeking to reach its distribution hubs, and to "enhance training to support civilian safety." "Our top priority remains ensuring the safety and dignity of civilians receiving aid," Reuters quoted a GHF spokesperson as saying. Health officials in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said 27 Palestinians were killed trying to reach a GHF hub in southern Gaza on Tuesday alone. The Israeli military denied the claim of mass shooting at civilians, saying troops about a third of a mile away from the site had fired at several people who were deemed to present a threat after they strayed beyond the defined boundaries of the access route. The IDF said it was looking into the reports of civilian casualties. In a message posted Wednesday on social media in Arabic, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee warned Gazans against using the roads leading to GHF distribution centers, saying they would be considered "combat zones" for the day and stressing that access to them was "prohibited and dangerous." The IDF has repeatedly accused Hamas of sabotaging the GHF effort, accusing it of sending gunmen specifically to shoot at civilians at the aid hubs. "We are not preventing Gaza residents from accessing aid distribution sites," IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a video statement posted online Tuesday, before the one-day pause was reported. "Food packages are being distributed daily by a U.S.-based civilian company. This initiative is proving effective. Gazan residents are coming to the distribution centers to receive the aid. The civilian population of Gaza understands that Hamas is not taking care of them — on the contrary, Hamas is actively trying to prevent them from receiving the aid." Defrin said IDF forces "operate nearby and do whatever is necessary to ensure that the aid does not fall into the hands of Hamas." He also accused the United Nations' aid agencies of failing to collect and distribute more than 450 trucks carrying humanitarian aid that Israel says were allowed into Gaza in recent days but left waiting on the other side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel. The U.N. has rejected similar previous Israeli claims, noting that Israeli forces maintain control over virtually all of Gaza and that there are huge logistics challenges to operating in a densely populated active warzone. And the IDF's assault, which Israel has vowed to continue until Hamas is destroyed and the remaining 58 Israeli hostages are brought back home from Gaza, has continued to ramp up despite the U.S.-backed aid effort. CBS News' team in Gaza was there as Palestinians rushed to rescue survivors of an Israeli strike that destroyed a bank in Gaza City where families had taken shelter. At least seven people were killed and dozens injured, according to first responders who spoke with CBS News at the scene. They were among 97 Palestinians killed over the preceding 24 hours alone, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, which put the overall death toll from the war at 54,607 as of Wednesday. The war was sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel orchestrated by Hamas, which has long been designated a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and the European Union. That attack killed some 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 others taken hostage into Gaza. Israeli authorities believe about 20 of the remaining hostages are still alive.
