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Straits Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Britain warns Israel it could recognise Palestinian state as Gaza starvation spreads
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Palestinians gather to receive aid supplies from a truck, which entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip July 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj UNITED NATIONS/LONDON - Britain said on Tuesday it would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza, where starvation is spreading, and reaches a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war with Hamas. The warning, which drew a harsh Israeli rebuke, came after a hunger monitor said a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. Palestinian authorities said more than 60,000 Palestinians were now confirmed killed by Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip. The hunger alert and the new death toll are grim milestones in the current conflict that began in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, sparking an offensive that has flattened much of the enclave and ignited hostilities across the Middle East. The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the starvation crisis in Gaza could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's warning heightens pressure on Israel amid an international outcry over its conduct of the war. France announced last week it would recognise Palestinian statehood in September, a move that enraged the Israeli government. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X that Starmer's decision "rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims," adding that "A jihadist state on Israel's border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW." U.S. President Donald Trump said he did not discuss Britain's plans on Palestinian statehood during talks with Starmer in Scotland on Monday, when he told reporters he did "not mind" if Britain made such a move. But on Tuesday he said aboard Air Force One that he did not think Hamas "should be rewarded" with recognition of Palestinian independence. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described Starmer's decision as 'bold,' according to Palestinian state news agency WAFA. Starmer told his cabinet that Britain would recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly in September "unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution," his government said. The move, if carried through, would be mostly symbolic, with Israel occupying the territories where the Palestinians have long aimed to establish that state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital. It makes Israel more isolated on the international stage as a growing number of countries call for it to allow unfettered aid into Gaza, where it controls all entry and exit points to the besieged coastal territory. However, Trump's administration - Israel's closest and most influential ally - has made clear it has no intention of joining others in recognising Palestinian statehood anytime soon. Since returning to office in January, Trump has been vague about whether or not he would support an eventual Palestinian state. Starmer held separate phone calls with Netanyahu and Abbas on Tuesday before making his announcement. EVIDENCE OF STARVATION, MALNUTRITION, DISEASE With the international furore over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the U.N. World Food Programme said on Tuesday it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses in warfare on Sunday. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC said, adding that "famine thresholds" have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza. It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as "in famine". Gaza health authorities have been reporting more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total stands at 147, among them 88 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world, with Israel's strongest ally Trump declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new "food centres". Israel has denied pursuing a policy of starvation. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was "tough" but there were lies about starvation there. DEADLIEST CONFLICT The Gazan casualty figures, which are often cited by the U.N. and have previously been described as reliable by the World Health Organisation, underline the war as the deadliest involving Israel since its establishment in 1948. Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage - Israel's deadliest ever day. Since Israel launched ground operations in Gaza in October 2023, 454 soldiers have been killed. The new Palestinian toll does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Thousands more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, meaning the true toll is likely to be significantly higher, Palestinian officials and rescue workers say. Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 30 Palestinians in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Gaza health authorities said. Doctors at Al-Awda Hospital said at least 14 women and 12 children were among the dead. The hospital also said that 13 people had been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire along the Salahudeen Road as they waited for aid trucks to roll into Gaza. Saar said 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the last two months, and that Israel would assist those wanting to conduct airdrops - a delivery method that aid groups say is ineffective and a token. Israel and the U.S. accuse Hamas of stealing aid - which the militants deny - and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon. REUTERS
Barnama
3 days ago
- Politics
- Barnama
Only 73 Aid Trucks Allowed Into Gaza As Famine Expands, Authorities Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip July 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj Humanitarian aid is airdropped over Gaza as seen from northern Gaza Strip July 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas Palestinians carry aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, July 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas ISTANBUL, July 28 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Local authorities in Gaza said on Sunday that only 73 aid trucks entered the besieged enclave in the last 24 hours, amid a deepening famine caused by Israel's months-long blockade, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. In a statement, the government media office said the humanitarian crisis has reached unprecedented levels, with at least 133 people, including 87 children, dying from hunger since the start of the Israeli genocidal war. The office accused Israel of deliberately engineering chaos and hunger in the territory. bootstrap slideshow 'The famine is expanding at an alarming rate and now affects the entire population of Gaza, including 1.1 million children,' the statement said. While several governments and international organisations have announced plans to deliver hundreds of aid trucks to Gaza, the statement said that only 73 trucks have arrived, and many of those were looted or obstructed under Israeli surveillance. The media office said three airdrops were carried out over Gaza, but their total payload was equivalent to only two aid trucks. The drops landed in 'red zones' -- active combat areas marked on Israeli maps -- where civilians cannot safely retrieve supplies, it added. 'What is happening is a farce,' the office said, accusing the international community of complicity through 'false promises' and 'misleading information' coming from major powers like the United States (US). It renewed its call for the unconditional reopening of border crossings and the immediate entry of food, water, and infant formula.
Straits Times
19-06-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
As death toll rises, Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food
A woman reacts as Palestinians, wounded in an Israeli strike, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, receive treatment at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj CAIRO/GAZA - Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, Hind Al-Nawajha takes a dangerous, miles-long journey every day to try to get some food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive. Accompanied by her sister, Mazouza, the mother-of-four had to duck down and hide behind a pile of rubble on the side of the road as gunshots echoed nearby. "You either come back carrying (food) for your children and they will be happy, or you come back in a shroud, or you go back upset (without food) and your children will cry," said Nawajha, 38, a resident of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza. "This is life, we are being slaughtered, we can't do it anymore." In the past two days, dozens of Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said. On Thursday, medics said at least 40 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, the latest in near-daily reports of killings of people seeking food. Twenty-eight people were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. One of those strikes killed at least 12 people, including women and children, near a mosque in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they added. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on Thursday's incident. In recent days, the Israeli military said its forces had opened fire and fired warning shots to disperse people who approached areas where troops were operating, posing a threat. It said it was reviewing reports of casualties among civilians. SLEEPING BY THE ROAD Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new U.S.- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces. The Gaza health ministry said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach GHF sites since late May. The United Nations rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, which Hamas denies. There was no immediate GHF comment on Thursday's incident. On Wednesday, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed 3 million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident. The Gaza war was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis. The Norwegian Refugee Council warned on Thursday that more than 1 million people were without adequate shelter, saying equipment such as tents and tarpaulins had been blocked by Israel from entering since March 1. Nawajha returned empty-handed on Wednesday from her journey to find food, flopping down exhausted on the dusty ground outside the tent in Gaza City, where she has been displaced and sheltering with her family. She and her sister have been camping by the road for the past 20 days. They say they try to force their way into the distribution site where trucks carrying aid arrive, but are often outmuscled by men, who sometimes fight over sacks of flour coming off U.N. trucks. "(When) there is no food, as you can see, children start crying and getting angry," said Nawajha. "When we are for three, four kilometres or more on our legs... Oh my... our feet are bruised and our shoes are torn off." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Japan Today
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Israeli airstrikes kill 55; body of Thai hostage retrieved from Gaza
Women react at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, June 7, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj By Maayan Lubell and Jaidaa Taha The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday, as Israeli airstrikes killed 55 people, according to local medics. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified. Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid group, said on Saturday it was unable to distribute assistance to Palestinian civilians, blaming threats by Hamas, which Gaza's dominant militant group denied. Israel's military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week. There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive. The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase. The military said on Saturday it had killed As'ad Abu Sharaiya, who served as the head of the Mujahideen, but there was no confirmation from the group. Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. Medics in Gaza said 55 people in total were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave on Saturday. At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by airstrikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local health authorities said. More than one missile landed in the area. The target seemed to have been a multi-floor residential building, but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. It later warned people to evacuate the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity. The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located. There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered "an underground tunnel route, including a command and control center from which senior Hamas commanders" operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza. It added that it had located several bodies of militants whose identities were "under examination". The Israeli government and military said last month it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas' Gaza chief, but Hamas did not confirm his death. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million people are at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the GHF said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. The GHF, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations for alleged lack of neutrality, said it was unable to distribute any humanitarian aid on Saturday because Hamas had issued "direct threats" against its operations. "These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk," the GHF said in a statement in which it also said it intended to resume aid distribution "without delay". A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such 'alleged threats'. On Wednesday, the GHF suspended operations and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after Palestinian hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points between June 1-3. Eyewitnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian "suspects" who were advancing towards their positions. The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Straits Times
05-06-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
Rate of Gaza children suffering acute malnutrition nearly triples, survey shows
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinian children, one with an empty pot, sit while waiting to receive food from a charity kitchen, in Gaza City, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj/File Photo GENEVA - The rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since a ceasefire earlier this year when aid flowed more freely, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and released by the U.N. on Thursday. The report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave is under intense scrutiny because of deadly shootings close to the operations of a new U.S.-backed system. After the two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it - something the militant group denies. Around 5.8% out of nearly 50,000 children under five who were screened in the second half of May were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, an analysis by a group of U.N. and other aid agencies known as the nutrition cluster showed. This was up from 4.7% in early May and nearly three times the rate in February during a pause in fighting in the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas, the analysis said. It did not specify the exact rate in February, nor say how many children were screened. The analysis also reported an increase in severe acute malnutrition cases among children -- a life-threatening condition that compromises the immune system. It said centres to support medical complications from severe cases in north Gaza and Rafah in the south of the enclave have been forced to close, leaving children without access to lifesaving treatment. It did not give a reason for the closures but many medical centres have run out of supplies, been damaged in the war or attacked by Israel, which accuses Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hamas denies using them in this way. A Palestinian minister reported 29 starvation-related deaths among the children and elderly in just a few days last month. Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that doctors in the Gaza Strip were donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
