Latest news with #civildefence
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
At least 93 reported killed queuing for food in Gaza as Israel issues fresh evacuation orders – Middle East crisis live
Update: Date: 2025-07-21T06:50:15.000Z Title: At 93 reported dead while seeking aid in Gaza Content: Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 93 Palestinians had been killed queueing for food on Sunday, while Israel issued fresh evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people. The territory's health ministry said scores were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed by Israeli fire. Elsewhere nine others were reportedly shot dead near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier, while four were killed near another aid site in Khan Younis, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, Mahmud Basal, said. Israel's military said soldiers had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who it claimed posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found. It did not immediately comment on the incidents in the south. Before the reports of the latest Israeli shootings emerged, Pope Leo XIV called for 'an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict' at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence near Rome. Update: Date: 2025-07-21T06:48:19.000Z Title: Opening summary Content: Hello and welcome back to the Guardian's coverage of the Middle East. Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 93 Palestinians had been killed queueing for food on Sunday, while Israel issued fresh evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people. The territory's health ministry said scores were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed by Israeli fire. Elsewhere nine others were reportedly shot dead near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier, while four were killed near another aid site in Khan Younis, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, Mahmud Basal, said. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid 'encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire' near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints. Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat posed to them' as thousands gathered near Gaza City. On Sunday morning, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for the city of Deir al-Balah – a crowded part of central Gaza full of displaced Palestinian people with nowhere safe to flee relentless bombardments. Whole families were reportedly seen lugging their few belongings and heading south. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that the order had dealt 'yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip.' In other developments: Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar on Sunday said he had ordered the withdrawal of a senior UN humanitarian official's residency permit, accusing him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza. Whittall, a South African who lives in Jerusalem and frequently visits the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions for the more than 2 million people living in the Palestinian territory. Gaza's civil defence agency told Agence France-Presse (AFP) it has noted a rising number of infant deaths caused by 'severe hunger and malnutrition', reporting at least three such deaths in the past week. 'These heartbreaking cases were not caused by direct bombing but by starvation, the lack of baby formula and the absence of basic healthcare,' civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP. Tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrated on Sunday in the capital Rabat against the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for the reversal of the kingdom's normalisation deal with Israel. Protesters gathered in the city centre, brandishing Palestinian flags and placards calling for the free flow of aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. Residents reported calm in Syria's Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a US envoy signalled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented. The ceasefire announced on Saturday appeared to be holding after earlier agreements failed to end fighting between longtime rivals the Druze and the Bedouin that spiralled to draw in the Islamist-led government, the Israeli military and armed tribes from other parts of Syria. The death toll from violence in Sweida province, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, has risen to 1,120 since last weekend, a war monitor said on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included 427 Druze fighters and 298 Druze civilians, 194 of whom were 'summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel'. The first humanitarian aid convoy entered the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Sunday, a Red Crescent official said, a week after deadly sectarian violence erupted in the Druze heartland. The official said the convoy of 32 vehicles was carrying basics including food, medical and fuel supplies as well as body bags. Iran confirmed on Monday fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the country's state media reported, the first since the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago. Iranian diplomats will meet counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, after the trio warned that sanctions could be reimposed on Tehran if it does return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme. Iranian authorities have urged residents to limit water consumption as the country grapples with severe shortages amid an ongoing heatwave, local media said on Sunday. Water scarcity is a major issue in Iran, particularly in arid provinces in the country's south, with shortages blamed on mismanagement and overexploitation of underground resources, as well as the growing impact of climate change.
CNA
5 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Sirens wail, cities shut down as Taiwan simulates air raid
Taiwan is stepping up its civil defence as military tensions with China continue to rise. For the first time, an air raid drill has been built into the island's largest annual military exercise. CNA's Victoria Jen has more.
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
More than 60 people killed in Iraq after fire sweeps through mall
More than 60 people, including women and children, have died in a devastating fire that swept through a newly opened shopping mall in eastern Iraq. Iraqi officials confirmed on Thursday that 61 fatalities were recorded, with the majority succumbing to suffocation. The blaze, which erupted late on Wednesday in the city of al-Kut, also left 14 bodies so badly charred they remain unidentified. Despite the tragic loss of life, civil defence teams successfully rescued over 45 individuals trapped within the inferno. The five-storey complex, which housed a restaurant and supermarket alongside the mall, had only been open for a week. The state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that people remained missing. Photographs and videos on local media showed the building fully engulfed in flames. Provincial Gov. Mohammed al-Mayyeh in a statement declared three days of mourning. He said the cause of the fire is under investigation but that legal cases were filed against the building owner and mall owner. He did not specify what the charges were. "We assure the families of the innocent victims that we will not be lenient with those who were directly or indirectly responsible for this incident," al-Mayyeh said. The results of the preliminary investigation will be released within 48 hours, he said. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that he had directed the interior minister to go to the site of the fire to investigate and take measures to prevent a recurrence. Poor building standards have often contributed to tragic fires in Iraq. In July 2021, a blaze at a hospital in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah that killed between 60 to 92 people was determined to have been fuelled by highly flammable, low-cost type of "sandwich panel" cladding that is illegal in Iraq.
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Palestinians mourn people killed while waiting for food near Rafah aid centre
Gaza civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said 10 people were shot by Israeli forces on Friday while waiting for supplies in the Al-Shakoush area north-west of Rafah, where there have been repeated reports of deadly fire on aid seekers. The latest deaths came as the UN said nearly 800 people had been killed trying to access food in Gaza since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month blockade on deliveries
RNZ News
11-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Live: Thousands without power on Banks Peninsula, flooding in South Auckland
The storm band that has left the Nelson Tasman district flooded again and soaked much of the rest of the country is slowly making its way east. The region remains under a state of emergency, with evacuations, widespread flooding, slips, power cuts and pleas to conserve water. However, a red heavy rain warning for Tasman district south-east of Motueka was lifted at 9pm. Just one orange heavy rain warning remains for the top of the South Island, for the Nelson city district and Marlborough north-west of the Awatere Valley until 11pm. Meanwhile, the Coromandel Peninsula, Rotorua and Bay of Plenty west of Kawerau are under an orange heavy rain warning until 2am on Saturday. Up to 70 millimetres of rain is expected. Waikato and Mount Taranaki are also under an orange heavy rain warning until 11pm. The eastern Bay of Plenty and Tairāwhiti could see up to 90 millimetres of rain overnight, with a chance of being upgraded to a red rain warning. RNZ is New Zealand's statutory civil defence lifeline radio broadcaster, providing vital information and updates as they come to hand. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
