Latest news with #military operations
Reuters
4 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
EU deal, China talks, Gaza aid and a Bezos-backed pick-up
Follow on Apple or Spotify. Listen on the Reuters app. The U.S. agrees a trade deal with the European Union. Meanwhile, top U.S. and Chinese economic officials resume tariff talks in Stockholm. Israel announces a halt in military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and new aid corridors into the enclave. And the back-to-basics EV pick-up created with funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Today's Recommended Read can be found here. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit to opt out of targeted advertising. Further Reading Thai, Cambodian leaders hold ceasefire talks in Malaysia Epstein furor undermines public trust, Republican election hopes, two US lawmakers say Russia's night attack wounds eight in Kyiv, Ukraine says Six killed in Bangkok market after gunman opens fire
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Jordan and UAE begin aid drops into starving Gaza after Israel pauses attacks
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have parachuted aid into the Gaza Strip, as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory deepens. Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors into the strip. The country has been facing growing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area which stretches along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and Gaza City, to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm starting from Sunday. Jordan and the UAE parachuted 25 tons of aid, in the first air drop in months. Palestinian health officials in Gaza City said at least 10 people were injured by falling aid boxes. The United Nations ' food agency welcomed the steps to ease aid restrictions, but said a broader ceasefire was needed to ensure goods reached everyone in need in Gaza. Unicef called it 'an opportunity to save lives.' Dr Muneer al-Boursh, director general of Gaza's Health Ministry, called for a flood of medical supplies and other goods to help treat child malnutrition. 'This (humanitarian) truce will mean nothing if it doesn't turn into a real opportunity to save lives,' he said. 'Every delay is measured by another funeral.' UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Meanwhile, health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas -run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133 including 87 children. Israel is facing increased international pressure to end the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza as US-led peace talks in Qatar were cut short on Thursday. Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of a 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would negotiate on a lasting truce under the deal.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Israel announces daily military pauses as fury mounts over starvation in Gaza
Israel has said it will halt military operations each day for 10 hours in three areas of Gaza and allow aid to come in through new corridors as it sought to quell international fury over a growing starvation crisis. Scores of Palestinians have died of starvation in recent weeks in a crisis attributed by humanitarian organisations and the UN to Israel's blockade of almost all aid into the territory. The World Food Programme said 90,000 women and children were in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition and that one in three people were going without food for days. The Israeli military said it had began a 'tactical pause' in the densely populated areas of Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi to 'increase the scale of humanitarian aid' into the strip. The pause would be repeated every day from 10am to 8pm local time until further notice and Israel would continue fighting in other areas of Gaza. Israel said the measures were designed to improve the humanitarian situation and 'refute the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip'. Israel released footage of an airdrop of aid conducted overnight, which included flour, sugar and canned food. It also said it would establish humanitarian corridors to allow the UN to deliver food and medicine to the population, as well as turn on the power to a desalination plant to provide water to residents of Gaza. The UN said on Thursday that humanitarian pauses would allow 'the scale up of humanitarian assistance' in the strip. Egyptian aid trucks had begun to enter Gaza on Sunday morning and Jordan's police force posted a video showing trucks laden with aid on their way in to the territory. At least 128 people have died from starvation in Gaza, more than half of them children. A 10-year-old girl, Nour Abu Selaa, died of hunger on Sunday morning. Images of bodies hollowed-out from hunger and of dead infants whose stomachs had distended shocked the world and led to a wave of global condemnation of Israel's conduct. The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, accused Israel of flouting international law by blocking aid into Gaza and warned the country was losing support internationally. 'Quite clearly it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered which was a decision that Israel made in March,' he said on Sunday. A boat, the Handala, carrying aid to Gaza, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was intercepted 100km off Gaza's shore on Sunday by Israeli security forces and the passengers arrested. Israel has denied there is a starvation crisis in Gaza and blamed any hunger issues on the UN, claiming a failure of the organisation to adequately distribute aid. The UN said that the majority of their requests to transport aid into Gaza are rejected by the Israeli military. Israel initially blocked all aid into Gaza for two and a half months, before allowing a small amount of aid to enter the territory. It has allowed in 4,500 UN trucks into Gaza since then, about 70 trucks each day, a far cry from the 500 trucks needed daily to feed its population. Israel has publicly disparaged the UN-led aid system in Gaza, accusing it of allowing Hamas to systematically siphon aid – a claim that the UN has rejected. Israel has supported the private US-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as an alternative to the UN, but its two months in Gaza have been marred by consistent killings of aid seekers. More than 1,000 people have been killed while trying to get aid, mostly at GHF distribution sites, the UN says. Humanitarians have warned that the scale of malnourishment means aid needs to flood the territory in order to save the lives of people whose bodies are already shutting down. 'This truce will mean nothing if it doesn't turn into a real opportunity to save lives,' Dr Muneer al-Boursh, the director general of Gaza's health ministry, told the Associated Press. As Israel announced its new humanitarian measures, it continued to bombard the Gaza Strip, killing 16 people in separate strikes. One strike killed at least nine people, including three children, hitting a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza. The Israeli military announced that two soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of soldiers killed since the conflict began to 898. The humanitarian pause comes as ceasefire negotiations continue to flounder, after both the US and Israel recalled their negotiating teams from Qatar on Friday. The US and Israel accused Hamas of not being serious about a truce, while Hamas and mediators claimed the withdrawal was merely a negotiating tactic. Israel launched the war in Gaza after the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas-led militants which killed about 1,200 people. Almost 60,000 people in Gaza have been killed during Israel's military operation over the last 21 months.
CNN
5 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Thai-Cambodia border clashes continue despite Trump's announcement of ceasefire talks
Asia Donald Trump FacebookTweetLink Cambodia and Thailand exchanged fire across their disputed border for a fourth day on Sunday, hours after US President Donald Trump announced the two Southeast Asian nations had agreed to ceasefire talks. At least 32 people have been killed and at least 200,000 displaced since Thursday, according to Thai and Cambodian officials, in clashes that have rumbled on despite calls from the United Nations, United States and China for the fighting to stop. Both sides have accused the other of starting the latest border flare-up, and traded blame for the ongoing fighting. But hours after Trump's announcement, Thailand's government on Sunday said it was 'not ready' to stop military operations and accused Cambodia of continuing to fire heavy artillery at civilian areas in its Surin province, on the border, and several other areas. 'Any cessation of hostilities cannot be reached' while Cambodia is 'repeatedly violating the basic principles of human rights and humanitarian law,' Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Thailand hit several locations in Cambodia with drones, tank fire, cluster and aerial bombs early Sunday morning local time, a spokesperson for Cambodia's defense ministry told reporters. Some of the firing landed near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World heritage site in Cambodia's northern Preah Vihear province, according to Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata. The temple complex has been at the center of previous clashes between the two nations. Cambodia slammed what it said were Thailand's 'deliberate and premeditated acts of aggression.' Those acts 'have occurred despite ongoing efforts led by President Donald Trump to seek a ceasefire, efforts that have been publicly and clearly supported by Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia,' Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata said. 'Our forces are still striking back actively and are not afraid to protect the territory,' Maly Socheata said. The state-run National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) reported that Cambodian forces had fired artillery into the Thai border province of Surin, west of Preah Vihear, damaging residential homes. Thai forces were responding, it reported. Thailand on Sunday said 19 people have been killed since hostilities began, mostly civilians. There are more than 138,000 from six provinces displaced and staying in government shelters, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Cambodia said Saturday that in Oddar Meanchey province, which borders Thailand's Surin, 13 people had been killed, including eight civilians, and 50 wounded. At least 80,000 people in Cambodia have been displaced by the fighting, according to the defense ministry. President Trump said Saturday that he had spoken with both Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and acting prime minister of Thailand Phumtham Wechayachai in his efforts to restore peace. 'They have agreed to immediately meet and quickly work out a Ceasefire and, ultimately, PEACE!' Trump wrote on Truth Social in a series of posts on outlining his diplomatic efforts, but offering no details on the negotiations. Trump said he had warned Hun Manet and Phumtham that he would not make trade deals with either country if the deadly border conflict continued. 'They are also looking to get back to the 'Trading Table' with the United States, which we think is inappropriate to do until such time as the fighting STOPS,' Trump wrote. Earlier this month, Trump wrote letters to Thailand and Cambodia threatening a 36% tariff on most of their exports to the US, starting August 1. Cambodia and Thailand both delivered substantial offers to their US counterparts in an effort to move to the front of the line for a trade agreement, officials said at the time. In the early hours of Sunday morning local time, Hun Manet thanked Trump and said that Cambodia agreed with 'the proposal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between the two armed forces.' It added that he had previously agreed to a ceasefire proposal from Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. A statement from Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was more measured, saying it wished to see 'sincere intention from the Cambodian side' – but that Phumtham had also 'requested President Trump to convey …that Thailand wants to convene a bilateral dialogue as soon as possible to bring forth measures and procedures for the ceasefire and the eventual peaceful resolution of the conflict.' Bangkok and Phnom Penh have been fighting over territory disputed since colonial power France drew the border between them more than a century ago. The renewed deadly conflict pits longtime US ally Thailand, with decades of experience, against Cambodia's relatively young armed force with close ties to China. The United Nations has condemned the violence, with Secretary General António Guterres urging in a post on X for 'both sides to immediately agree to a ceasefire and to address any issues through dialogue.'
New York Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
I'm a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.
A month after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, I believed there was evidence that the Israeli military had committed war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity in its counterattack on Gaza. But contrary to the cries of Israel's fiercest critics, the evidence did not seem to me to rise to the crime of genocide. By May 2024, the Israel Defense Forces had ordered about one million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah — the southernmost and last remaining relatively undamaged city of the Gaza Strip — to move to the beach area of the Mawasi, where there was little to no shelter. The army then proceeded to destroy much of Rafah, a feat mostly accomplished by August. At that point it appeared no longer possible to deny that the pattern of I.D.F. operations was consistent with the statements denoting genocidal intent made by Israeli leaders in the days after the Hamas attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised that the enemy would pay a 'huge price' for the attack and that the I.D.F. would turn parts of Gaza, where Hamas was operating, 'into rubble,' and he called on 'the residents of Gaza' to 'leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere.' Netanyahu had urged his citizens to remember 'what Amalek did to you,' a quote many interpreted as a reference to the demand in a biblical passage calling for the Israelites to 'kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings' of their ancient enemy. Government and military officials said they were fighting 'human animals' and, later, called for 'total annihilation.' Nissim Vaturi, the deputy speaker of Parliament, said on X that Israel's task must be 'erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth.' Israel's actions could be understood only as the implementation of the expressed intent to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable for its Palestinian population. I believe the goal was — and remains today — to force the population to leave the Strip altogether or, considering that it has nowhere to go, to debilitate the enclave through bombings and severe deprivation of food, clean water, sanitation and medical aid to such an extent that it is impossible for Palestinians in Gaza to maintain or reconstitute their existence as a group. My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could. But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one. This is not just my conclusion. A growing number of experts in genocide studies and international law have concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza can only be defined as genocide. So has Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, and Amnesty International. South Africa has brought a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
