Middle East: Media groups urge Israel to allow entry to Gaza – DW – 07/24/2025
A group of news organizations has urged Israel again to let journalists in and out of Gaza as the humanitarian situation there grows increasingly dire.
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, reporters have only been allowed in under tight Israeli military control. Global media organizations have been relying on local journalists, many of whom are now struggling to find food and are unable to work.
In a joint statement, the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press (AP), Reuters and the BBC said they were "desperately concerned" for "these independent journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza."
The statement called on Israel to allow media access to Gaza and ensure that adequate food supplies reach the people there.You join us as Israel says it is reviewing a revised response from Hamas to a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Hamas has confirmed submitting a new proposal but has not revealed its contents. Sources familiar with the talks told news agenices that mediators rejected a previous draft handed in late Tuesday and did not pass it on to Israel.
Both sides have been under growing domestic and international pressure to reach a deal. Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have sharply deteriorated, with widespread hunger across the enclave drawing global concern.
More than 100 aid and rights groups on Wednesday warned that "mass starvation" is spreading in Gaza, home to over two million Palestinians.
Follow along as DW brings you the latest reports, explainers and analysis on developments across the Middle East.
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Int'l Business Times
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- Int'l Business Times
UN Slams Gaza Airdrop Aid as 'Inefficient and a Distraction' Amid Starvation Crisis
The UNRWA commissioner condemned Israel and Western leaders for opting to airdrop aid into Gaza rather than pressuring Israel to allow the 6,000 truckloads of aid currently stalled in Jordan and Egypt to enter as dozens of Palestinians, mostly children, die from starvation-related causes. The commissioner of a United Nations agency criticized Western leaders' initiative to airdrop aid into the besieged Gaza enclave as "inefficient and a distraction," as the Israeli-driven starvation crisis deepens, claiming the lives of at least 122 Palestinians, 83 of whom were babies and children. On Friday, Israel announced it would soon permit Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to coordinate with the UK, France, and Germany to conduct humanitarian airdrops over Gaza, The Times of Israel reported. The news came as more than 2.2 million Palestinians remain trapped in the besieged enclave, facing a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. "#Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," Philippe Lazzarini, the Swiss Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA), wrote in an X post shared Saturday. "They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke [sic]." Since March 2, Israel has blocked nearly all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, creating conditions that aid agencies warn amount to deliberate starvation, a practice considered a war crime under international law. The ongoing siege has made food, clean water, and medical supplies nearly inaccessible. In an attempt to ease the crisis, Israel and the United States opened four Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution sites at the end of May. However, these efforts have been marred by violence as more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and American mercenaries while trying to retrieve the aid. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The court alleges both are "responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare" beginning Oct. 8, 2023. "A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will," Lazzarini continued. "Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements + dignified access to people in need. Allow the U.N. including @UNRWA & our partners to operate at scale & without bureaucratic or political hurdles." Lazzarini added that UNRWA has 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt "waiting for the green light to get into Gaza." "Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper & safer. It's more dignified for the people of #Gaza," he added. #Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving is a distraction & screensmoke.A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 26, 2025 In a follow-up post, Lazzarini described the dire conditions Palestinians in Gaza are enduring, quoting a colleague who said, "'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.'" He added that UNRWA found that 1 in every 5 children in Gaza City is malnourished, a figure that increases daily. "When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food & care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold. Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak & at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need," he wrote, adding that frontline health workers, currently surviving on one small meal a day, are also fainting from hunger. "When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing. Parents are too hungry to care for their children," the UNWRA commissioner wrote. "Those who reach UNRWA clinics don't have the energy, food, or means to follow medical advice." "Families are no longer coping, they are breaking down, unable to survive. Their existence is threatened," he added, before stressing that UNRWA must be permitted to distribute food and medical supplies from the 6,000 aid trucks currently stalled in Jordan and Egypt. 'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses': a colleague in #Gaza told me this morning. Meanwhile, according to @UNRWA latest findings: one in every five children is malnourished in Gaza City as cases increase every day. When child malnutrition… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 24, 2025 Since October 2023, nearly 60,000 Palestinians have died, either directly from Israeli military actions or indirectly as a result of Israeli policies. During the same period, around 1,600 Israelis have been killed, with 1,200 of those deaths occurring on Oct. 7, 2023. Originally published on Latin Times © Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
DW
2 hours ago
- DW
Middle East updates: UK, Jordan working on Gaza airdrop plan – DW – 07/26/2025
The United Kingdom and Jordan are coordinating on a plan to airdrop aid into Gaza, according to British PM Keir Starmer. Meanwhile, dozens more Palestinians have reportedly been killed by Israeli fire. DW has United Kingdom is working with Middle Eastern allies including Jordan on plans to airdrop aid into the Gaza Strip and evacuate children in need of medical care, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said on Saturday. "The prime minister set out how the UK will be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance," read a statement after Starmer held a three-way phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. During the conversation, the three leaders agreed that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "appalling" and that it would be "vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace," according to the Downing Street readout. "They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan ... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region," it continued. "They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it." In Berlin, Chancellor Merz's office spoke of "large agreement" on the call – despite Germany so far refusing to criticize Israel to the extent that the UK and France have done, with the latter even set to officially recognize Palestinian statehood later this year. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "We will be coordinating very closely in the coming days to take the next steps," said Merz. The phone call came a day after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience." For the first time in months, Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by neighboring Jordan. An official in Amman said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula. But the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned on social media that airdrops are "expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians" and won't reverse the increasing starvation or prevent aid diversion. "A man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will," he said, demanding: "Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Some 40 people died while trying to access humanitarian aid, including 16 who were shot by Israeli forces, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local Palestinian authorities and medics. Doctors at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said that 16 people were killed and another 300 injured near the northern Zikim border crossing waiting for trucks carrying aid. One witness told the AFP news agency that Israeli troops opened fire "while the people were waiting to approach the distribution point." The Israeli military told AFP that its troops fired "warning shots to distance the crowd" after identifying an unspecified "immediate threat." Elsewhere, Gaza's Hamas-run civil defense agency said nine people were killed in three separate Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, eleven in four separate strikes near the southern city of Khan Yunis and two in a drone strike in Nuseirat refugee camp. The Palestinian militant group Hamas expressed surprise on Saturday at suggestions from US President Donald Trump that the group "didn't really want" a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza. Trump made the allegation on Friday after Israel and the United States walked out of indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar that had lasted nearly three weeks. "Trump's remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files," said a spokesman for the Islamist group which launched the deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the current conflict. "So far, we have not been informed of any issues regarding the files under discussion in the indirect ceasefire negotiations", he added. Though not part of the Hamas negotiating team, Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq insisted the group had shown "flexibility" in the talks, but Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not "acting in good faith." Hello and welcome to DW's coverage of developments in Gaza, Israel and the wider Middle East on Saturday, July 26. In a three-way conversation with his French and German counterparts, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom was working with regional partners such as Jordan on a plan to airdrop aid into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, medics and Hamas officials said that dozens more Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire, some while waiting for humanitarian aid.
DW
3 hours ago
- DW
Bulgaria's arrest of liberal, pro-EU mayor sparks protests – DW – 07/26/2025
Thousands of Bulgarians have been protesting what they say is undue political influence on local justice. Many believe the EU is turning a blind eye to corruption in the Balkan country for political reasons. "My main motivation to be here in this square is my desire for justice," Berkay says. The young man was taking part in a protest held last week in Bulgaria's coastal city of Varna, against the arrest of the local mayor. "My conscience and my sense of civic duty wouldn't allow me just to stand here with my arms folded, in the face of the obvious trend towards authoritarianism in our country," he told DW. Along with other protesters, Berkay didn't want to give his full name. The protests started after the July 8 arrest of Varna's mayor Blagomir Kotsev, a member of the reformist We Continue the Change, or PP, political party. He was arrested during a raid by Bulgaria's Commission for Anti-Corruption. Kotsev was accused of running a criminal group that extorted companies that received public contracts. Two municipal council members from Kotsev's own party and a businessman from Varna were named as his accomplices in the alleged scheme. The mayor's arrest also sparked demonstrations in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, as well as in other places, and has become a symbol for the general public's growing concern about how their current government is using the public prosecutor's office as a weapon. "Such measures represent a serious interference with democracy and undermine the credibility of the judiciary," another demonstrator, Konstantin, says when DW meets him outside Varna's city hall. "This is not an isolated incident, it's part of a larger problem in the Bulgarian justice system," he argues. The fact that Bulgaria has some serious problems with its justice system is well known. In the latest report on the state of law in the country the European Commission — the body responsible for the day-to-day running of the European Union — notes that there have been barely any improvements. In fact, the EU report was issued on the same day as Varna's mayor was arrested. "Bulgarian democracy is in danger and all those who care about it must abandon their political party affiliations and oppose attempts to impose autocracy and authoritarianism in the country," Bulgarian political scientist Daniel Smilov, also a specialist in comparative constitutional law, writes. "These terms may sound vague and exaggerated but unfortunately they accurately describe what is happening: Key institutions have been hijacked and power and violence have been used to advance the interests of particular political interests." For a long time, Varna's political scene was dominated by the conservative, right-wing party, GERB, short for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria. It is also the party of the country's current prime minister Rosen Zhelyazko, as well as long-time Bulgarian leader Boyko Borissov, who previously served three terms as prime minister. Borissov and his allies were regularly accused of corruption and there had already been major protests about this in 2020. Borissov is seen to be close to media tycoon and oligarch Delyan Peevski, who's also the leader of a political party, New Beginning. The protesters believe that even though Peevski is currently officially in opposition, he wields too much power in Bulgarian politics. In fact, Varna's mayor Kotsev first became known on the political scene during those 2020 protests before he won in municipal elections in 2023. The main accusations against Kotsev rely almost exclusively on statements by a Bulgarian businesswoman, Plamenka Dimitrova, the owner of a catering business that has often been contracted to state and public functions. Dimitrova is allegedly close to the GERB party and during Borissov's time in office, her company was awarded contracts worth millions. However the new leadership in Varna decided to work with another service provider, one which would do the job for less money. Dimitrova claims she was asked to hand over 15% of the value of the contract if she wished to keep it. Another witness in the case against Kotsev is the city's former deputy mayor, Dian Ivanov. At first Ivanov seemed to confirm Dimitrova's story but then later he withdrew his comments and said they had been "untruths" made "under pressure" from the anti-corruption commission. Despite this, Ivanov was not questioned again and his later-withdrawn statements led to the July 18 court decision to arrest Kotsev and the others. According to Kotsev's party, PP, and their political allies in Democratic Bulgaria, or DB, another pro-European party, the case against Kotsev is part of a wider campaign against opposition parties like his, that is being led by the country's prosecutor general Borislav Sarafov. He is not independent, they claim, and he serves to protect the conservative movements' political interests. At the end of last month, another PP member, the deputy mayor of Sofia Nikola Barbutov, was also arrested on very similar charges: corruption and membership of an organized crime group. Up until now, there's been very little reaction from the European Commission regarding what's happening in Bulgaria. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is a member of the conservative German party, the Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, and the CDU is a member of the same European parliament alliance as Bulgaria's GERB. Many of the demonstrators in Bulgaria argue that is why von der Leyen is staying quiet about what they see as GERB's wrongdoing. "Ursula, do you still support GERB?" is a slogan seen on many of the placards at the demonstrations in Bulgaria. "I hope the EU stops unreservedly giving money to these villains," says Philip, a protester in Sofia. "Boyko's regime is nothing without the money from Europe. Peevski's regime is nothing without the money from Europe." Back in Varna, local demonstrator Berkay predicts a long fight ahead. "I believe we must finally fight these evil models and those who embody them," he said. "One day, when we become parents, we don't want to be ashamed of the situation we're leaving to our children."
