Israel condemned by 28 nations, plus special interview with Top Gear host Steve Berry
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Asharq Al-Awsat
34 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Hamas Rejects Trump Remarks on Gaza Talks Breakdown
Hamas officials expressed surprise on Saturday at US President Donald Trump's accusation that the group "didn't really want" a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza. Trump made the allegation of Friday a day after Israel and the United States quit 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," Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP. "So far, we have not been informed of any issues regarding the files under discussion in the indirect ceasefire negotiations", he added Nunu, who is close to Hamas's most senior political officials, said he was "surprised" that Israel and the United States had left the talks. Announcing the recall of US mediators on Thursday, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not "acting in good faith". Though not part of the Hamas negotiating team, Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq insisted the group had shown "flexibility" in the talks. "The American statements deliberately ignore the real obstructionist to all agreements, Netanyahu's government, which continues to put obstacles, deceive and evade commitments," he said. Both Hamas officials called on the United States to be more even-handed in its role as mediator in the quest for a ceasefire after more than 21 months of fighting. "We call for an end to the US bias in favour of Netanyahu, who is obstructing any agreement", Nunu said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
34 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israeli Gunfire and Strikes Kill at Least 42 in Gaza as Many of the Dead Sought Aid
Israeli airstrikes and gunshots killed at least 42 people in Gaza overnight and into Saturday, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service, as starvation deaths continued and ceasefire talks appear to have stalled. Gunfire killed at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north, said staff at Shifa hospital, where bodies were taken. Israel's military said it fired warning shots to distance a crowd "in response to an immediate threat" and it was not aware of any casualties. A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from aid trucks, but as they got close, they realized it was Israel's tanks. That's when the army started firing, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle was among those killed. "We went because there is no food ... and nothing was distributed," he said. Elsewhere, those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City, hospital staff and the ambulance service said. Another Israeli strike killed at least eight people, including four children, in the crowded tent camp of Muwasi in the city of Khan Younis in the south, according to the Nasser hospital, which received the bodies. Also in Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire and killed at least nine people trying to get aid entering Gaza through the Morag corridor, according to the hospital's morgue records. There was no immediate comment from Israel's military. Stalled ceasefire talks Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering "alternative options" to ceasefire talks. A Hamas official, however, said negotiations were expected to resume next week and described the recall of the Israeli and US delegations as a pressure tactic. Egypt and Qatar, which mediate alongside the United States, called the pause temporary and said talks would resume. They did not say when. "Our loved ones do not have time for another round of negotiations, and they will not survive another partial deal," said Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, one of 50 still in Gaza from Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Mor spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv. Children starving to death The United Nations and experts say Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine. And now children with no preexisting conditions have begun to starve to death. "We only want enough food to end our hunger," said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City as he tried to feed his family of six. While Israel's army says it's allowing aid into the enclave with no limit on the trucks that can enter, the UN says it is hampered by military restrictions on its movements and incidents of criminal looting. The Hamas-run police had provided security for safe aid delivery, but it has been unable to operate after being targeted by airstrikes. Israel on Saturday said over 250 trucks carrying aid from the UN and other organizations entered Gaza this week. About 600 trucks entered per day during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March. The Zikim shootings came days after at least 80 Palestinians were killed trying to reach aid entering through the crossing, one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in the war. Israel faces growing international pressure. More than two dozen Western-aligned countries and over 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticizing Israel's blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near the new aid sites run by an American contractor, the UN human rights office says. The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to get enough food. "Stand for Gaza, for silence is a crime, and indifference is a betrayal of humanity," said Father Issa Thaljieh, a Greek Orthodox priest at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, as religious figures and the mayor gathered to call for prayers to end the war. Turning to airdrops, with a warning For the first time in months, Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by neighboring Jordan. A Jordanian official said the airdrops mainly will be food and milk formula. Britain plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said Saturday. The office did not give details. But the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, 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. More than 59,700 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between fighters and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Freedom Flotilla aid boat approaching Gaza shores, group says
The activist group Freedom Flotilla announced Saturday that its latest aid boat dispatched to Gaza was approaching the territory and planned to land there the following morning in defiance of an Israeli blockade. The vessel, named the Handala after a popular Palestinian cartoon character, was just 105 nautical miles (194 kilometers) from its destination, organizers said -- closer to Gaza than its predecessor the Madleen was when it was intercepted in June. The Israeli navy said it would likewise block the new vessel from reaching the war-torn Palestinian territory. 'The [Israeli army] enforces the legal maritime security blockade on the Gaza Strip and is prepared for a wide range of scenarios, which it will act upon in accordance with directives of the political echelon,' an army spokesperson told AFP on Saturday. Carrying 19 activists and two journalists from various countries, the Handala first set sail from Sicily on July 13 in a bid to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza and deliver aid to its population. The territory is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with the United Nations and NGOs warning of an imminent famine. The Handala's crew said in a post on X that they would go on a hunger strike if the Israeli army intercepted the boat and detained its passengers. The last boat sent by Freedom Flotilla, the Madleen, was intercepted by the Israeli army in international waters on June 9 and towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod. It carried 12 campaigners on board, including prominent Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
