French FM condemns Israel, US-backed Gaza aid operation as ‘bloodbath'
'I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarised distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop,' Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told reporters after meeting his Cyprus counterpart in Nicosia.
A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday that a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted.
The UN estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food since May, most near militarised distribution sites of the GHF, which employs a US logistics firm run by a former CIA officer and armed US veterans. The GHF denies that there have been deadly incidents at its sites, and says the deadliest have been near other aid convoys.
The Israeli military has acknowledged that civilians have been harmed by its gunfire near distribution centres, and says its forces have now received better instructions. Israel accuses Hamas fighters of stealing aid – which the militants deny – and the UN of failing to prevent it. The UN says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon.
Barrot said France would carry out four humanitarian flights carrying 10 tonnes each of aid from Friday into Gaza in cooperation with Jordan.
Cyprus was briefly a staging point for about 22,000 tonnes of pre-screened aid sent to Gaza by sea in 2024 via a short-lived US- built landing jetty. Some 1,200 tonnes of aid is still on the island, awaiting delivery when conditions allow, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said.
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Euronews
17 minutes ago
- Euronews
France drops 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid in Gaza as crisis worsens
Forty tonnes of humanitarian aid were dropped this Friday to help the residents of Gaza, who are facing severe hunger, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said, calling for the Strip to be "flooded with water, food and medicine". Speaking to French radio Franceinfo, he highlighted the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave. "There's not a minute left to lose," Barrot said. France's top diplomat acknowledged that this aid was "insufficient" to meet the needs of the population. On Tuesday, Barrot had mentioned "four flights carrying 10 tonnes of food each", implying that four rotations would be carried out. Humanitarian airdrops resumed on Sunday, after the Israeli army announced a pause in the fighting. The first flights airdropping much-needed aid were carried out by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The UK was the first European country to take part, followed by Germany, Belgium and now France, which have all set up an "air route" via Jordan. Reopen all access routes, Barrot says A World Health Organisation report published on Thursday warned of the dramatic famine facing Gaza. Since the beginning of July, 5,000 children under the age of 5 have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition. Sixty-three children have died of starvation. Barrot described the situation as "absolutely intolerable". The French foreign minister also denounced the restrictions imposed by Israel on the entry of humanitarian aid. He claimed that "52 tonnes (of aid) have been waiting for months just a few kilometres from the Gaza Strip". "The Israeli government must now reopen all access routes - air, land and sea - to allow unhindered and massive access of humanitarian aid to the civilian populations who need it so badly". At the same time, a rare visit by US envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to take place in the Gaza Strip. He will be inspecting humanitarian aid distribution sites and meeting locals. The purpose of this mission is to "report back to the president (...) to approve a final plan for the distribution of aid", according to the White House spokeswoman.
France 24
17 minutes ago
- France 24
US envoy visits Gaza sites as UN says hundreds of aid-seekers killed
The visit by Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused Israeli forces of presiding over "regular bloodbaths" close to the US-backed aid points. The UN's rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 people had been killed seeking aid in Gaza since May 27 -- 105 of them in the last two days of July. "Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," the UN office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near the US-backed food sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, posted on X that he and Witkoff had visited Gaza "to learn the truth" about the private aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by the United States. "We received briefings from IDF (the Israeli military) and spoke to folks on the ground. GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!" Huckabee said. "Hamas hates GHF because it gets food to people without it being looted by Hamas." The foundation, on its own X account, posted that it had been a "privilege and honor" to host Witkoff and Huckabee as the group delivered its 100-millionth meal in Gaza, fulfilling Trump's "call to lead with strength, compassion and action". Gaza's civil defence agency said 11 people were killed by Israeli fire and air strikes on Friday, including two who were waiting near an aid distribution site run by GHF. GHF largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages of food and other essentials. 'Beyond imagination' In its report on the GHF centres on Friday, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of illegally using starvation as a weapon of war. "Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. "US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths." Responding to the report, the military said GHF worked independently, but that Israeli soldiers operated "in proximity to the new distribution areas in order to enable the orderly delivery of food". It accused Hamas of trying to prevent food distribution and said that it was conducting a review of the reported deaths, adding it worked to "minimise, as much as possible, any friction between the civilian population" and its forces. After arriving in Israel on Thursday, Witkoff held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to resolve the almost 22-month-old war, feed desperate civilians and free the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militants. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and free the captives, but is under international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and threatened many more with famine. Following his discussions with Witkoff, Netanyahu met Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of Germany, another staunch Israeli ally, who nonetheless delivered a blunt message. "The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination," Wadephul told reporters after the meeting, urging the government "to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality". "I have the impression that this has been understood today," he added. Hostage video On Thursday, the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad released a video showing German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, 21, watching recent news footage of the crisis in Gaza and pleading with the Israeli government to secure his release. "Even the strongest person has a breaking point," his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel. "Rom is an example of all the hostages. They must all be brought home now." On Friday, Wadephul also met relatives of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. According to the German foreign office, among the 49 hostages still held, a "single-digit" number are German-Israeli dual nationals "Germany continues to do everything in our power to achieve the release of the hostages," Wadephul said, expressing outrage at the video release. This "horrible" footage reveals "once again the utter depravity of the kidnappers", he added. The Hamas-led October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. Of the 251 people taken hostage, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli military. The retaliatory Israeli offensive has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties. © 2025 AFP
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Wadephul says Berlin should prevent Israel's international isolation
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, where he is expected to hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The meeting is expected to address attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and the plans being discussed in Israel to annex the territory. The Israeli Knesset recently signalled its support for a possible annexation in a resolution, a move that has met with sharp international criticism. The German government is also firmly opposed to such a measure. Wadephul arrived in Israel on Thursday, where he met with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In Jerusalem, Wadephul said Israel was in danger of becoming internationally isolated. "I see it as Germany's duty to do everything it can to prevent this," he said. He referred to Germany's "never-ending historical obligation" for Israel's security. Both sides must take action, the foreign minister said. "My mission here today was to tell the Israeli side that they must act now and not just at some point." He added: "We need clarity - also from Israel - that no policy of expulsion and no policy of active annexation is being pursued." What is needed is for the remaining hostages to be released from Gaza, where they are being held captive by the militant group Hamas. "It is time to end this war," Wadephul said in a call directed "first and foremost to the Hamas terrorist organisation." German aid for Gaza Amid the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Wadephul pledged additional aid during a meeting with representatives of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Jerusalem. He announced that Germany would provide the World Food Programme (WFP) with a further €5 million. With these funds, the WFP should be able to provide food and put bakeries and soup kitchens back into operation in order to distribute bread and hot meals. As Wadephul explained, the daily ceasefires established by Israel in parts of the Gaza Strip will be used to distribute relief supplies via the UN. The German government is also supporting the construction of a Maltese field hospital in Gaza City to provide urgently needed basic medical care. Meanwhile, CSU Secretary-General Martin Huber has categorically ruled out sanctions against Israel by the German government. In an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, Huber said that criticising the Israeli government is legitimate, "but sanctions between friends are out of the question." Huber also rejects measures such as entry bans, such as those imposed by the Netherlands on the far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Berlin also hasn't joined major allies France, Britain, and Canada in saying it will recognise a Palestinian state in September. But in a statement ahead of his departure Thursday, Wadephul underlined Germany's position that a two-state solution is 'the only way' to ensure a future in peace and security for people on both sides. "For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state stands rather at the end of the process. But such a process must begin now. Germany will not move from this aim," Wadephul said. US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff also arrived in Israel on Thursday to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. Witkoff and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee will inspect food distribution in Gaza on Friday, the White House said.
