Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza, officials say, as some aid restrictions are eased
The dead included a newborn who was delivered in a complex surgery after his mother, who was seven months pregnant, was killed in a strike, according to the Nasser Hospital.
Israel announced Sunday that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day until further notice to allow for the improved flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where concern over hunger has grown, and designate secure routes for aid delivery.
Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. The Israeli military had no immediate comment about the latest strikes, which occurred outside the time frame for the pause Israel declared would be held between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Aid agencies have welcomed the new aid measures, which also included allowing airdrops into Gaza, but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory.
Images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza 'terrible.'
Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine to pressure Hamas to free hostages.
Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new U.S.-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers also have encountered a similar breakdown in law and order surrounding their aid deliveries.
Most of Gaza's population now relies on aid. Accessing food has become a challenge that some Palestinians have risked their lives for.
The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians who it said were killed Monday by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As President Donald Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain's leader, crisis in Gaza loomsThe pregnant woman and her child were killed along with 11 others after their house was struck in the Muwasi area, west of the southern city of Khan Younis, according to a hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Another strike hit a two-story house in the western Japanese neighborhood of Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, said the Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties. At least five others were killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza, according to local hospitals.
What to expect, and what not to, at the UN meeting on an Israel-Palestinian two-state solutionThe Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on most of the strikes. It said it was not aware of one strike in Gaza City during the pause that health officials said killed one person.
In its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. It still holds 50, more than half Israel believes to be dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says over half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
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Boston Globe
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Israeli fire again kills Gaza aid-seekers as US envoy meets with hostages' families
Advertisement But the United Nations, partners and Palestinians say far too little aid is coming in, with months of supplies piled up outside Gaza waiting for Israeli approval. Trucks that enter are mostly stripped of supplies by desperate people and criminal groups before reaching warehouses for distribution. Experts this week said a 'worst-case scenario of famine' was occurring. On Saturday, Gaza's health ministry said seven Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, including a child. Aid is 'far from sufficient,' Germany's government said via spokesman Stefan Kornelius. The U.N. has said 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed daily. Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza fear they are going hungry too, and blame Hamas, after the militants released images of an emaciated hostage, Evyatar David. Advertisement Near the northernmost GHF distribution site near the Netzarim corridor, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid, described a grimly familiar scene. After helping carry three people wounded by gunshots, he said he saw others on the ground, bleeding. 'It's the same daily episode,' Youssef said. Health workers said at least eight people were killed. Israel's military said it fired warning shots at a gathering approaching its forces. At least two people were killed in the Shakoush area hundreds of meters (yards) from where the GHF operates in the southernmost city of Rafah, witnesses said. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received two bodies and many injured. Witness Mohamed Abu Taha said Israeli troops opened fire toward the crowds. He saw three people — two men and a woman — shot as he fled. Israel's military said it was not aware of any fire by its forces in the area. The GHF said nothing happened near its sites. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel 's military on Friday said it was working to make the routes under its control safer. The GHF — backed by millions of dollars in U.S. support — launched in May as Israel sought an alternative to the U.N.-run system, which had safely delivered aid for much of the war but was accused by Israel of allowing Hamas to siphon off supplies. Israel has not offered evidence for that claim and the U.N. has denied it. From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed near GHF sites, according to a U.N. report Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of U.N.-led food convoys. Hamas-led police once guarded those convoys, but Israeli fire targeted the officers. Advertisement Israel and GHF have claimed the toll has been exaggerated. Airdrops by a Jordan-led coalition — Israel, the UAE, Egypt, France, and Germany — are another approach, though experts say the strategy remains deeply inadequate and even dangerous for people on the ground. 'Let's go back to what works & let us do our job,' Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on social media, calling for more and safer truck deliveries. Nasser Hospital said it received five bodies after two Israeli strikes on tents sheltering displaced people in Gaza's south. The health ministry's ambulance and emergency service said a strike hit a house between the towns of Zawaida and Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their three children. Another strike hit a tent in Khan Younis, killing a mother and her daughter. Israel's top general Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that 'combat will continue without rest' if hostages aren't freed. U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with hostages' families Saturday, a week after quitting ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas' intransigence. 'I didn't hear anything new from him. I heard that there was pressure from the Americans to end this operation, but we didn't hear anything practical,' said Michel Illouz, father of Israeli hostage Guy Illouz. He said he asked Witkoff to set a time frame but got 'no answers.' Protesters called on Israel's government to make a deal to end the war, imploring them to 'stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels.' Advertisement In part of Gaza City, displaced people who managed to return home found rubble-strewn neighborhoods. Most Palestinians in Gaza are crowded into ever-shrinking areas considered safe. 'I don't know what to do. Destruction, destruction,' said Mohamed Qeiqa, who stood amid collapsed concrete slabs and pointed out a former five-story building. 'Where will people settle?' The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but says women and children make up over half the dead. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. The ministry says 93 children have died from malnutrition-related causes in Gaza since the war began. It said 76 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, when it started counting adult deaths.
Boston Globe
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For some, return of Presidential Fitness Test revives painful memories
'I never did a pullup,' she said. 'My jam was just to hang there and cut jokes.' President Donald Trump's announcement Thursday that he was reviving the fitness test, which President Barack Obama did away with in 2012, has stirred up strong feelings and powerful memories for generations of Americans who were forced to complete the annual measure of their physical abilities. Advertisement While some still proudly remember passing the test with flying colors and receiving a presidential certificate, many others recoil at the mere mention of the test. For them, it was an early introduction to public humiliation. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'You would see it,' Burnett said. Her classmates 'would feel body shamed if they didn't perform as well.' Born of Cold War-era fears that America was becoming 'soft,' the test was introduced by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. Although it changed forms over the years, the most recent version included a 1-mile run, modified situps, a 30-foot shuttle run, the sit-and-reach flexibility test and a choice between pushups or pullups. Children who scored in the top 15% nationwide earned a Presidential Physical Fitness Award. Advertisement When Obama abolished the test, he replaced it with the FitnessGram, a program that emphasized overall student health, goal setting and personal progress -- not beating your classmates on the track or the pullup bar. Trump signed an executive order that revived the test and reestablished the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. The order cited 'the threat to the vitality and longevity of our country that is posed by America's declining health and physical fitness.' The health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said at a White House event where Trump signed the order that he had fond memories of taking the fitness test as a child. 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Megaera Regan, who retired in 2021 after 32 years as an elementary school physical education teacher in Port Washington, New York, on Long Island, called the return of the test 'a giant step backward.' 'It really breaks my heart that it's coming back,' she said. 'If our mission is to help kids love being physically active and love moving, we have to do more than testing them in ways in which the majority are going to fail, and they're going to feel ashamed, and they're not going to like physical education.' Still, the test has its supporters, who describe it as a rite of passage -- and even a transformative experience. Steve Magness, 40, an author of books about performance and the science of running, said that he 'wasn't your typical athlete' as a child growing up outside Houston. Advertisement Then he won the mile run and the shuttle run during the Presidential Fitness Test in second grade. Pretty soon, he was known as the fastest runner in his class. 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NBC News
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Israeli fire again kills Gaza aid-seekers as US envoy meets with hostages' families
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip— Israeli forces opened fire near two aid distribution sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as crowds of hungry Palestinians again sought food, killing at least 10 people, witnesses and health workers said Saturday — a day after U.S. officials visited a GHF site and the U.S. ambassador called the troubled system "an incredible feat." Nearly a week has passed since Israel, under international pressure amid growing scenes of starving children, announced limited humanitarian pauses and airdrops meant to get more food to Gaza's over 2 million people, who now largely rely on aid after almost 22 months of war. But the United Nations, partners and Palestinians say far too little aid is still coming in, with months' worth of supplies piled up outside Gaza waiting for Israeli approval. Trucks that enter are mostly stripped of supplies by desperate people and criminal groups before reaching warehouses for distribution. Experts this week said a "worst-case scenario of famine" was occurring in the besieged enclave. On Saturday, Gaza's health ministry said seven more Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, including a child. Aid is "far from sufficient," Germany's government said via spokesman Stefan Kornelius. Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza fear they are going hungry too, and blame Hamas, after the militants released images of an emaciated hostage, Evyatar David. More deaths near U.S.-supported GHF sites Near the northernmost GHF distribution site near the Netzarim corridor, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid Saturday morning, described a panicked and grimly familiar scene. After helping carry three people wounded by gunshots, he said he saw others on the ground, bleeding. "It's the same daily episode," Youssef said. Health workers said at least eight people were killed. Israel's military said it fired warning shots at a gathering approaching its forces. At least two people were killed in the Shakoush area hundreds of meters (yards) from where the GHF operates another site in the southernmost city of Rafah, witnesses said. Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis received two bodies and many injured. Witness Mohamed Abu Taha said Israeli troops opened fire toward the crowds. He saw three people — two men and a woman — shot as he fled. Israel's military said it was not aware of any fire by its forces in the area. The GHF said nothing happened near its sites. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel 's military on Friday said it was working to make the routes under its control safer. Israel and GHF have claimed the toll has been exaggerated. The GHF — backed by millions of dollars in U.S. support — launched in May as Israel sought an alternative to the U.N.-run system, which had safely delivered aid for much of the war but was accused by Israel of allowing Hamas to siphon off supplies. Israel has not offered evidence for that claim and the U.N. has denied it. From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed near GHF sites, according to a United Nations report published Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of U.N.-led food convoys. Hamas-led police once guarded those convoys and went after suspected looters, but Israeli fire targeted the officers. Airdrops by a Jordan-led coalition — Israel, the UAE, Egypt, France, and Germany — are another approach, though experts say the strategy remains deeply inadequate and even dangerous for people on the ground. "Let's go back to what works & let us do our job," Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote Saturday on social media, calling for more and safer truck deliveries. Airstrikes continue An Israeli strike hit a group of Palestinians trying to secure aid trucks entering northern Gaza from the Israeli-controlled Zikim crossing, killing at least three people, said Fares Awad, head of the health ministry's ambulance and emergency service. Nasser Hospital said it received five bodies after two separate strikes on tents sheltering displaced people in Gaza's south. The health ministry's ambulance and emergency service said an Israeli strike hit a house between the towns of Zawaida and Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their three children. Another strike hit a tent near a closed prison where the displaced have sheltered in Khan Younis, killing a mother and her daughter. Israel's top general Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that "combat will continue without rest" if hostages aren't freed. Hostage families push Israel to cut deal U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with hostages' families Saturday, a week after quitting ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas's intransigence. "I didn't hear anything new from him. I heard that there was pressure from the Americans to end this operation, but we didn't hear anything practical," said Michel Illouz, father of Israeli hostage Guy Illouz, whose body was taken into Gaza. He said he asked Witkoff to exert pressure and set a time frame but got "no answers." Protesters called on Israel's government to make a deal to end the war, imploring them to "stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels" Coming home to ruins In part of Gaza City, displaced people who managed to return home found rubble-strewn neighborhoods unrecognizable. Most Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced, often multiple times, and are crowded into ever-shrinking areas considered safe. "I don't know what to do. Destruction, destruction," said Mohamed Qeiqa, who stood amid collapsed slabs of concrete and pointed out what had been a five-story building. "Where will people settle?" The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but says women and children make up over half the dead. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. The ministry says 93 children have died from malnutrition-related causes in Gaza since the war began. It said 76 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, when it started counting adult deaths.
