Israel issues new evacuation orders in central Gaza
On Sunday, the Israeli military dropped leaflets from the sky ordering people in several districts in southwest Deir al-Balah to leave their homes and head further south."The (Israeli) Defense Forces continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area," the military said, adding that it had not yet entered these districts during the war.The affected neighbourhoods of Deir al-Balah are crowded with displaced people living in tents.Israeli sources told Reuters news agency that the reason the army has stayed out of these districts so far is because they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there.At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be alive.Most of the Strip's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during Israel's war with Hamas, with repeated Israeli evacuation calls covering large parts of the territory.The new evacuation orders came as health officials at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital said more than 40 people were killed and dozens injured by Israeli fire as crowds gathered to await the entry of UN aid lorries on Sunday morning.Hospitals in the south said more people were also killed at aid points there. The BBC has contacted the Israeli military to ask for a response.The UN says civilians are starving in Gaza and has called for an urgent influx of essential goods.But there have been almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while seeking aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations in late May. Witnesses say most have been shot by Israeli forces. Israel says the new distribution system stops aid going to Hamas.Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.Israeli attacks have since killed more than 58,895 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.
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The Guardian
18 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israel launches air and ground offensive on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza
Israel has launched substantial air raids and a ground operation in Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, the key hub for humanitarian efforts in the devastated Palestinian territory amid mounting warnings of widening starvation in the coastal strip. The latest assault comes a day after the highest death toll in 21 months inflicted by the Israeli military on desperate Palestinians seeking food aid, with at least 85 killed on Sunday in what has become a grim and almost daily slaughter. The UN food agency, the World Food Programme, said the majority of those killed on Sunday had gathered near the border fence with Israel in the hope of getting flour from a UN aid convoy when they were fired on by Israeli tanks and snipers. Witnesses described massive airstrikes overnight in Deir al-Balah – the last remaining area of Gaza that has not suffered significant war damage. Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Israel launched its renewed assault despite reports in the Hebrew media that Israeli officials believed Hamas was close to agreeing to a ceasefire. The latest Israeli assault followed forced evacuation orders for between 50–80,000 people in Deir al-Balah, in the centre of the Gaza Strip, leaving almost 87% of the territory under such orders. 'With this latest order, the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarised zones has risen to 87.8%, leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12% of the strip, where essential services have collapsed,' the UN said in a statement released by its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair. With the growing threat of widespread starvation, OCHA emphasised the importance of Deir al-Balah for what remains of the struggling international aid effort as warehouses, health clinics and a key desalination plant serving southern Gaza are located there. 'Any damage to this infrastructure will have life-threatening consequences,' the agency added. Amid mounting concern over the potential impact of the latests assault OCHA said the agency's local head in Gaza had decided to remain in Deir al-Balah. 'Just spoken to Jonathan Whittall,' Tom Fletcher, the UN's under secretary for Humanitarin Affairs wrote on X late on Sunday night 'He's in Deir el Balah, Gaza, with Israeli airstrikes intensifying,' adding: 'They are best of UN. And all of us.' The Israeli military said it had not entered the districts of Deir al-Balah subject to the evacuation order and that it was continuing 'to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area'. Deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza was underlined by claims from doctors in Gaza that at least 19 Palestinians have died from hunger in the past 24 hours. 'Nineteen people, including children, have died of hunger,' Khalil al-Daqran, a spokesperson for al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah told the BBC. 'Hospitals can no longer provide food for patients or staff, many of whom are physically unable to continue working due to extreme hunger.' 'Hospitals cannot provide a single bottle of milk to children suffering from hunger, because all baby formula has run out from the market.' According to the World Food Programme, the killing of dozens of Palestinians who had gathered to get flour came after a convoy of 25 trucks carrying food assistance crossed into Gaza. 'Shortly after passing the final checkpoint … the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies,' the agency said. 'As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.' 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,' it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. 'Shootings near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions must stop immediately.' Israel's military acknowledged the shooting, but said it had fired 'warning shots to remove an immediate threat posed to the troops.' It said initial findings suggested the reported casualty figures were inflated, and it 'certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks'. The World Food Programme added: 'Gaza's hunger crisis has reached new levels of desperation. People are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance. Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment. Nearly one person in three is not eating for days.' The latest Israeli attacks in Gaza took place as a security official with Yemen's Houthi group said Israel struck Hodeida port on Monday, destroying a dock that had been rebuilt after it was damaged in earlier attacks. 'The bombing destroyed the port's dock, which had been rebuilt following previous strikes,' the official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Why Greens' Maggie Chapman was dethroned from regional list
As it is unlikely the North East will elect two Greens MSPs, Ms Chapman, who came second in the contest, faces an uncertain political future. The Zimbabwe-born politician, who served as co-leader of the party between 2013 and 2019, has been a lightning rod for controversy during her time in Holyrood. She turned heads in October 2023 after tweeting that the Hamas terror attack on Israel was 'a consequence of apartheid, of illegal occupation and of imperial aggression by the [[Israel]] state.' She also shared a post which likened the attack to an act of 'decolonisation,' rather than 'terrorism'. Lorna Slater hit out at Ms Chapman over the tweet. (Image: PA) Party brass refused to back her, with co-leader Lorna Slater telling the BBC she had spoken to Ms Chapman about her tweet. While Ms Chapman apologised for 'any upset' in a subsequent post, the reputational damage was done. Further controversy followed in the spring of 2025. Speaking at a rally in Aberdeen, Chapman said the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of a woman was based in 'bigotry, prejudice and hatred'. She was blasted by top lawyers and narrowly survived a vote to oust her as Deputy Convenor of Holyrood's Equalities Committee in April - after voting for herself to remain in post. She said at the time: 'The focus should not be on me, it should be on the outcomes of the ruling and the serious threat that is being posed to the rights of trans and non-binary people. "I have never questioned the Court's right to make the ruling that it did. But that does not mean that I must agree with it. I don't, and I am very concerned about the impact it will have and is already having.' Mr Ingerson, an environmental campaigner, will be the party's top North East candidate in 2026. A popular local figure in the party and former co-convenor of the Greens' LGBTQ wing, Mr Ingerson previously stood for Holyrood in 2021. Former employee Guy Ingerson has secured the top spot on the list. The pair are locked in a bullying row, after Mr Ingerson lodged an internal party complaint against Ms Chapman's conduct. Mr Ingerson has alleged that Ms Chapman contacted his new employer, Friends of the Earth Scotland, to warn he was 'untrustworthy' and should be 'watched'. MSPs Patrick Harvie and Mark Ruskell are named as witnesses in the documents, according to The National. Ms Chapman had previously lodged a complaint against Mr Ingerson. Born in Zimbabwe in 1979, Ms Chapman moved to Scotland to study at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2001. After completing a masters degree in Environmental Management at the University of Stirling, Ms Chapman was elected as a Scottish Greens councillor for Leith Walk in [[Edinburgh]] in 2007. She would serve in that role until 2016, after which she was selected as the top candidate for the Greens North East regional list. Currently the rector of scandal-hit Dundee University, she served in the same position at the University of [[Aberdeen]] between 2014 and 2021. Her bid for re-election in 2017 was annulled after allegations were raised that her supporters had torn down the campaign posters of other candidates. A member of her campaign team said at the time: 'The contention that we had removed hundreds of campaign posters is obviously spurious, and their claim that it took until 4pm on the 11th day of campaigning - one hour before voting closed - for them to realise this is obviously absurd. "It suggests that it is much more likely that their intention was to find a pretext to get the winning candidate disqualified or to have the election annulled." She won a redo of the election in early 2018. Mr Ingerson recently described his contest with Ms Chapman as a 'battle for the soul' of the progressive, pro-independence party. Read more: Faculty of Advocates: 'Surprising and regrettable' Maggie Chapman is still in post Green MSP Maggie Chapman deletes controversial Gaza tweet after backlash Inside the 'battle' to shake up the 'middle-class' Scottish Greens The former oil and gas worker, who came sixth in the [[Aberdeen]] South constituency at the 2024 general election, told The Herald: 'We're often seen as a pseudo-intellectual middle-class party, and to be fair, we've been led by those types of people for some time — and to great success. But now we need change. 'The North East has seen cuts to services and workers feel they aren't being listened to,' he added. 'We need someone on the top of the list who is from Mastrick (a working class neighborhood in Aberdeen) and has really good insight into the community.' In 2021, the Scottish Greens stood in eleven constituencies, failing to win a seat. However, seven Green MSPs were elected using the list system, including party leaders Harvie and Slater.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Pope condemns Gaza war's ‘barbarity' as 93 reported killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food
Good morning. Pope Leo XIV has condemned the 'barbarity' of the war in Gaza and the 'indiscriminate use of force' as Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 93 Palestinians had been killed queueing for food, and Israel issued fresh evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people. Gaza's health ministry said scores were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which people seeking food have been killed by Israeli fire. Elsewhere nine others were reportedly shot dead near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier, while four were killed near another site in Khan Younis, a spokesperson for the civil defence agency, Mahmud Basal, said. What has Israel said about the killings? Israel's military said soldiers had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who it claimed posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found. It did not immediately comment on the incidents in the south. Migrants at a Miami immigration jail were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates 'like dogs', according to a report published today into conditions at three overcrowded south Florida facilities. The incident at the downtown federal detention center is one of a succession of alleged abuses at Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice) operated jails in the state since January, chronicled by advocacy groups Human Rights Watch, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and Sanctuary of the South from interviews with detainees. Dozens of men had been packed into a holding cell for hours, the report said, and denied lunch until about 7pm. They remained shackled with the food on chairs in front of them. Why else is Ice in the news? An 82-year-old man in Pennsylvania was secretly deported to Guatemala – a country to which he has no connection – after visiting an immigration office last month to replace his lost green card, according to his family, who have not heard from him since and were initially told he was dead. US carrier Alaska Airlines grounded its flights after an IT outage yesterday that affected its systems, the company said, without specifying the nature of the outage, marking the second time it has grounded its fleet in just over a year. The Seattle-based airline said there would be residual impacts to its operations throughout the evening, without providing more details. Did a cyber-attack cause the IT problems? Microsoft stated yesterday that there were 'active attacks' on its server software used by government agencies and businesses but Alaska did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment on whether the outage was related to the Microsoft announcement. The Ecuadoran government has extradited the notorious drug trafficker Adolfo Macías to the US, more than a year after he escaped from a high-security prison. The flight transporting Macías, also known as 'Fito', landed in New York state last night. Pakistan has arrested 11 suspects after a video emerged on social media of a woman and a man being shot dead for marrying against the wishes of their families, in an 'honour' killing, authorities said. Donald Trump has demanded that the NFL's Washington Commanders and MLB's Cleveland Guardians revert to their old names, both of which were abandoned in recent years due to being racially insensitive to Native Americans. Superbugs could cause millions more people to die worldwide and cost the global economy just under $2tn a year by 2050, modelling shows. The research found the US, UK and EU economies would be among the hardest hit, prompting accusations that recent extreme aid cuts are self-defeating. When lightning struck on 4 July along the remote North Rim of Grand Canyon national park, sparking a small wildfire in a patch of dry forest, few predicted the terror and loss that lay ahead. The decision to let the small blaze burn – before it suddenly burst through its containment lines – has drawn scrutiny. Now those who love the remote North Rim are reckoning with the destruction. Climate change-induced food price shocks are on the rise and could lead to more malnutrition, political upheaval and social unrest as the world's poorest are hit by shortages of food staples. The price jumps will have knock-on effects around the world. Ellen DeGeneres has confirmed that she moved to the UK because of Donald Trump. At a conversation event yesterday, she told broadcaster Richard Bacon: 'We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like: 'He got in.' And we're like 'We're staying here.'' First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@
