7,000 killed since January in fighting in DRC, prime minister says
Some 450,000 people are without shelter after 90 displacement camps were destroyed, Judith Suminwa Tuluka added.
The M23's advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo. The rebel group's capture of swathes of the east and valuable mineral deposits has fanned fears of a wider war.
Rwanda rejects allegations from Congo, the United Nations and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops.
The prime minister urged the world to act and to impose 'dissuasive sanctions' amid mass displacements and summary executions.
'It is impossible to describe the screams and cries of millions of victims of this conflict,' she added.
In the opening remarks at the 58th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN chief Antonio Guterres said that human rights around the world are being 'suffocated' and referred to horrifying human rights abuses in the DRC.
Since the start of the year, the DRC has faced back-to-back losses in North and South Kivu provinces, fueling criticism of the authorities' military strategy.
This story has been updated.
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The Intercept
22 minutes ago
- The Intercept
As Gaza Starves, Republicans Take Aim at Another Lifeline. Almost No One Noticed.
As the world watches Gaza starve, Republicans in Congress quietly advanced a new ban on funding a United Nations agency that delivers food aid to Palestinians. The GOP-dominated House Appropriations Committee last week voted to bar financial support for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, long the main hub of aid distribution in Gaza. If passed by Congress, the ban would reinforce a financial blockade on UNRWA that began last year as Israel subjected the agency to an intense pressure campaign. The latest move, however, comes amid an increasingly dire situation, as U.N. experts decried a full-fledged famine, and other Western countries are holding emergency meetings to address the crisis. The timing of the latest proposed ban dismayed observers who have sought to increase the flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza. 'It seems incredibly hypocritical to suddenly be shocked by these images when every humanitarian agency has said no one can replace UNRWA,' said Yara Asi, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida's School of Global Health Management and Informatics. Congress first banned funding for UNRWA in March 2024 as Israel pushed allegations that the agency's employees were involved in the October 7, 2023, attacks. Democratic President Joe Biden had already paused funding for the agency. The House and Senate are working to replace that appropriations package with a new one for the next financial year. On July 23, the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill focusing on funding for national security and State Department programs. The $46 billion bill would slash funding for many foreign aid programs and ban funding for UNRWA, while handing Israel $3.3 billion to buy more American arms. Taking last year's ban a step further, the House appropriations bill would prohibit funding for the United Nations secretariat, the organization's parent agency, until it released an unredacted copy of an August 2024 investigation conducted by the U.N. into Israel's claims that UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 attacks. The U.N. investigation found that nine employees out of 13,000 in Gaza 'may' have played a role in the attacks. UNRWA fired the nine staffers. In a statement, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, the Florida Republican who chairs the national security and State Department subcommittee of the appropriations committee, hailed the anti-UNRWA measures as 'examples of how this bill strengthens national security and supports an America First foreign policy.' In the wake of the U.N. internal investigation, European countries have gradually restored funding for UNRWA, which operates in Gaza along with other U.N. agencies such as the World Food Programme. President Donald Trump has opted to go another route, instead providing funding for the shadowy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, at whose food distributions hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli soldiers. On Sunday, 21 Democratic senators led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to 'immediately cease' funding for the GHF and return to 'UN-led aid coordination mechanisms with enhanced oversight' — without mentioning UNRWA by name. Read our complete coverage The growing scenes of starvation in Gaza have prompted even staunchly pro-Israel Democrats to call on Israel to allow more food aid into Gaza. Many of them, however, have avoided blaming Israel for the crisis. Even Trump contravened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday by acknowledging that children are starving, while making a vague promise that the U.S. would set up 'food centers.' By contrast, UNRWA says it is ready to deliver the equivalent of 6,000 truckloads of aid as soon as it receives a 'green light' from Israel. The link between the pressure campaign against UNRWA and the scenes playing out in Gaza now is clear, Asi said, even if Israeli and U.S. officials don't want to admit it. 'Those lines have not really been connected, between defunding the largest humanitarian response agency in Gaza with obvious humanitarian disaster after. They were warned,' she said. Rep. André Carson, D-Ind., introduced a bill in March to restore UNRWA funding that has drawn support from dozens of mostly progressive House members. Supporters of restoring funding for UNRWA acknowledge that Carson's bill is an extreme long shot in a Congress dominated by pro-Israel lawmakers but still say that it is an important symbolic move. 'It's a tough road for UNRWA and U.S. funding for UNRWA for the foreseeable future, unfortunately. But we need to really draw a contrast: We had UNRWA distributing aid across 400 sites across the Gaza Strip before,' said Hassan El-Tayyab. the legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. 'We are heading towards a large-scale mass starvation in Gaza if something doesn't happen.'
CNBC
23 minutes ago
- CNBC
UK plans to recognize Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes action
Britain said on Tuesday it would recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza, where starvation is spreading, and reaches a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war with Hamas. The warning came after a hunger monitor said a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. Palestinian authorities said more than 60,000 Palestinians were now confirmed killed by Israel's air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip. The hunger alert and the new death toll are grim milestones in a conflict that began almost two years ago when Hamas attacked Israel, sparking an offensive that has flattened much of the enclave and ignited hostilities across the Middle East. The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis in Gaza could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food. Britain's warning heightens pressure on Israel amid an international outcry over its conduct of the war. France announced it would recognise Palestinian statehood last week in a move that enraged the Israeli government. Israel dismissed Britain's announcement as a "reward" for Hamas. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his cabinet on Tuesday that Britain would follow suit at the United Nations General Assembly in September "unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution," his government said. The move, if carried through, would be mostly symbolic, with Israel occupying the territories where the Palestinians have long aimed to establish that state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital. It makes Israel appear more isolated on the international stage as a growing number of countries call for it to allow unfettered aid into Gaza, where it controls all entry and exit points to the besieged coastal territory. However, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration - Israel's closest and most influential ally - has made clear it has no intention of joining others in recognising Palestinian statehood anytime soon. Since returning to office in January, Trump has left it unclear whether he would support an eventual Palestinian state. Trump said on Tuesday he and Starmer did not discuss Britain's proposal to recognise a Palestinian state when the two held talks in Scotland over the weekend. Trump told reporters at the time he did "not mind" if Britain did so. With the international furor over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the U.N. World Food Programme said on Tuesday it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses in warfare on Sunday. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC said, adding that "famine thresholds" have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza. It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as "in famine". Gaza health authorities have been reporting more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total stands at 147, among them 88 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world, with Israel's strongest ally Trump declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new "food centres". Israel has denied pursuing a policy of starvation. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was "tough" but there were lies about starvation there. The Gazan casualty figures, which are often cited by the U.N. and have previously been described as reliable by the World Health Organisation, underline the war as the deadliest involving Israel since its establishment in 1948. Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage - Israel's deadliest ever day. Since Israel launched ground operations in Gaza in October 2023, 454 soldiers have been killed. The new Palestinian toll does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Thousands more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, meaning the true toll is likely to be significantly higher, Palestinian officials and rescue workers say. Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 30 Palestinians in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Gaza health authorities said. Doctors at Al-Awda Hospital said at least 14 women and 12 children were among the dead. The hospital also said that 13 people had been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire along the Salahudeen Road as they waited for aid trucks to roll into Gaza. Saar said 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the last two months, and that Israel would assist those wanting to conduct airdrops - a delivery method that aid groups say is ineffective and tokenist. Ross Smith, a senior regional program adviser at the World Food Programme, told reporters in Geneva by video: "We're getting approximately 50% of what we're requesting into Gaza since these humanitarian pauses started on Sunday. "We are not going to be able to address the needs of the population unless we can move in the volume that we need." Israel and the U.S. accuse Hamas of stealing aid - which the militants deny - and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon.
Wall Street Journal
23 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
U.K. Gives Israel Ultimatum on Palestinian State Recognition
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday the U.K. would recognize a Palestinian state by September unless Israel takes 'substantive steps' to end the war in Gaza, halt annexations in the West bank and commit to the long-term sustainable peace in the Middle East. Starmer, who has been under pressure from his Labour Party to recognize Palestine, also said the United Nations had to be free to restart the supply of aid into Gaza. 'I've always said we will recognize a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process, at the moment of maximum impact for the Two State Solution,' he said speaking in Downing Street. 'With that solution now under threat, this is the moment to act.'
