UK could recognise Palestinian state and Gaza's mothers dying in childbirth
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Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Five countries drop 90 aid airdrops over Gaza amid safety concerns
Aircraft from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Germany, and France airdropped 90 packages of humanitarian aid packages in the northern and southern Gaza Strip in the last few hours, according to the Israeli military. The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, previously has criticised the use of airdropped aid in Gaza, warning it risks killing civilians seeking relief. "If there is political will to allow airdrops - which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings," he said on Friday. "As the people of Gaza are starving to death, the only way to respond to the famine is to flood Gaza with assistance." Airdrops are at least 100 times more costly than trucks Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes. If there is political will to allow airdrops - which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings. As the… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 1, 2025 A videographer films next to airmen by a shipment of humanitarian aid packages loaded onto a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft during an airdrop mission over the Gaza Strip on 30 July, 2025. (AFP)
Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
US envoy Witkoff GHF's aid site visit denounced as 'PR stunt'
On Friday, US envoy Steve Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited an aid site in southern Gaza run by the scandal-plagued Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. At least 859 Palestinians have been gunned down by Israeli soldiers while attempting to receive aid parcels at the distribution points. Witkoff said the purpose of the trip was to give Trump "a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza". 'Incredible feat!' Huckabee said in a post on X on Friday, after touring GHF's operations and speaking to "folks on the ground". Palestinians denounced the visit as a PR stunt. 'It was a PR stunt, a controlled visit supervised and dictated by the Israeli military,' Ellie Burgos, an American critical care nurse volunteering at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told NBC News. 'What they saw was not the reality.' Amer Khayrat, a father of two who lives in Gaza City, told the BBC: "What Gaza needs isn't another envoy with a press team. We need the siege lifted, the bombing stopped and the blind American support for this war brought to an end." Scott Paul, Oxfam's Americas director of peace and security, told the BBC that Witkoff and Huckabee would have been "confronted by scenes of countless Palestinian children and their families on the brink of starvation displaced in flattened communities outside their convoy windows". "This must be what finally spurs the US to use its full influence to put an end to this catastrophe before we pass the point of no return," he added. On Saturday, Witkoff met with families of Israeli captives held in Gaza in Tel Aviv, as hundreds took to the streets to demand a ceasefire deal, the Israeli daily Haaretz is reporting. The visit shortly followed footage of emaciated Israeli captives, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski published by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Witkoff assured the families that US will push for a single hostage deal. In a recording of the meeting, Witkoff can be heard saying that "Hamas has said that they are prepared to be demilitarised" and that "multiple Arab governments are now demanding Hamas demilitarise". "We are very, very close to a solution to end this war," he said, adding that "we don't believe that Hamas speaks for the people ... We believe that they have very little political support". Hamas responded with a statement saying : "We reiterate that resistance and disarmament are a national and legal right as long as the occupation continues. "This right is recognised in international treaties and norms, and cannot be waived except upon the achievement of all our national rights, foremost among them the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital."
Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Hamas says it won't disarm unless independent Palestinian state established
Hamas said on Saturday that it would not lay down arms unless an independent Palestinian state is established. In a statement, the Palestinian movement said its "armed resistance... cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights, foremost among them the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital". In a statement on Thursday, Hamas said it was ready to "immediately re-engage in negotiations once aid reaches those in need and the humanitarian crisis and famine in Gaza are brought to an end", while Israeli sources indicated that the framework for a partial deal may be abandoned. Last week, the United States and Israel unexpectedly withdrew from ceasefire talks with Hamas, despite what mediators described as significant progress towards an agreement. According to the Times of Israel, both an Arab diplomat and a source involved in the mediation said that Hamas negotiators in Doha had made it clear they would not return to the negotiating table unless the starvation crisis in Gaza was resolved. In Israel, a senior official speaking at a media briefing said that 'there will be no more partial deals', signalling a shift in the country's negotiating stance. Echoing this position, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a far-right conference that the complete disarmament and exile of Hamas, along with the return of all captives, is the 'only acceptable deal'. These latest remarks suggest that Israel has abandoned the previously discussed phased ceasefire framework and is now working with the United States to pursue a comprehensive agreement.
