Israeli army has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians seeking aid since late May
'The horrific physical and psychological deaths and suffering caused by hunger are the result of Israel's interference in the delivery and militarisation of humanitarian aid,' the UN statement reads.
"As of July 21, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations' aid convoys," UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told AFP, stating the victims had been killed by the Israeli military.
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Middle East Eye
27 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
How right-wing America is falling out of love with Israel
A recent report from CNN revealed that in just eight years, Democratic voters in the United States had reversed their views on Israel. In 2017, Democrats sympathised more with Israel over the Palestinians by 13 percent. In 2025, Democrats sympathised more with Palestinians by 43 percent. That is an unprecedented swing in so short a time. In many ways, this completed a trend that has been building for years, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly embraced the Republican Party, leading the once solid, bipartisan support for Israel to split along party lines. Until now, Israel could always count on rock-solid support among Republicans and senior Democratic leaders, as proven by President Joe Biden's unstinting support for Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. That bet seemed even surer as President Donald Trump, with his fanatical Christian Zionist base, returned to office. But it turns out that support among Republicans is not so solid. In recent weeks, there has been increasing evidence that support for Israel among conservatives is fraying significantly. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Last month, a Quinnipiac poll found that 64 percent of Republicans sympathised more with Israel than with the Palestinians. That sounds like a lot - until you consider that just one year earlier, that number was 78 percent in the same poll. Sympathy for Palestinians did not increase: only 7 percent said they sympathised with Palestinians. So the drop was solely due to a declining view of Israel. The dynamic is not confined to polls by any means. Negative attitudes There has long been a sector of the American right wing that holds negative attitudes towards Israel. For the most part, that attitude has little to do with sympathy for Palestinians. Rather, it stems from either isolationism, antipathy towards Jews, or some combination of the two. Both of those tendencies have been magnified recently. Though the amendment to cut Israeli military aid received only six votes, the fact that it came from within Trump's camp was a shock The roiling, revived controversy over serial sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein's mysterious client list has rocked Trump and, for the first time in a decade, shaken support among parts of his MAGA base. The president who once seemed to be made of Teflon - immune to every controversy - is finally showing signs of vulnerability to a scandal he himself long tried to weaponise against Democrats. Similarly, some of Trump's most vocal and racist supporters have come out strongly against him on matters concerning the Middle East. Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News pundit who once called Iraqis "primitive monkeys" and promoted antisemitic theories that Jews were facilitating the entry of undocumented immigrants to undermine "white America" - known as the "Great Replacement Theory" - has become an increasingly vocal critic of Trump's policies. This reached new heights when Trump threatened, and then followed through with, bombing Iran. In a viral interview with far-right Senator Ted Cruz, Carlson ridiculed the senator for blindly backing the policy while knowing nothing about Iran. The criticism of Trump was blatant. Another long-time Trump supporter, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, has broken ranks with Trump on Israel. Greene, a known conspiracy theorist, Islamophobe, and antisemite, who once posited that space lasers operated by Jews started a catastrophic fire in California, recently brought an amendment to the Defence Appropriations Bill that, among other things, would have stripped half a billion dollars from Israel's annual funding for its Iron Dome missile system. Unsurprisingly, the amendment received only six votes in support. But that it came from within Trump's camp was a shock. The only other Republican to support it, Congressman Thomas Massie, is not in Trump's good graces. Greene's amendment did receive support from four progressive Democrats. Notably, it stirred anger at leading progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who opposed the amendment, arguing that the Iron Dome - which gives Israel the ability to attack others without significant fear of retaliation - is a purely defensive weapon. Her progressive community clearly disagreed. Still, the fact that a proposal to cut military aid to Israel received bipartisan support and originated with Republicans was notable. Israel targeting churches Into this mess came a high-profile Israeli attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City. It was at least the sixth attack on a church in Gaza since 7 October 2023, but this one caught the attention of the US. Just days earlier, an attack by Israeli settlers on a church in the West Bank village of Taybeh also drew attention. The Church of al-Khader (St George), which dates back to the fifth century, was damaged when settlers attempted to burn it to the ground. Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war Israel has been evasive about the incident and has yet to arrest anyone in connection with the attack. It claims that the settlers were trying to put out the fire and that the arsonists are unknown. Few outside of the settlers' supporters put much faith in that account, given well-documented Israeli settler hostility to Palestinian Christians. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned the attacks on Palestinian churches - a remarkable shift for a man who has long defended Israel against virtually every allegation, no matter how well documented. Why do evangelical Protestants hate Palestinians? Read More » "It doesn't matter whether it's a mosque, a church, a synagogue," he told reporters. "It's unacceptable to commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship." Huckabee has never spoken out about the more than 960 mosques that Israel had damaged or destroyed in Gaza as of January 2025. But the attack on the Holy Family Church has resonated. Right-wing pundits have expressed outrage and frustration at Israel's attack on the church, with few believing Israel's claim that it was an artillery misfire. US Senator Lindsey Graham, another staunch supporter of Israel, expressed similar concern: "When you have Christian churches under siege in Gaza and the West Bank, it needs to stop," he told Jewish Insider. "You're not helping your cause by allowing people to abuse Christian holy sites," he added, warning that such actions could undermine Israel's ability to maintain support in the United States. "You're losing me," said influential conservative pundit Michael Knowles. "The Israeli government is really screwing up. This horrific war must come to a complete end." Epstein fallout Another issue that has exposed a growing rift within Trump's base is the resurfacing of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the president's close personal friendship with the convicted sex offender. Epstein was finally jailed for his crimes in 2019 and was found dead in his cell, ostensibly by suicide, a little more than a month later. For a variety of reasons - some more substantial than others - many suspect Epstein was murdered. The connection between Epstein and Israel is now gaining traction in right-wing circles Given that he was trafficking underage girls for sex and is known to have handed those girls over to at least some very prominent global figures, the roots of the theory are obvious, even if some of the speculation remains wild and unsubstantiated. A purported list of clients that Epstein allegedly maintained is at the centre of the controversy, although it is not at all clear that the list exists. For years, Trump and others within his circle - such as the pro-Trump lawyer and pro-Israel zealot Alan Dershowitz - hinted that there were prominent Democratic figures on that list. Trump detractors, naturally, pointed to his long-time friendship with Epstein, along with various videos and photos of them together at Epstein's parties, as proof that Trump had something to hide. Adding fuel to the speculation is the fact that Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, was the daughter of Robert Maxwell, who also died under mysterious circumstances and was widely believed - though never proven - to have been associated with the Israeli spy agency Mossad. (The media tycoon received a grand state funeral in Israel's Mount of Olives cemetery, attended by senior Israeli leaders.) The connection between Epstein and Israel is now gaining traction in right-wing circles. All of these factors are converging and revealing a deepening split on Israel from the right. A Pew Research poll in April found that 50 percent of Republicans aged 18 to 49 have a negative view of Israel - a 15 percent jump from 2022. Of course, Republican megadonors like Miriam Adelson and others will continue to pump as many dollars as they deem necessary to maintain solid support for Israel. But in the end, money in politics is only worth as much as the votes it can buy. Netanyahu made a bet years ago that if he were more brazenly brutal and radical in his oppression of Palestinians and aggression towards Israel's neighbours, solid support among Republicans - bolstered by the American pro-Israel lobby on both sides of Congress - would compensate for losing liberal Democratic voters. That looks like an increasingly poor bet today. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Syria asks Turkey for defence support following Sweida violence
Syria's interim government has asked Turkey for support to strengthen its defence capacities, Turkish officials announced on Wednesday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, Turkish defence officials also confirmed that Syria is seeking Turkey's assistance to combat "terrorist organisations", including the Islamic State group. "As long as our brotherly country, Syria, requests it, Turkey will continue to stand firmly by its side," Omer Celik, spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, told reporters. 'The heroic Turkish armed forces will fulfil this, both to assist our Syrian brothers and to prevent instability there, which is vital for Turkey's national security,' he added. Turkey is already training and advising Syrian armed forces, and told Reuters in June that it has no plans to withdraw Turkish troops currently stationed in Syria. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Having long supported Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad, Turkey has become a key supporter of the interim Syrian government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, which has emerged following Assad's fall in December. The request follows violent clashes between Druze and Bedouin militias in Syria's southern Sweida region last week that resulted in over 1,000 deaths, and precipitated further Israeli intervention within Syrian territory. The 'bigger strategic problem' Turkey has been a strong critic of the recent Israeli interventions in Syria, including those near a strategic air base in the city of Hama, where Israel has accused Turkey of exploring military interests. 'The bigger strategic problem in the region is Israel's attempt to invade the region,' Erdogan said on 20 July. 'Israel strives to set the entire region on fire, but Syria's stance cautiously reined in this process,' he added. However, Turkey has so far been hesitant to offer full-scale defence support to the Syrian government, holding talks in April with the Israeli government over the establishment of a deconfliction line aimed at avoiding direct confrontation between the Turkish and Israeli militaries. An American-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Syria was announced by US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack on 19 July. Barrack told Associated Press earlier this week that the US has 'no position' on a potential defence pact between Syria and Turkey. Syrian officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Hamas responds to ceasefire draft, demands changes to Israeli army's position in Gaza
Hamas and other Palestinians factions have reportedly demanded changes to the truce proposal regarding the Israeli army's withdrawal positions as well as amendments to the aid mechanism in Gaza. Early on Thursday, Hamas announced it was submitting its official response to the ceasefire draft to mediators. According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, two sources - an Egyptian source familiar with mediation efforts and a Hamas source - noted amendment requests made by the Palestinian movement regarding the deployment of the Israeli army further away, near the Gaza boundary. One condition stipulated the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt be opened immediately after the ceasefire begins, the sources say. The Egyptian source noted that US negotiators have expressed their commitment to ensuring ongoing discussions if a 60-day truce period does not conclude with an agreement. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "Now the ball is in the Israeli court, as the mediators await its response regarding the aid and redeployment maps clauses," the Egyptian source said. According to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, a source said the response by Hamas "improved" compared to previous proposals, but stressed that "the improvement is not sufficient, but it may form the basis for subsequent negotiations". The withdrawal of the army, especially away from civilian areas, was one of the points of contention on the Israeli side, which Yedioth Ahronoth described as "much more than Israel was willing to do". Meanwhile, the Hamas official speaking to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed noted concerns of displacement amongst Palestinians in Gaza, explaining that the clause pertaining to the opening of the Rafah crossing would allow Egyptian coordination to guarantee that the besieged enclave would not be emptied of its residents. Moreover, the clause aims to affirm the freedom of movement of Palestinians, moving away from the concept of a prison, and ensuring that families stranded in Egypt are able to reunite with families across the Gaza Strip. Aid mechanism and prisoner exchange One of the amendments in Hamas' latest response has called for the exclusion of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) from participating in future aid distribution and delivery efforts, instead, relying on the previous mechanism led by the United Nations and other human rights organisations. This demand has been one of a few that the Palestinian factions have laid stress on, especially with the ongoing attacks on relief-seekers at GHF-controlled distribution points. US contractor recounts gruesome details of Gaza aid delivery Read More » The US and Israeli-backed GHF was established to supplant the UN in distributing aid in Gaza. Only a trickle of food has entered the enclave, and some Palestinians, including children, are dying of hunger. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access food aid in Gaza since the militarised GHF began operations in late May, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Additionally, Israeli media reports that due to Hamas' distrust of US assurances of a continuation of the truce after the 60-day period is completed, requests have been made to release the maximum number of Palestinian prisoners. This includes some of the most notable prisoners that the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had vowed to release before he was killed by the Israeli military, Ynet reported. The Israeli Channel 12 quoted a senior Israeli official that it "appears there will be no rapid progress" due to the "current gaps between the two sides regarding the prisoner exchange and the Israeli army's withdrawal lines". It added that they are attempting to find possible "bridges" to overcome these differences and push towards the release of Israeli captives in Gaza.
