At least 30 Palestinians seeking aid injured in shots fired by Israeli soldiers
Nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund, which has been distributing food since late May, displacing human rights groups who had been working for decades in Gaza.
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Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Chaos reported at Israel-Syria border amid Israeli attacks on Sweida
Chaotic scenes at the Israel-Syria border are being reported as people are attempting to cross the fence in both directions amid Israeli attacks on the Druze-majority city of Sweida in southern Syria. The Syrian government deployed its forces in the area after several days of armed clashes between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes. Israel, which said it was acting to protect the Druze community in Syria, launched two waves of strikes on Sweida on Wednesday following the collapse of a ceasefire between Druze armed groups and government forces. The army said it had struck Syrian military targets, including rocket launchers, weapons and pickup trucks, adding that "routes were struck in order to block access to the area". But according to Syrian state media, Israeli drones targeting the area caused civilian casualties. The Israeli military said dozens of people attempted to enter Israeli territory from Syria, while a number of Israeli citizens crossed the border into Syria through the Majdal Shams area in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Haaretz is reporting that the Syrian village of Hader is sending vehicles to collect them. The military said it was sending reinforcements to the border and that it was continuing "to monitor developments in readiness for defence and various scenarios". Syria's presidency condemned the attacks as "criminal and illegal behaviour". "We, in the Syrian government, strongly condemn these heinous acts and affirm our full commitment to investigating all related incidents and holding accountable all those proven to be involved," the presidency said in a statement on Telegram reported by state news agency Sana. "Any party responsible for these acts, whether individuals or outlaw organisations, will be held accountable under strict legal measures, and we will not allow them to go unpunished." Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military will continue to strike Syrian government forces unless they withdraw from the Druze-majority city of Sweida. "The Syrian regime must leave the Druze in Sweida alone and withdraw its forces. As we have made clear and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarisation policy we have decided on," Katz said in a statement.
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- Khaleej Times
Crush at Gaza aid site kills at least 20, GHF blames armed agitators
At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in what the US-backed group said was a crowd surge instigated by armed agitators. The GHF, which is supported by Israel, said 19 people were trampled and one fatally stabbed during the crush at one of its centres in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. "We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd — armed and affiliated with Hamas — deliberately fomented the unrest," GHF said in a statement. Hamas rejected the GHF allegation as "false and misleading", saying GHF guards and Israeli soldiers sprayed people with pepper gas and opened fire. GHF said Hamas' account was "blatantly false". "At no point was tear gas deployed, nor were shots fired into the crowd. Limited use of pepper spray was deployed, only to safeguard additional loss of life," GHF said in a written response to Reuters via e-mail. "Today's incident is part of a larger pattern of Hamas trying to undermine and ultimately end GHF. It is no coincidence that this incident occurred during ceasefire negotiations, where Hamas continues to demand that GHF cease operations." Witnesses told Reuters that guards at the site sprayed pepper gas at them after they had locked the gates to the centre, trapping them between the gates and the outer wire-fence. 'People kept gathering and pressuring each other; when people pushed each who couldn't stand fell under the people and were crushed," said eyewitness Mahmoud Fojo, 21, who was hurt in the stampede. "Some people started jumping over the netted fence and got wounded. We were injured, and God saved us. We were under the people and we said the Shahada (death prayers). We thought we were dying, finished," he added. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on Hamas and eyewitness accounts. Palestinian health officials told Reuters that 21 people had died of suffocation at the site. One medic said lots of people had been crammed into a small space and had been crushed. On Tuesday, the UN rights office in Geneva said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks in the vicinity of aid sites and food convoys in Gaza — the majority of them close to GHF distribution points. Most of those deaths were caused by gunfire that locals have blamed on the Israeli military. The military has acknowledged that Palestinian civilians were harmed near aid distribution centres, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions with "lessons learned". The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation. The UN has called the GHF's model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards — an allegation GHF has denied. Amjad Al Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, accused the GHF on Wednesday of gross mismanagement. "People who flock in their thousands (to GHF sites) are hungry and exhausted, and they get squeezed into narrow places, amid shortages of aid and the absence of organisation and discipline by the GHF," he told Reuters. The war in Gaza, triggered in October 2023 by a deadly Hamas attack on Israel, has displaced almost all of the territory's population and led to widespread hunger and privation. Israeli army road Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had finished paving a new road in southern Gaza separating several towns east of Khan Younis from the rest of the territory in an effort to disrupt Hamas operations. Palestinians see the road, which extends Israeli control, as a way to put pressure on Hamas in ongoing ceasefire talks, which started on July 6 and are being brokered by Arab mediators Egypt and Qatar with the backing of the United States. Palestinian sources close to the negotiations said a breakthrough had not yet been reached on any of the main issues. Hamas said it rejected an Israeli demand to keep at least 40 per cent of Gaza under its control as part of any deal. Hamas also demanded the dismantlement of the GHF and the reinstatement of a UN-led aid delivery mechanism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will end once Hamas is disarmed and removed from Gaza. Gaza local health authorities said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 87 people across the enclave in the past 24 hours. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, by Israeli tallies.
Middle East Eye
7 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel strikes Syrian military airport near Sweida
The Israeli military struck Thaala military airfield near Sweida and another site in Daraa in Syria, according to Lebanon's Al Mayadeen. The report said several members of the Syrian forces were killed and wounded in Sweida.
