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New York Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
What Iranians Lost When Israel Bombed Its Most Notorious Prison
The clock in Evin Prison stopped just before noon on June 23. That was the hour Israeli bombs tore through the compound, heavily damaging the health clinic, visitation center, administrative buildings and multiple wards — including the infamous Ward 209, where Evin's many political prisoners were held. The attack took place amid 12 days of Israeli airstrikes, an unlawful war targeting Iran's military and nuclear facilities. But Evin is no military site: It is known for holding the regime's dissenters and critics. Israeli authorities called the strike on Evin 'symbolic'— an attack on a prison that represented 'oppression for the Iranian people.' In a social media post, Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar suggested it was a strike aimed at liberation. That symbolism did not ring true for the many Iranians killed in the blasts: visiting family members, social workers, medical staffers, teenage conscripts tasked with escorting prisoners and inmates, among them transgender prisoners whose ward was reduced to rubble. Anguished families were left scrambling for news of their loved ones. Prisoners who were already at risk were pushed into deeper peril — relocated to distant prisons, cut off from support and left to endure even harsher conditions under the unrelenting grip of a regime that punishes survival itself. If there's anything symbolic in Israel's bombing of Evin Prison, it is the false and dangerous narrative that wars help those fighting to bring democracy to Iran. Far from weakening the Islamic Republic's apparatus of repression, Israel's war has emboldened it, rolling back the fragile gains won through years of homegrown civil defiance. It has sabotaged decades of grass-roots organizing and collective labor by Iran's civil society, tearing through the very scaffolding of democratic resistance and undermining the only force capable of changing Iran from within: the Iranian people. I come from a long lineage of resistance to repression and tyranny. I was born in Evin Prison in 1983. My parents were secular leftist activists who fought to overthrow the Shah, and after the 1979 revolution continued their activism against the newly established Islamic Republic. In 1983, when my mother was pregnant with me, she and my father were arrested along with thousands of other political activists. After I was born, I stayed with her for a month before I was taken from her arms and given to my grandparents, who raised me while my parents remained behind bars. They were eventually released after serving yearslong sentences. My parents' arrest came during a wave of mass detentions and intimidation targeting the regime's political opponents. By 1983, as the Iran-Iraq war raged on, the regime used the conflict to justify a sweeping crackdown, framing dissent as treason in times of national crisis. My mother and father's imprisonment took place amid a ruthless campaign of repression that would culminate in 1988 in the bloodiest political purge in Iran's post-revolutionary history. Few things are more dangerous than a dictatorship in panic. The deeper the fear, the more ruthlessly it strikes back. That summer, weakened by eight years of war with Iraq and determined to consolidate power, the Iranian regime launched a campaign of executions against political prisoners it deemed unrepentant. Thousands were killed, their bodies dumped into unmarked mass graves. My uncle Mohsen was among them. The 1988 massacre remains seared into the collective memory of Iranians, an open wound in the nation's conscience. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Severe malnutrition among under-5s in Gaza City has tripled in two weeks, charity says
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said that rates of severe malnutrition among children under five at its Gaza City clinic have tripled in the last two weeks as starvation in the Israeli-besieged strip worsens. The global aid community has sounded the alarm as Gaza descends deeper into mass starvation, with daily deaths from starvation reported as Israel allows only a trickle of aid into the territory. MSF said a quarter of all young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women it screened at its clinics last week were malnourished, with the number of people needing care for malnutrition at its Gaza City location quadrupling since May. MSF is one of the largest medical providers in Gaza, with more than 1,000 staff in the strip who provide medical services ranging from maternity care to emergency surgeries. The charity blamed what it called an Israeli 'policy of starvation' for the hunger crisis, as global condemnation grows over what more than 100 aid groups say is Israel's blockade of most aid into Gaza. 'Israeli authorities' deliberate use of starvation as a weapon in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels, with patients and healthcare workers themselves now fighting to survive,' MSF said in a statement on Friday. At least 122 people have died from starvation in Gaza, with nine more dying in the last 24 hours, according to health authorities. The World Food Programme on Friday said nearly a third of people in Gaza were not eating for days, saying the hunger crisis had reached 'new and astonishing levels of desperation'. 'Nearly one person in three is not eating for days. Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment,' the WFP said in a statement. Naji al-Qurashali, an obstetrician-gynaecologist in Gaza, said statistics appeared to underestimate the true scale of the problem, estimating that 50% of the hundreds of pregnant women he saw a day were suffering from malnutrition. 'The malnutrition situation is unimaginable. Throughout my entire medical career, I never expected, not even in my wildest dreams, that things would reach this level,' said Qurashali. Miscarriages have increased significantly among the patients he sees as mothers struggle to find food to feed themselves. Those babies that are carried to term are significantly underweight and are increasingly born premature or with disfigurements. Qurashali said he lacked many of the medical supplies necessary to treat the malnourished women. He said he and other doctors were forced to use unsanitary medical gloves and prescribe expired medication to patients. 'As a helpless doctor, it is an incredibly painful feeling. Many times, I leave the hospital running, because I can't bear the fact that I can't meet even the simplest needs of these women,' he said. Medical experts have warned that society's most vulnerable, children and pregnant women, are the first to die in mass hunger events. Israel has denied it is responsible for the hunger crisis in Gaza, with the Israeli foreign ministry calling it a 'deliberate foreign ploy to defame Israel', and blamed the UN for failing to distribute aid. The UN said it was operating as well as it could under Israeli restrictions, which prevent the UN-led aid system from using its previously 400 aid distribution points throughout the strip. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, accused the international community of sticking its head in the sand as Palestinians starved in Gaza, lambasting what he called a 'lack of humanity'. 'This is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience. We will continue to speak out at every opportunity,' Guterres said on Friday. The leaders of the UK, France and Germany later on Friday said in a joint statement that the 'humanitarian catastrophe' in Gaza 'must end now' and called on the Israeli government to lift restrictions on aid. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said late on Thursday that France would recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September, as the UK prime minister came under pressure to do the same, with more than 100 MPs signing a letter demanding Kier Starmer follow suit. Macron had previously urged the UK to recognise a Palestinian state alongside France and is expected to try to enlist other European countries to do the same. Starmer called the humanitarian situation in Gaza 'unspeakable and indefensible' in a post on X on Thursday, but said nothing about recognising a Palestinian state. Macron's move was dismissed by the US president, Donald Trump, who was due to meet Starmer on Friday evening when he arrived in Scotland. 'He's a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight,' Trump said of Macron in comments to reporters at the White House on Friday. 'Here's the good news: what he says doesn't matter. It's not going to change anything.' The Israeli military announced on Friday that it had agreed to let Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdrop aid into Gaza. Each flight carrying aid is far more expensive and holds less supplies than lorries do. Hamas called the permitting of foreign aid into Gaza a political stunt. 'The Gaza Strip does not need flying aerobatics, it needs an open humanitarian corridor and a steady daily flow of aid trucks to save what remains of the lives of besieged, starving civilians,' Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, told Reuters. Amal Masri, a 31-year-old mother in Gaza who is pregnant, said finding food to eat was next to impossible. The food she does find is unsuitable for her pregnant state, and if she eats it out of desperation, she vomits. 'Most of the time I am completely exhausted, my blood pressure is very low, and I often feel like I'm suffocating, like I'm on the verge of death,' Masri said. Her husband, like many other Palestinians, has been unsuccessful at getting food from the private US Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites, and arrives home injured and empty-handed. More than 1,000 people have been killed while trying to get food at GHF or other aid sites – the GHF denies any responsibility for shootings outside its distribution sites. As the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to decline, ceasefire negotiations appear to have collapsed. On Thursday, Israel and the US recalled their negotiators from Qatar, where talks were being held. Trump blamed Hamas for the ceasefire collapse, accusing it of not wanting to make a deal and of not wanting to give up Israeli hostages. The US president said he thought Hamas leaders would be 'hunted down'. Hamas officials denied they were responsible for the end of the current round of peace talks, and instead accused Israel of stalling. 'What we have presented – with full awareness and understanding of the complexity of the situation – we believe could lead to a deal if the enemy had the will to reach one,' said a senior Hamas official, Basem Naim.
Khaleej Times
22-07-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Gaza war: One million children are starving, UN agency issues grave warning
Heart-wrenching images of starving children holding empty pots while waiting for food aid have captured global attention, sparking outrage and sorrow. As these powerful images continue to circulate globally, humanitarian organisations and international agencies are sounding daily alarms about an intensifying, looming famine crisis. Most recently, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) issued a grave warning, accusing Israeli authorities of deliberately starving civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave — including one million children. The agency called on Israel to lift the seige to allow it to bring food and medicine. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. Increasing malnutrition rates In a recent report, the UNRWA said that one in 10 children screened in clinics run by the agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished. "Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan. Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip. "One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Touma said. "Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said. On Tuesday, it issued another warning of severe hunger in Gaza. Take a look: People in #Gaza, including UNRWA colleagues, are fainting due to severe hunger. They are being starved. Meanwhile, just a few kilometers away from Gaza supermarkets and shops are loaded with food and other goods. Lift the siege. Allow UNRWA to bring in food and medicines. — UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 22, 2025 Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza in May, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave. On Monday, Britain and 24 Western allies, including Australia, Canada, France and Italy, said in a joint statement the war in Gaza "must end now", arguing civilians' suffering had "reached new depths". "We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire," the grouping added in the communique. Accusations to Hamas COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that it has helped facilitate 67,000 food trucks to enter Gaza, delivering 1.5 million tons of food, including infant formula and baby food. It said that about 2,000 tons of baby food have been brought into Gaza through the crossings in recent weeks, following requests by international aid organisations. Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations, which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with. UNICEF said that more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza last month, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.
Reuters
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Israeli military official says Iran hit some military sites last month
TEL AVIV, July 8 (Reuters) - An Israeli military official said on Tuesday that Iranian air strikes last month had hit some Israeli military sites, the first such apparent public acknowledgement that such locations had been struck. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military briefing rules, said that "very few" sites had been hit and that they remained functional. The official declined to provide further details, including identifying which military locations were affected or how severe the damage was to military infrastructure. Iran carried out waves of air strikes against Israel last month after Israel launched a surprise attack on June 13, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities and missile arsenal. The Iranian strikes frequently targeted densely populated cities Tel Aviv and Haifa, and the country's south around Beersheba, where there are a number of military facilities. Several residential buildings were hit in the attacks, although the Israeli military says that most incoming missiles and drones launched by Iran were intercepted during the 12-day war. In Israel, 28 people were killed. Iranian authorities have said that 935 people were killed in the Israeli attacks, which also targeted Tehran, the country's densely populated capital. Military commanders and civilians were killed in Iran, while in Israel, among the 28 killed, one was a soldier on leave. Israel and Iran agreed to a United States-backed ceasefire on June 24 after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.
Wall Street Journal
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Watch: Settlers Turn on Israeli Authorities in West Bank
Israeli settlers in the West Bank clashed with Israeli authorities as they increase their attacks on Palestinians, often without consequences. Photo: IMAGO/APAimages/Reuters
