[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

UN aid chief welcomes 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaz

"Welcome announcement of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow our aid through," UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X.

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UN aid chief welcomes 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaz

AFP Geneva
Published: 27 Jul 2025, 17: 49

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher looks on during an interview with AFP in Nawabad village in Chahardara district of Kunduz Province on 30 April 2025. AFP

The United Nations' aid chief welcomed Israel's announcement Sunday of secure land routes into Gaza for humanitarian convoys, and said the UN would try to reach as many starving people as possible.

"Welcome announcement of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow our aid through," UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X.

"In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window."

Fletcher's UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA) warned Friday that conditions on the ground in Gaza were "already catastrophic and deteriorating fast".

"The starvation crisis is deepening," it said, warning that hunger and malnutrition increase the risk of illnesses, and adding that the consequences can quickly "turn deadly".

It said that "the trickle of supplies that are making it into the Strip are nowhere near adequate to address the immense needs".

OCHA said UN teams were in place to ramp up deliveries into the Palestinian territory "as soon as they are allowed to do so".

"If Israel opens the crossings, lets fuel and equipment in, and allows humanitarian staff to operate safely, the UN will accelerate the delivery of food aid, health services, clean water and waste management, nutrition supplies, and shelter materials," it said.

OCHA said constraints imposed by the Israeli authorities had hampered humanitarians' ability to respond.

It said that on Thursday, for example, out of 15 attempts to coordinate humanitarian movements inside Gaza, four were "outright denied", with another three impeded.

One was postponed, and two others had to be cancelled, meaning only five missions went ahead.

On Friday OCHA issued an aid delivery plan in the event of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.​

 

[Saif]

Trump and Starmer to meet in Scotland with trade and Gaza on agenda

US President Donald Trump will host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in western Scotland on Monday for talks ranging from their recent bilateral trade deal to the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, the two governments said. Trump, riding high after announcing a huge trade agree

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Trump and Starmer to meet in Scotland with trade and Gaza on agenda

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 28, 2025 18:07
Updated :
Jul 28, 2025 18:07

US President Donald Trump is greeted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on the day of a bilateral meeting at Trump Turnberry resort in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 28, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

US President Donald Trump will host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in western Scotland on Monday for talks ranging from their recent bilateral trade deal to the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, the two governments said.

Trump, riding high after announcing a huge trade agreement with the European Union late on Sunday, said he expected Starmer would also be pleased.

"The prime minister of the UK, while he's not involved in this, will be very happy because you know, there's a certain unity that's been brought there, too," Trump said. "He's going to be very happy to see what we did."

UK WANTS TO DISCUSS STEEL TARIFFS

Starmer had hoped to negotiate a drop in US steel and aluminium tariffs as part of the talks, but Trump on Sunday ruled out any changes in the 50 per cent steel and aluminium duties for the EU, and has said the trade deal with Britain is "concluded"

British business and trade minister Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the talks with Trump offered Britain a good chance to advance its arguments, but he did not expect announcements on the issue on Monday.

Trump and Starmer were expected to meet at noon (0700 ET) at Trump's luxury golf resort in Turnberry, on Scotland's west coast, before travelling on together later to a second sprawling estate owned by Trump in the east, near Aberdeen.

Hundreds of police officers were guarding the perimeter of the Turnberry course and the beach that flanks it, with a helicopter hovering overhead, although there was no sign of protesters outside the course.

Starmer was arriving from Switzerland, where England on Sunday won the women's European soccer championship final.

Casting a shadow over their visit has been the deepening crisis in the war-torn Gaza enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world.

BRITISH CABINET RECALLED

Starmer has recalled his ministers from their summer recess for a cabinet meeting, a government source said on Sunday, most likely to discuss the situation in Gaza as pressure grows at home and abroad to recognise a Palestinian state.

On Friday, he said Britain would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action.

Trump on Friday dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to recognize a Palestinian state, an intention that also drew strong condemnation from Israel, after similar moves from Spain, Norway and Ireland last year.

Trump said that while the US would increase its aid to Gaza, it wanted others to join the effort. Ukraine was also on the agenda for talks with Starmer.

Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave, with aid groups warning of mass hunger.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials. It has reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population of over 2 million.​

 

[Saif]

More aid needed to tackle famine-like conditions in Gaza, says WFP

A long-term steady supply of aid is needed to counter the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, U.N. agencies said on Monday after mounting pressure prompted Israel to ease restrictions in the Palestinian enclave. Israel carried out an air drop and announced a series of measures over the weekend, inclu

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More aid needed to tackle famine-like conditions in Gaza, says WFP

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 28, 2025 18:09
Updated :
Jul 28, 2025 18:09

Displaced Palestinians who have not received humanitarian aid gather as they survive on leftover food, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza, July 28, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A long-term steady supply of aid is needed to counter the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, U.N. agencies said on Monday after mounting pressure prompted Israel to ease restrictions in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel carried out an air drop and announced a series of measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses in three areas of Gaza and new safe corridors for aid convoys, after images of starving children alarmed the world.

On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war's death toll from hunger to 147, including 89 children, most in just the last few weeks.

The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched but that this amount fell short of Gaza's needs.

"Sixty is definitely not enough. So our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza," WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters.

The WFP said that almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments.

"I cannot say that in a week we will be able to really avert the risks. It has to be something continuous and scalable," AbdelJaber said.

LOOTING

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said aid supply would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting in Gaza.

The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring into the enclave.

COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that over 120 trucks were distributed in Gaza on Sunday by the U.N. and international organizations.

But some of those trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said.

"Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed," said Emad, 58, who used to own a wood factory in Gaza City.

More aid was expected to flow in on Monday. Qatar said in a statement it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies into Gaza.

Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May.

Israel says it abides by international law but must prevent aid from being diverted by militants, and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people.

"Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bald-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza," Netanyahu said on Sunday.

He added that with the newly announced measures, it was up to the U.N. to deliver the aid.

United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Sunday that some movement restrictions appeared to have been eased by Israel.

A senior WFP official said on Sunday that the agency needs quick approvals by Israel for its trucks to move into Gaza if it is to take advantage of the humanitarian pauses in fighting.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins, and displaced nearly the entire population of more than two million.

Indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.​

 

[Saif]

WHO says malnutrition reaching 'alarming levels' in Gaza

Malnutrition rates are reaching "alarming levels" in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization warned Sunday, saying the "deliberate blocking" of aid was entirely preventable and had cost many lives.

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WHO says malnutrition reaching 'alarming levels' in Gaza

AFP Geneva
Published: 28 Jul 2025, 10: 27

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Palestinians crowd at a lentil soup distribution point in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on 27 July, 2025. AFP

Malnutrition rates are reaching "alarming levels" in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization warned Sunday, saying the "deliberate blocking" of aid was entirely preventable and had cost many lives.

"Malnutrition is on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July," the WHO said in a statement.

Of the 74 recorded malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 had occurred in July -- including 24 children under five, one child aged over five, and 38 adults, it added.

"Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting," the UN health agency said.


"The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid has cost many lives."

Israel on Sunday began a limited "tactical pause" in military operations to allow the UN and aid agencies to tackle a deepening hunger crisis.

But the WHO called for sustained efforts to "flood" the Gaza Strip with diverse, nutritious food, and for the expedited delivery of therapeutic supplies for children and vulnerable groups, plus essential medicines and supplies.

"This flow must remain consistent and unhindered to support recovery and prevent further deterioration", the Geneva-based agency said.

On Wednesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the situation "mass starvation -- and it's man-made".

'Dangerous cycle' of death

Najah (L), a 35-year-old Palestinian mother, carries her malnourished 11-months-old daughter Sila as they await treatment at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on 24 July, 2025. AFP

Nearly one in five children under five in Gaza City is now acutely malnourished, the WHO said Sunday, citing its Nutrition Cluster partners.

It said the percentage of children aged six to 59 months suffering from acute malnutrition had tripled in the city since June, making it the worst-hit area in the Palestinian territory.

"These figures are likely an underestimation due to the severe access and security constraints preventing many families from reaching health facilities," the WHO said.

The WHO said that in the first two weeks of July, more than 5,000 children under five had been admitted for outpatient treatment of malnutrition -- 18 per cent of them with the most life-threatening form, severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

The 6,500 children admitted for malnutrition treatment in June was the highest number since the war began in October 2023.

A further 73 children with SAM and medical complications have been hospitalised in July, up from 39 in June.

"This surge in cases is overwhelming the only four specialised malnutrition treatment centres," the WHO said.

Furthermore, the organisation said the breakdown of water and sanitation services was "driving a dangerous cycle of illness and death".

As for pregnant and breastfeeding women, Nutrition Cluster screening data showed that more than 40 per cent were severely malnourished, the WHO said.

"It is not only hunger that is killing people, but also the desperate search for food," the UN health agency said.

"Families are being forced to risk their lives for a handful of food, often under dangerous and chaotic conditions," it added.

The UN rights office says Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May.

Nearly three-quarters of them died near GHF sites.​

 

[Saif]

Major Israeli rights groups brand Gaza campaign ‘genocide’

Rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on Monday that they had concluded the war in Gaza amounts to a ‘genocide’ against Palestinians, a first for Israeli NGOs.

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Major Israeli rights groups brand Gaza campaign ‘genocide’
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 28 July, 2025, 23:02

A woman and a boy sit by debris and destroyed tents following overnight Israeli bombardment at a camp sheltering the displaced in the Japanese neighbourhood in the northwest of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. | AFP photo

Rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on Monday that they had concluded the war in Gaza amounts to a ‘genocide’ against Palestinians, a first for Israeli NGOs.

Both organisations are frequent critics of Israeli government policies, but the language in their reports issued on Monday was their most stark yet.

‘Nothing prepares you for the realisation that you are part of a society committing genocide. This is a deeply painful moment for us,’ B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak told a news conference unveiling the two reports.

‘As Israelis and Palestinians who live here and witness the reality every day, we have a duty to speak the truth as clearly as possible,’ she said.

‘Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.’

A spokesman from the Israeli prime minister’s office, David Mencer, denounced the allegation.

‘We have free speech here in Israel but we strongly reject the accusation,’ he said.

‘Our defence forces target terrorists and never civilians. Hamas is responsible for the suffering in Gaza.’

Israel’s war in Gaza for the past 21 months began in response to an unprecedented attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli assault has left much of the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million Palestinians, in ruins, and according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry has killed at least 59,921 people, most of them civilians.

All Gazans have been driven from their homes at least once since the start of the war, and UN agencies warn that residents face a growing threat of famine and malnutrition.

The International Court of Justice, in an interim ruling in early 2024 in a case lodged by South Africa, found it ‘plausible’ that the Israeli offensive had violated the UN Genocide Convention.

The Israeli government, backed by the United States, fiercely denies the charge and says it is fighting to defeat Hamas and to bring back Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

The reports from B’Tselem — one of Israel’s best-known rights groups — and Physicians for Human Rights Israel argue that the war’s objectives go further.

B’Tselem’s report cites statements from senior politicians to illustrate that Israel ‘is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip’.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel’s report documents what the group says is ‘the deliberate and systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system’.​

 

[Saif]

undefined | The Financial Express

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Gaza crisis could get famine label, global hunger monitor says

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 29, 2025 20:20
Updated :
Jul 29, 2025 20:20

A Palestinian reacts as he waits to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 28, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi

A worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death, a hunger monitor warned on Tuesday, as the number of Palestinians reported killed in the conflict crossed the 60,000 threshold.

The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food.

Facing mounting international criticism over conditions in Gaza, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses on Sunday.

EVIDENCE OF STARVATION, MALNUTRITION, DISEASE

“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 the Gaza Strip.

It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as “in famine”.

For famine to be declared, at least 20% of the population must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or from malnutrition and disease.

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 U.S. President Donald Trump declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new “food centres”.

The Israeli government 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.

DEADLIEST CONFLICT

The death toll of 60,000 announced by Gaza health authorities on Tuesday dwarfs previous wars between Israel and Hamas since the group seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The previous most deadly was in 2014, when 2,100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, while Israel lost 67 soldiers and six civilians.

Israel launched the offensive in response to Hamas’ attacks on October 7, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage - Israel’s deadliest ever day.

The toll announced by the Palestinian health ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Thousands more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, meaning the death 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 fire along the Salahudeen Road as they waited for aid trucks to roll into Gaza.

A total of 55 Palestinians were killed in attacks overnight, Gaza health authorities said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ONLY HALF OF REQUESTS APPROVED

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 tokenistic.

Ross Smith, a senior regional programme 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.”

After an 11-week Israeli blockade, limited U.N.-led aid operations resumed on May 19 and a week later the obscure new U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - backed by Israel and the United States - began distributing food aid.

The rival efforts have sparked a war of words - pitting Israel, the U.S. and the GHF against the U.N., international aid groups and dozens of governments from around the world.

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.

The IPC said 88% of Gaza was now under evacuation orders or within militarised areas, and was critical of GHF efforts.

It said most of the GHF food items “require water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable”.

The IPC’s Famine Review Committee said: “Our analysis of the food packages supplied by the GHF shows that their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation.”

GHF said its aid boxes are based on the same ingredient lists used by other aid groups and meet standards for total calories and nutritional value.​

 

[Saif]

Trump voices concern over Gaza hunger, says Israel could do more

US President Donald Trump said on Monday many people were starving in Gaza and suggested Israel could do more on humanitarian access, as Palestinians struggled to feed their children a day after Israel declared steps to improve supplies. As the death toll from two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000

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Trump voices concern over Gaza hunger, says Israel could do more

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 29, 2025 12:41
Updated :
Jul 29, 2025 12:41

Displaced Palestinians who have not received humanitarian aid gather as they survive on leftover food, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza on July 28, 2025 — Reuters photo

US President Donald Trump said on Monday many people were starving in Gaza and suggested Israel could do more on humanitarian access, as Palestinians struggled to feed their children a day after Israel declared steps to improve supplies.

As the death toll from two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fuelling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.

Describing starvation in Gaza as real, Trump's assessment put him at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Sunday "there is no starvation in Gaza" and vowed to fight on against the Palestinian militant group Hamas - a statement he reposted on X on Monday.

However, Netanyahu later on Monday described the situation in Gaza as "difficult", saying his country was working to ensure aid delivery to the besieged strip.

"Israel will continue to work with international agencies as well as the U.S. and European nations to ensure that large amounts of humanitarian aid flows into the Gaza Strip," Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.

Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows, and that a lot of people could be saved. "You have a lot of starving people," he said.

"We're going to set up food centres," with no fences or boundaries to ease access, Trump said. The US would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation, he said.

A White House spokesperson said additional details on the food centres would be "forthcoming."

'WHEN YOU GO TO BED HUNGRY, YOU WAKE UP HUNGRY'

On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war's death toll from hunger to 147, including 88 children, most in just the last few weeks.

Israel announced several measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses to fighting in three areas of Gaza, new safe corridors for aid convoys, and airdrops. The decision followed the collapse of ceasefire talks on Friday.

Wessal Nabil from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza described the struggle of trying to feed her three children. "When you go to bed hungry, you wake up hungry. We distract them with anything ... to make them calm down," she told Reuters.

"I call on the world, on those with merciful hearts, the compassionate, to look at us with compassion, to be kind to us, to stand with us until aid comes in and ensure it reaches us."

Two Israeli defence officials said the international pressure prompted the new Israeli measures, as did the worsening conditions on the ground.

UN agencies said a long-term and steady supply of aid was needed. The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched - short of target. Almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said.

"Our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza," WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters.

Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters the situation is catastrophic.

"At this time, children are dying every single day from starvation, from preventable disease. So time has run out."

Netanyahu has denied any policy of starvation towards Gaza, saying aid supplies would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting.

A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said Israel had not placed a time limit on the humanitarian pauses in its military operation, a day after UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said Israel had decided “to support a one-week scale-up of aid".

"We hope this pause will last much longer than a week, ultimately turning into a permanent ceasefire,” Fletcher’s spokesperson, Eri Kaneko, said on Monday.

Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Compared to last week, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said, there had only been a "small uptick" in the amount of aid being transported into Gaza since Israel started the humanitarian pauses.

TRUMP SAYS HAMAS DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH

In his statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel would continue to fight until it achieved the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas and the destruction of its military and governing capabilities.

Trump said Hamas had become difficult to deal with in recent days, but he was talking with Netanyahu about "various plans" to free hostages still held in the enclave.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked communities across the border in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

The Gaza health ministry said that 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.

Some of the trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said.

The Hamas-run Gaza government said only 87 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Monday, with the majority of trucks looted due to what it described as "direct and systematic Israeli complicity".

"Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed," said Emad, 58, who used to own a factory in Gaza City.

The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring into the enclave.

COGAT said more than 120 truckloads of aid were distributed in Gaza on Sunday by the UN and international organizations.

More aid was expected on Monday. Qatar said it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies.

Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May. Hamas accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon.

Israel says it abides by international law but must prevent aid from being diverted by militants, and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people.​

 

[Saif]

Dhaka, Islamabad express concern over crisis in Palestine

Bangladesh and Pakistan have expressed deep concern over the ongoing Israeli aggression and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Palestine, reiterating solidarity with the Palestinian people

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Dhaka, Islamabad express concern over crisis in Palestine
BSS Dhaka
Published: 29 Jul 2025, 22: 43

Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain and Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, shake hands on the sidelines of the International Conference on the Two-State Solution at the United Nations. BSS

Bangladesh and Pakistan have expressed deep concern over the ongoing Israeli aggression and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Palestine, reiterating their unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause.

This was reflected during a meeting between Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain and Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, held on the sidelines of the International Conference on the Two-State Solution at the United Nations.

The two leaders expressed hope for meaningful outcomes from the conference.

They also reviewed bilateral ties and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening political, economic and cultural cooperation, while exploring ways to enhance connectivity and people-to-people exchanges, the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka in Dhaka said on Tuesday.

The two sides agreed to undertake high-level visits in the near future.​