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[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?
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Stopping real-life sinister madness in Gaza

SYED FATTAHUL ALIM
Published :
Jul 28, 2025 00:09
Updated :
Jul 28, 2025 00:09

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French president Emmanuel Macron, in a post on X last Thursday (on July 24) announced he would recognize Palestine as a state in September at the UN Nations General Assembly.

Before him Ireland, Norway and Spain did also decide to recognize a Palestinian state. Giving formal recognition of statehood for Palestinians is no doubt important, but what is more urgent at this moment is to keep them alive so they can enjoy the fruits of any freedom and statehood later. Shouldn't President Macron, who is now leading the movement for this Palestinian cause in Europe, and other governments there be convinced to create pressure on Israel to withdraw the food blockade and stop murdering the helpless Palestinians by forced starvation? In fact, it is a delayed response after a lot of prevarications, play of words and twists of facts to ignore the truth, to have reached a positive decision by at least some European leaders. It is hoped they would now also take forceful steps to allow the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza unhindered supply of food, water and medicine as those are being denied to them by Israel. As if that was not enough, soldiers of the Israel Defence Force (IDF) are pounding the hungry Palestinians trying to approach food distribution points with mortar and tank shells and bombs and bullets from aircraft. It is a kind of cruelty quite unheard of in the modern civilized world. But it is not happening in secrecy, the savagery is being brazenly live streamed for the whole world to watch. So, numberless Palestinian men, women and children, are dying every day. There is no point here counting the exact numbers, because they are being deliberately and systematically murdered by using the weapons such as hunger and bullet at the same time to show the world that the perpetrators can commit such crimes against humanity with impunity in defiance of all international laws and morality.

However, indiscriminate killing of Gazans by Israeli forces has been ongoing during the last 21 months and a week since the Gaza war started. Food carrying vehicles on land and by the sea dispatched by international agencies, sympathetic countries and organisations for the famished Palestinians have never been safe as those were constantly under Israeli attacks. But corralling the Palestinians like animals into a confined space and then shelling and bombing them when they are in desperate search of food is indeed a new dimension added to the Israeli atrocities and being done so with declaration since March last. A graphic description of the barbarity being committed was given to the BBC by a former US Army Special Forces officer who resigned from his role at the Israel and US-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GH). He witnessed 'the shelling of aid-seeking civilians. In an interview with the BBC last Friday (July 25), Lieutenant-colonel Anthony Aguilar said he had never seen such "brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian, an unarmed, starving population". "I have never witnessed that in all the places I've been deployed to war, until I was in Gaza at the hands of the [Israeli forces] and US contractors". "Without question, I witnessed war crimes by the Israeli Defense Forces, without a doubt. Using artillery rounds, firing tank rounds into unarmed civilians is a war crime". He recalled one instance in which a Markava tank fired at civilians, destroying a car as it drove away from the aid site. He also saw mortar rounds being launched into crowds "to keep them controlled". But despite these presentations of a glaring truth by a US army veteran, Israel continues to deny what the rest of the world says a man-made starvation being forced on Gaza. In this way, since May, the Israeli military and private contractors, basically American, have killed more than a thousand people trying to reach food at the distribution centre operated by GHF.

Clearly, it is a mockery of food distribution being enacted by the so-called food delivery centres.

The Western nations so vocal about any violation of human rights elsewhere in the world look quite muted when it comes to the case of Israel, and war crimes are committed against unarmed Gaza civilians. If this is not double standard, then what is?

Even so, one would like to appreciate President Macron for his noble effort at this desperate moment. One would also like to hope that the British prime minister Kier Starmer, despite his unhinged support to whatever Israel does, could finally be convinced (by Macron) to take some steps to prevail on Israel and stop the deadly game being played in Gaza in the name of food distribution to starving human beings.

The only Western world leader who, perhaps, can do something in this regard is the US president Donald Trump. But so far whatever occasional efforts he has made to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza ultimately fell through. But no further move is being made from his side in this regard. The Zionist lobby in his administration appears to have had a stronger influence on him so he may not make any further move in this direction.

But then why is this total dependence on the West, which was actually instrumental in creating Israel and offering blind support to whatever it did and has been doing till now?

What are the next door neighbours of the Gaza enclave and the West Bank like Egypt with its powerful military or those living in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan doing to help their blood brothers in Gaza and other Palestinians in the West Bank being massacred day in, day out by the Israeli forces as well as the Jewish settlers? What even other Arabs in the region doing to save the Palestinians being thus forced to die painful deaths by creating an artificial famine and through the cruel sport of food distribution to the victims of this unspeakable brutality? How can those in the nearby rich Arab countries even eat their sumptuous meals every day when their hapless, starving Palestinian brothers are being denied even a morsel of bread by the occupying Israeli forces engaged in a mission to carry out ethnic cleansing of Palestinian by every means imaginable?

It is the moral courage that is required at the moment to say no to this morbid and gory scenes being enacted in real life in world leaders' plain sight. Will they have that courage?​
 

Israel opening routes into Gaza to increase food aid

AFP Gaza City, Palestinian Territories
Published: 27 Jul 2025, 17: 34

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Palestinians return to the Nuseirat refugee camp from a US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution point near the Netsarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip, some carrying food parcels and others wooden pallets for burning, on 27 July 2025. AFP

Israel declared a "tactical pause" in fighting in parts of Gaza on Sunday and said it would allow the UN and aid agencies to open secure land routes to tackle a deepening hunger crisis.

The military also said it had begun air-dropping food into the Palestinian territory and dismissed allegations of using starvation as a weapon against civilians.

It said it had coordinated with the UN and international agencies to "increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip".

UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed the pauses, saying on social media he was 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".

The charity Oxfam's regional policy chief Bushra Khalidi called the move a "welcome first step" but warned it could prove insufficient.

"Starvation won't be solved by a few trucks or airdrops," she said. "What's needed is a real humanitarian response: ceasefire, full access, all crossings open, and a steady, large-scale flow of aid into Gaza.

"We need a permanent ceasefire, a complete lifting of the siege."

'Life's wish'

In Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa district, 30-year-old Suad Ishtaywi said her "life's wish" was to simply feed her children.

She spoke of her husband returning empty-handed from aid points daily.

"We hope the aid comes in today, because hunger is killing us day by day," said 44-year-old Mohammed al-Daduh, also in Gaza City. "Egypt said it would send aid, but we don't know if Israel will allow it in."

AFP journalists saw Egyptian trucks crossing from Rafah, with cargo routed through Israel's Kerem Shalom checkpoint for inspection before entering Gaza.

The daily pause -- from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm -- will be limited to areas where Israel says its troops are not currently operating -- Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City.

Israel said "designated secure routes" would also open across Gaza for aid convoys carrying food and medicine.

The military said these operations, alongside its campaign against Palestinian armed groups, should disprove "the false claim of deliberate starvation".

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, citing "reasonable grounds" to suspect war crimes including starvation -- charges Israel vehemently denies.

Since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, the situation inside Gaza has deteriorated sharply. More than 100 NGOs warned this week of "mass starvation".

Though aid has trickled in since late May, UN and humanitarian agencies say Israeli restrictions remain excessive and road access inside Gaza is tightly controlled.

Before Israel's airdrop of seven food pallets, the United Arab Emirates said it would resume aid flights, and Britain said it would partner with Jordan and others to assist.

'Immediate' airdrops

On Saturday alone, the Palestinian civil defence agency said over 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.

In a social media post, the military announced it "carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip".

Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical airdrops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than two million inhabitants.

A number of Western and Arab governments carried out airdrops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.

"Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. "They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians."

Separately, the Israeli navy brought an activist boat, the Handala operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, into the part of Ashdod, after intercepting and boarding it late Saturday to prevent it attempting to breach a maritime blockade of Gaza.

The legal rights centre Adalah told AFP its lawyers were in Ashdod but had been refused access to the detained crew, 21 activists and journalists from 10 countries.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.

Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.​
 

UN aid chief welcomes 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaz

AFP Geneva
Published: 27 Jul 2025, 17: 49

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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.​
 

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

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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.​
 

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

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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.​
 

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