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Here’s where things stand on Friday 25 July 2025:
- Hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip have recorded two more deaths “due to famine and malnutrition” in the past 24 hours, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, bringing the total to at least 115.
- US envoy Witkoff blames Hamas for failure to reach ceasefire, says US considering “alternative options” to free Israeli captives, after Hamas submitted response to ceasefire proposal earlier.
- The response reportedly includes amendments to conditions around the entry of aid, areas from which the Israeli army should withdraw, and guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 59,587 people and wounded 143,498. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Here’s what happened today
This live page will be closing soon. Here are today’s top developments:
- The number of people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since this morning has climbed to 62, including at least 19 Palestinians who were attempting to collect desperately needed aid.
- The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, reports 20 people killed and at least 140 injured over the past 24 hours.
- French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged that France will formally recognise the State of Palestine in September during the UN General Assembly.
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will speak with French, German and Italian leaders on Friday to “discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need” in Gaza.
- US envoy Steve Witkoff has announced that Trump-era negotiators are being withdrawn from Qatar, blaming Hamas for the breakdown in ceasefire talks. Hamas has not yet responded.
- International criticism of Israel’s blockade of Gaza continues to intensify, as malnourished Palestinians search for food for themselves and their starving children.
Spain criticises Israeli vote on West Bank annexation
Spain has strongly condemned a vote by Israel’s parliament in favour of annexing the West Bank, warning that it “disregards the fundamental principles and provisions of international law”.
In a sharply worded statement, Spain’s Foreign Ministry said the motion, while nonbinding, “undermines the basis for the implementation of a two-State solution” and ignores longstanding commitments made since the Madrid Conference and Oslo Process.
Madrid also renewed its “condemnation of the expansion of settlements” and called for “the release of hostages, the cessation of hostilities and mass entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip”.
Reaffirming its diplomatic position, Spain declared its “firm support for the two-State solution as the only way to achieve peace”.
Earlier, we reported that Israel’s parliament had approved a symbolic measure calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, with Knesset lawmakers voting 71-13 in favour of the motion.
US envoy says Syria-Israel meeting in Paris aimed at ‘dialogue and de-escalation’
US Ambassador to Turkiye Tom Barrack has just confirmed a meeting took place between Israeli and Syrian officials in Paris.
“Our goal was dialogue and de-escalation, and we accomplished precisely that,” Barrack said in a post on X after the talks. “All parties reiterated their commitment to continuing these efforts.”
While Barrack declined to name participants, Israeli media reported that Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was expected to meet with him alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
US considering ‘alternative options’ after leaving Gaza talks
The US State Department announced it is now considering “alternative options” for Gaza after Special Representative Steve Witkoff left negotiations in Qatar, accusing Hamas of not “acting in good faith.”
US Muslim group condemns Trump negotiators for leaving ceasefire talks
The decision to leave Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar gives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “cover to continue starving, bombing and ethnically cleansing everyone in Gaza”, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says.
“Steve Witkoff knows that Netanyahu and his cabinet of openly racist, genocidal fascists do not want to permanently stop the genocide in Gaza, even if carrying on means leaving more hostages to die in Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign or to starve to death alongside the Palestinian people,” CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.
“Yet whenever push comes to shove in recent negotiations, Mr Witkoff has parroted the Israeli government’s line and given Netanyahu cover to continue the genocide.”
As we’ve been reporting, Witkoff announced earlier that US negotiators were heading home from the Qatari capital, Doha, after Hamas presented its response to the latest ceasefire proposal. The US special envoy blamed the Palestinian group for the failure to reach a deal.
But CAIR’s Mitchell said Washington – which provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in military aid annually – should be exerting pressure on Israel to end its war on Gaza.
“Until the Israeli government’s enablers in the United States, Europe and the Arab world use their military, economic, diplomatic and financial influence to force a ceasefire on the Netanyahu government, no one should expect its genocide to stop,” he said.
Hunger crisis in Gaza ‘catastrophic’ as children face starvation: UN
The United Nations has issued a stark warning over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza while urging immediate and large-scale access to aid.
“The hunger crisis in Gaza has never been so dire,” the UN said in a post on X. “Deadly malnutrition among children is reaching catastrophic levels. Humanitarian aid at scale is urgently needed. Safe, unrestricted access into Gaza must be granted to save lives.”
The warning comes amid mounting international concern over the deteriorating conditions in the besieged enclave, where ongoing Israeli bombardment and restrictions on aid access have left families struggling to find food and medicine.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the situation facing children in Gaza was intolerable.
“Horrific images of starving children in Gaza demand action,” she said. “UNICEF is getting three truckloads of baby milk into Gaza as we speak. But it’s far too little for thousands of children at risk of starving to death.”
Israeli army says it intercepted drone from Yemen
The military did not provide any additional details on the interception.
Freedom Flotilla loses contact with Handala en route to Gaza
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) announced Thursday that it has lost contact with the “Handala,” a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza as part of the group’s mission to break Israel’s blockade.
According to a statement posted on the coalition’s official Telegram channel, the group said: “All communications with the ‘Handala’s crew have been jammed.”
“We lost all contact with our crew, and there are multiple drones near the vessel,” it said. “Which means that they could have been intercepted or attacked.”
No further details were available regarding the ship’s precise location, the status of its crew, or confirmation of an Israeli intervention.
Hamas says ‘bewildered’ by Witkoff’s remarks on ceasefire talks
The Palestinian group has responded to the US special envoy’s allegations that it lacked the will to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
In a statement shared on Telegram, Hamas said it made “a sincere commitment to the success of the mediators’ efforts” to reach a deal.
Hamas also said the mediators welcomed its “constructive and positive” position.
“The movement affirms its commitment to completing the negotiations and engaging in them in a way that contributes to overcoming obstacles and reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli settler attacks show new level of violence, organisation
Israeli settlers are becoming more brazen and heavily armed, attacking Palestinians with impunity as the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority stand by.
Saeed Al Umoor’s story exemplifies this desperate situation.
More Israeli reactions to France’s Palestinian state recognition plan
More Israeli leaders have reacted angrily to French President Macron’s announcement on Palestinian statehood:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre.”
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar: “The French President’s pretension to create by mere words an illusionary arrangement in our land is ridiculous and not serious.”
Macron has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza, repeatedly drawing the ire in recent months of Israeli leaders such as Netanyahu.
Severe malnutrition spreading faster than aid can reach Gaza’s children: UNICEF
Edouard Beigbeder, the Middle East regional director at UNICEF, says 80 percent of the more than 100 Palestinians who have died of starvation in the Gaza Strip have been children.
“These deaths are unconscionable – and could have been prevented. The UN-led humanitarian response must be allowed to function fully through unfettered aid access to children in need,” Beigbeder said in a statement.
Five thousand children were admitted for treatment of malnutrition in the first two weeks of July across Gaza, he said, while in Gaza City specifically, acute malnutrition among children has risen four times from levels in February.
“UNICEF and partners remain in the Gaza Strip screening and treating children for malnutrition, but to be able to reverse the catastrophic situation we face, a sustained and predictable flow of humanitarian and commercial supplies is urgently needed,” Beigbeder said.
“Fuel must enter in sufficient quantities that allow life-saving services to function. Children must be protected – not killed, and not left to starve.”
Hamas urges all countries to ‘follow France’s example’
The Palestinian group has welcomed France’s intention to recognise a Palestinian state as “a positive step in the right direction toward achieving justice for our oppressed Palestinian people”.
“We in Hamas consider this important French position a political development that reflects the growing international conviction in the justness of the Palestinian cause and the failure of the occupation to distort the facts or obstruct the will of free peoples,” Hamas said in a statement shared on Telegram.
“We call on all countries of the world, especially European countries and those that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine, to follow France’s example and fully recognize our people’s national rights.”
Those include the right of return of Palestinian refugees, the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, Hamas said.
BCG says staff behind plans to remove Palestinians from Gaza ‘ignored company protocols’
An investigation by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has found that some of its US-based employees ignored the company’s risk controls to work on projects linked to the GHF and the displacement of Palestinians.
In a response published Thursday to a British parliamentary committee inquiry, BCG admitted that some staff helped set up GHF between late 2024 and early 2025.
GHF, backed by the US and Israel, has been accused of putting Palestinians at risk by directing them to aid distribution points where Israeli forces have reportedly shot hundreds of Palestinians.
BCG also worked with the Tony Blair Institute on post-war Gaza planning. According to the Financial Times, BCG modelled the costs of relocating Palestinians, while the Tony Blair Institute helped develop the controversial plan.
BCG has decided not to release the full investigation.
Israel condemns France’s planned recognition of Palestinian state
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has slammed Macron’s announcement that France will recognise a Palestinian state, calling it “a disgrace and a surrender to terrorism”.
“Instead of standing with Israel in this time of trial, the French president is acting to weaken it,” Katz wrote on X.
“We will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence, and undermine our historical right to the Land of Israel.”
As we reported earlier, French President Macron announced that France will recognise the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September.
Israel ‘expanding war on Palestinian refugees in West Bank’: Researchers
Forensic Architecture, a research group in the UK, says its analysis shows the Israeli military is carving up the Tulkarem, Jenin and Nur Shams refugee camps “to establish new military routes, displace Palestinians, and dismantle historic centres of resistance”.
“By demolishing homes and repeatedly uprooting Palestinians, Israel is not only forcing them from place to place—itself a form of physical and psychological warfare—but attempting to erase the fact that these locations were ever refugee camps at all and weaken Palestinian demand for return,” the group said on X.
“Each wave of displacement seeks to dissolve the Palestinian refugee identity and undermine the population’s political, historical and legal claims.”
Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue
Video circulating on social media, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, shows plumes of smoke rising over the Mahmoudiya area, near the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a short while ago that Israeli attacks targeted “the Rayhan Heights… the areas of Sajed, Jarmaq, Mahmoudiya, Deir al-Zahrani, al-Jabour and Wadi Baraz”.
“The enemy aircraft also raided the area between al-Zararia and Ansar”, the agency added in its report.
Photos: Israelis rally in Tel Aviv to demand captives’ release
UK government ‘deeply committed’ to recognising Palestinian statehood
A member of the United Kingdom’s government has reiterated its commitment to recognising a Palestinian state, emphasising the need for a “meaningful” step towards a two-state solution.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told LBC Radio that recognition must be part of “a genuine move towards a two-state solution and a long-term peace settlement” with Israel.
“We are deeply committed to the recognition of Palestine as a state, which was part of our manifesto, but obviously we want that to be meaningful,” Reynolds said.
The minister also pointed to recent measures taken by the UK in response to Gaza’s “intolerable situation,” including sanctions on Israeli ministers.
This comes as the UK government is under increasing pressure to recognise Palestine after London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for the prime minister to “immediately recognise Palestinian statehood” earlier this week.
Macron says France will recognise Palestinian state
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will recognise the State of Palestine in September at the UN General Assembly.
“The urgent need today is for the war in Gaza to end and to rescue the civilian population,” Macron wrote in a post on X.
“Peace is possible. We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all the captives and massive humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza.”
Bodies arrive in Khan Younis hospital after Palestinians killed waiting for aid
Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows the body of a Palestinian man reportedly killed after Israeli forces opened fire and shelled a group of civilians waiting for humanitarian aid south of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
The video posted on Instagram documented the arrival of casualties at Nasser Medical Complex. “Martyrs and wounded in the targeting of aid … south of Khan Younis city,” read the caption.
“Dozens of cases were transferred to Nasser Medical Complex where they piled up in the emergency and reception departments,” it added.
Al Jazeera’s verified video shows scenes of overcrowded emergency rooms and bodies lined in corridors.
Earlier, we reported that the Nasser Medical Complex recorded the killing of 20 people, with 140 others wounded in just 24 hours.
Pakistan’s FM: ‘No question’ Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo has spoken to Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the UN Security Council meeting in New York City, asking him about the state of global opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza.
The reason why these institutions were created, particularly the UN 80 years ago, was to deal with this sort of situation”, Dar said, when asked what the international community can do in the face of Israeli impunity.
“This certainly has become a graveyard of morality. The people are dying, the food has been made weaponised, and the children, almost dozens every week, are dying”, he continued.
“So, I think the united stand of the world community and the institutions’ responsibility is to make sure that this ends as soon as possible, because this is virtually unacceptable under international law as the UN Charter, humanitarian rights.”
“This is totally unacceptable.”
If you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed on the latest developments:
- The death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn today has risen to 62, including at least 19 Palestinians who were killed while seeking desperately needed aid.
- Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis says it recorded the killing of 20 people in the last 24 hours, with at least 140 others wounded.
- US envoy Steve Witkoff says the Trump administration is bringing negotiators home from Qatar, blaming Hamas for a failure to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal; Hamas has yet to comment.
- Global condemnation of Israel’s blockade on the Strip continues to grow, as emaciated Palestinians search for food to feed themselves and their starving children.
ICC issues statement after Hungary failed to arrest Netanyahu during visit
A court has ruled that Hungary violated international law by refusing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Budapest.
Despite the ICC issuing an arrest warrant issued in November 2024, Hungary allowed Netanyahu to enter the country on an official four-day visit, including meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The court said Hungary’s failure to provisionally arrest Netanyahu “prevented the Court from exercising its functions”, and referred the matter to the Assembly of States Parties for further action, the court’s governing body.
Hungary has announced plans to withdraw from the Rome Statute in June 2026.
Activist group warns of ‘collusion’ between Israeli settlers and army in West Bank
A leading Israeli activist group has accused the army of colluding with settlers in an “organised attack” on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
“Especially after the 7th of October, the Israeli military recruited many, many settlers as reserve soldiers,” said Hagit Ofran, from Peace Now.
“Many of them are taking part in the attacks on Palestinians, but this time they’re doing it with the uniform and the weapon of the [Israeli army] and with the authorities of a soldier. That marks a big escalation in the central violence together with the army.”
She warned that the West Bank violence is not limited to settlers. “It’s a government organisation. They are supported by our government,” she said. “They get a budget from this government, and this is how it’s all organised.”
State Dept refuses to say what ‘alternative options’ being considered for Gaza
A spokesperson for the US State Department has refused to answer repeated questions from reporters about special envoy Witkoff’s statement on the Trump administration’s withdrawal from Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar.
Notably, deputy spokesman Thomas Pigott was pressed about what Witkoff meant when he said that Washington “will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza”.
“Ultimately, the statement speaks for itself”, Pigott said during a briefing.
“At this point, I have nothing to preview,” he added when asked again about what “alternative options” are on the table.
Trump has previously said he wants the US to “own” Gaza as part of an effort to turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and supports initiatives to push Palestinians out of the enclave.
Rights advocates have said that would constitute ethnic cleansing, and Trump’s position has been firmly rejected by Palestinians.
UK’s Starmer says will discuss steps to ‘stop the killing’ in Gaza with EU allies
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will speak with his French, German and Italian partners on Friday to “discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need” in Gaza.
“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said in a statement.
Starmer has faced growing pressure to take concrete action to pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza and allow humanitarian aid into the enclave, as well as to recognise a Palestinian state.
“We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people,” the prime minister said in the statement, stressing that the UK supports efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal.
“A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.”
What next after US says ceasefire negotiators coming home?
It was notable that the Israelis removed their negotiators a short time before this tweet [from US special envoy Steve Witkoff].
In an interview with Axios, they made it clear they were simply trying to shake up the negotiations, put more pressure on Hamas, but they weren’t leaving the negotiations.
We don’t know whether [Witkoff’s tweet] is part of a negotiating tactic. We know that one of the key sticking points for Hamas is Donald Trump perhaps giving some kind of personal guarantee that after 60 days, hostilities won’t resume. That’s something he could very easily do.
We also know that there was a suggestion that Israel probably wouldn’t sign onto any great breakthrough until Sunday, when the Knesset [parliament] in Israel dissolves, so that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government can’t be brought down by coalition partners.
Having said that though, this is a very sternly worded tweet.
For Witkoff to be talking about alternative options for a more stable environment for the people of Gaza, we know that Trump simply hasn’t ruled out ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, getting other countries [to take in Palestinians].
But right now, we simply don’t know whether it’s a negotiating position or the end of the negotiations.
‘Stop funding a genocide,’ army veteran tells US officials
Josephine Guilbeau, a US Army veteran, has delivered an impassioned rebuke of Israel’s starvation policy against Palestinians during a news conference outside the US Capitol.
“I have been screaming, as a conservative Christian, to my Republican leaders to stop funding a genocide,” she said.
“But what I am witnessing this week [is] the forced starvation of babies. They are not allowing baby formula to reach babies. The level of evil that it takes to make a decision to starve a baby as a means of war, as a weapon of war – what have we come to as a humanity? What have we come to as a country?”
Guilbeau told Al Jazeera separately that she is encouraged that more conservative figures in US politics are speaking out against Israeli atrocities.
She said the “tide is definitely turning” on the right to oppose unconditional support for Israel.
Latest on Israeli army, settler attacks against Palestinians in West Bank
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released its latest update on the situation in the occupied West Bank:
- At least 159 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank between January 1 and July 21 of this year.
- So far in 2025, about 320 Palestinians – more than half of them children – have been displaced by so-called “lack-of-permit demolitions” in occupied East Jerusalem; that amounts to an average of 49 demolitions per month.
- Between July 15 and 21, OCHA documented at least 27 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties and/or property damage.
- “These attacks led to the displacement of two households comprising 10 people, including five children, and the injury of seven Palestinians, including one child – six by Israeli settlers and one by Israeli forces,” the agency said.
Rashida Tlaib hits out at fellow US legislators for Israel support
The Palestinian American congresswoman has called on her colleagues to listen to their constituents and end unconditional aid to Israel.
Recent public opinion polls have shown growing US public discontent with Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, but Congress remains staunchly supportive of Israel on a bipartisan basis.
“Americans serving in Congress, wake up because the American people are telling you over and over again: ‘We’re not in support of this’,” Tlaib told reporters outside the US Capitol.
“So maybe for once, would you listen to your constituency? Poll them like you poll everything else. They will tell you they do not want one goddamn freaking dime going to starve a whole people.”
Tlaib appeared to criticise a vote by her progressive ally Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against a measure to stop $500m in missile defence aid to Israel.
Ocasio-Cortez argued that cutting off “defensive” arms to Israel does not help end the bombardment of Palestinians.
But Tlaib suggested she is not swayed by that justification.
“No matter what weapons – I don’t care if it’s offensive or defensive, whatever you call it – let’s stop enabling the genocide,” Tlaib said.
The US provides Israel with billions of dollars in military assistance annually despite allegations of rights violations that would make the country ineligible for security aid under US law.
United Nations experts and leading rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
![US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib speaks alongside Palestinian rights advocates at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 24, 2025 [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/a693bc09-3b7c-473d-90cb-27ab13296c831-1753373780.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C578&quality=80)
Israeli military strikes southern Lebanon
The Israeli army has just announced that it targeted southern Lebanon with air strikes, claiming it struck multiple Hezbollah-linked sites.
In a post on X, the Israeli army said fighter jets “attacked military sites”, including “weapons storage facilities and a rocket launcher”.
The military also claimed responsibility for another strike earlier on Thursday.
Earlier we reported that one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the southern Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab.
Israel has launched near-daily attacks on Lebanon despite agreeing to a US-backed ceasefire in November.
US envoy Witkoff blames Hamas for failure to reach ceasefire deal
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy for the Middle East, says the Trump administration has decided to bring its negotiating team home from Qatar after Hamas’s latest response to a ceasefire proposal.
As we’ve been reporting, Israel said earlier that it recalled its team of negotiators for “consultations” after Hamas submitted its response.
Witkoff said the Palestinian group’s position “clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza”, without elaborating.
“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said.
“It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza.”
Hamas has yet to comment publicly on its response, or the criticism from the US envoy. The Palestinian group has been pushing for a deal that would ensure Israel agrees to a permanent end to its war on Gaza.
The power of images to convey Palestinian suffering in Gaza
This is a story about scale, about humanity, about massive war crimes. But the pictures that seem to be having a real significant impact, starting to show up on the front pages of newspapers in the UK and elsewhere, tend to be smaller scale.
There’s the picture put out by the Palestinian journalist Ahmed al-Arini, the child being held in his mother’s arms, the child’s back to us, the profile visible to us.
Another reason that this image has gained the kind of traction that other images have not is that this picture also captures the face of the mother. Any parent will tell you that their biggest fear in life, their biggest nightmare, is the suffering of their child, and this image somehow captures both those things.
Al-Arini is a very talented photographer. A lot of his images that we see him putting out, they almost look, in a strange way, like they’ve been shot in a studio. And while that sounds off-putting, it can be very affecting.
When you show thousands or tens of thousands of people in a field trying to line up for aid at the risk of being shot, it’s difficult for people to identify with imagery like that.
So while this story is about scale – and must be about scale, the way it’s been covered – images like this, like al-Arini’s, of individual children suffering … they have a way of landing with audiences, I think, that other images do not.
Palestinian mothers devastated as children beg for food
We have more testimonials from Palestinian women in Gaza who are struggling to feed their starving families under Israel’s blockade.
“I went to get food, to support my children, and I fainted there. No one helped me,” said Sabreen Abu al-Kass, a mother of 10 from the Shati refugee camp, who tried but failed to get supplies from the GHF.
“I couldn’t bring back any aid at all. We returned home empty-handed, just like we came. Out of maybe 50 attempts, I was only able to get some food once. One time, among thousands of women,” she told Al Jazeera.
“There is no flour, no food, nothing. My husband, the one I relied on, is gone [killed]. Who will help me now? Only God.”
Hanan Fares also described the devastation of not being able to find any food to feed her children and grandchildren. “Even my youngest granddaughter is crying and begging, saying: ‘Grandma, I want some bread. I’m hungry.’ But I couldn’t bring her anything,” Fares told Al Jazeera.
“This is the third time I’ve gone out to try to get food aid, and every time, I’ve failed. I couldn’t get anything. God is my witness, and may He hold those responsible accountable.”
“Why are they doing this to the children? What did the children do wrong?” Fares asked.
‘We want to wake people up,’ protester says in Washington, DC
We’ve just spoken to a pro-Palestine activist at a small protest outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC.
Holding a sign reading, “Never again is now”, in reference to the Holocaust, Steve France told Al Jazeera that what Israel is doing in Gaza “is comparable to other genocides in the past, including the Holocaust”.
“We want to wake people up,” France said of the goals of the demonstration.
The US provides at least $3.8bn in military assistance to Israel annually, and it has given billions more since the Gaza war began. Washington also shields its ally from criticism at the United Nations and other international bodies.
‘Do you think what is happening to us is normal?’ Palestinian mother asks
Buthaina Ashour, a Palestinian mother in Gaza, is among countless women who have braved deadly violence to try to get food at GHF aid distribution sites in the enclave.
“We came here for nothing … we came to die. We are suffering. We need someone to help us. We cannot go on like this,” Ashour told Al Jazeera after Israeli soldiers opened fire and threw tear gas at the crowds.
“The children cry day and night, just wanting a piece of bread, and we cannot find even that. I came here and told my children, ‘I will go and find you something to keep you from starving.’ Do you think what is happening to us is normal? We are exhausted.”
Ashour said countless Palestinian mothers like herself have been forced to try to get food at GHF sites for their children, who she said are now “unable to even sleep from the hunger”.
“We are dying, simply because we want food to keep our children alive. What is happening to us is unjust,” she added.
Families call for updates on captives negotiations
The families of the captives have said they are following with “deep concern” reports that the Israeli negotiating team has returned from Doha, urging the Israeli leadership to provide an update on the status of negotiations and information on what is preventing a deal.
“Another missed opportunity to bring all 50 hostages back would be inexcusable. It would be yet another moral, security, and diplomatic failure in an endless chain of failures,” the families said in a statement.
The group also urged US President Donald Trump to use his leverage to make sure this round of negotiations ends with the return of the captives.
The comments come soon after Netanyahu’s office said the negotiating team was called back from Doha for “additional consultations” in Israel.
There are about 50 captives still in Gaza. Less than half are believed to be still alive.
‘Tip of the iceberg’: Starvation deaths increasing in Gaza
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud says starvation deaths in Gaza are increasing at a “frightening pace”.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Mahmoud reported from Gaza City, noting that people of all ages, including children and the elderly, have been transferred to hospitals due to malnutrition.
He added that the now-infamous US- and Israeli-backed GHF aid distribution scheme has exacerbated the crisis.
As we’ve been reporting, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the GHF began operating in Gaza in May.
“People are trying to [buy] whatever they can get their hands on” to survive, Mahmoud said.
Israel preventing UN from verifying Gaza aid awaiting distribution: OCHA
The United Nations says it does not know how many truckloads of aid are awaiting distribution inside the Gaza border because Israel has not granted it access.
“Despite our repeated requests, Israel has not allowed the UN to be present at the crossings, which are militarised areas,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told the AFP news agency. “We therefore cannot verify the amount of supplies currently at the crossing.”
Laerke explained that the UN needed multiple authorisations from the Israeli authorities: first to get aid across the border from Israel into the Gaza Strip, where it is dropped off, with the trucks returning to Israel – then to drive trucks from inside Gaza to the crossing point to pick up aid.
“It is very important to stress that it is not just about denials of requests to pick up the cargo,” he added. “Israel – as the occupying power and a party to the conflict – must facilitate humanitarian operations all the way till it reaches people who need it to survive.”
This means that, beyond simply authorisation, “they must provide the green light for trucks without unnecessary delays; allow teams to use multiple, safer routes; and order troops to stay away from the convoys, and never shoot at civilians along the allocated routes – or anywhere else”, Laerke explained.
“Without the full set of conditions in place, safe and principled delivery cannot take place at scale. So even when approved, those missions are often impeded on the ground.”
Starvation as a weapon: Scholar links Israeli practices to war crimes and genocide
Omer Bartov, professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, says Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime and an act that is part of what constitutes the commission of genocide.
“There is now an attempt, as the genocide resolution from 1948 says, of deliberately inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction in whole or in part – this is section three of the genocide convention,” Bartov told Al Jazeera.
“So, clearly, this is part of an attempt to make life impossible for Palestinians either to force them out or simply to see them die where they are,” he said, highlighting that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also for using starvation as a tool of war.
There have been several historical episodes where starvation has been used as a weapon of war, including during the German siege of what was then called Leningrad (today, Saint Petersburg), when about one million people died, mostly from hunger.
And because it is not new, starvation “was included in the definition of genocide in 1948 – it’s a war crime, it’s a crime against humanity and it is also part of the definition of genocide”.
‘All Gaza will be Jewish’: Israeli minister
Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu has told Haredi radio station Kol Barama that his government “is racing ahead to wipe out Gaza”, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.
Eliyahu says Gaza will be cleared for Jewish settlement, but says Jewish towns will not be “fenced in inside cantons”.
“All Gaza will be Jewish,” he was quoted as saying.
Hamas slams global community for being ‘silent witness’ to starvation in Gaza
The Palestinian group says “the continued crime of starvation in the Gaza Strip is a stain on the international community, which continues its shameful silence in the face of one of the most horrific crimes of our time”.
“The systematic and overt policy of starvation and thirst practiced by the government of the war criminal Netanyahu against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, which has intensified over the past five months, is a disgrace to the international community, which has been a silent witness to this horrific, brutal crime,” Hamas said in a statement published on Telegram.
“We call on the European Union, Britain, Canada, Australia, and other Western countries to translate their declared media positions into effective political and economic actions and measures, to review all forms of cooperation with the occupation, to stop supplying it with weapons with which it kills civilians and children around the clock, and to hold it accountable for using starvation as a tool of mass murder,” the group added.
It also called on the UN and the international community “to take practical and binding measures to compel the occupation to allow the immediate entry of aid, without conditions or control, in a manner that ensures the rescue of civilians from the threat of death by hunger and thirst”.
