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IDF gunfire kills 30 Palestinians waiting for aid, Gaza defence ministry says, as US special envoy due to visit Israel
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
Israeli gunfire killed at least 30 Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “at least 30” people were killed and 300 wounded.
The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of casualties in the incident north of Gaza City, as the United Nations said that pauses in Israel’s offensive against Hamas were not enough to help the population through a deepening hunger crisis.
The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that four days into Israel’s “tactical pauses”, people were still dying from hunger and malnutrition, alongside casualties among those seeking aid.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies from the shooting, which reportedly struck about three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering Gaza.
Amid deadlocked talks on a ceasefire, US special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday.
Witkoff has been involved in indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The discussions broke down last week when Israel and the US recalled their delegations from Doha.
A US official told reporters that Witkoff “will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza.”
His visit comes as Canada followed France and the UK when it announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
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Israeli media are reporting that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit US-Israeli-backed GHF aid sites in Gaza during his trip to Israel.
It comes as at least 30 people were killed waiting for aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday.
We have more from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (see earlier post).
He said his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group’s chief said those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals.
Beirut is demanding “the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army”, Aoun said in a speech to mark Army Day, AFP reports.
In The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast Surgeon Nick Maynard describes the unfolding famine he witnessed during his volunteering in Gaza, while our chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, analyses whether the UK’s proposed recognition of Palestine will alleviate the suffering there.
You can listen to this here:
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanese political parties need to seize the opportunity and hand over their weapons sooner rather than later, as Washington increases pressure on Hezbollah to give up its arms.
He added that the country would seek $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the army and security forces in Lebanon, Reuters reports.
Iran on Thursday described as “malicious” fresh US sanctions targeting a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, AFP reports.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called “the new US sanctions against Iran’s oil trade a malicious act aimed at undermining the economic development and welfare of the Iranian people”.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
IDF gunfire kills 30 Palestinians waiting for aid, Gaza defence ministry says, as US special envoy due to visit Israel
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
Israeli gunfire killed at least 30 Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “at least 30” people were killed and 300 wounded.
The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of casualties in the incident north of Gaza City, as the United Nations said that pauses in Israel’s offensive against Hamas were not enough to help the population through a deepening hunger crisis.
The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that four days into Israel’s “tactical pauses”, people were still dying from hunger and malnutrition, alongside casualties among those seeking aid.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies from the shooting, which reportedly struck about three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering Gaza.
Amid deadlocked talks on a ceasefire, US special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday.
Witkoff has been involved in indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The discussions broke down last week when Israel and the US recalled their delegations from Doha.
A US official told reporters that Witkoff “will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza.”
His visit comes as Canada followed France and the UK when it announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
