Israel kills starving Palestinians as US envoy Witkoff visits aid sites

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza and the Middle East concludes for today.

Join us again at 0800 GMT for updates from the region.
 

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he is prepared to recognise a Palestinian state if the government formally proposes it.

In a post on X, Stubb said both Israelis and Palestinians are suffering: “In Israel, there is a real threat of violence… In Gaza, the situation is inhumane. Children are dying of hunger. Civilians collecting food have been shot.”

He added that "it is important that the Arab countries that have not yet recognized Israel do so. The Palestinian Authority has already recognized Israel. Hamas does not represent Palestine."

Full translated post on X in English:

I gave an interview to [French news agency] STT today.

Both Israelis and Palestinians have suffered too much, for too long. The threat of violence in Israel is real. Hamas, many other terrorist organizations, and several states still do not accept Israel’s existence. At the same time, the situation in Gaza is inhumane.

Children are dying of hunger because food aid cannot get through. Civilians seeking food have been shot. A long-term solution is needed, peace based on a two-state model. The announcements by France, the United Kingdom, and Canada confirm the movement toward recognizing Palestine as part of efforts to revive the peace process.

If Finland recognizes Palestine as part of this international group, we will promote peace through our actions. At the same time, it is important that those Arab countries that have not yet recognized Israel do so. The Palestinian Authority has already recognized Israel. Hamas does not represent Palestine.

The recognition of a state is a decision for the President of the Republic, but it must be based on a proposal from the Government. If I receive a proposal to recognize the Palestinian state, I am prepared to approve it.

It is up to the Government to assess whether they will present such a proposal. I understand that Finns have different views on the recognition of Palestine, as well as concerns. I want to encourage open, honest, and respectful discussion about foreign policy, including regarding Palestine.

Annoin tänään haastattelun STT:lle.

Sekä israelilaiset että palestiinalaiset ovat kärsineet liikaa, liian kauan.

Väkivallan uhka Israelissa on todellinen. Hamas, monet muut terroristijärjestöt ja useat valtiot eivät edelleenkään hyväksy Israelin olemassaoloa. Samalla tilanne… pic.twitter.com/pcexAKRCK9

— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) July 31, 2025

Dutch Foreign Minister Casper Veldkamp announced that the Netherlands will join the international coalition airdropping aid into Gaza, following Israel’s recent approval.

However, the UN, aid groups, and Palestinians have criticised the method as ineffective, dangerous, and degrading. Injuries have already been reported, and some food drops have landed in sand, making them nearly unusable.

Yemen's Houthi group staged another large weekly protest in Sanaa to condemn the ongoing war on Gaza.

Yemeni Marches:
"Steady with #Gaza and Palestine, and rejection of deceptive and treacherous deals"
From the millions of brave steadfast Yemenis to the entire world: The blood of tens thousands of innocent Palestinians and the starvation and suffering of hundreds thousands of… pic.twitter.com/hGiPoYQZqb

— نصر الدين عامر | Nasruddin Amer (@Nasr_Amer1) August 1, 2025

Al Jazeera English has reported that France has axed all evacuations from the Gaza Strip, after the government alerted that a female student studying at a university in the northern French city of Lille reportedly reposted content on her social media acccount alleged to be as "antisemitic" and "Hamas propaganda".

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, speaking to radio station France Info, announced the latest development, further stating that the woman "does not have a place in France".

Barrot did not confirm whether the woman will be deported to Gaza as a result.

The contents of the posts were not revealed either, according to Al Jazeera English, but the woman was reported to be expelled from her university.

European Union officials visited the West Bank village of Umm al-Khair, where Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen was killed by an Israeli settler.

The EU’s mission to the Palestinians criticised Israel for withholding Hathaleen’s body, denying him a “dignified burial,” and called for “concrete steps” to stop further settler attacks.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that a Jerusalem court released Yinon Levi- a known violent settler- citing lack of evidence linking him to the killing.

1/3 Yesterday, EUREP and other diplomatic missions extended condolences to the community of Um al-Khair after an Israeli settler killed Odeh Hathaleen, a father of three. A military closure was imposed, his body remains withheld and a dignified burial is refused. pic.twitter.com/ToIo1NpbY9

— EU and Palestinians (@EUpalestinians) August 1, 2025

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq accused Donald Trump of spreading false Israeli claims about humanitarian aid in Gaza.

"Trump does not tire of repeating Israeli accusations and lies and we will not tire of rejecting them," al-Rishq said in an online statement.

He strongly denied US claims that Hamas is stealing and selling aid, saying they lack evidence and "blame the victim while exonerating the criminal."

Al-Rishq also cited a recent USAID investigation that found no proof of large-scale aid theft by Hamas.

He described the situation in Gaza as "systematic starvation and extermination" backed by the US.

Italy said Friday it would begin air drops over Gaza, which UN-backed experts say is slipping into famine, the latest European countries to do so.

"I have given the green light to a mission involving Army and Air Force assets for the transport and airdrop of basic necessities to civilians in Gaza, who have been severely affected by the ongoing conflict," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a statement.

Italy's air force will work with Jordan's military to air drop special containers containing essential goods, he said.

The first drops could come on August 9, he said.

Spain on Friday said it had air-dropped 12 tonnes of food into Gaza, joining Britain and France, which have partnered with Middle Eastern nations to deliver sorely needed humanitarian supplies by air to the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas’s Qassam Brigades has released a video of Israeli captive Evyatar David, who was abducted during the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023.

The footage shows David appearing thin and held in a tunnel, interspersed with scenes of starving Palestinian children.

Hamas claims captives “eat what we eat, drink what we drink,” blaming Israel for rejecting a ceasefire and “choosing to starve them.”

While US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff visited an Israeli and US-backed aid site near Rafah on Friday, Israeli forces reportedly killed at least 36 Palestinians seeking aid elsewhere in Gaza- including a 12-year-old boy searching for food, according to Al Jazeera English, citing medical sources.

“We were hopeful about Witkoff’s visit,” Gaza resident Mahmoud Awad told Al Jazeera English.

“But instead, the gunfire increased. We were hoping for a ceasefire, but instead a child died. Why did the child die?”

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir visited troops inside Gaza, stating that “in the coming days, we will know whether we can reach an agreement” with Hamas.

“If not, the fighting will continue without pause,” he warned, urging soldiers to “adapt to the changing reality” in line with Israeli interests.

Zamir also dismissed what he called a “false starvation campaign” in Gaza, accusing it of being a smear to frame Israel for war crimes.

He claimed that Hamas bears responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.

Israeli Druze volunteers are collecting food donations and gathering information to support members of the minority community in Syria reeling from deadly sectarian violence, AFP reports.

According to AFP, some of the volunteers in the Galilee village of Julis are working a call centre to gather the latest information from inside Syria, while others coordinate aid collection and distribution, and a media group runs an online campaign to raise awareness to the plight of Syria's Druze.

"We've set up a situation room here to monitor what's happening in Sweida and across the entire region, so that we can help our brothers and sisters there", Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the current spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, told AFP.

The violence had ended with a ceasefire, but Tarif deplored the fact the the main highway to Suweida has remained blocked, effectively leaving Druze communities under siege.

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Friday, after air raid sirens sounded in several cities including Jerusalem.

"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted" by the Israeli air force, a military statement said.

According to news agency AFP, its journalists reported hearing booms over Jerusalem.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The Israeli military said on Friday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards Israel that triggered sirens in several areas in the country.

Houthis have been firing at Israel and attacking shipping lanes, in what the group says is solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.

Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes. 

At least 42 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, local hospitals tell Al Jazeera. This includes 15 aid seekers.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has condemned airdrops of aid over Gaza as "100 times more expensive" than traditional land delivery and called for the immediate reopening of border crossings to prevent further starvation.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, said on Friday that airdrops were an inefficient and insufficient way to respond to the worsening famine in Gaza, stressing that "trucks carry twice as much aid as planes" and that the political will to authorise costly airdrops should instead be channelled into reopening land routes.

"If there is political will to allow airdrops, which are expensive, insufficient and ineffective, there must also be political will to open land crossings," Lazzarini wrote in a post on X.

He added that "as the people of Gaza starve to death, the only way to respond to famine is to flood Gaza with aid".

He revealed that 6,000 aid trucks loaded with supplies were stuck outside Gaza, awaiting Israeli clearance to enter.

Read more here.

Spain said Friday it had air-dropped 12 tonnes of food into Gaza, which is slipping into famine.

The mission deployed 24 parachutes, each capable of carrying 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) of food, for a total of 12 tonnes, enough for 11,000 people, said Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares.

Spain also has aid waiting to cross into Gaza by road from Egypt, the minister added in a video message posted on social network X, along with a video of the operation.

"The induced famine that the people of Gaza are suffering is a disgrace to all of humanity," Albares said.

"Israel must open all land crossings permanently so that humanitarian aid can enter on a massive scale."

US activist and American labour leader Chris Smalls is back in the US after being illegally detained by the Israeli army on the Handala Flotilla.

Smalls was surrounded, beaten, and choked by Israeli forces, claiming that they unlawfully boarded the Handala, the latest aid ship trying to reach Gaza.

Videos show Smalls being welcomed by pro-Palestinian leaders at the airport upon his arrival.

 

 

 

 

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At least 10 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks across the southern Gaza Strip, including aid seekers.

Three aid seekers were killed and 30 were injured near an aid distribution centre in the Shakoush area, north of Rafah, Wafa ​​​​​​reports.

At the same time, five Palestinians were killed after an Israeli strike targeted the Shujaiya neighbourhood east of Gaza City, while another was killed in shelling in Khan Younis.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Friday that his visit to US-backed aid stations in Gaza would help Washington draw up a plan to deliver more aid to the Palestinian territory.

"Today, we spent over five hours inside Gaza," Witkoff said in a post on X, accompanied by a photo of himself wearing a protective vest and meeting staff at a distribution centre.

He added that the purpose of the visit was to "help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza".

The Gaza Health Ministry revealed that at least 60,332 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, including 147,643 injured.

At least 83 Palestinians were killed and 554 were injured over the last 24 hours.

Israel's foreign ministry said its missions to the United Arab Emirates are open on Friday and representatives continue to operate at the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai in cooperation with local authorities and this includes ensuring the protection of Israeli diplomats.

On Thursday, Israeli media reported that Israel was evacuating most of its diplomatic mission staff in the UAE after Israel's National Security Council sharpened its travel warning for Israelis staying in the Gulf country. 

Award-winning Israeli author David Grossman called his country's campaign in Gaza "genocide" and said he was using the term with a "broken heart".

This came days after a major Israeli rights group also used the same term, amid growing global alarm over starvation in the besieged territory.

"For many years, I refused to use that term: 'genocide'," the prominent writer and peace activist told Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published on Friday.

"But now, after the images I have seen and after talking to people who were there, I can't help using it."

Grossman told the paper he was using the word "with immense pain and with a broken heart."

"This word is an avalanche: once you say it, it just gets bigger, like an avalanche. And it adds even more destruction and suffering," he said.

Finland's President Alexander Stubb has said he is ready to approve a recognition of a Palestinian state if the government moves forward with such a proposal.

Many countries, including France and Canada, have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state alongside the 80th UN General Assembly in September.

"The decisions by France, the United Kingdom and Canada reinforce the trend towards recognising Palestine as part of efforts to breathe new life into the peace process," Stubb said in a post to X Thursday.

Finland's president, elected for six years, has limited powers but helps coordinate the country's foreign policy in close cooperation with the government.

"If I receive a proposal to recognise the Palestinian state, I am prepared to approve it," Stubb said, deploring an "inhumane" situation in Gaza.

He said he understood that Finns had "different opinions on the recognition of Palestine, and that there is also concern," calling for an "open" and "honest" debate.

The far-right Finns Party and the Christian Democrats oppose recognizing a Palestinian state.

Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Friday reiterated Helsinki's support for a two-state solution, without specifying whether the government was ready to recognise a Palestinian state.

France on Friday started to air-drop 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza as it urged Israel to allow full access to the area, which it said was slipping into famine.

"Faced with the absolute urgency, we have just conducted a food airdrop operation in Gaza. Thank you to our Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support, and to our military personnel for their commitment," President Emmanuel Macron wrote on the social media platform X.

"Airdrops are not enough. Israel must open full humanitarian access to address the risk of famine," he added.

France will suspend its programme to receive Palestinians from conflict-torn Gaza pending the outcome of an investigation into a student who shared pro-Palestine content online, the French foreign minister said Friday.

The move comes after officials said the female student from Gaza will have to leave France after the Sciences Po university in the northern city of Lille revoked her accreditation over the online posts.

"No evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn conclusions from this investigation," Jean-Noel Barrot told Franceinfo radio.

All Gazans who have entered France will undergo a second screening, he added.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff visited southern Gaza on Friday during international outrage over starvation, shortages and deadly chaos near aid distribution sites.

Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee toured one of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution sites in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, according to an official involved with the visit.

The official requested anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.

Germany's Bundeswehr armed forces have started dropping aid supplies over Gaza, starting with two Luftwaffe flights carrying almost 14 tonnes of supplies, the defence ministry said on Friday.

"The flights can only make a very small contribution to providing those affected on the ground with the bare essentials," Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said, adding that he expected Israel to "ensure comprehensive humanitarian supplies" for people in the enclave.

Germany has also pledged to give an additional 5 million euros ($5.70 million) in support to the World Food Programme in Gaza, the foreign office said.

The UN human rights office said Friday that 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while waiting for aid in the shortage-stricken Gaza Strip since late May, most of them by the Israeli military.

"In total, since 27 May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of (US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys," the UN agency's office for the Palestinian territories said in a statement.

"Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," it added.

A series of Israeli air strikes killed four people in southern Lebanon, Beirut's Ministry of Health said Friday, offering a toll for attacks that took place the day before.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had targeted Hezbollah "infrastructure that was used for producing and storing strategic weapons", including what the country's defence minister described as the group's "biggest precision missile manufacturing site".

Human Rights Watch on Friday accused Israeli forces operating outside US-backed aid centres in war-torn Gaza of routinely killing Palestinian civilians seeking food, as well as using starvation as a weapon of war.

"US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.

"Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," HRW's Wille said in a statement.

Sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip on Friday, prompting the military to launch an interceptor missile towards a suspected threat, the Israeli army said.

The military later confirmed that the launch was triggered by a false alarm, and no threat was detected.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group, released a video yesterday featuring hostage Rom Braslavski, who is being held captive in the Gaza Strip.

The video - the second the PIJ has issued of Braslavski - showed him watching Qatari flagship Al Jazeera TV showing footage of starving children.

Braslavski spoke in Hebrew, appeared to be crying and asked Israeli authorities to send food into Gaza before he "starves to death".

The group said the video was recorded days before it lost contact with the captors holding Braslavski, adding that his fate was unknown.

Hamas said that it was ready to "immediately re-engage in negotiations" for a Gaza ceasefire once the humanitarian crisis ends.

In a Telegram statement yesterday, Hamas said "continuing negotiations under conditions of starvation renders them meaningless and futile".

Earlier in the day, Hamas said it was ready to resolve the hostage issue within the context of a ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the opening of the border crossings and the immediate start of reconstruction.

Meanwhile, Izzat al-Rishq, the head of the group's media office, called US envoy Steve Witkoff's expected visit to Gaza "a propaganda show to contain the mounting anger over the US-Israeli partnership in starving our people in the Strip", reiterating criticism of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip have killed at least eight Palestinians on Friday.

At least four Palestinians were killed after an Israeli strike targeted tents sheltering displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis.

Another four were killed after a strike targeted Deir al-Balah.

Warning sirens sounded in southern Israel, the Israeli military said on Friday.

"Details are being examined," the Israeli army said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Friday that France is sending four flights carrying 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza from Jordan.

"This is emergency aid but still not sufficient" in the face of this "revolting" situation, Barrot told broadcaster Franceinfo.

A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday that a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted