Israel strikes Gaza shelters amid global outcry over starvation

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We will return with more updates on the Israel's war on Gaza tomorrow morning. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience."

"I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community -- the lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity," Guterres told Amnesty International's global assembly via video link.

"This is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience. We will continue to speak out at every opportunity."

Sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told Al Jazeera that a six-month-old Palestinian infant has died following medical complications that arose from starvation.

Hospital sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera that at least 38 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the early hours.

Among the dead are six people shot while trying to collect urgently needed food aid.

Israel’s Home Front Command said a missile attack launched from Yemen has “concluded” without causing injuries. Emergency services reported no casualties, according to Israeli outlet Arutz Sheva.
 

The World Food Programme warned that only a “massive scale-up” in aid can contain Gaza’s deepening hunger catastrophe.

The UN agency said severe acute malnutrition is rising sharply, with nearly a third of families going days without meals.

“A huge humanitarian scale-up is also needed to calm anxieties and rebuild trust within communities that more food is coming,” it said, stressing that skyrocketing prices make aid the only lifeline.

Israeli forces “severely beat” two elderly men during raids in Bani Naim, near Hebron, and Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.

One of the victims, aged 66, was hospitalised following the attack. In a separate incident, Israeli settlers, under army protection, assaulted three Palestinians – including a local village council head – in Masafer Yatta, Wafa added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has demanded an urgent halt to the escalating bloodshed in Gaza, calling the humanitarian toll “beyond any acceptable standard.”

"There is no excuse for what is happening in Gaza,” said ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric, condemning the relentless killing of civilians, starvation of children, and repeated forced displacement of families.

"This tragedy must end now – immediately and decisively,” she said, warning that political hesitation and justifications for the violence will be remembered as a collective failure to uphold humanity.
 

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli military operations killed at least 23 people on Friday across the Palestinian territory, with another five killed in an overnight air strike.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed in a strike on Gaza City that hit a school building sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, now in its 22nd month.

Bassal said five others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent used by displaced Palestinians also in Gaza City, in the territory's north.

Yemen's Houthis have organised a large-scale demonstration in Sanaa over Israel's war on Gaza. 

Yemeni Million-Man Marches: "We will not tolerate the genocide in #Gaza and the nation and sanctities' violation"
Yemen's Brave Voice with the Gruen Gaza: Zionism, with its American and Israeli wings, has begun its evil project in Palestine and is moving to extend its hegemony… pic.twitter.com/pWTOAto7b6

— نصر الدين عامر | Nasruddin Amer (@Nasr_Amer1) July 25, 2025

An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Friday killed one person, authorities said, with the Israeli military identifying the slain man as an official with militant group Hezbollah.

Israel has repeatedly struck Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The Lebanese health ministry said Friday that "an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the village of Baraachit resulted in one dead".

The Israeli military said it had "eliminated the personnel officer for Hezbollah's Bint Jbeil sector", near the Israeli border.

Qatar and Egypt said Friday they were pressing on with efforts to mediate talks to end the Gaza war, insisting that suspending negotiations to hold consultations was "normal" as hope of a breakthrough faded.

The pair said in a joint statement released by the Qatari foreign ministry that they were "continuing intensive efforts in the Gaza Strip mediation file" noting "some progress" in the latest round of talks and insisting that "suspending talks to hold consultations before resuming dialogue is normal in the context of these complex negotiations".

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday deplored the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza due to chronic food shortages in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"Of course, we condemn what is happening right now and Mexico is putting all its words and actions into building peace," Sheinbaum said at her morning news conference.

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany said Friday the "humanitarian catastrophe" in the Gaza Strip "must end now", as the war-ravaged Palestinian territory faces a deepening crisis.

"We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and urgently allow the UN and humanitarian NGOs to carry out their work in order to take action against starvation," they said in a joint statement.

Almost a third of people in Gaza are "not eating for days", the UN's World Food Programme told AFP on Friday, saying the crisis has reached "new and astonishing levels of desperation".

"Nearly one person in three is not eating for days. Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment," a WFP statement said.

A Hamas official on Friday accused US envoy Steve Witkoff of distorting reality after he announced Washington's withdrawal from Gaza truce talks and accused the group of blocking a deal.

"The negative statements of the US envoy Witkoff run completely counter to the context in which the last negotiations were held, and he is perfectly aware of this, but they come to serve the Israeli position," said Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim in an interview with AFP.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians starving in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience."

"I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community - the lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity," Guterres said in a speech via videolink to Amnesty International's global assembly.

US President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed the decision by France's Emmanuel Macron to recognise a Palestinian state as pointless.

"He's a very good guy, I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight," Trump told reporters, reacting to the French president's announcement a day earlier to formally recognise the State of Palestine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said that Hamas was obstructing a deal to release hostages held in Gaza, as indirect negotiations hit a dead end.

"Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal," the premier said in a statement. "Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas's terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region."

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday that Rome cannot accept "carnage and famine" in Gaza, criticising Israel but stating that Italy was not ready to recognise the state of Palestine, like France plans to do.

"We can no longer accept carnage and famine," Tajani said, according to Italy's ANSA news agency, while adding that Rome can only recognise Palestine "at the same time as their recognition of the state of Israel".

An Israeli official said Friday that aid drops over the Gaza Strip would resume soon, as the Palestinian territory reels from a humanitarian crisis after more than 21 months of war.

"Humanitarian aid air drops on the Gaza Strip will resume in the upcoming days. They will be managed by the UAE and Jordan," the official told AFP.

US President Donald Trump on Friday said Palestinian militant group Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.

Trump made the comments to reporters at the White House one day after his Middle East peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas' latest proposal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that together with US allies, Tel Aviv is considering "alternative options to bringing our hostages home".

Israel will reportedly allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza starting on Friday, the Israeli army radio quoted a military official as saying.

An Israeli military spokesperson did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment on the report.

However, air dropping aid into Gaza, which was a method used early on in the war after Israel cut supplies, resulted in the deaths of civilians, garnering widespread criticism. 

The Gaza health ministry says at least 122 people have died from starvation in the Palestinian enclave since Israel implemented a full blockade on the Strip in March. 

(Reuters)

Ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel are expected to resume next week, a Hamas official said on Friday, as Israeli strikes continue across Gaza and experts warn Palestinians are on the brink of famine.

Hamas official Bassem Naim said on Friday that he was told an Israeli delegation would depart for consultations early next week. Previous talks had been held in Qatar.

His comments come a day after the United States recalled its negotiating team from Qatar and after President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas' latest response to the negotiations showed a "lack of desire" to reach a truce.

Witkoff said the U.S. will "now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza." He did not elaborate on what those options might be.

Aid groups warned of surging numbers of malnourished children in war-ravaged Gaza as a trio of European powers prepared to hold an "emergency call" Friday on the deepening humanitarian crisis.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that a quarter of the young children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers it had screened at its clinics last week were malnourished, a day after the United Nations said one in five children in Gaza City were suffering from malnutrition.

With fears of mass starvation growing, Britain, France, and Germany were set to hold an emergency call to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and discuss steps towards Palestinian statehood.

Lufthansa Group will gradually relaunch flights to Tel Aviv from 1 August, returning to a full flight programme by the end of October, a spokesperson for the German company said on Friday.

Lufthansa is one of a number of global airlines that halted flights to and from the Israeli city after a renewed flare-up in violence in the region.

"We are always monitoring the situation, and it now looks like we will be able to fly again from August," the spokesperson said.

Lufthansa, freight airline Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Airlines will operate a total of 44 weekly connections by mid-August, the spokesperson said.

Brussels Airlines will resume flights on 13 August, while Swiss International Airlines will follow suit on 29 September.

ITA Airways and Eurowings will resume flights to Tel Aviv on 1 September and 26 October, respectively.

Flights to Tehran will remain suspended, the spokesperson added.

Over 100 UK MPs have signed a letter to Keir Starmer calling on the UK government to recognise a Palestinian State, according to Sky News. 

The letter, organised by Sarah Champion, reads: "British recognition of Palestine would be particularly powerful given its role as the author of the Balfour Declaration and the former Mandatory Power in Palestine".

"Since 1980 we have backed a two-state solution. Such a recognition would give that position substance as well as living up to a historic responsibility we have to the people under that Mandate."

The letter comes amid a rise in public outrage in the UK over Israel's starvation of Gaza, as well as an announcement by French President Macron that France would recognise a Palestinian state.

Saudi Arabia and fellow Gulf Arab states on Friday welcomed President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would recognise the state of Palestine, and urged other countries to follow suit.

The Saudi foreign ministry said "the kingdom commends this historic decision, which reaffirms the international community's consensus on the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and to establish their independent state".

It called on other countries "that have not yet recognised the State of Palestine to take similar positive steps".

Qatar, a key mediator in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on ending Israel's war on Gaza, also welcomed the French move.

Its foreign ministry said the move "constitutes significant support for the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people" and "contributes to advancing prospects for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region".

The Kuwaiti foreign ministry said it "commended this significant step".

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - which also includes the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, both of which have ties with Israel - also praised the move.

The UN rights chief on Friday slammed Britain's ban on activist group Palestine Action as a "disturbing" misuse of UK counter-terrorism legislation, and urged the government to rescind its decision.

"The decision appears disproportionate and unnecessary. It limits the rights of many people involved with and supportive of Palestine Action who have not themselves engaged in any underlying criminal activity but rather exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association," Volker Turk said in a statement.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday hailed the decision by France to press ahead with recognising a Palestinian state as a "victory for the Palestinian cause".

"This reflects France's commitment to supporting the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights to their land and their homeland," the president of the Palestinian Authority said.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that Paris would recognise a Palestinian state in September, drawing fury from Israeli leaders.

Germany is not planning to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make "long-overdue progress" towards a two-state solution, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.

"Israel's security is of paramount importance to the German government," said the spokesperson.

"The German government therefore has no plans to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term," he added.

Recognition of a Palestinian state would only come as one of the final steps in a two-state solution, said the spokesperson.

Gaza ceasefire talks are expected to resume next week following Israel's review of the response by Palestinian Hamas militants, Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Friday, citing an Egyptian source.

Al Qahera said the Israeli delegation left one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled the negotiating team for consultations.

Close Israeli ally the United States also recalled its delegation from the talks for consultations on Thursday, with US envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of failing to act in good faith in the talks.

Hamas said it was surprised by Witkoff's remarks, adding that the group's position had been welcomed by mediators and had opened the door to reaching a comprehensive agreement.

Both sides face mounting pressure at home and abroad to reach a deal following almost two years of shattering war, with the humanitarian situation inside Gaza deteriorating sharply amidst acute hunger that has shocked the world, and Israelis worried about the conditions in which hostages are held.

Every effort must be made to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza, the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on Friday, describing the situation as a "humanitarian catastrophe".

"Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored," Albanese said in the statement.

Canada on Thursday condemned the Israeli government for failing to prevent what Prime Minister Mark Carney called a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Carney also accused Israel of violating international law over the blocking of Canadian-funded aid delivery to civilians in the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

"Canada calls on all sides to negotiate an immediate ceasefire in good faith. We reiterate our calls for Hamas to immediately release all the hostages, and for the Israeli government to respect the territorial integrity of the West Bank and Gaza," Carney said on X. 

Canada condemns the Israeli government’s failure to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Israel’s control of aid distribution must be replaced by comprehensive provision of humanitarian assistance led by international organizations. Many of these are…

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) July 25, 2025

France said on Friday that its plan to formally recognise a Palestinian state runs counter to the stance held by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"Hamas has always ruled out a two-state solution. By recognising Palestine, France goes against that terrorist organisation," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X, a day after President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognise Palestinian statehood in September.

Hamas welcomed the president's announcement, calling it "a positive step in the right direction toward doing justice to our oppressed Palestinian people".

Israel said that the move "rewards terror", while the US called it "reckless".

But Barrot said in his X message that France, with its decision, was "backing the side of peace against the side of war".

Oxfam has warned that there has been an increase in disease in the enclave, according to data collected by the organisation and other health agencies.

"The numbers of Palestinians presenting to health facilities with acute watery diarrhea have increased by 150 percent, bloody diarrhea by 302 percent, and acute jaundice cases by 101 percent," Oxfam said.

"This surge of disease can quickly turn deadly especially as Palestinians living in Gaza have been deprived of enough food, water, shelter, and adequate healthcare for over 21 months," Oxfam added.

Bushra Khalidi, policy lead for Oxfam in the occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, said that "There is a grim and deliberate inevitability as to what Israel has created in Gaza. Each day that its siege continues and it denies aid, starvation becomes increasingly widespread and human deaths from entirely preventable diseases becomes an absolute certainty."

"It is shameful Israel has been allowed to besiege Gaza and create this catastrophe. Nothing other than complete access to Gaza to deliver aid at scale can alleviate the conditions that people have been forced to live in," she added.

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy said on Friday the deteriorating situation in Gaza was "indefensible", repeating calls for a ceasefire.

"The sight of children reaching for aid and losing their lives has caused consternation over much of the world. And that is why I repeat my call today for a ceasefire," Lammy said in a joint news conference with the Australian defence minister in Sydney.

"The deteriorating situation we've seen in Gaza over the last few weeks is indefensible."

MSF said Friday that a quarter of all young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at its clinics in Gaza last week were malnourished, blaming Israel's "policy of starvation".

The medical charity known by its French acronym MSF said that "across screenings of children aged six months to five years old and pregnant and breastfeeding women at MSF facilities last week, 25 percent were malnourished", warning that "rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have tripled in the last two weeks alone".