Anger as far-right Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem

Visits to the the Temple Mount, or Al Aqsa Mosque, are considered a provocation across the Muslim world.

(Alamy Stock Photo)

By Wafaa Shurafa, Sam Metz and Samy Magdy, 

Associated Press

August 03, 2025

A far-right Israeli minister has prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, triggering regional condemnation and fears that the move could further escalate tensions.

With Israel already facing global criticism over famine-like conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip, the visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir to the hillside compound threatened to further set back efforts by international mediators to halt Israel’s nearly two-year military offensive in the territory.

The area, which Jews call the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism and was home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims call the site the Noble Sanctuary, and today it is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Itamar Ben Gvir, left (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

Visits are considered a provocation across the Muslim world and openly praying violates a longstanding status quo at the site.

Under the status quo, Jews have been allowed to tour the site but are barred from praying, with Israeli police and troops providing security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said after Mr Ben-Gvir’s visit that Israel would not change the norms governing the holy site.

Mr Ben-Gvir made the stop after Hamas released videos showing two emaciated Israeli hostages. The videos caused in uproar in Israel and raised pressure on the government to reach a deal to bring home from Gaza the remaining hostages who were captured on October 7 2023, in the attack that triggered the war.

During his visit to the hilltop compound, Mr Ben-Gvir called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to leave, reviving rhetoric that has complicated negotiations to end the war

.

Benjamin Netanyahu (Aaron Chown/PA)

He condemned the video that Hamas released on Saturday of 24-year-old hostage Evyatar David, showing him looking skeletal and hollow-eyed in a dimly lit Gaza tunnel.

The minister called it an attempt to pressure Israel.

Mr Ben-Gvir’s previous visits to the site have been explosive and prompted threats from Palestinian militant groups. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fuelled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021.

His Sunday visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Sufian Qudah, spokesman for the foreign ministry in neighboring Jordan, which serves as the custodian of the Al Aqsa Mosque, condemned what he called “provocative incursions by the extremist minister” and implored Israel to prevent escalation.

Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli provocations at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

August 3, 2025 

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir leads a large group of illegal settlers in a provocative march and mass incursion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, coinciding with the Jewish commemoration of Tisha B’Av in East Jerusalem on August 3, 2025. [Gazi Samad – Anadolu Agency]


Saudi Arabia on Sunday strongly condemned repeated Israeli provocations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, following an intrusion by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the flashpoint site, Anadolu reports.

Ben-Gvir led a large group of illegal settlers in a mass incursion into the mosque complex early Sunday to mark the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av.

“These repeated provocative practices by officials of the Israeli occupation government at Al-Aqsa Mosque only serve to fuel conflict in the region,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry warned in a statement.

The kingdom stressed that such actions “violate international laws and norms” and undermine peace efforts.

Riyadh reiterated its “continued demand that the international community stop the practices of Israeli occupation officials” and called for urgent international intervention.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

NAKBA 2.0

Palestinians Across West Bank Protest Gaza War

Palestinians attend an anti-war protest and against Hamas in a rare show of public anger against the group that rules the territory, in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP)

Asharq Al Awsat
3 August 2025 

AD ـ 09 Safar 1447 AH


Thousands of Palestinians protested in the occupied West Bank's major cities Sunday against the war in Gaza and in support of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

One of the largest marches took place in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority located just north of Jerusalem, with hundreds gathering at the main square, waving Palestinian flags.

Many protesters carried photos of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel, as well as photos depicting the hunger crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip, where UN-backed experts have warned that a "famine is unfolding".

"My son is in (Israel's) Megido prison and he suffers from many things, such as the lack of medicine the lack of food," Rula Ghanem, a Palestinian academic and writer who took part in the march, told AFP.

She told AFP that her son had lost 10 kilograms and suffered from scabies in jail.

The number of Palestinians jailed by Israel skyrocketed after the start of the war in Gaza, some for violent acts, but some also for posting political statements on social media, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs says.

The commission's spokesman Thaer Shriteh told AFP: "The international community is a partner in all this suffering, as long as it does not intervene quickly to save the Palestinian people and save the prisoners inside the prisons and detention centre."

A group of protesters dressed as skeletons and carried dolls around to symbolize the Gaza war's dire effect on children, who are most at risk of malnutrition.

Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, which was already under blockade for 15 years before the war began.

UN agencies, humanitarian groups and analysts say that much of the trickle of food aid that Israel allows in is looted or diverted in chaotic circumstances.

"We hope that our stand today will have an impact in supporting our people in Gaza and the hungry children in Gaza," said 39-year-old Tagreed Ziada, one of the protesters at the Ramallah march.

Protests were held Sunday in other major Palestinian cities such as Nablus in the north and Hebron in the south, with many government employees receiving a day off to attend the demonstrations.

While there have been somewhat regular demonstrations against the war in Gaza, they are rarely coordinated across various cities in the West Bank.

West Bank Village Buries Palestinian Killed by Israeli Settlers

Mourners gather at a hospital in Nablus, West Bank, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025, for the funeral of Muin Asfar, 24, a Palestinian killed during clashes with Israeli settlers in the village of Aqraba. (AP)


Asharq Al Awsat
3 August 2025 

AD ـ 09 Safar 1447 AH

Residents of the occupied West Bank village of Aqraba buried a 24-year-old Palestinian on Sunday who was killed by Israeli settlers the day before, the mayor told AFP.

The man was killed during a violent confrontation involving firearms that lasted half an hour and left eight other people injured, mayor Salah Jaber said.

"It happened very close to the homes of residents. That's why they (came out) to defend their area, their homes and their farms," Jaber said.

"The shooting was clearly intended to kill. The injuries were extremely severe, even to the limbs -- one person was killed instantly," Jaber said, identifying the dead man as 24-year-old Muin Asfar.

Jaber said that although the Israeli army was present, "it was supporting the settlers more than protecting the Palestinians".

Contacted by AFP, the military said that it was looking into the incident.

Fouad Nafaah, director of the hospital in the nearby city of Nablus, told AFP that Asfar was already dead when he arrived at the facility.

An AFP photographer reported that relatives had come to the morgue to retrieve Asfar's body, which was wrapped in a Palestinian flag.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 967 Palestinians, including many militants, according to health ministry figures.

Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures.

Palestinian-American dies of smoke inhalation in West Bank after settlers set fires to cars, homes


August 3, 2025 / CBS/AP

A Palestinian American died in the Israeli-occupied West Bank last week after a confrontation with settlers, U.S. officials confirmed.

Khamis Ayyad, who was in his 40s, died Thursday from smoke inhalation in Silwad, a village in the central West Bank near several Israeli settlements, a U.S. official told CBS News. The Palestinian health ministry said on Friday that the fires were set by settlers on homes and vehicles in Silwad, according to the Agence France-Presse.Haleema Ayyad, mother of slain Palestinian American Khamis Ayyad, holds a mobile phone with her son's photo.NASSER NASSER / AP

A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed to CBS News the death on Sunday and condemned what they called "criminal violence by any party."

"We offer condolences to the family on their loss and are providing consular assistance to them," the spokesperson said, adding that they would not be commenting further.

Ayyad was laid to rest on Friday.A Palestinian inspects a burnt car following an Israeli settler attack in the village of Silwad, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on July 31, 2025.NIDAL ESHTAYEH/XINHUA VIA GETTY IMAGES

The Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, told AFP that some villages around Silwad also came under attack by settlers, in which vehicles, homes and farmlands were set ablaze.


Witnesses said Israeli forces fired live rounds and tear gas toward residents after the settlers attacked.

Israel's military said police were investigating the incident. They said security forces found Hebrew graffiti and a burnt vehicle at the scene but had not detained any suspects.People inspect the damage after an Israeli settler attack at dawn that torched a house and nearby cars in Silwad town, northeast of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on July 31, 2025.ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Ayyad is the latest Palestinian American to die in the West Bank in three weeks.

Saifullah Kamel Musallet, a 20-year-old man from Tampa, was beaten to death by settlers while visiting family in the West Bank in July. He was killed in a confrontation with settlers while protecting his family's land in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, according to his family and the Palestinian Health Ministry.


U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who visited Gaza last week with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, has asked Israel to "aggressively investigate the murder" of Musallet, saying in a social media post that "there must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act."

There has been a rise in settler attacks on Palestinians, as well as Palestinian militant attacks on Israelis and large-scale Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel out of Gaza that triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

Hamas-led terrorists killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, that day and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, including around 20 still believed to be alive. Most of the others have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

In Gaza on Sunday, at least 23 Palestinians seeking food were killed by Israeli forces, according to hospital officials and witnesses, who described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged around aid sites.

Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts have warned is facing famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive.

Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.

Illegal Israeli settlers torch Palestinian vehicle, spray racist graffiti in new West Bank attack

Illegal settlers carried out 2,153 attacks across West Bank in first half of this year alone, according to Palestinian figures

Aysar Alais and Ikram Kouachi |03.08.2025 - TRT/AA



ISTANBUL

Illegal Israeli settlers launched a new attack on Palestinian properties in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, setting fire to a vehicle and spraying racist graffiti in the city of Hebron, southern West Bank, a local said.

Ishaq Idris, a resident, told Anadolu that the attackers stormed the area, surrounded his home, and torched his vehicle before fleeing the scene.

Idris said the latest settler attack was part of an ongoing campaign to pressure Palestinian residents to leave the area and make way for illegal settlement expansion.

The assault follows a deadly settler shooting on Saturday in the town of Aqraba, south of Nablus, where a Palestinian was killed and eight others were injured.

According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, nine Palestinians have been killed by illegal settlers since the start of 2025, while the death toll from settler violence since Oct. 7, 2023 has reached 31.

The commission also reported that illegal settlers carried out 2,153 attacks across the West Bank in the first half of this year alone.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, at least 1,012 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

New US plan for Gaza starting to emerge despite sanitised tour for Trump peace envoy

For all the US delegation's good intentions, it's still political deadlock. Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza left to starve and suffer the consequences.

Sally Lockwood
Sky correspondent @sallylockwood
Sunday 3 August 2025 

:

US special envoy Steve Witkoff (centre) visiting a food distribution site in Gaza. Pic: AP


We've seen this many times before.

We need to give Steve Witkoff time to report his assessments back to the White House before we can give a complete verdict on this visit but what we've seen and heard so far has offered little hope.

The pressure on Donald Trump to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is mounting after a small but vocal contingent of his base expressed outrage.

Even one of his biggest supporters in Congress, Marjorie Taylor Green, has referred to it as a genocide.

It was little coincidence Mr Witkoff was dispatched to the region for the first time in three months to speak to people on both sides and "learn the truth" to quote US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who accompanied him to an aid site in Gaza.

Gaza nurse: 'We're rationing care'Gaza nurse: 'We're rationing care'

The pair spent five hours in Gaza speaking to people at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation centre and it's understood saw nothing of the large crowd of Palestinians gathering a mile away waiting for food.

Their sanitised tour of Gaza did not include a visit to a hospital where medics are receiving casualties by the dozen from deadly incidents at aid sites, and where they're treating children for malnutrition and hunger.

A critical trauma nurse at Nasser hospital told us a 13-year-old boy was among the people shot while Mr Witkoff was in the enclave.

An American paediatrician at the same hospital who had publicly extended an invitation to meet with Mr Witkoff heard nothing from the US delegation.

Come here, right now': Gaza doctor's message to US envoy'

Dr Tom Adamkiewicz described people "being shot like rabbits" and "a new level of barbarity that I don't think the world has seen".

The US delegation was defensive of the controversial GHF aid distribution that was launched by America and Israel in May, hailing its delivery of a million meals a day.

But if their new system of feeding Gaza is truly working, why are we seeing images of starved children and hearing deaths every day of people in search of food?

The backdrop of this trip is very different to the last time Mr Witkoff was here.

In May, life was a struggle for Palestinians in Gaza, people were dying in Israeli bombings but, for the most part, people weren't dying due to a lack of food or getting killed trying to reach aid.

Mr Netanyahu's easing of humanitarian conditions a week ago, allowing foreign aid to drop from the sky, was an indirect admission of failure by the GHF.

Yet, for now, the US is standing by this highly criticised way of delivering aid.

A UN source tells me more aid is getting through than it was a week ago - around 30 lorries are due to enter today compared to around five that were getting in each day before.

Still nowhere near enough and it's a complex process of clearances and coordination with the IDF through areas of conflict.

Lorries are regularly refused entry without explanation.

Then there was Mr Witkoff's meeting with hostage families a day later where we began to get a sense of America's new plan for Gaza.

The US issued no public statement but family members shared conversations they'd had with Mr Trump's envoy: bring all the hostages home in one deal, disarm Hamas and end the war. Easier to propose than to put into practice.

Within hours of those comments being reported in the Israeli media, Hamas released a video of hostage Evyatar David looking emaciated in an underground tunnel in Gaza.

Now 24 years old, he was kidnapped from the Nova festival on 7 October and is one of 20 hostages understood to be still alive. The release of the video was timed for maximum impact.

Hamas also poured water on any hopes of a deal in a statement, refusing to disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established.

Hamas has perhaps become more emboldened in this demand after key Israeli allies, including the UK, announced plans for formal recognition in the last week.

It's hard to see a way forward. The current Israeli government has, in effect, abandoned the idea of a two-state solution.
The Trump administration's recent boycott of international conferences on the matter suggests America is taking a similar line, breaking with its long-standing position.

Arab nations could now be key in what happens next.

In an unprecedented move, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt joined a resolution calling for Hamas to disarm and surrender control of Gaza following a UN conference earlier this week.

This is hugely significant - highly influential powers in its own backyard have not applied this sort of pressure before.

For all the US delegation's good intentions, it's still political deadlock. Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza left to starve and suffer the consequences.

New US plan for Gaza starting to emerge despite sanitised tour for Trump peace envoy

For all the US delegation's good intentions, it's still political deadlock. Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza left to starve and suffer the consequences.

The moral cost of Jewish leaders’ silence

The war crimes perpetrated by the Netanyahu government against Palestinians have seriously harmed Jews around the world, as many Jewish leaders not only remained silent in the wake of these crimes, but also actively tried to silence critics of Israel’s war crimes.

Sunday 03/08/2025


The silence from AIPAC in particular not only gives consent to Israel’s actions, but they are also critical of those who “dared” to voice their revulsion about Israel’s crimes against humanity


Although a growing number of Jews around the world have become increasingly appalled by the Netanyahu government's war crimes in Gaza, many Jewish leaders, especially in the US, have remained silent in the wake of these horrific crimes, violating the moral tenets that Jews have held throughout the centuries. The silence from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in particular (the most influential American Jewish organization, which exercises considerable political sway on both Democrats and Republicans) not only gives consent to Israel’s actions, but they are also critical of those who “dared” to voice their revulsion about Israel’s crimes against humanity.

While we must not overlook Hamas’ savagery against Israelis in October 2023, this must also be examined in the context of Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas and the calamity being inflicted on the entire Palestinian population in Gaza. Yes, Hamas had to be punished for its atrocities, but Israel’s retaliatory war is beyond the pale of proportionality. Causing the death of more than 60,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom are women, children and the elderly, and laying to waste most of Gaza’s infrastructure cannot be justified under any circumstances.

Even beyond the inhumanity that Netanyahu and his government have displayed, these Jewish leaders are ignoring Israel’s plan to exile the Palestinians altogether from Gaza, which is ethnic cleansing and is not only immoral but also illegal under international law. It represents an egregious violation of the Palestinians' inherent right to live on their own land. This is a catastrophe in the making, and those shameless Jewish leaders who are numb must remember what John Stuart Mill wisely said: “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” And in this case, they say nothing, and much worse yet, they go after those with a conscience who have the courage to criticize Israel for its onslaught on Gaza.

The Deafening Silence of AIPAC

For these leaders, Israel remains sacrosanct and not to be criticized. Beyond that, AIPAC targets incumbents it sees as not sufficiently pro-Israel in the US Congress. Going back to 2022, AIPAC spent $4 million opposing Michigan Representative Andy Levin, who criticized Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory and had once proposed legislation that would make a two-state solution the official policy of the US, and who is himself Jewish. In 2024, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri, both progressive Democrats, were defeated in their primaries after AIPAC-affiliated groups spent millions in opposition to the representatives. United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC, spent $9.9 million in opposition to Bowman, and an additional $4.8 million supporting his opponent – a whopping $14.7 million into a single race to defeat a candidate who had been critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

It seems that it has never occurred to these so-called Jewish leaders that when Netanyahu claims that he speaks on behalf of the global Jewish community, any criminal acts that he and his government commit without being rebuked or denounced by them cast a dark shadow on diaspora Jews at large.

The whole world is in uproar about the unfolding horror in Gaza—the destruction, displacement, deadly diseases, and starvation. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Amnesty International concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide. Israel’s allies, including France, Britain, and Germany, issued a joint statement demanding an immediate end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. And even now, when many Israelis are demonstrating against the war, carrying photos of Palestinian children slaughtered in Gaza, these contemptible Jewish leaders remain deftly silent.

Many American Jews say they feel betrayed by these leaders and their acquiescence to what Israel is doing in their name. The majority of these Jews grew up believing in Judaism as the source of human dignity, and now there is no respect for the sanctity of human life. They are witnessing in real time the Palestinians' continuing tragic existence under Israeli siege and Israel’s utter disregard for their right to exist.

The Dire Ramifications of Israel’s Military Actions in Gaza

The ramifications of Israel’s military savagery in Gaza are hard to enumerate; it will suffice to mention only some of the grave consequences that Israel and, by association, Jews around the world, will suffer. They know that the wholesale death and destruction in Gaza will come back to haunt them.

The sharp rise in antisemitism across the globe will further escalate to a level unseen before. Many Jewish communities reported a significant surge as high as 400 percent in antisemitic incidents in the weeks immediately following October 7, including hate crimes, vandalism of synagogues, and physical attacks, especially in the US and Europe. Many are even hiding their identity to prevent harassment and threats to their lives.

Netanyahu’s war crimes in the Gaza war have triggered deep debates and soul-searching within Jewish worldwide communities, questioning how Jewish identity should be reconciled with the actions of the State of Israel, and calling for a painful moral reckoning and a redefinition of Jewish values.

The Gaza campaign has fueled global protest movements, including mass demonstrations, academic and cultural boycotts of Israeli institutions, and divestment drives, with some actors often conflating anti-Zionism and antisemitism and creating further tensions for Jews outside Israel.

The war has caused strain between Israeli officials and some Jewish communities abroad, who are critical of the scale of Israel’s actions, fearing backlash in their own societies. Some Jewish organizations have publicly distanced themselves from the Israeli government, a schism between the two sides that has never been seen before.

Scores of governments worldwide, including many of Israel’s traditional allies like France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, have condemned the humanitarian toll and loss of civilian life in Gaza. They are distancing themselves from Israel, which increases its isolation.

The support for Israel's military campaign in the US, Israel’s closest and most important ally, has fallen to historic lows. Recent polls of disapproval have risen to 60 percent, marking a significant decline in American public backing.

Israel is now facing coordinated diplomatic pressure from the UN and alliances such as the Hague Group, which is actively pursuing legal measures against Israel’s government for violating international law, and has become the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.

The scale of civilian casualties and destruction in Gaza has severely undermined Israel’s peace agreements with its neighbors, especially Jordan and Egypt. Moreover, it will further radicalize extreme elements in the region, leading to cross-border attacks and wider internal violent outbreaks.

Whereas these righteous leaders need not publicly condemn Israel's criminality in Gaza day in and day out, they could exert tremendous pressure on Israel to immediately end its war crimes, not only to save the lives of countless Palestinians but also to minimize the dire consequences from which Israel and diaspora Jewry will inescapably suffer. Otherwise, they will live in shame for supporting a criminal Israeli government whose image is stained with Palestinian blood and wear this badge of disgrace for decades to come.

AIPAC’s leaders should remember that in Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, those who had never taken a side in life were condemned to a never-ending torment in the vestibule of Hell, as “Their miserable lives have sunk so low that they must envy every other fate.”

These Jewish leaders have committed a far greater sin. In the name of solidarity with Israel, they have and continue to actively shield Netanyahu and his criminal gang from committing crimes against humanity—the highest form of moral bankruptcy.

American Jews must pour into the streets by the hundreds of thousands and call for the end of all financial contributions to this corrupt organization that has forfeited its moral obligations and inflicted a greater harm on the Jews worldwide than the most ardent antisemite ever could.


____________
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies

www.alonben-meir.com

WHO delivers 24 truckloads of medical aid to Gaza

Shipments include essential medicines, trauma and surgical equipment, says director-general

Necva Tastan Sevinc |03.08.2025 - TRT/AA

ISTANBUL

The World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered 24 trucks carrying vital medical supplies to Gaza since Friday, the agency’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Sunday.

The shipments include essential medicines, trauma and surgical equipment, treatments for non-communicable diseases, and laboratory and water testing supplies, according to Tedros.

“These items will be transported to health facilities and health partners in the coming days,” he said in a statement on X.

He expressed gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for its contribution to the latest aid delivery.

Tedros also renewed calls for the facilitation of a sustained, uninterrupted, and expanded flow of humanitarian health aid into the besieged enclave.

“We urge for the continued facilitation of a sustained, uninterrupted and scaled-up flow of health aid. Lives across Gaza depend on it,” he said.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has killed more than 60,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has destroyed the enclave, collapsed the health system and led to deaths from hunger and starvation.

Euro-Med Monitor: Israeli Occupation Destroys 97% of Livestock in Gaza

Sunday, 03 August 2025

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor explained that the Israeli occupation authorities have caused the near-total destruction of livestock in the Gaza Strip, with losses reaching approximately 97%.

This occurred through direct bombing or systematic starvation, including the loss of working animals, which were the primary means of transportation in light of the fuel shortage and the disruption of movement.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor noted in a statement issued Saturday that these policies coincided with the razing of thousands of dunams of agricultural land as part of a strategy aimed at starving the population and drying up their food resources, significantly deepening human and psychological suffering. These measures, according to the monitor, represent key components of the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Euro-Med Monitor emphasized that Israeli policies constitute a systematic pattern of genocide, imposing unbearable living conditions that inevitably lead to the physical destruction of the population through the systematic targeting of food sources and livestock and agricultural production.

This also includes the illegal blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, the widespread killing of civilians, and the deliberate restriction of food supplies, which constitute a flagrant violation of all international laws and reflect a clear intent to eliminate the Palestinian population as a protected group under the Genocide Convention.

The statement explained that before the genocide began in October 2023, the Gaza Strip contained approximately 6,500 poultry farms, supplying three million chickens per month to the local market. Over time, according to data, more than 93% of these farms were completely destroyed, while the rest ceased operations and fell out of production.

The Euro-Med Monitor revealed that thousands of birds died as a result of direct bombing or from a lack of feed and water, in what it described as one of the largest attacks on white meat production.

Regarding the livestock sector, data showed that the Gaza Strip contained approximately 15,000 cows before the genocide, but more than 97% of them died as a result of direct killing or starvation, with a limited number slaughtered during the first months due to a lack of alternatives.

Regarding sheep and goats, statistics show that Gaza had approximately 60,000 sheep and 10,000 goats before the genocide. Current data indicates that 97% of this livestock perished as a result of direct bombardment or the tragic conditions resulting from the genocide.

The Euro-Med Monitor also explained that the number of donkeys in Gaza was approximately 20,000 before the genocide, in addition to horses and mules used as working animals. Recent estimates indicate that approximately 43% of these animals had died by August 2024, with no more than 6% remaining, representing a near-total collapse of this vital sector.

Hunger lines in Gaza: ‘Food is not enough’

UN News

02 August 2025

Bassam Abu Odeh, a displaced person from Beit Hanoun in western Gaza City.
In western Gaza City, displaced people live crammed into cramped tents, and a human tragedy is unfolding across a landscape of hunger.


Earning a living has become a daily struggle, and hundreds of men, women and children stand in endless queues, under the scorching sun, outside the few community kitchens that serve nothing but lentil soup.

A community kitchen in western Gaza reveals a panorama of painful scenes amid displaced people suffering, their cries for help and their urgent appeals to the world, demanding an end to their tragedy and relief.

Community kitchen workers are busy preparing lentil soup while plastic bowls and empty plates are piled up behind an iron fence, waiting for a small amount that many may not be able to get a sip of.

After a bitter struggle, Ziad Al-Ghariz, an elderly displaced person from Gaza, managed to obtain a cup of lentil soup. He sat on the floor and began to take slow sips. He told UN News that he had not tasted bread for 10 consecutive days.
‘We are dying of hunger here’

“I eat the lentil soup distributed by the community kitchen,” he said. “I cannot afford flour at all. I do not have the money for it, so I try to get whatever the kitchen distributes. The people of Gaza are hungry.”

Young Mohammed Nayfeh says he spent four hours waiting for a meal for his family.

“I've been standing here for four hours, and I can’t get any food in the crowds and the sun,” he said. “We’re dying. We need support. We need food and drink. Where is the world? We’re dying here of hunger. Every day we eat only lentils. There’s no flour, no food, no drink. We’re dying of hunger.”

UN News
A group of displaced Palestinians gathering in front of a local community kitchen in western Gaza City.

Burn in the sun or get trampled

"Either we burn in the sun or we are trampled underfoot"

Umm Muhammad, a displaced person from the Shujaiya neighborhood, described the macabre scene around her.

“There is no water, no food, no bread,” she said. “The bitterness of the situation forces us to come here. In the end, we return with nothing. We either return burned under the sun or trampled underfoot due to overcrowding, and we return empty-handed. And no one listens.”

Hussam al-Qamari, who was also displaced from Shujaiya, said the situation is no longer acceptable.

“We are dying, and our children are starving to death,” she said. “So much is happening to the people of Gaza. Much of what is happening is unacceptable. An old man like me has been standing here since morning, carrying a bowl for his children to eat breakfast, and they still haven’t eaten.”

UN News
Um Muhammad, who fled from the Shujaiya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City to its western areas, waits to get food.

From classrooms to queues for lentils

According to the latest findings from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), one in five children in Gaza City suffers from malnutrition, with cases increasing daily.

The image of this little girl standing behind an iron fence, holding her empty bowl waiting for a little lentil soup, encapsulates this horrific tragedy, for which children pay the heaviest price.

Bassam Abu Odeh, a displaced person from Beit Hanoun, made an appeal.

“We call on all the free people of the world and peace lovers to help us provide food and water until this famine imposed on us by the occupation ends. The trucks allowed into the area by the occupation are not even a drop in the ocean of needs. We have no one, but God.”

UN News
A young girl from Gaza waiting to fill her container with lentils.

‘Food is not enough’

Umm Rami, a displaced person from the Zeitoun neighborhood, said the necessities of life are lacking in Gaza, calling on the world to look at the people of the Strip with compassion.

“I came here to get a small amount of food to feed my children. “This is our reality now: we come to community kitchens for food, having once lived with dignity and respect in our own homes.”

She said food is not enough.

“We have reached a point where we stand in lines for food and water. As you can see, the lives of children now revolve around the lines for water and food. Food is not enough. We have only God. The world must look at us, and everyone must awaken their consciences.”
Undeniable risk of famine

According to a warning issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza is facing a severe risk of famine, as food consumption and nutrition indicators have reached their worst levels since the beginning of the current conflict.

The alert highlights that two of the three famine thresholds have been observed in parts of the Gaza Strip, with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warning that time is running out to launch a comprehensive humanitarian response.

The UN Secretary-General said the alert confirms that Gaza is on the brink of famine. He said the facts are undeniable, and that Palestinians in Gaza are suffering a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.

“This is not a warning, but a reality unfolding before our eyes,” he said.

He stressed the need for the aid trickle to become an “ocean”, with food, water, medicine and fuel flowing without hindrance.

“This nightmare must end,” he declared.

Death in search of food

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that days after the start of the tactical pauses announced by the Israeli authorities in Gaza, “we continue to witness casualties among those seeking assistance and more deaths from hunger and malnutrition.”

The UN office said that parents continue to struggle to save their starving children. Desperate and hungry people continue to unload small amounts of aid from trucks that manage to exit the crossings.

Although the UN and its partners are taking advantage of every opportunity to support those in need during unilateral tactical pauses, conditions for delivering aid and supplies are far from adequate, according to OCHA.

Hundreds protest against Taiwan’s ties with Israel amid genocide in Gaza

August 3, 2025

People holding placards describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United State President Donald Trump as ‘war criminals’, rally to stand in solidarity with Palestinians and condemn Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 13, 2025. [Photo by Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images]

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on Sunday banged pots and pasted mock banknotes smeared with red dye on Israeli and Taiwanese flags outside Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, accusing Taipei’s envoy to Israel of pledging money to a health center inside an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, Anadolu reports.

The latest protests were triggered after Israel Ganz, chairman of an umbrella organization of settlement communities (Yesha Council), shared on social media that Taipei’s representative in Tel Aviv Abby Lee promised last month support to the Nanasi Medical Center, part of the Binyamin Regional Council north of Jerusalem.

“Taiwan loves to say ‘Taiwan Can Help’,” activist Aurora Chang told the demonstrators. “But right now, we are helping a genocidal state!”

Protest leaders demanded the Taiwanese government halt all financial assistance to Israel, which has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, and “admit its complicity in the ongoing famine in Gaza.”

A statement said any funding for the clinic “would be tantamount to legitimizing and maintaining Israel’s system of apartheid—a violation of international law.”

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, however, has denied any pledge.

It said Lee’s July visit was only to “explore medical cooperation” and noted a $500,000 donation Taiwan made last year to Palestinian refugees through Mercy Corps NGO.

Taiwan, which does not recognize Palestine, has deepened ties with Israel since the Gaza war erupted nearly two years ago.

It has launched a parliamentary friendship group, donated $500,000 to Israeli medical patrols, opened a reciprocal working-holiday program, as well as encouraged technology and trade cooperation.

The Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine, along with other human rights groups such as the Taiwan Alliance for Human Rights and the Taiwan International Workers Association, say several Taiwanese firms supply components used in American and Israeli weapons systems, a charge officials have not addressed publicly.

Hundreds of Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters march across Sydney Harbour Bridge

August 3, 2025

Hundreds of Thousands of p\Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Australia marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday as part of a rally calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave, Anadolu reports.

While weekly marches have taken place every Sunday since October 2023, this is the first time the Palestine Action Group has held its protest on Sydney’s iconic bridge.

The Palestine Action Group Sydney organized the March for Humanity, calling on “everyone, every individual and every organisation, who cannot bear to do nothing in the face of this atrocity, to join with us.”

It said the event “will send a powerful message to the world, to Gaza, to Israel, and to our own Government, that we are determined to stand up for humanity,” calling on the authorities to facilitate the event.

READ: Hundreds protest in Brazil in support of Palestine

“The deliberate starvation of 2 million Gazans is a part of a broader plan, repeatedly announced by Israeli leaders, to either kill or expel the entire Palestinian population from Gaza. This is a genocide,” the group said.

THe NSW Police said on X that due to public safety issues, they will be working with protesters to get everyone off the bridge safely, but in a staged manner.

Greens’ senator for New South Wales Mehreen Faruqi addressed the crowd, calling for “the harshest sanctions on Israel.”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was also among those marching on a rainy Sunday in Sydney.

The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians. The relentless bombing has destroyed the enclave, collapsed the health system and led to deaths by starvation and hunger.

Tens of Thousands Rally in Australia in Solidarity with Gaza

Sunday, 03 August 2025

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Australia, denouncing what they described as a genocidal war on Gaza. In a powerful act of civil disobedience, demonstrators shut down the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. Among them was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in a symbolic appearance that underscored growing global outrage.

Assange, who returned to Australia last year after enduring years in a high-security British prison for exposing Western war crimes, marched alongside his family and former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr, in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

While the Australian government has called for an end to the slaughter in Gaza, it continues to fall short of concrete action. To date, it has refused to officially recognize the State of Palestine. However, in a joint statement issued Tuesday with over a dozen nations, Australia expressed a vague “willingness” to consider recognition — a gesture many critics view as too little, too late in the face of mounting atrocities.

WAGE SLAVES FACE WAGE THEFT 

Bowing to Restaurant Lobby, DC Guts Voter-Approved Plan to End Subminimum Wage for Tipped Workers

"Call it what it is: a pay cut and a betrayal of the working people," said One Fair Wage.



Shawn Townsend, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), and Mayor Muriel Bowser conduct a news conference after a roundtable about the repeal of Initiative 82 which "eliminated the tipped minimum wage," at Shaw's Tavern on Monday, July 7, 2025.
(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Stephen Prager
Jul 31, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

With backing from the restaurant lobby, the Washington, D.C. city council voted Monday to gut plans to raise wages for tipped workers, which had already been approved by the public.

It's the second time the council has overturned a wage increase for tipped workers that the public voted for, having already done so once in 2018.

Under federal law, tipped workers are allowed to be paid a much lower minimum wage—just $2.13 per hour compared with $7.25 for nontipped workers. Tipped workers are, consequentially, more likely to live in poverty.

This is the case in Washington, D.C., where, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute, 7.7% of tipped workers live in poverty compared to 2.6% of nontipped workers.

In 2022, D.C. voters overwhelmingly voted to address this problem, supporting Initiative 82, which would have gradually raised the minimum wage for tipped workers—just over $5.35 an hour at the time—to match what other workers receive by 2027.

In 2022, D.C.'s standard minimum wage—which increases each year pegged to inflation—was $16.10. As of 2025, it has increased to $17.95.

As the initiative to raise the tipped minimum wage began, restaurant industry lobbying groups like the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) fought tooth-and-nail to roll it back.

In Jacobin, Raeghn Draper wrote that this group, and others like it around the country, "claim to speak on behalf of restaurant workers, but they are not worker organizations."

Instead, Draper wrote, "They are extensions of the National Restaurant Association (NRA), an industry group historically aligned with large corporate chains like McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Olive Garden—none exactly known for their commitment to workers' rights or well-being."

These groups waged an aggressive disinformation campaign, claiming that by phasing out the subminimum wage, restaurants, crushed by their increasing operating costs, would be forced to close en masse.

The RAMW even touted a survey of its own member restaurants purporting to show that 44% of full-service casual restaurants would have no choice but to close their doors by the end of 2025 due to the policy.

As Draper points out, citing data from an independent investigation by D.C.'s Office of the Budget Director, "the number of D.C. restaurant closures in 2024 did rise slightly compared to the previous year, but restaurant openings also increased, outpacing closures by a margin of two to one."

A study by the EPI likewise found that—despite industry claims that the higher wage requirements were forcing restaurants to lay off their employees—D.C. was seeing more employment growth than other towns in the region without requirements to raise wages.

But media outlets uncritically reported the restaurant industry's narrative about mass closures, and their attempts to "manufacture a crisis," as Draper says, paid off.

While making public appearances with restaurant industry lobbyists, Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser signed legislation halting the wage increases in June—freezing the tipped minimum wage at $10 an hour. She pushed for a full repeal, which would have knocked the tipped wage back down to $8 an hour. But the city council voted it down.

On Monday, despite fierce protests from workers and unions, the city council voted 7-5 to freeze the tipped wage at $10 until July 2026, when it will increase by a measly five cents. They also voted to dramatically slow the tipped wage increases to just 5% each year until 2034, when it will be capped at 75% of the standard minimum wage.

Members of the council, as well as many media outlets, including Axios and The Washington Post, described the decision as a "compromise" between employers and workers. RAMW, which lamented that it was "not a full repeal," has portrayed it that way, though it nevertheless described it as a "win for the industry."

Fair wage activists, however, described it not as a compromise, but an assault on a hard-won democratic victory.

"In what world is this a compromise?" asked One Fair Wage, one of the groups that campaigned for the initiative. "Call it what it is: a pay cut and a betrayal of the working people."

"D.C. Council just voted to overturn the will of the people and freeze wages for tipped workers," said the Fair Budget Coalition in a post on X following the vote. "As rents and other costs rise, it is a CHOICE to maintain a subminimum wage for struggling D.C. residents."

According to EPI, a person living in Washington, D.C. needs to earn just under $31 an hour to afford the cost of living. The average wage paid to tipped workers like bartenders, waiters, and waitresses falls several dollars short of this.

"The voters told us what they wanted when they voted overwhelmingly for I-82—twice—and this is not it," said Brianne Nadeau, one of the council members who voted against reversing the wage hikes. "Restaurant workers and the organizations that represent them have been fighting this battle for wage protections for years, and they shouldn't have to keep fighting it. And this council should not keep on telling the voters they don't know what's best for themselves."

"The council chose corporate lobbyists over tipped workers," said One Fair Wage. To the council members who voted for it, they said: "We see you. We won't forget."

 

Volcano in Kamchatka erupts for the first time in 600 years

The Krasheninnikov volcanic eruption - the first in 600 years - in Russia's Kamchatka region may be connected to the huge earthquake that rocked Russia's Far East last week, Russia's RIA state news agency and scientists reported.

REUTERS

Kamchatka quake may have awakened volcano dormant for 600 years, Russia says

Kamchatka. Krasheninnikov Bay | Getty Images

Reuters
Aug 3, 2025

The overnight eruption of the Krasheninnikov Volcano in Kamchatka, its first in 600 years, may be connected to the huge earthquake that rocked Russia's Far East last week, Russia's RIA state news agency and scientists reported on Sunday.

"This is the first historically confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov Volcano in 600 years," RIA cited Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, as saying

She added that the eruption may be connected to the earthquake on Wednesday that triggered tsunami warnings as far away as French Polynesia and Chile, and was followed by an eruption of Klyuchevskoy, the most active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

On the Telegram channel of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Girina said that Krasheninnikov's last lava effusion took place on 1463 — plus/minus 40 years — and no eruption has been known since.

The Kamchatka branch of Russia's ministry for emergency services said that an ash plume rising up to 6,000 meters (3.7 miles) has been recorded following the volcano's eruption. The volcano itself stands at 1,856 meters.

"The ash cloud has drifted eastward, toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path," the ministry said on Telegram.

The eruption of the volcano has been assigned an orange aviation code, indicating a heightened risk to aircraft, the ministry said.

Russian volcano erupts for the first time in 600 years near massive earthquake epicentre

Krasheninnikov's last lava effusion took place within 40 years of 1463, and no eruption has been known since

Rebecca Thomas
Sunday 03 August 2025

The Independent

A volcano in Russia has erupted for the first time in 600 years and may be linked to a recent major earthquake in the east of the country.

The Krasheninnikov Volcano erupted on Saturday which was the epicentre of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that triggered tsunami warnings for Japan, parts of the US and the Philippines on Wednesday.

Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), told Russia's state-run RIA news agency."This is the first historical eruption of the Krasheninnikov volcano in 600 years.”

According to RIA, Ms Girina suggested the eruption could be linked to the earthquake recorded in Kamchatka.

On the Telegram channel of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Ms Girina said that Krasheninnikov's last lava effusion took place within 40 years of 1463, and no eruption has been known since.

The Kamchatka branch of Russia's ministry for emergency services said that an ash plume rising up to 6,000 meters (3.7 miles) has been recorded following the volcano's eruption.

The volcano itself stands at 1,856 metres."The ash cloud has drifted eastward, toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path," the ministry said on Telegram.

Another earthquake was recorded earlier today, with German Research Centre for Geosciences, saying a magnitude 6.7 struck Russia's Kuril Islands.

The Kuril Islands stretch from the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The United States Geological Survey reported that the earthquake had a magnitude of 7, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS) also measured the quake at 7.

There was no tsunami warning from the PTWS after the quake.

However, Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Services said Tsunami said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area, that: “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore.”

SCI-FI-TEK 70YRS IN MAKING

Helion begins work on fusion power plant

Thursday, 31 July 2025

Fusion energy developer Helion Energy announced it has begun initial earthwork and construction on the site of Orion power plant in Malaga, in the US state of Washington. The plant will provide electricity to technology company Microsoft.

(Image: Helion)

Helion is developing what it says is a cost-effective, zero-carbon electrical power plant using its patented pulsed, non-ignition fusion technology. The company says its fusion power plant will provide "flexible, scalable, baseload power that is affordable, providing the world a new path to full decarbonisation of electricity generation".

It earlier said that it expects Orion, its first power plant, to be online by 2028 and will target power generation of 50 MWe or greater after a one-year ramp-up period.

In May 2023, Microsoft signed an agreement with Helion for the provision of electricity from its first fusion power plant. Constellation Energy will serve as the power marketer and will manage transmission for the project.

Helion says its approach to fusion energy differs in three main ways from other approaches. Firstly, it uses a pulsed fusion system, which helps overcome the hardest physics challenges, keeps its fusion device smaller than other approaches, and allows it to adjust the power output based on need. Secondly, its system is built to directly recover electricity, while other fusion systems heat water to create steam to turn a turbine which loses a lot of energy in the process. Thirdly, it uses deuterium and helium-3 as fuel, which helps keep its system small and efficient.

"Our device directly recaptures electricity; it does not use heat to create steam to turn a turbine, nor does it require the immense energy input of cryogenic superconducting magnets," Helion says. "Our technical approach reduces efficiency loss, which is key to our ability to commercialise electricity from fusion at very low costs."

The company has previously built six working prototypes and in June 2021 became the first private fusion company to reach 100-million-degree plasma temperatures with its sixth fusion generator prototype, Trenta. Helion's seventh prototype, Polaris, in Everett, Washington, began initial operations in 2024.

Announcing the start of construction of Orion, Helion said: "After more than a decade designing and building record-breaking fusion machines, this is a significant moment for us as we prepare to bring fusion power to the world."