Foreign
Israel Forces Fire On Gazans Rushing For Food Aid
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Israeli forces in war-torn Gaza opened fire on Palestinians scrambling for food aid in a chaotic melee on Thursday that the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said killed more than 100 people.
The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the lorries.
An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat”.
The Gaza health ministry condemned what it called a “massacre” in Gaza City in which 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded.
The incident adds to a Palestinian death toll from the war which the ministry earlier Thursday said had topped 30,000, and dampens hopes a truce deal between Israel and Hamas militants could be just days away.
There were conflicting reports on what exactly unfolded in the hours before dawn.
A witness in Gaza City, declining to be named for safety reasons, said violence unfolded when thousands of people rushed towards aid trucks at the city’s western Nabulsi roundabout, and soldiers fired at the crowd “as people came too close” to tanks.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military had fired “a few warning shots” to try to disperse a crowd that had ambushed the aid trucks.
When the crowd got too big, he said the convoy tried to retreat and “the unfortunate incident resulted in dozens of Gazans killed and injured”.
Aerial images released by the Israeli army showed what it said were scores of Gazans surrounding aid trucks in Gaza City.
Ali Awad Ashqir, who said he had gone to get some food for his starving family, told AFP he had been waiting for two hours when trucks began to arrive.
“The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns,” he said.
The army spokesman Hagari later denied Israeli forces carried out any shelling or strikes at the time.
‘Another day from hell’
US President Joe Biden said Washington was checking “two competing versions” of the incident, while a State Department spokesman said the United States had been in touch with Israel and was “pressing for answers” on what happened.
The shooting incident would complicate efforts to broker a truce, Biden said, later admitting that any deal was unlikely to happen by Monday — the timeline that he had predicted earlier this week.
The US president spoke with Qatari and Egyptian leaders in separate phone calls, the White House said, saying he discussed both the ceasefire and the “tragic and alarming” aid incident.
The UN Security Council will hold a closed-door emergency meeting on the incident on Thursday afternoon.
Saudi Arabia strongly condemned what it called the “targeting” of unarmed civilians, while Kuwait and the UAE also issued condemnations.
Qatar warned that Israel’s “disregard for Palestinian blood… (will) pave the way for an expanding cycle of violence”.
Italy called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to facilitate more humanitarian aid.
Looting of aid trucks has previously occurred in northern Gaza, where desperate residents have taken to eating animal fodder and even leaves to try to stave off starvation, as aid groups warn of looming famine after nearly five months of war.
The chief of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that no UN agency had been involved in Thursday’s aid delivery, and called it “another day from hell”.
Truce hopes
The war began on October 7 with an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Militants also took about 250 hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 Israel says are presumed dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 30,035 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel’s military says 242 soldiers have died in Gaza since ground operations began in late October.
Washington, a key ally of Israel, has been pushing for a reduction in civilian casualties and a ceasefire.
It has been working with mediators from Egypt and Qatar to seek a six-week pause in the war.
Negotiators had hoped a truce could begin by around March 10 or 11 when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, depending on the lunar calendar.
The proposals reportedly include the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza by militants in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Short of the complete withdrawal Hamas has called for, a source from the group said the deal might see Israeli forces leave “cities and populated areas”, allowing the return of some displaced Palestinians and humanitarian relief.
Fears of famine
The World Food Programme has said Israel has blocked access for aid deliveries — which Israeli officials have denied — and warned that if nothing changes, “a famine is imminent in northern Gaza”.
As fighting continued in Gaza, Muhammad Yassin, 35, battled to find flour in Zeitun.
“We have not eaten a loaf of bread for two months,” he said. “Our children are starving.”
In the south, nearly 1.5 million people trying to flee the fighting are now packed into Rafah city, also short of food, as Israel threatens to send in troops against Hamas fighters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure to bring the remaining hostages home.
A group of 150 Israelis have started a four-day march from Reim, near the Gaza border, to Jerusalem, calling for the government to reach a deal.
Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank, where two Israelis were killed on Thursday.
AFP
Foreign
UK finally pardons Ruth Ellis, 70 years after execution
The United Kingdom authorities have approved a posthumous amnesty for Ruth Ellis, more than 70 years after she was hanged for homicide.
The deceased had been convicted of murder after a trial and executed on 13 July 1955 for shooting and killing David Blakely on 10 April 1955.
The conditional pardon was granted by King Charles III, following a recommendation by Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy.
The government said the decision reflects the extraordinary circumstances of the case, including evidence of domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behavior.
The pardon recognizes that the outcome could be different under modern law and understanding. No reprieve was granted, and no appeal was lodged at the time of the verdict.
Ruth, a nightclub hostess and mother of two young children, shot Blakely outside The Magdala pub in Hampstead, London. The two were involved in an affair.
Ruth reportedly had an abortion, which was illegal in the UK then, and was physically abused by Blakely, causing a miscarriage. Her grandchildren filed for the amnesty.
“The shadow of Ruth’s execution has fallen across two generations,” said Laura Enston, a granddaughter. “We have carried shame that was never ours to bear.”
Deputy Prime Minister Lammy noted that though what happened seventy years ago cannot be changed, the government acknowledges that it was “an exceptional case.”
Foreign
Trump orders new round of strikes after calling Iranian leaders ‘scum’
U.S. forces on Wednesday attacked Iran for a second consecutive day, officials said, hours after President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran “over” and predicted that additional U.S. military action “probably” would occur.
American forces carried out the strikes at the direction of the president “to further degrade [Iran’s] ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” according to a statement from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the region. The waterway has been a source of friction both militarily and economically in recent weeks, as Iranian forces have been accused of attacking commercial vessels and the United States has responded.
Trump, writing on social media, characterized the renewed assault as “retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran.”
“If it happens again, it will get much worse!” the president warned in his Truth Social post, which was accompanied by an image of a billowing fire.
Speaking in Turkey earlier Wednesday, Trump said that “I think” a tenuous ceasefire agreement reached between U.S. and Iranian officials in June was “over.” However, he later qualified his remarks, saying that any military action would end “very quickly” and that he didn’t think the U.S. military would return to full-scale war.
Trump’s remarks, at a meeting of NATO leaders here in Ankara, followed a separate U.S. assault on Iranian territory — involving more than 80 strikes — ordered in response to attacks on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said the U.S. hit Iran “very hard last night” and would “probably hit them hard again tonight.”
The president also suggested that the U.S. could reimpose a naval blockade on Iran and that Washington was “not attacking at the highest level,” repeating previous threats to strike infrastructure such as bridges, desalinization facilities and electricity plants. U.S. officials declined to detail what might be planned but said in a social media post later in the day that more than 20 U.S. warships remain in the Middle East.
Oil prices had eased but quickly spiked on Wednesday. Brent crude futures rose more than 5 percent to over $78 per barrel on fears that a renewed war would further disrupt energy supplies.
But Trump offered an evolving account of his plans in multiple appearances over the course of the day, by nightfall suggesting that any additional fighting was likely to remain contained.
“I don’t think it’s going to start again,” he said at a news conference before returning to the United States. “I think it’s going to go very quickly. They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder. … We use their language. We speak their language.”
The president spoke after Iran launched heavy retaliation overnight, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps saying it had targeted 85 U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday, according to the semiofficial media outlet Fars.
“They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent people,” Trump said in his comments earlier Wednesday. “Far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars … there’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”
Trump said that talks with Iran could continue but that he was deeply skeptical they would be productive.
“They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time. They’re a bunch of lying guys,” Trump said. “They’re bad people, and frankly, I don’t want to waste my time with them. Now, I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it.”
Later in the day, Trump declared that he was Iran’s top target for assassination.Ask The Post AIDive deeper
“I’m their number-one target. It’s out all over the place,” he said. “Because they’re scum. That’s the way they act, and that’s the way they’ve done it for 47 years.”
Adding to speculation about Iranian threats to his life, Trump also abruptly announced Wednesday that he would not be departing Turkey on the new Qatari luxury 747 that he debuted as Air Force One last week. Instead, he said he would depart on one of the older, smaller 747s that have been in service since 1990, jumping back on the fancier plane in Britain.
The Qatari jet — whose $400 million overhaul was accelerated by the U.S. Air Force when it took possession of the plane last year — is unlikely to have the same self-defense capabilities as the older, highly modified plane. That could pose a problem when flying out of Turkey, which shares a border with Iran.
Trump framed the move as a chance for U.S. service members based in Britain to explore the new jet. But asked Wednesday whether he had changed his plans because of security concerns, he didn’t answer directly.
The president’s tone about Tehran was a marked change from his assessment of Iranian leaders just weeks ago, when he praised their interest in making a deal shortly after they agreed to the ceasefire.
Asked why he was now dismissing them as scum, Trump said that “I got to know ’em.”
The secretary general of the International Maritime Organization, Arsenio Dominguez, in a statement Wednesday urged shipowners to avoid exposing their crews to danger by crossing the Strait of Hormuz “as long as the safety and security of crews cannot be assured.”
The U.S. and Iran reached a preliminary peace deal last month to reopen the strait to shipping traffic while continuing to discuss the thornier nuclear issue and possible lifting of U.S. sanctions against Tehran. The strait is a crucial shipping choke point through which 20 percent of global oil products normally flow.
But the tentative agreement appeared to collapse less than halfway through the 60 days that negotiators had allotted to reach a more durable accord. Trump previously expressed hope that the negotiations would lead to strict controls on Iran’s nuclear program.
The renewed hostilities were a setback for the president, who cited his concern about becoming a new Herbert Hoover as a major reason for seeking peace when he announced the initial deal last month. Hoover was president at the start of the Great Depression in 1929.
Iranian leaders, too, had seemed to be interested in peace. The country has been focused on days of mourning and funeral rites for its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike during the first hours of the war.
But negotiations have stalled. Talks began with days of delays before Vice President JD Vance flew to Switzerland to kick them off. And the two sides traded barbs, and sporadic strikes, from the get-go. Trump expressed frustration on Wednesday that Iran’s public representation of what was being discussed differed from his understanding.
“We make a deal. Everyone’s agreed. No nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, joke to the press, they say we never even talked about it,” Trump said.
Iran’s leaders in recent days have appeared emboldened, with several senior officials appearing in public for the first time since the start of the war as part of the mourning rituals for Khamenei.
The possible resumption of war sparked some concern in Congress, which has sought to restrict Trump’s ability to keep fighting.
In June, the House and Senate passed a resolution to block Trump from resuming military action in a bipartisan effort to rein in the Iran war. The White House has argued that the measure does not have the force of law, setting up a clash with congressional Democrats who sponsored the legislation.
Foreign
Iran retaliates, fires missiles, drones at US bases after fresh attacks
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday claimed that they launched missile and drone attacks on United States military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, in what they described as retaliation for fresh US strikes on Iran.
This development further escalated tensions in the Gulf, coming hours after Washington carried out a new wave of military attacks on Iranian targets following alleged attacks on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to reports, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it carried out a joint operation against “US military facilities, including Bahrain’s Fifth Naval District at Bandar Salman and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.”
The Guards also claimed that they shot down a US MQ-9 drone during the operation, although the claim had not been independently verified.
Air raid sirens reportedly sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait as the attacks unfolded.
The Kuwaiti army said its air defence systems were confronting “hostile” missile and drone attacks, while authorities in Bahrain also confirmed the activation of air defence measures.
The latest strikes followed a fresh US military operation against Iran and Washington’s decision to revoke a licence that had allowed Tehran to sell oil.
The US said its action was in response to attacks on three commercial tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil shipping routes.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said more than 60 boats belonging to the Revolutionary Guards were among the targets hit during its operation.
Recall that CENTCOM is one of the unified combatant commands of the United States Armed Forces. Established in January 1983, it is responsible for directing and overseeing U.S. military operations and diplomatic partnerships across a vast, strategic area of the globe.
According to Investing, CENTCOM said in a statement, “The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation.”
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