970x125
Airdrops of aid to Gaza ‘inefficient’ and a ‘distraction’, UN saysThe head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has strongly criticised the use of airdrops to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling them “inefficient” and a “distraction” from addressing the root causes of the crisis.“Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction and screensmoke”.
A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need.
Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper and safer. It’s more dignified for the people of Gaza.
His comments come as the UK steps up involvement in international efforts to deliver aid by air.On Friday, Sir Keir Starmer said the UK was working with Jordan on plans to carry out airdrops, after more than a third of MPs signed a letter calling for the government to recognise a Palestinian state.A small team of British military planners and logisticians is also being deployed to assist Jordan with the logistics of delivering aid, the BBC reported.ShareUpdated at 13.01 BSTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureThe head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned on social media that airdrops are “expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians” and won’t reverse the increasing starvation or prevent aid diversion.In a post on X, Lazzarini said airdrops are a “distraction and screensmoke”.He added: “A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements plus dignified access to people in need.”#Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians.It is a distraction & screensmoke.A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements…— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 26, 2025
ShareHamas find Trump remarks on Gaza talks breakdown “surprising”Hamas officials expressed surprise on Saturday at US President Donald Trump’s accusation that the group “didn’t really want” a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza.Trump made the allegation of Friday a day after Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar that had lasted nearly three weeks.“Trump’s remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files,” Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.“So far, we have not been informed of any issues regarding the files under discussion in the indirect ceasefire negotiations”, he addedUS President Donald Trump waves on the golf course at Trump Turnberry resort in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 26, 2025. Photograph: Phil Noble/ReutersShareThe majority of the 25 killed overnight were killed by gunfire as they waited for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel, said staff at Shifa hospital, where the bodies were brought.During the shootings Friday night, Sherif Abu Aisha said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from the aid trucks, but as they got close, they realized it was from Israel’s tanks. That’s when the army started firing on people, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle, a father of eight, was among those killed.“We went because there is no food … and nothing was distributed,” he said.Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 26, 2025. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/APShareAn attack by the jihadist separatist group Jaish al-Adl on a courthouse in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan killed at least nine people, including a mother and child, and wounded 22, Iranian media reported on Saturday.Attackers stormed the building, shooting a number of people inside. They then launched a second attack with mortars and grenade launchers on the courthouse, where a clash that lasted three hours began with security forces, according to the Baluch human rights group Haalvsh.Read our full report here:ShareStarmer, Macron and Merz to work ‘closely together on a plan’ for Gaza securitySir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz have agreed to work “closely together on a plan” to “pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region” of Gaza, Downing Street said.In a readout of the Prime Minister’s call with the French President and German Chancellor, a Number 10 spokesperson said: “The three leaders talked about the situation in Gaza, which they agreed is appalling, and emphasised the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire, for Israel to lift all restrictions on aid and urgently provide those suffering in Gaza with the food they so desperately need.“The Prime Minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance.Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 26, 2025. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP“They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace.“They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan, building on their collaboration to date, which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region.“They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it.”ShareUpdated at 13.28 BSTSyrian and Israeli officials held talks in Paris mediated by the United States about containing any escalation in southern Syria, Syria’s state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Saturday, citing a diplomatic source.The diplomatic source said the meeting did not result in any final agreements but they agreed to continue talks and evaluate steps aimed at maintaining stability in southern Syria.A Bedouin fighter rides a motorcycle as the sun sets over the village of Busra al-Harir, southern Syria, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Photograph: Omar Sanadiki/APShareA senior Hamas official has rejected recent US accusations that the group has stolen humanitarian aid in Gaza, calling them “politically motivated and baseless”.In a statement issued on Saturday, cited by Anadolu news agency, Izzat al-Rishq dismissed the allegations and criticised the US narrative around aid diversion.His comments come in the wake of an internal study by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which examined 156 cases of lost or stolen aid between October 2023 and May 2025. According to the findings, there was no evidence that Hamas had benefitted from aid provided by the US.Rishq said the focus on alleged aid theft diverts attention from what he called “the real obstacle to any ceasefire or humanitarian agreement: the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.He also criticised recent comments from US officials, including Donald Trump and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, saying they “do not align with the assessments of the mediators and contradict the reality of the negotiation process”.ShareAirdrops of aid to Gaza ‘inefficient’ and a ‘distraction’, UN saysThe head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has strongly criticised the use of airdrops to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling them “inefficient” and a “distraction” from addressing the root causes of the crisis.“Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction and screensmoke”.
A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need.
Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper and safer. It’s more dignified for the people of Gaza.
His comments come as the UK steps up involvement in international efforts to deliver aid by air.On Friday, Sir Keir Starmer said the UK was working with Jordan on plans to carry out airdrops, after more than a third of MPs signed a letter calling for the government to recognise a Palestinian state.A small team of British military planners and logisticians is also being deployed to assist Jordan with the logistics of delivering aid, the BBC reported.ShareUpdated at 13.01 BSTPalestinian Health Ministry says 57 killed in past 24 hoursThe death toll from Israeli military operations in Gaza has reached 59,733, according to the latest update from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.In the past 24 hours alone, 57 have been killed and 512 have been injured. Emergency crews say a number of victims remain trapped under collapsed buildings.It also says that since 18 March 2025, when it began separately reporting figures after the temporary ceasefire came to an end, 8,581 people have been killed and 32,436 injured.The ministry added that 29 people were killed and more than 165 injured in the past 24 hours while attempting to access aid.This brings the total number of those killed while collecting aid to 1,121, with more than 7,485 injured, it said.ShareSome analysts say French president Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France would become the first Western member of the United Nations Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state is an attempt to use the carrot of recognition to extract concessions from Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority which is a moderate rival to Hamas, and other regional players.“Macron here is acting as a catalyst to get the Palestinians to deliver on the needed reforms, to get the Arabs to deliver on a stabilization force and the disarming of Hamas,” said Rym Momtaz, editor-in-chief of the Strategic Europe blog run by the Carnegie Europe think tank.Others say while recognition has symbolic value, there will still be no functioning Palestinian state whenever the war in Gaza comes to an end.“Recognition by a European heavyweight like France is indicative of the rising frustration with Israel’s intransigent policies,” said Amjad Iraqi, senior analyst at International Crisis Group.ShareGaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli operations killed 11 people on Saturday in the Palestinian territory devastated by over 21 months of war.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the toll included four Palestinians killed in an air strike on the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City in the territory’s north.One other person was killed “after Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid” northwest of Gaza City, the agency said.Eyewitnesses told AFP that several thousand people had gathered in the area to wait for aid.One of them, Abu Samir Hamoudeh, 42, said the Israeli military opened fire “while the people were waiting to approach the distribution point”, located near an Israeli military post in the Zikim area, northwest of Sudaniyah.Palestinians pray over the body of a person who was killed while trying to reach aid trucks entering northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing with Israel, at Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, Saturday, July 26, 2025. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/APShare
970x125
970x125
