At least 798 people have been killed while trying to receive food aid in Gaza since the end of May, the UN human rights office said on Friday, Reuters reports.
The UN human rights office reported on Friday that since the end of May, at least 798 individuals have been killed while attempting to receive food aid in Gaza. Of the total number of people killed while receiving food assistance since May 27, 615 were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) told reporters.
The number of people killed by strikes in Gaza on Friday has risen to seven, according to the region’s civil defence agency, including five at a school-turned-shelter.
“Five martyrs and others injured in an Israeli strike on Halima al-Saadia school, which was sheltering displaced persons in Jabalia al-Nazla, northern Gaza,” the agency said in a brief statement.
In a separate strike on Gaza City, to the south, the agency said at least one person was killed and several others wounded.
On Friday, Israeli forces opened fire on civilians near a distribution point in the center of Gaza, according to the Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat. In other developments:
Following the discovery of “indications” that the Middle Eastern nation had violated its human rights obligations as a result of its actions in Gaza and the West Bank, the diplomatic service of the EU has compiled a list of options for imposing sanctions on Israel. A document for EU foreign ministers to discuss next week outlines ten options, such as suspending the EU-Israel association agreement or visa-free-travel for Israelis, freezing preferential trade terms, or terminating Israel’s participation in Europe’s research and student exchange programmes.
According to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Thursday, a UN team delivered roughly 75,000 liters of fuel to Gaza on Wednesday, marking the first such delivery in 130 days. “The amount entered yesterday isn’t sufficient to cover even one day of energy requirements. Fuel is still running out and services will shut down if far greater volumes do not enter immediately,” Dujarric told reporters. It comes as doctors at Gaza’s largest hospital say crippling fuel shortages have led them to put several premature babies in single incubators as they struggle to keep the newborns alive while Israel presses on with its military campaign.
The EU has reached an agreement with Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, including increasing trucks for aid and opening crossing points and certain aid routes, the EU’s top diplomat said on Thursday. “These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas,” Kaja Kallas said in a statement.
Militant fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began handing over their weapons near the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday, marking a symbolic but significant step in the decades-long conflict between Turkey and the outlawed group. The disarmament ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the PKK from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region’s longest-running conflicts.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, has responded to news that she will be sanctioned by the Trump administration with a post on X saying “the powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, it is not a sign of strength, but of guilt”. On Wednesday, as part of its effort to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza, the state department sanctioned Albanese, an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he hoped to reach a deal in a few days for the release of more Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Netanyahu said 50 hostages were still being held captive by Hamas. He stated that only twenty of that number are thought to be alive. He said Israel’s “fundamental conditions” were that “Hamas lays down its weapons” and no longer has “governing or military capabilities”. “If this can be achieved through negotiations, great. If it cannot be achieved through negotiations within 60 days, we will achieve it through other means, by using force, the force of our heroic army,” he added.Hamas said on Wednesday it had agreed to release 10 living hostages but on Thursday it said it opposed a deal that includes a large Israeli military presence in Gaza. It said there were several sticking points in the ongoing ceasefire talks including the flow of aid, withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and “genuine guarantees for a permanent ceasefire.
