Thursday briefing: What chaos at new Gaza food distribution point means for Palestinians facing famine

In today’s newsletter: The GHF supply system faltered as civilians were forced to flee gunfire at its first distribution site, deepening the hunger crisis

Good morning. If the new system for distributing supplies in Gaza is supposed to be an adequate replacement for the major aid organisations that were previously in place, it has got off to an inauspicious start.

On Tuesday, after the first food point run by the new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – a non-government organisation (NGO) with Israeli support that uses US-based contractors – opened in Rafah, Israeli forces stationed at the perimeter opened fire. Panicked civilians fled the scene, most without the food they came for; dozens of people were injured, and at least one died.

UK news | The housing ombudsman has warned that “simmering anger at poor housing conditions risks becoming social disquiet”, as his office records a 474% increase in complaints. Richard Blakeway said it was “neither fanciful nor alarmist” to suggest anger at housing conditions would cause an “irreparable” fracturing of trust, saying the “shock of Grenfell Tower and Awaab Ishak’s death resonate still”.

Trump tariffs | A US federal trade court has blocked Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law. The ruling, which the White House is said to be appealing, would blow a hole in Trump’s strategy to use steep tariffs to wring concessions from trading partners.

Ukraine | Ukraine and Germany have agreed to future military cooperation in which Berlin will help finance long-range weapons production on Ukrainian soil. The deal came as Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia had amassed 50,000 troops in the Sumy region bordering Russia.

UK news | Prosecutors have confirmed they have authorised 21 charges against influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking. The Crown Prosecution Service said that the two men would not be tried in the UK until an investigation into charges they face in Romania is concluded.

School meals | Guidance urging schools in England to serve children meat at least three times a week should be overhauled to increase the eating of vegetables, a leading charity has said. The Food Foundation found that 80% of the most commonly eaten meat dishes in schools are either processed or red meat.

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Families of hostages stage protests on 600th day of Israel-Gaza war

Relatives of Israeli hostages accuse Netanyahu of ‘sentencing them to death’ amid calls for resignation

Marking the 600th day of the Israel-Gaza war, thousands of family members of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza have held protests across the country, blocking traffic and calling for a deal securing the release of their loved ones from captivity and an end to the conflict.

“600 days we are without our loved ones, 600 days that Hamas is holding them captive, and the bloody Israeli government is abandoning them to maintain the integrity of their coalition,” the families said in a statement read by Keith Siegel, a former hostage, at a rally in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

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Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’

Letter also signed by Hanif Kureishi and Russell T Davies urges ceasefire and unrestricted distribution of aid

Three hundred and eighty writers and organisations including Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan, Russell T Davies, Hanif Kureishi, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and George Monbiot have signed a letter stating that the Israeli government’s war in Gaza is genocidal and calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“The use of the words ‘genocide’ or ‘acts of genocide’ to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations,” reads the letter, which was also signed by William Dalrymple, Jeanette Winterson, Brian Eno, Kate Mosse, Irvine Welsh and Elif Shafak.

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UK accused of ‘garbled messaging’ as trade envoy visits Israel to boost links

Lord Austin’s trip to ‘drum up business for Britain’ comes week after foreign secretary suspended trade talks

The coherence of the UK government’s policy towards Israel is under question after Labour permitted its trade envoy to boost commercial links one week after the foreign secretary suspended talks on a further trade deal.

The trade envoy, Lord Austin, was pictured on a visit to Haifa in a post on X shared by the UK’s embassy in Israel. The post welcomed Austin to the country as he visited a hi-tech “customs scanning centre”, a port and a light rail project that the embassy said showed UK and Israeli “cooperation at every stop”.

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Israeli troops open fire as aid group loses control of distribution centre

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, chosen by Israel, unprepared for thousands of hungry Palestinians, leading staff to abandon posts

Israeli troops have opened fire near thousands of hungry Palestinians as a logistics group chosen by Israel to ship food into Gaza lost control of its distribution centre on its second day of operations.

An 11-week total siege and a continuing tight Israel blockade mean most people in Gaza are desperately hungry. Hundreds of thousands walked through Israeli military lines to reach the new distribution centre in Rafah on Tuesday.

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Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says his country is committing war crimes

Leader from 2006 to 2009 says Palestinian victims are at ‘monstrous proportions’ and Netanyahu heads a ‘criminal gang’

The former prime minister of Israel Ehud Olmert has said Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, and that “thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed, as well as many Israeli soldiers”.

Olmert, who was the 12th prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, wrote in an opinion piece for the Israeli newspaper and website Haaretz that “the government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success”.

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Gaza’s youngest influencer aged 11 among children killed by Israeli strikes

Yaqeen Hammad offered tips for surviving in war zone and is one of dozens of minors who have died in recent attacks

Her life was one of war but Yaqeen Hammad somehow found a reason to smile. The 11-year-old was Gaza’s youngest influencer, whose bright smile reached tens of thousands, including other children, while she offered practical survival tips for daily life under bombardment, such as advice on how to cook with improvised methods when there was no gas.

In one social media post, Yaqeen wrote: “I try to bring a bit of joy to the other children so that they can forget the war.”

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Israel-Gaza war: UN says it is unsure how much aid has been delivered inside Gaza by Israeli-backed logistics group – as it happened

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says lorry loads of food have been delivered to sites in Gaza but UN humanitarian agency says it is unaware if any aid has been distributed

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has written a powerful opinion piece in Israeli newspaper Hareetz, saying Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza and carrying out the “indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing” of Palestinian civilians.

Olmert said that over the last year he had publicly rejected accusations of genocide and war crimes being levelled at Israel, arguing that although “excessive killing happened” the Israeli government did not “give orders to hit Gazan civilians indiscriminately”. But he said his view has changed over recent weeks. Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009, wrote in the Hareetz opinion piece:

What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians.

We’re not doing this due to loss of control in any specific sector, not due to some disproportionate outburst by some soldiers in some unit. Rather, it’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated. Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.

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Israeli-backed logistics group says Gaza operations have begun after its director resigned

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says truckloads of food have been delivered amid uncertainty about group’s effectiveness

A US-backed foundation tasked with supplying aid to Gaza said it had begun operations on Monday, delivering truckloads of food to designated distribution sites a day after its executive director resigned because the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.

The aid plan, which has been endorsed by Israel but rejected by the UN, unfolded amid uncertainty about whether any assistance had actually reached civilians.

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UK must impose sanctions on Israel to meet legal obligations, say more than 800 lawyers

Exclusive: Letter to PM signed by retired supreme court justices among others says lack of action will imperil international legal system

The UK must impose sanctions on the Israeli government and its ministers and also consider suspending it from the UN to meet its “fundamental international legal obligations”, more than 800 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges, including former supreme court justices, have said.

In a letter to the prime minister, they welcome Keir Starmer’s joint statement last week with the leaders of France and Canada warning that they were prepared to take “concrete actions” against Israel. But they urge him to act without delay as “urgent and decisive action is required to avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza”.

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Thousands of Israelis join violent, racist march through Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter

State-backed flag day march shut down Palestinian life in Old City to celebrate Israel’s 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem

Thousands of Israelis have joined a state-funded march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where large groups chanted racist slogans including “Gaza is ours”, “death to the Arabs” and “may their villages burn”.

The annual march, paid for and promoted by the Jerusalem city government, celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the war of 1967. The Israeli takeover is not recognised internationally.

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Head of US-backed Gaza aid group resigns, saying he will not abandon ‘principles’

Jake Wood’s resignation comes after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation faced criticism from the UN and other aid groups

The head of a US-backed private humanitarian organisation that is tasked with distributing aid in Gaza using an Israeli-initiated plan has resigned, saying that the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.

Jake Wood, the executive director, announced his resignation in a statement from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), adding fresh uncertainty to the operation’s future.

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Israeli strikes over past 24 hours killed at least 38 people in Gaza, Palestinian officials say

Civil defence agency says some people are still under rubble after attacks on Deir al-Balah and Jabaliya

Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours have killed at least 38 people in Gaza, health officials in the Palestinian territory have said, bringing the death toll to more than 100 in less than three days.

An attack on a tent housing displaced people in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed a mother and her two children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Another strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza killed at least five, including two women and a child, it added.

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Israeli soldiers accused of widespread use of human shields in Gaza – as it happened

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

In its latest humanitarian update on Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) called for more aid in Gaza to meet the “massive needs” of the territory.

Ocha said “the small amounts of supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are nowhere near enough to roll back the extreme deprivation that Gaza’s population is facing”.

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Israeli soldiers accused of widespread use of human shields in Gaza – as it happened

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

In its latest humanitarian update on Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) called for more aid in Gaza to meet the “massive needs” of the territory.

Ocha said “the small amounts of supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are nowhere near enough to roll back the extreme deprivation that Gaza’s population is facing”.

Continue reading...

Israeli soldiers accused of widespread use of human shields in Gaza – as it happened

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

In its latest humanitarian update on Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) called for more aid in Gaza to meet the “massive needs” of the territory.

Ocha said “the small amounts of supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are nowhere near enough to roll back the extreme deprivation that Gaza’s population is facing”.

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Israel investigates use of Palestinians as human shields by its forces in Gaza

IDF says practice ‘strictly prohibited’ after report of incidents quoting both Palestinians and Israeli troops

Israel is investigating “several cases” involving soldiers who have forced Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for bombs and gunmen.

“The use of Palestinians as human shields, or otherwise coercing them to participate in military operations, is strictly prohibited in IDF [Israel Defense Forces] orders,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

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Shooting of Israeli embassy staffers underscores US ‘era of violent populism’

This is the latest act of violence in a string of incidents that have affected Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities

The killing of two staff of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC comes as the war in Gaza has splintered the American body politic alongside the ongoing rise in political violence.

A shooter, identified as Elias Rodriguez, shot the two people, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday after they left an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee. Rodriguez reportedly chanted “free, free Palestine” while being detained by security.

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Netanyahu accused of slander after criticising Macron, Carney and Starmer

Israeli leader’s antisemitism claim labelled defamatory as he is warned against pursuing a war without end

Benjamin Netanyahu was accused of slander and pursuing a war without end after he claimed the leaders of France, Canada and the UK were stoking antisemitism and siding with Hamas by demanding he end the two-month blockade of food and aid into Gaza.

In what has become an extraordinary standoff with some of Israel’s closest allies, Netanyahu appeared to deliberately raise the stakes on Thursday night by accusing his western critics of abandoning Israel in a war for its very existence.

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Iran would view US as ‘participant’ in any Israeli attack on its nuclear sites

Warning issued after US intelligence reportedly understood Israel might attack if Iran-US talks broke down

Iran has said it will hold the US responsible for any Israeli attack on its nuclear sites in remarks that set a fraught backdrop for the fifth and probably most important round of talks between Iran and the US on the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, issued the warning on Thursday after reports appeared in the American media claiming US intelligence understood Israel was planning an attack on Iranian nuclear sites – with or without American support – if the talks broke down.

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