Qatar hopeful of talks ‘but parameters remain’

Qatar has called on the US and the international community to put more pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

Foreign Ministry official Majed al-Ansari told a conference that “the Israeli government does not view Palestinians as human beings” and that Israel’s reckless behaviour, not only in Gaza, but also with its attacks on Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran, has endangered security in the Middle East.

“We are hopeful [for ceasefire talks], but the parameters remain,” he said.

“If there is no change in the Israeli directive not to have a deal and sabotage any talks, if there is no serious pressure from the international community, particularly the United States, the parameters of the talks will not change,” he continued.

“But we are doing right now is trying to push using the momentum was created by another mediation that we were doing, which is the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to make sure that momentum helps us reach a deal between both sides, and hopefully get us to an end to this terrible chapter in the history of our region,” he added.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel and Hamas have been discussing a US-proposal for a 60-day truce in which Hamas would free more of the Israeli captives it is holding in Gaza, while Israel would release Palestinian prisoners and let in humanitarian aid. During that period, they would also begin negotiations on a permanent end to the war.

While there has been some minor progress, officials say that Israel and Hamas remain divided on the extent to which Israeli troops would withdraw after any ceasefire takes place.


Still the same stalemate as 4 months ago. Israel wants total surrender, Hamas to disarm and continued occupation of Gaza. Hamas isn't willing to give up the hostages without guarantees of an end to the genocide and withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Meanwhile Israel keeps making further plans for ethnic cleansing and settlements in Gaza backed by Trump. Calling into question if Israel would even commit to a ceasefire if Hamas surrenders and disarms. Which of course won't work since there are many factions among the resistance fighters. Daily assassination attempts by the IDF would continue like in Lebanon, except at a much bigger scale with more 'collateral' damage.

The international community has to end this genocide, there is no other way. Negotiations have not worked and will not work without sanctions.

Witkoff to meet Israeli, Qatari officials in Rome on Thursday: Report

US special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet in Italy’s capital Rome with senior Qatari and Israeli officials on Thursday for a new round of talks on the ceasefire and captives deal, according to US news outlet Axios.

Quoting two sources with knowledge of the coming meeting, the report added that should the talks produce sufficient progress Witkoff will then travel to Doha.

The meeting comes as Israel and Hamas are holding indirect negotiations in the Qatari capital, but the US special envoy made it clear that he would join talks in Doha only if a deal is close.

Witkoff is responsible for the failed ceasefire talks 4 months ago, adding Israeli demands, supporting Israel breaching the ceasefire and moving the red lines or rather eliminating them. Witkoff is only their to 'negotiate' for a hostage exchange without any intentions to end the genocide. A temporary pause during which Israel can continue to control and block aid, and continue to ethnically cleanse the Gaza strip.

The US gives no guarantees, see Lebanon, Syria. The US represents the billionaire class who are more interested in using Gaza as a laboratory for population control to save their own hides in case climate migration gets out of control. That's the real long game.

https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/2684-the-palestine-laboratory

Hundreds protest in New York, say ‘stop starving Gaza’

_{The protesters also called on the US government to stop arming Israel}

Australian senator disciplined for Gaza protest

Australia’s Senate has voted 50 to 11 to discipline Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi after she held a sign in the Senate chamber saying “Gaza is starving, words won’t feed them, sanction Israel,” according to Australian broadcaster ABC.

“The actions by Senator Faruqi using a political sign as a prop, knowing this to be a breach of the standing orders, drew the governor-general and the chief justice and the deputy justice into political debate which is highly inappropriate,” Senate President Sue Lines said.

The Australian government was one of 25 countries to sign a joint letter, calling for the “Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid” into Gaza on Monday.

Autralia backing the Holodomor in Gaza. 'Decorum' more important than starving babies to death.

Iran ready for war with Israel, Pezeshkian says

President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran is prepared for any war Israel might wage against it, adding he is not optimistic about the ceasefire between the two countries.

Pezeshkian made the comments in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, which was the Iranian leader’s first televised interview since the end of the 12-day conflict with Israel last month, in which the US intervened on Israel’s behalf, launching strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“We are fully prepared for any new Israeli military move, and our armed forces are ready to strike deep inside Israel again. We do not rely on the recent ceasefire, and we are not very optimistic about it. That is why we have prepared ourselves for any possible scenario and any potential response. Israel has harmed us, and we have also harmed it,” the Iranian leader said.

“It has dealt us powerful blows, and we have struck it hard in its depths, but it is concealing its losses. Israel sought to change Iran, dismantle it, and eliminate Iran, its regime, and its society by unleashing chaos and striking the regime, but it has completely failed to do so.”

Iran will continue nuclear programme, Pezeshkian says

He said Iran would continue its uranium enrichment programme, despite international opposition, saying the development of its nuclear abilities would be carried out “within the framework of international laws”.

“[US President Donald] Trump says that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and we accept this because we reject nuclear weapons and this is our political, religious, humanitarian and strategic position,” he said.

“We believe in diplomacy, so any future negotiations must be according to a win-win logic, and we will not accept threats and dictates.”

He said the claim from Trump “that our nuclear programme is over is just an illusion”.

“Our nuclear capabilities are in the minds of our scientists and not in the facilities,” he said.

‘People are being starved’: Oxfam

Bushra Khalidi, policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory for Oxfam, says the global aid organisation’s staff are “risking being shot” by standing in food lines in Gaza.

“My colleague, she told me on Saturday that she went to work without even water, she ate a single falafel just to keep going, and she still showed up to work,” says Khalidi.

Khalidi added that one of her other colleagues says she no longer believes that interviews or pleas for help are having any effect.

“This is why she’s not here today with us and speaking to you, and that’s why I’m here instead.

“We’ve heard from parents boiling tree leaves to feed their children, from aid workers who burned their own clothes to cook the last scraps of lentils that they have, from mothers that we’ve met saying my son died from hunger, literally in front of my eyes because his body couldn’t take it any more,” she said.

“This is not a humanitarian failure,” Khalidi added. “This is a deliberate policy, and aid is being blocked. People are being starved.”


_{Injured Palestinians are transported to hospitals after Israeli forces open fire on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the Zikim area, on Sunday.}

Church leaders slam ‘morally unacceptable’ situation in Gaza after visit

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, have described the situation in Gaza as “morally unacceptable” after returning from a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Pizzaballa, who is the most senior Catholic authority in the region, and Theophilos III visited Gaza on Friday after an Israeli attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City killed at least three people.

“Humanitarian aid is not only necessary; it is a matter of life and death,” Pizzaballa told reporters in Jerusalem.

“Refusing it is not a delay, but a sentence. Every hour without food, water, medicine and shelter causes deep harm. We have seen it – men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal. This is humiliation that is hard to bear when you see it with your own eyes. It is morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.”

The cardinal said “it is time to end this nonsense and the war,” urging all the international leaders, particularly the US president, “to be proactive and to take an important role in order to stop this devastation”.

Time in Gaza is made of ‘blood, tears and hunger’

“There is no voice louder than hunger,” the Arabic proverb goes.

Now, it has become a painful truth surrounding us, drawing closer with each passing day.

I never imagined that hunger could be more terrifying than the bombs and killing. This weapon caught us off-guard, something we never thought would be more brutal than anything else we’ve faced in this endless war.

It’s been four months without a single full meal for my family, nothing that meets even the basic needs on Maslow’s hierarchy.

Countries are calling Israel to end Gaza war – but keep trading with it



Ireland, despite being one of the most critical, imports the second most...

USA imports $22.2 Billion from Israel, $14.8 Billion exports.
China imports $2.81 Billion from Israel, $14.31 Billion exports.
Russia imports $0.85 Billion from Israel, $1.7 Billion exports.

USA is of course by far the largest single trading partner, as well as providing $3.8 Billion in military assistance yearly plus an extra $17.9 Billion since October 2023 and another $4.8 Billion estimated in operations in the ME.
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2024/USspendingIsrael

However the EU together represents 32% of Israel's trade
EU imported €15.9 ($18.6) billion worth of goods from Israel and exported €26.7 ($31.3) billion worth of goods to Israel in 2024.
https://www.somo.nl/economic-sanctions-eu-is-israel-largest-investor/

US provides Israel with the most money, EU makes the most money off Israel.

‘Nightmare with no end’: Impunity and inaction allow Israel to starve Gaza people

Gaza is at the “peak level of starvation“, where people are starting to “drop dead”, Mara Bernasconi, the regional communications and advocacy manager for Humanity & Inclusion UK, an NGO with teams working in Gaza, has told Al Jazeera.

She said humanitarian workers living in Gaza are not excluded from this suffering and have experienced “death, hunger, displacement, danger” for 21 months of war.

“They’re incredibly brave and strong, and in the past months, they served people in need while trying to survive, but they are collapsing as well,” she said.

Humanity & Inclusion UK works with explosive ordinance risk education and physical rehabilitation, she explained, adding that the work requires a lot of “strength, concentration – and our colleagues are physically and mentally depleted”.

“They are struggling to concentrate and function because they face directly the effect of dehydration and malnutrition, and we are watching them starve to death, and it’s insane, because this is a man-made humanitarian crisis and is deteriorating daily because it’s allowed by impunity and inaction,” Bernasconi said.

“One colleague told me two days ago, there are no more tools to use. It’s a nightmare with no end.”

Sanctions needed to stop Israeli policy of starvation in Gaza

Condemnation is not enough to stop the Israeli government from committing “genocide and starvation” in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli analyst Menachem Klein.

“What is needed is taking action, sanctions against this Israeli policy,” Klein, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem.

“Domestic civil society pressure is in place but it is done by very few civil society organisations,” he added.

“Generally speaking, Israeli society is a genocidal society. It is the end result of ongoing, almost two years of dehumanisation of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

The dehumanization has been going on for 75 years.

What is famine and why has it not officially been declared in Gaza?

Famine refers to extreme and widespread shortages of food that result in malnutrition, starvation and even death.

It is formally declared by governments in affected areas as well as by UN agencies.

According to the UN’s criteria, famine is declared when:

‘I have never seen such use of force against unarmed civilians’: Ex-GHF worker

A US security guard who worked for the controversial US-backed GHF aid organisation has told Israel’s Channel 12 that “the aid centres treated the population very badly and put them in danger.”

In an interview broadcast on the channel on Tuesday, he stated that the GHF system “can’t be fixed, it has to be put an end to”, adding that “if the UN had the resources and coordination that this mechanism has, it would work much better.”

He criticised the indiscriminate behaviour of GHF staff and recounted an incident in which a Palestinian who was collecting food from the ground was pepper-sprayed by US security guards, despite posing no threat.

He also described an incident where a GHF member of staff threw a stun grenade directly at a Palestinian woman, who collapsed and fell to the floor. “That was the moment I realised I couldn’t go on,” he said.

“While the Palestinians were finishing collecting the aid that was at the site, the American security guards began shooting at them … shooting at their feet, shooting at the earthen embankments, to make them leave,” he recounted.

“In all my military service, I have never seen such use of force against unarmed civilians. I will not take part in it now,” he said.

In a statement, the GHF rejected the allegations and said the contractor had been fired for misconduct.

Israel told to ‘open the gates’, let aid into Gaza

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has called on Israel to lift its blockade of essential humanitarian supplies from entering the Gaza Strip.

“Thousands of hygiene kits are packed and ready in UNRWA warehouses in Jordan and Egypt, just waiting for the green light. Open the gates. Let aid in,” UNRWA said in a social media post.

Baby formula, food, water filters and medicines are among the items being blocked by Israel.

Medicine and medical supplies face blocks as part of Israel’s “dual-use” restrictions, where items such as painkillers and dialysis equipment are held back, ostensibly for possible Hamas exploitation in military contexts.

Other medical supplies, such as oxygen cylinders, anaesthetics and cancer medications, have also been restricted.

Aid groups report that the blanket denial of crucial medical items is pushing Gaza’s health system towards total collapse, pointing out that such restrictions are collective punishment and violations of international humanitarian law.

#Gaza: people are struggling to find the most basic items—soap, sanitary pads, diapers.

Meanwhile, thousands of hygiene kits are packed and ready in UNRWA warehouses in Jordan and Egypt, just waiting for the green light.

Open the gates.
Let aid in. pic.twitter.com/Tu7YM5Fe9l

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 23, 2025

French Foreign Ministry decries Gaza blockade, highlights grave civilian suffering

France has condemned Israel’s expanding military offensive into central Gaza, warning that the operation is worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis marked by widespread malnutrition and an imminent risk of famine.

“France strongly condemns the extension of the Israeli offensive to the centre of Gaza, where evacuation orders have led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people in Deir el-Balah and are hampering the work of numerous United Nations agencies and international NGOs,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It blamed the crisis on the blockade imposed by Israel and expressed alarm over the scale of civilian suffering.

“France condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli shootings targeting Palestinians in Gaza attempting to obtain humanitarian aid, which have killed more than 1,000 people in the past two months, according to the UN,” it said.

Israel slams statement issued by more than 100 aid organisations on Gaza starvation

Israel has issued a response to the statement signed by more than 100 aid and human rights groups calling on governments to take urgent action as Israel’s forced “mass starvation” of Gaza continues, including lifting all restrictions on humanitarian aid.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry published a post on X, in which it said the statement’s signatories, which include organisations such as Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Doctors Without Borders (also known as MSF), “are serving the propaganda of Hamas”.

“In this critical time of negotiations, they are echoing Hamas’s propaganda and harming the chances for a ceasefire; we urge all organisations to cease from using Hamas talking points,” it said.

The Israeli government has denied responsibility for food shortages, despite evidence to the contrary. This claim is reiterated in the Foreign Ministry’s post on X, which states that 700 aid trucks are waiting for the UN to collect and distribute their contents.

Gaza death toll rises

At least 100 Palestinians, including 34 aid seekers, have been killed and 534 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. During this period, 13 bodies were also recovered from the rubble of previous Israeli attacks, the statement added.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 59,219 people and injured 143,045 since October 7, 2023, the ministry said. The total number of aid seekers killed since May 27 when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism has reached 1,060, with more than 7,207 injured.

Malnutrition will have long-term repercussions on Gaza people: Doctor

Nour Sharaf, an American doctor from al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, has spoken to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic about the food crisis and the overwhelmed healthcare system in the Gaza Strip.

Here are the main points she made: