‘Atrocious suffering’: France says Israel blocking 52 tonnes of aid into Gaza

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced Paris will airdrop 40 tonnes of aid into Gaza in close coordination with Jordan.

Barrot told the BFMTV television broadcaster France also has aid waiting to cross into Gaza by road that’s being blocked by Israel in northern Egypt.

“The air route is useful but it is not sufficient,” he said. “Fifty-two tonnes of French humanitarian freight are blocked in el-Arish”, an Egyptian city 50km (30 miles) from Gaza.

“It is therefore essential that the Israeli authorities finally agree to reopen land access to the Gaza Strip sufficiently so as to alleviate the atrocious suffering of its civilian populations,” Barrot added.

Amnesty condemns Israel’s ‘brutal system of apartheid’

In response to the UK government’s announcement to recognise Palestinian statehood, Amnesty International underscored the need for more urgent action over besieged Gaza.

“The UK government’s statement, while a shift in rhetoric, won’t stop the genocide alone. Robust and effective action is urgently needed, and today’s response fell short of that,” said Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty UK’s crisis response manager.

“This moment demands immediate, decisive action from countries like the UK to hold Israel accountable and impose concrete consequences for its ongoing violations”.

Benedict said impunity enables violence and without accountability the genocide in Gaza will continue. “Every second matters for Palestinians,” he said, urging the UK to sanction Israeli officials implicated in international crimes, halt arms exports, and end trade.

Israel’s occupation must end, Benedict added, calling it a “brutal system of apartheid”.

‘Suffering must end’: First UK aid airdropped into Gaza

The United Kingdom has carried out its first air drop of aid into Gaza as UN agencies warned the Palestinian territory is slipping into famine.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said “the first air drops of British aid” are landing on Tuesday “containing around half a million pounds worth of lifesaving supplies”.

“The Palestinian people have endured terrible suffering now in Gaza because of a catastrophic failure of aid. We see starving babies, children too weak to stand,” Starmer said in a televised address, adding “the suffering must end”.

You need about 900 flights a day to meet the needs of the people... It's symbolic, a drop in the ocean of (manufactured) need.
Plus you could drive in 30x the amount of aid for that half million pounds compared to air drops.

We went through this dog and pony show last year
https://www.csis.org/analysis/air-supplies-gaza-commendable-political-theater-no-long-term-solution

one truck equals 1.5 C-130s. Instead of 260 C-130 sorties or 90 C-17 sorties, 190 truck trips could move the same number of MREs. 

Trucking costs are about $2.25 per mile, and the round trip from Cairo to Rafah is 430 miles. Therefore, one truck trip costs about $970, or $0.06 per meal.

C-130s cost about $8,000 per flight hour, and the round trip takes about four hours. Thus, one and a half C-130s delivering the same number of supplies as one truck costs $48,000, or $2.50 per meal—42 times as much as by truck.

And then Jordan takes the cake

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jordan-profited-gaza-aid-airdrop-sources

In addition, Jordan has charged between $200,000 and $400,000 per airdrop over Gaza, the sources said. Around $200,000 was charged for each random drop, and $400,000 for targeted missions, despite each aircraft carrying the equivalent of less than half a truckload of aid.

Crete protesters try to block arrival of Israeli tourists

Greek police used tear gas and made arrests as some 300 people tried to block an Israeli cruise ship on the island of Crete, the latest in a series of protests targeting the vessel.

The protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying “Stop the genocide” as the Crown Iris approached, according to images shown by the public broadcaster ERT.

The images also showed police using tear gas to disperse the crowd, allowing several hundred passengers to board buses on the island.

“I had a sore throat from the tear gas and had to leave the demonstration,” said Elena Toutoudaki, a teacher in her 50s. Three people were arrested and later released.

Protesters have targeted the Crown Iris, with about 600 mostly Israelis on board, on other Greek islands.

On Monday, protesters scuffled with police who made eight arrests as it docked in Rhodes, while last week, 200 people protested in Syros as the ship approached.

Numerous demonstrations against Israel’s devastating war on Gaza have taken place in Athens and other cities across Greece.


_{Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against the arrival of the Crown Iris, a cruise liner carrying Israeli tourists, on the island of Rhodes, Greece, July 28}

‘Disgraceful’: Greek protester denounces Israeli tourists over Gaza genocide

Paolo Minadakis, one of the demonstrators at the port of Agios Nikolaos in Crete, described tense scenes as activists gathered to protest the arrival of an Israeli cruise ship carrying 1,500 passengers.

“We are in a town of 15,000 people. We were around 200 demonstrators. Police anti-riot squads were sent from Athens with three coast guard vessels and army special forces,” he told Al Jazeera, recounting how authorities cleared the road to allow tourists while using tear gas against protesters.

Minadakis added that some of the tourists brandished Israeli flags and directed foul language towards the protesters.

It was the largest demonstration so far against the weekly arrival of Israeli cruise ships, he said.

“We are protesting against the genocide in Palestine. It’s disgraceful and disturbing having them here to spend their blood money in our island. This is our chance to show these people that their country is committing a genocide. Even in a small town such as ours, they will maybe wonder why are these people protesting.”

Similar demonstrations have taken place in recent days on other Greek islands, including Syros and Rhodes, as anger at Israel grows internationally.

_{Tourists arrive at the port of Agios Nikolaos in Crete, Greece, on Tuesday}

Pro-Palestine protesters rally outside UN demanding halt to war on Gaza


_{Demonstrators gather outside UN headquarters during a “Stop Starving Gaza” protest in New York City}

Australian PM challenges Netanyahu on ‘no starvation’ in Gaza

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed astonishment over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that “there is no starvation” in Gaza.

Albanese’s response came over a question from a Labor Party backbencher about when Australia would move to recognise Palestinian statehood.

“Those claims that there’s no starvation in Gaza are beyond comprehension,” said the Australian prime minister.

Albanese said Israel is “quite clearly” breaching international law by preventing the entry of aid into the besieged enclave. Israel’s war on Gaza has “stolen far too many innocent lives”, he added.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry called Albanese’s remarks “a lie” and claimed it is “not withholding any aid”.

This Israeli Mother Has Made it Her Mission To Block Aid to Starving Babies in Gaza

A year ago, correspondent Inigo Gilmore traveled to Israel to report on how Israelis perceive the country’s war on Gaza in Zeteo’s original documentary ‘Israel’s Reel Extremism’. What he documented remains true today as Israel continues to block aid into Gaza while its population starves, as seen in this video. Inigo Gilmore: “What I can’t understand is how a mother of eight is trying to block food to starving children in Gaza.”

Reut Bin Haim is the co-founder of Tzav 9, a right-wing Israeli organization that was formed in 2024 by families of people taken hostage by Hamas fighters. The group, which is sanctioned by the US for blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, has been preventing aid convoys at the border, and even allegedly looting them.

Since the beginning of the onslaught in Gaza, the delivery of food has been weaponized. In March of 2024, UN experts called out Israel’s imposed starvation which continues more than a year later. According to UN-backed food security experts, Gaza is experiencing the “worst-case scenario of famine” with over 74 reported malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, including 24 children under five.

Chris Hedges: Israel is starting the Final Chapter of Gaza Genocide.

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges joins India & Global Left to break down the moral and political crisis of our time. We discuss: U.S. complicity in Israel’s war on Palestine How do displaced Palestinians see their political parties and What was their lived experience of the Gaza Genocide?

Limited humanitarian aid entering Gaza just for show

Today is the fourth day since the Israeli military announced the opening of a humanitarian corridor, which only exists on paper because none of these aid trucks are making their way to the designated areas or people who are in need.

The vast majority of people are left without any proper access to food, and therefore, they resort to other alternatives, which are often dangerous or even deadly, like going to the Zikim area, for example, waiting for trucks to come in, or the distribution centres in the southern and central parts of the Strip.

Most people are not eating well. They’re not getting the food that they need to survive these conditions. There is agreement among people here that everything that has been happening [regarding the humanitarian aid] for the past four days has just been for spectacle.

Global community allowed ‘engineered starvation’ to take place in Gaza

It’s shocking that the international community allowed the situation in Gaza to get to the point that “we see children dying … from an engineered starvation,” Jamil Sawalmeh, country director of ActionAid Palestine, tells Al Jazeera.

“We know that aid is being blocked. We know that a significant amount of aid has piled up at the crossings, and unfortunately, it is quite shocking for us to see that the global community has allowed this to happen … because of impunity and because of lack of interest in political engagement to force Israel to abide by its obligations under international law,” he said.

“We have seen that Israel has actually enjoyed the diplomatic cover from many countries in the world, and they have allowed this to happen,” Sawalmeh added.

“The world has to act at this point, there has to be action, there have to be sanctions, and there have to be meaningful actions taken by the international community and the EU space to hold Israel accountable to its obligations under international law.”

Gaza mothers forced to give babies water as milk and formula run out

The youngest in Gaza are the most vulnerable to the starvation crisis caused by Israel’s months-long blockade of the Strip. Supplies of baby formula have run out, and food shortages are so severe that more than 88 children have died of starvation since the start of the war.

UN food security experts said the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in Gaza.

At least 13 aid seekers among 16 killed in Gaza since dawn

At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, according to medical sources speaking to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. The death toll includes at least 13 aid seekers, the sources said.

Hunger-related Gaza death toll rises to 154: Ministry

Gaza hospitals have recorded seven new deaths “due to famine and malnutrition”, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The total number of people who have starved to death during Israel’s war on Gaza has risen to 154, including 89 children, the ministry’s statement said on Telegram.

_{Palestinian children pick out food scraps in Gaza City}

Euro-Med Monitor warns of ‘unprecedented surge’ of deaths among Gaza’s elderly

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor says its field team “has documented the deaths of dozens of elderly people in displacement camps due to starvation, malnutrition, or lack of treatment”.

“Many of these deaths were recorded as natural causes, owing to the absence of a clear reporting mechanism within the ministry and the tendency of families to bury their loved ones immediately,” it said on X.

It noted an “unprecedented surge” in daily deaths over the past two weeks, with hundreds of elderly people arriving each day at hospitals and primary care centres “in states of extreme exhaustion, seeking nutritional fluids”.

Approximately 1,200 elderly Palestinians have died in #Gaza over the past two months due to Israel’s starvation policy, malnutrition, and lack of medical care, all of which have intensified in recent days.

The actual death toll may be significantly higher, noting an… pic.twitter.com/tQHCeUEfuh

— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) July 30, 2025

Two Australian nationals from Gaza-bound aid ship released from Israeli custody

Tan Safi and Robert Martin, Australian nationals detained on board a Gaza-bound aid ship by Israeli forces, have been released, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

The Handala ship, carrying baby formula, food and medicine, was seized by Israeli forces near the Gaza coast on Saturday night, with 21 unarmed civilians on board, including politicians, medics and volunteers.

According to the coalition, Safi and Martin were released from the Givon Prison in central Israel’s Ramla to the Australian embassy in Jordan.

The Israeli Adalah legal centre said late on Tuesday that seven of 14 remaining activists were transferred to the airport to be deported in the coming hours.

Adalah said that the remaining jailed activists were continuing a hunger strike for a fourth consecutive day, protesting against Israel’s unlawful detention amid “harsh and degrading detention conditions”.

Which countries have backed the French-led move calling for a two-state solution?

Fifteen countries have signed a joint declaration, led by France, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all captives held by Hamas, and a renewed international push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

They include Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, and Spain.

The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement late on Tuesday, saying the signatories “have already recognised, have expressed or express the willingness or the positive consideration of our countries to recognise the State of Palestine, as an essential step towards the two-state solution”.

“We invite all countries that have not done so to join this call,” the statement said.

In the United Kingdom, the British Prime Minister told his cabinet that the nation will recognise the state of Palestine by September unless Israel takes “substantive steps” to end its war on Gaza and commits to a lasting peace process. This move would be separate from the French-led initiative.


Feels to me like a cop out to avoid having to act now to stop the genocide/starvation. Arms embargo and sanctions are long overdue. Sure the two-state solution is much longer overdue, but many more imminent deaths and permanent damage from malnutrition need to be concentrated on first.

147 of the 193 UN countries already recognize Palestine. Jumping on a declaration to promote a 2-state solution now while more and more people are dying of starvation comes off as deflection / being able to say we were against the genocide. All those countries trade with Israel. They have a lot more leverage than a declaration.

Israeli calls for sanctions have broken a longstanding taboo

Fifteen European countries, including the UK and France, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, have said they plan to recognise Palestine in September.

The Israeli government has accused the UK of supporting the establishment of a “jihadi” state and of derailing efforts to reach a ceasefire.

But really, the Israeli media, for example, is describing this as a political tsunami, a realisation of how significant the tide is, and how improbable it is to turn it back to countries withholding recognition because Israel said it doesn’t want it.

Also, 31 high-profile Israelis, including the former speaker of the Knesset, a former attorney general, and some of the recipients of Israel’s highest cultural award, are calling on world governments to impose crippling sanctions on Israel to stop the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza and stop Israel’s plans to expel them from their homeland.

This was taboo just a few days ago and has never really been done before, certainly not at this level of prominence of the signatories.

This line has now been crossed.

Even Israelis are now calling for sanctions on Israel...

Israeli minister says saving captives should not be primary goal in Gaza: Report

Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu has said the mission to return the captives being held in Gaza back to Israel should not be the primary goal of Israel’s war in Gaza, according to Israeli media.

“They should be called ‘prisoners of war’,” he said in an interview to Haredi radio station Kol Chai, “and ‘prisoners of war’ are dealt with at the end of the war.

“When you define them as hostages, the objective is first and foremost to return the hostages, but I think the hostages shouldn’t be the primary goal,” he added.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum condemned the definition and said the majority of the Israeli public does want the hostages returned immediately, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

It was never really about the hostages (Hamas already wanted to return all the civilian hostages in November 2023 but Israel denied), but he is correct the remaining (alive) ones are all PoWs, IDF soldiers.