Captives’ families welcome Arab nations’ call for Hamas to disarm

The families of captives held in Gaza have welcomed a declaration from a group of Arab nations calling, for the first time, for Hamas to disarm and relinquish power in Gaza.

“We welcome this important progress and the Arab League’s recognition that Hamas must end its rule in Gaza. Kidnapping innocent men, women, and children is a blatant violation of international law and must be unequivocally condemned,” read a statement from the group.

On Tuesday, a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, backed a seven-page text agreed at a UN conference on reviving a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

“In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State,” read the statement cited by the AFP news agency.

It followed a call on Monday by the Palestinian delegation at the United Nations for both Israel and Hamas to leave Gaza, allowing the Palestinian Authority to administer the coastal territory.

Hamas has said it was ready to hand over the governing of Gaza to “an independent technocratic committee”. But the Palestinian group has repeatedly said that disarming was a red line.



US imposes sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials, PLO members

The US is imposing sanctions on Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), saying the groups are undermining peace efforts, the US State Department has said in a statement.

The move prevents those targeted from receiving visas to travel to the US, it said.

“It is in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace.”

The move comes after Washington closed the Office of Palestinian Affairs in March, in what critics said was an attempt to sideline Palestinian officials’ ability to engage with the US. It also comes after the US cut funds to the PA’s security forces in February.

‘If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach’

In a makeshift tent on a Gaza beach, three-month-old Muntaha’s grandmother Nemah Hamouda grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the baby, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain as she tries to keep her from starving.

“I am terrified about the fate of the baby,” Hamouda told the Reuters news agency. “We named her after her mother, … hoping she can survive and live long, but we are so afraid. We hear children and adults die every day of hunger.”

Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as her grandmother fed her the paste with a syringe. “If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach,” her aunt Abir Hamouda told Reuters.

Muntaha now weighs about 3.5kg (7.7lb), her family said, barely more than half of what a full-term baby her age would normally weigh. She suffers from digestive problems, which can lead to vomiting and diarrhoea after feeding.


_{Families use discarded lentils to prepare meals as food shortages worsen in the Gaza Strip}

Ceasefire needed to address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis: UNRWA

Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza cannot be addressed without a ceasefire.

Here are some of the other points he made:

Israel’s strategy of sponsoring thugs to seize aid ‘perpetuates chaos’: Gaza’s Interior Ministry

Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security has issued a statement accusing Israel’s military of pursuing a policy of targeting its staff “carrying out their duty of securing aid trucks distributed by international organisations, preventing them from reaching those in need safely”.

It also accused Israeli forces of sponsoring “networks of thieves and thugs to seize control of aid trucks, depriving more than two million citizens of safe access and perpetuating famine in the Strip”.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of hijacking aid trucks throughout the Gaza Strip, blaming the starvation of Palestinians on the group. An internal Israeli army investigation found these claims to be untrue.

“This is a blatant attempt by the occupation to absolve itself of legal responsibility for using starvation as a weapon in times of war,” the statement read.

This strategy forces Palestinians to travel long distances for aid, putting themselves at great risk, the statement says, adding that this has led to the “destruction of some of the aid supplies due to stampede and overcrowding”.

“Meanwhile, the occupation directly targets them and commits massacres, killing dozens daily near the routes leading to the entry of aid.

Israel launches air strikes across southern, eastern Lebanon

The Israeli military has launched a series of air strikes on areas across Lebanon, but has not commented on the attacks yet.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported at least five air raids on towns in the Bekaa Valley and a mountainous region in Baalbek in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country.

It also said more attacks targeted the Ghazieh area of south Lebanon, leading to a fire at a warehouse.

Israel Blocks UNRWA from Distributing Aid in Gaza as Palestinians Starve

We speak with Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, about deepening starvation in Gaza. Israel has accused the United Nations agency of failing to distribute aid in Gaza, but Touma says Israel continues to block most supplies from entering the territory. Touma notes that there are 6,000 trucks filled with food, medical supplies and other necessities ready to enter Gaza. "We've been waiting for a green light to start the wheels of those trucks for nearly five months now," she says.

Malnutrition, formula shortage leaves new mothers with few options

Dr Kahlil Daqran has outlined the desperate situation for young mothers in Gaza: There is no access to infant formula, yet they are often too malnourished to breastfeed.

“In the Gaza Strip, we have thousands of children being starved because there is no milk for children under the age of two,” he said.

“These children, their mothers also have malnutrition because there is no food, so the mothers cannot produce milk. Now, our children are being fed either water or ground hard legumes, and this is harmful for children in Gaza.”

Azhar Imad, 31, has said she has mixed tahini with water in hopes of feeding four-month-old Joury, but fears this will make her baby sick.

“I am using this paste instead of milk, but she won’t drink it. All these can cause illnesses,” she said. “Sometimes, I give her water in the bottle; there’s nothing available. I make her caraway and herbs, any kind of herbs.”

Israel allows Arab countries to airdrop limited aid over Gaza

Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates coordinated with Israel to drop 43 aid packages over Gaza, according to a statement by the Israeli military.

It said the packages containing food were dropped from planes to residents of southern and northern Gaza, again refuting “claims of deliberate starvation” in Gaza.

At least three Palestinians starved to death in Gaza today, according to medical sources in Gaza and the enclave’s authorities.

The UN and other international aid organisations have slammed the air drops as an ineffective and potentially dangerous move that fails to address the root cause of the mass starvation in the enclave, which is Israel’s blocking of basic necessities as a systematic policy.


_{Aid packages descend over Gaza, as seen from the central Gaza Strip}

43 aid packages for 2 million people, 3 planes. 600 trucks a day are needed.

UN says ‘ad hoc’ checkpoint, single route causing aid delays

Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, has said that despite Israeli claims of secure convoy routes in Gaza, humanitarian workers are continuing to face delays that “expose drivers, aid workers, and crowds to danger”.

“The long waits are because a single route has been made available for our teams exiting Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] inside Gaza, and Israeli ground forces have set up an ad hoc checkpoint on that route,” Haq said.

He added that despite roadblocks, UN agencies are seizing every opportunity to “collect supplies from the Israeli-controlled crossings and replenish those platforms with new supplies from outside”.

Gaza media office reports widespread aid truck looting

The office reports that 104 aid trucks entered Gaza today, saying the “majority” were subjected to looting.

It further accused Israel of “deliberately perpetuating” security chaos, adding it affirmed the UN’s position that 600 trucks are needed a day to adequately provide for the population.

Earlier today, we reported that a UN spokesperson said that aid trucks had been restricted to only one crossing into Gaza and were subject to “ad hoc” security checks by the Israeli military. He said this has led to delays and increased dangers for both those making the deliveries and those seeking aid.

Journalists in Gaza have reported that Israeli operations have led to a breakdown in central governance, which has empowered criminal gangs.

Former senior Israeli security officials call for end to war, ‘comprehensive’ deal

Several former top-ranking members of the Israeli security establishment have made public statements calling for an agreement that will bring back all captives held in Gaza and end the war.

Former head of military intelligence and CEO of Israel’s national water company Mekorot, Major General Uri Sagi, said during a live broadcast that the war must end immediately, and said statements by officials that they will achieve complete victory over Hamas are “incomprehensible”.

Amos Yaron, who was director general of the Ministry of Defence, said a true leader must understand when “the cost of war is heavier than the price of victory” in reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He and others also called for the establishment of a state inquiry into the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas and the government’s handling of the situation.

Fourteen arrested at anti-war protest in Haifa: Police

Israel’s police service says on X that the demonstrators were arrested after “they ignored repeated police calls and raised banners and chanted slogans against Israel and its military operations in Gaza, potentially posing a threat to public safety”.

Calls from within Israel to end its war on Gaza and speed up the return of Israeli captives have grown in recent weeks, in tandem with similar calls from European governments.

German FM meets Netanyahu amid war of words over Palestinian statehood

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has met Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, according to the office of the Israeli prime minister, which did not provide details of the meeting.

Wadephul told reporters moments ago that Israel is in danger of becoming isolated. Countries around the world have been increasingly speaking out against Israel as it continues to manufacture famine in the Gaza Strip, carries out daily bombing raids that kill civilians and supports extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank.

“Israel must always find friends, partners and supporters in the international community. And that is currently in danger in this situation. And if there is one country that has a responsibility to prevent this, then in my view it is Germany,” Wadephul said.

Wadephul met Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier, shortly after Germany said recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of talks on a two-state solution.

The stance angered far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who wrote on X that “80 years after the Holocaust, and Germany is returning to support Nazism”.

Saar said Germany remains a friend of Israel, and this does not change “even when there are disagreements between us”.

‘Oslo-style’ two-state solution is dead: Scholar

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Menachem Klein, a professor emeritus of political science at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, has said that countries recognising Palestinian statehood must elucidate what a modern two-state solution would actually look like.

“I think an Oslo-style two-state solution is dead. There’s no way to revive it,” he said, referring to the 1993 accords that set a pathway to a future Palestinian state, based on the gradual withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory.

“So all the countries, entities, organisations speaking about a two-state solution must reconsider their vision and say what kind of two-state solution they mean that is relevant to the changing realities on the ground with the expansion of Israeli settlements and the lessons learned from the failure of the Oslo agreement,” he said.

“But no one in the West, no one speaking of the two-state solution, comes up with a concrete plan, with a concrete idea,” he said.

That's because it's mostly a deflection from the ongoing genocide and escalating humanitarian crisis. Let's talk about the day after in September while more people are starving to death every day.

Heavily sanctioned Israeli minister hails US sanctions on Palestinian officials

Far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who remains under sanctions from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, has hailed Washington’s decision to sanction the Palestinian Authority officials.

In a post on X, Smotrich said the US showed it “stands firm and chooses to lead a path of justice and morality”.

The Trump administration has faced domestic pressure to sanction Smotrich, while other Western countries have said Smotrich and fellow far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”.

The Trump administration, however, has taken a permissive approach to Israeli officials, and earlier this year, revoked sanctions against illegal Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians.

Earlier this week, one of those previously sanctioned settlers, Yinon Levi, earlier this week was accused of fatally shooting Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen.

Settlers attack Palestinians in West Bank’s Nablus, Ramallah

A group of Israeli settlers have reportedly attacked an automotive repair shop in the village of Bazariya, located northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Settlers attacked from the eastern outskirts of the town and engaged in clashes with local residents, Wafa news agency cited a local official as saying.

‘We need help’: Family pleads for release of US teenager held by Israel

Israeli authorities have been detaining an American teenager for nearly six months without trial for allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, a claim the 16-year-old’s family denies while expressing concern for his deteriorating health.

Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian-American who was born in the US state of Florida, has been completely cut off from his family since his arrest in February without visitation or telephone rights, his father and uncle said.

According to an Israeli military interrogation video obtained by the family and seen by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Mohammed denied accusations that he was throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles near his village north of Ramallah.

Zaher Ibrahim, the jailed teenager’s father, said on Wednesday that the family has received reports that Mohammed is losing weight drastically and suffering from a skin infection. Ibrahim said he is concerned about his son’s wellbeing.

“Of course, we have fear,” he said. “When you can’t visit him and you can’t get a phone call from him, what do you know? We don’t know if he’s dead … There’s nothing we know.”

One injured as Israeli settlers launch more West Bank attacks

A young Palestinian man was wounded by bullet shrapnel during an attack by Israeli settlers on the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Wafa news agency cited security sources as saying that groups of settlers also attacked Palestinians south of Bethlehem as well. The settlers reportedly threw stones at passing vehicles, causing damage to some of them.

Another settler attack took place in the town of Bruqin south of Salfit, with no injuries reported so far. In Hebron, settlers burned a Palestinian vehicle.

Hamas says ending war ‘humanitarian and moral duty’

Hamas has released a statement following a UN conference in New York addressing the Israel-Palestine issue, after which attendees voiced “unwavering support” for a two-state solution.

Hamas said that “any effort made at the international level to support our Palestinian people and their legitimate rights is appreciated and welcomed”.

However, it noted that no progress could be made until Israel ended its war in Gaza, which would mean “halting the crime of genocide and the systematic starvation policy practiced by the occupation forces”.

Hamas added that it was ready to resolve the war – and release remaining Israeli captives – via a ceasefire agreement that saw a “complete withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, the opening of crossings, and the immediate commencement of reconstruction”.

The group underscored the need to move towards a political process “leading to the end of the occupation and achieving our people’s aspirations to establish their fully sovereign independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital”.