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Fires rage 2 days after Iran port blast killed 40

Firefighters in Iran battled raging fires on Monday at the country’s largest commercial port, two days after a massive explosion killed at least 40 people, state TV reported.The blast took place on Saturday at Shahid Rajaee Port in Iran’s south near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes. It killed at least 40 people and injured more than 1,000 others, officials said, after triggering smaller explosions and fires in nearby containers.Iran’s state TV showed images of firefighters dousing the flames, and said the damage will be assessed after the fire is fully brought under control. Thick, swirling plumes of smoke rose over the stacked containers at the site, the TV images showed.It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion but the port’s customs office said it likely resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a probe into the incident to determine if there were “any negligence or intent”. – Smoke, then a fireball -CCTV images on social media showed the incident began gradually, with a small fire and orange-brown smoke before a fireball erupted.The images appeared to show the small fire starting among a few containers stacked outside across from a warehouse. A small forklift truck drove past the smoking area and men walked nearby.About one minute and eight seconds after the small fire and smoke were visible, a fireball erupted as vehicles passed nearby. Men ran for their lives.President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday visited hospitals treating the wounded in the nearby city of Bandar Abbas. Since the explosion, authorities have ordered all schools and offices in the area closed and urged residents to avoid going outside “until further notice” and to use protective masks.The New York Times quoted a person with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, as saying that what exploded was sodium perchlorate — a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.Defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik later told state TV that “there has been no imported or exported cargo for military fuel or military use in the area”.Russia dispatched specialists to help battle the blazes.Authorities have declared Monday a national day of mourning, while three days of mourning began Sunday in Hormozgan province, where the port is located.The blast occurred as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, with both sides reporting progress.While Iranian authorities so far appear to be treating the blast as an accident, it also comes against the backdrop of years of shadow war with regional foe Israel.According to the Washington Post, Israel launched a cyberattack targeting the Shahid Rajaee Port in 2020

Top UN court to open hearings on Israel’s aid obligation to Palestinians

The UN’s top court will on Monday open a week of hearings on Israel’s humanitarian obligations towards Palestinians, more than 50 days into its total blockade on aid entering war-ravaged Gaza.United Nations representatives will start the five days of sittings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague at 10:00 am (0800 GMT), followed by a Palestinian submission.Another 38 countries will then address the 15-judge panel, including the United States, China, France, Russia and Saudi Arabia.The League of Arab States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union will also make submissions.The UN’s General Assembly approved a resolution in December asking the ICJ for an advisory opinion on the matter “on a priority basis and with the utmost urgency”.The resolution, spearheaded by Norway, was adopted by a large majority.The UN has asked judges to clarify Israel’s legal obligations towards the UN and its agencies, international organisations or third-party states to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population”.Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war.The UN estimates 500,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the two-month ceasefire ended in mid-March.Israel resumed air bombardment on March 18, followed by renewed ground attacks.This has triggered what the UN has described as “likely the worst” humanitarian crisis the occupied Palestinian territory has faced since the war started after the Hamas October 7, 2023, attack.- ‘Broad frustration’ -That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 52,243 people in Gaza since October 2023, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.At least 2,111 Palestinians have been killed since March 18.The UN considers the ministry’s figures reliable.The Israeli government says the assault aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives.Hostages’ relatives have said it could “sacrifice” their loved ones.Although the ICJ’s advisory opinions are not legally binding, the court believes they “carry great legal weight and moral authority”.In July, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion confirming that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories was “unlawful” and must end as soon as possible.”The parties to the conflict have shown little commitment to comply with international law,” said Haris Huremagic, a PhD candidate at the Geneva Graduate Institute.”The request for an advisory opinion reflects broad frustration with the lack of meaningful dialogue to address the dire situation in Gaza,” Huremagic wrote on the Voelkerrechtsblog on international law.Norway’s initiative was triggered by an Israeli law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from operating on Israeli soil.Israel accused some UNRWA staff of participating in the Hamas attack.Independent investigations say it has not provided evidence for its headline allegation.

‘Hunger breaks everything’: desperate Gazans scramble for food

At the break of dawn, 10-year-old Youssef al-Najjar races barefoot, clutching a battered pot, to a community kitchen in Gaza City, only to find hundreds of others already queueing.”People push and shove out of fear of missing their turn. There are little children who fall,” said Youssef, his voice barely rising above a whisper.Thousands of Gazans, including many children, rush to community kitchens every day in the hope of securing food for their families.The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened significantly since Israel blocked all aid from entering the territory on March 2, days before resuming its military campaign following the collapse of a ceasefire.Supplies are dwindling and the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday said it had sent out its “last remaining food stocks” to kitchens.The weight of responsibility fell on Youssef’s shoulders after his father was killed in the war. He dreams not of toys or games, but of something achingly simple: to sit at a table with his mother and sister, eating peacefully.For that, each morning, he races to the community kitchen.”Sometimes, in the chaos, my pot slips from my hands, and the food spills onto the ground,” he told AFP.”I return home empty-handed… and that pain is worse than hunger.”AFP footage from a community kitchen in Gaza City shows scores of boys and girls crowded outside the facility, pushing their pots and pans forward in a desperate attempt to secure whatever food they can.One young man is even seen hitting a boy with a metal pot as he approaches a container of freshly-cooked rice.”I have been waiting for over five hours to get a plate of rice for the children to eat,” said Mohammed Abu Sanad, a displaced Gazan, at another such facility. “I have no income, and if we get food from the free kitchen, we eat. If not, we’ll die of hunger.”The WFP, one of the main providers of food assistance in Gaza, said these kitchens were expected to run out of food “in the coming days”.- ‘I wished I would die’ -For Aida Abu Rayala, 42, the need was greater than ever.”There is no flour, no bread, no way to feed my children. We stand for hours under the blazing sun and sometimes in the freezing cold,” said Rayala, from central Gaza’s Nuseirat area.”Some days, after hours of waiting, the food runs out before my turn comes.”Rayala’s home was destroyed in an air strike, and the family now lives in a tent of thin nylon sheets.One day, she waited for three hours, her feet blistering from standing. When she finally reached the counter, there was no food left.”I went home with empty hands. My children cried… and in that moment, I wished I would die rather than see them hungry again.”At the heart of Gaza’s food assistance is Faten al-Madhoun, 52, a volunteer chef who runs a charity kitchen in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.She and her 13 volunteers cook by hand, over wood fires, without proper kitchens or modern equipment.”Some days we prepare 500 meals, but more than 600 people show up,” Madhoun said.”The need is enormous. And with every day that the borders stay closed, it only grows.”With flour vanishing from the markets, bakeries shuttered, and even basic vegetables now luxuries, the community kitchens have become the only remaining source of food for tens of thousands.- ‘Want to live with dignity’ -Alaa Abu Amira shares a similar plight in the southern Khan Yunis area.”If you arrive late, even by a few minutes, there’s no food,” said Abu Amira, 28, who used to live in the northern town of Beit Lahia.”People crowd, they push, they fall. I saw a child get injured, and once, a little girl was burned when a pot of hot food spilled on her.”When he manages to secure a meal, it is often cold, tasteless, repetitive — canned peas and beans, rice half-cooked on makeshift wood fires.”Our stomachs can barely handle it anymore,” Abu Amira said, “but what choice do we have? Hunger breaks everything.”Despite the daily ordeal, Rayala vowed to continue with her quest for food.”Tomorrow, I will try to go earlier, hoping to get a plate of rice. We just want to live with dignity,” she said.