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Israel declared a “tactical pause” in fighting in parts of Gaza on Sunday and said it would allow the UN and aid agencies to open secure land routes to tackle a deepening hunger crisis.The military also said it had begun air-dropping food into the Palestinian territory and dismissed allegations of using starvation as a weapon against civilians.It said it had coordinated with the UN and international agencies to “increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip”.UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed the pauses, saying on social media he was in “contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window”.The charity Oxfam’s regional policy chief Bushra Khalidi called the move a “welcome first step” but warned it could prove insufficient.”Starvation won’t be solved by a few trucks or airdrops,” she said. “What’s needed is a real humanitarian response: ceasefire, full access, all crossings open, and a steady, large-scale flow of aid into Gaza.”We need a permanent ceasefire, a complete lifting of the siege.”- ‘Life’s wish’ -In Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa district, 30-year-old Suad Ishtaywi said her “life’s wish” was to simply feed her children.She spoke of her husband returning empty-handed from aid points daily.”We hope the aid comes in today, because hunger is killing us day by day,” said 44-year-old Mohammed al-Daduh, also in Gaza City. “Egypt said it would send aid, but we don’t know if Israel will allow it in.”AFP journalists saw Egyptian trucks crossing from Rafah, with cargo routed through Israel’s Kerem Shalom checkpoint for inspection before entering Gaza.The daily pause — from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm — will be limited to areas where Israel says its troops are not currently operating — Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City.Israel said “designated secure routes” would also open across Gaza for aid convoys carrying food and medicine.The military said these operations, alongside its campaign against Palestinian armed groups, should disprove “the false claim of deliberate starvation”.Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, citing “reasonable grounds” to suspect war crimes including starvation — charges Israel vehemently denies.Since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, the situation inside Gaza has deteriorated sharply. More than 100 NGOs warned this week of “mass starvation”.Though aid has trickled in since late May, UN and humanitarian agencies say Israeli restrictions remain excessive and road access inside Gaza is tightly controlled.Before Israel’s airdrop of seven food pallets, the United Arab Emirates said it would resume aid flights, and Britain said it would partner with Jordan and others to assist.- ‘Immediate’ airdrops -On Saturday alone, the Palestinian civil defence agency said over 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.In a social media post, the military announced it “carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip”.Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical airdrops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the hunger crisis facing Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants.A number of Western and Arab governments carried out airdrops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.”Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. “They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians.”Separately, the Israeli navy brought an activist boat, the Handala operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, into the part of Ashdod, after intercepting and boarding it late Saturday to prevent it attempting to breach a maritime blockade of Gaza.The legal rights centre Adalah told AFP its lawyers were in Ashdod but had been refused access to the detained crew, 21 activists and journalists from 10 countries.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.burs-str-dc/dv

Iraqi table tennis player Nur al-Huda Sarmad adjusts her wheelchair before striking the ball into play, braving sweltering heat, social stigma and inadequate facilities as she dreams of taking her team to the Paralympics.Sarmad and seven other Iraqi women who live with disabilities train three times a week at a community centre in the southern city of Diwaniyah, preparing for an upcoming tournament that could qualify them for the national Paralympic team.The facilities, however, are far from Olympic-standard.”The tennis tables are broken, there are power outages and we even have to buy our own paddles,” said Sarmad, 25.With no dedicated training facility, the team often has to share the three second-hand tables at the public community centre with visitors.In the scorching Iraqi summer they cannot turn on the fans, which would disrupt the movement of the balls.And the air conditioner that could provide some relief remains off-limits in a country grappling with chronic power cuts, especially in summer when temperatures approach 50C. The community centre is powered by a generator, but it can barely sustain the essentials.These practical issues “affect our training” and hinder the players’ progress, Sarmad said.The team also faces obstacles in the form of insufficient government funding for sports, and conservative views on women’s rights and people with disabilities.Paralympic champion Najlah Imad, the first Iraqi to snare a gold medal in table tennis, told AFP that “despite the difficult circumstances, nothing is impossible”.Imad, who now relies on sponsorship deals, encouraged her fellow players to keep fighting.”You can do anything,” she said.- No support -Sarmad, who has already won several medals including bronze in a tournament in Thailand, takes pride in the fact that despite the many challenges, “we overcame all this, we became players”.The state-owned community centre provides the team a stipend equivalent to $75 a month to cover transportation costs, but the players had to purchase their professional paddles, at a cost of $200, out of their own pockets.The players often have to rely on taxis to travel to training sessions and back, but “sometimes cabs refuse to take disabled people”, said Sarmad.Coach Mohammed Riyad, 43, said that table tennis “has developed in Diwaniyah solely through personal efforts… due to the lack of support from the state”.Riyad, a member of the Iraqi Paralympic Committee, said that funding sports was not a priority in a country where decades of conflicts, neglect and endemic corruption have devastated infrastructure.Through the Paralympic Committee, he has managed to acquire old equipment for Sarmad and her fellow players.He said that “the state only focuses on football, despite the achievements of table tennis players” like Imad, who brought home the Paralympic gold from the 2024 Paris Games.Iraq has a long tradition of women’s sports, with teams competing in regional football, weightlifting and boxing tournaments.But there is also vocal opposition seeking to exclude women and bar mixed-gender events.In southern Iraq, a largely conservative area where Sarmad’s team is based, organisers of a marathon last year had made it a men-only event after a social media controversy over women’s participation in sports.Iraqis living with disabilities often face additional challenges amid a general lack of awareness about their rights and inclusion.For award-winning table tennis player Iman Hamza, 24, society mistakenly sees women with disabilities like her “as helpless people who cannot do anything”.”But we became world champions.”

New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions.Concern over the scale of the farm-to-forest switch led the government to impose a moratorium in December on any new conversions not already in the pipeline.But farmers say forestry companies are …

New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to ‘save our sheep’ Read More »

Israel said Saturday that it air dropped aid into the Gaza Strip and would open humanitarian corridors, as it faced growing international condemnation over the deepening hunger crisis in the Palestinian territory.Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume.Before Israel announced the delivery of seven aid packages, the United Arab Emirates had said it would restart aid drops and Britain said it would work with partners including Jordan to assist them.The decision to loosen the flow of aid came as the Palestinian civil defence agency said over 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.The same day, Israeli troops boarded a boat carrying activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as it attempted to approach Gaza from the sea and deliver a small quantity of supplies to the aid-starved population.The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory has gravely deteriorated in recent days, with international NGOs warning of soaring malnutrition among children.On Telegram, the Israeli military announced it “carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip”. Earlier, Israel said humanitarian corridors for UN aid convoys to deliver “food and medicine” would also be designated.This would improve the humanitarian situation, and disprove “the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip”, it added.Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X that a “humanitarian pause” would apply to certain parts of Gaza on Sunday morning to facilitate the aid deliveries. Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that air drops can deliver enough food to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants. They are instead demanding that Israel allow more overland convoys.But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart air drops. Starmer’s office said that in a call with his French and German counterparts the “prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance”.The United Arab Emirates said it would resume air drops “immediately”.”The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a post on X. “Air drops are resuming once more, immediately.”- ‘Starving civilians’ -A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.”Air drops will not reverse the deepening starvation,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. “They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians.”Israel’s military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting the aid once it is inside the territory.But humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza.A separate aid operation is under way through the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but it has faced fierce international criticism after Israeli fire killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution points.- Naval blockade -On Saturday evening, the live feed on the Handala boat belonging to pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla showed Israeli troops boarding the vessel.The soldiers moved in as the boat approached Gaza and three video livefeeds of the scene broadcasting online were cut minutes later.Israeli forces last month intercepted and boarded another boat run by the same group, the Madleen.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed over 50 people on Saturday, including 14 killed in separate incidents near aid distribution centres.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.burs/tc/lb

Israel said Saturday it would allow food to be airdropped to Gaza and designate humanitarian corridors for UN aid convoys, as thousands of Palestinians face the threat of widespread famine.Before Israel announced that the flights would resume, the United Arab Emirates had said it would restart aid drops and Britain said it would work with partners including Jordan to assist them.The decision to apparently loosen up the flow of aid came as the Palestinian civil defence agency said over 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings Saturday, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.Later Saturday, Israel troops boarded a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as it attempted to approach Gaza from the sea, in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.”The humanitarian airdrop operation will be conducted in coordination with international aid organisations and the (Israeli army), led by COGAT and the IAF,” the Israeli statement said, referring to the civilian affairs unit for Palestinian territories and the air force.   “In addition, it was decided that designated humanitarian corridors would be established to enable the safe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicine to the population,” the statement said.The statement said this would improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and disprove “the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip”.Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that airdrops can deliver enough food to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants. They are instead demanding that Israel allow more overland convoys.But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart airdrops. An Israeli official had told AFP on Friday that airdrops in Gaza would resume soon and that they would be conducted by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.Starmer’s office said that in a call with his French and German counterparts, the “prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance”.The United Arab Emirates said it would resume airdrops “immediately”.”The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a post on X. “Air drops are resuming once more, immediately.”- ‘Starving civilians’ -A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.”Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. “They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians.”Israel imposed a total blockade on the entry of aid into Gaza on March 2 after talks to extend a ceasefire in the over 21-month-old conflict broke down. In late May, it began letting a trickle of aid enter.Israel’s military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting the aid once it is inside the territory.But humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza.A separate aid operation is under way through the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but it has faced fierce international criticism after Israeli fire killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution points.- Naval blockade -On Saturday evening, the live feed on the Handala — an aid boat belonging to pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla — showed Israeli troops boarding the vessel.The soldiers moved in as the boat approached Gaza and three video livefeeds of the scene broadcasting online were cut minutes later.Israeli forces last month intercepted and boarded another boat run by the same group, the Madleen.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed over 50 people on Saturday, including 14 killed in separate incidents near aid distribution centres.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.burs-jj/gv

International pressure was mounting on Saturday for alternative ways to be found to deliver food to hungry Palestinian civilians in Gaza, with Britain vowing to back airdrops.The UK decision to support the plans of regional partners Jordan and the United Arab Emirates came as pro-Palestinian activists piloted a symbolic aid vessel towards the shores of Gaza in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.On the ground, the territory’s civil defence agency said at least 40 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli military strikes and shootings.  Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that airdrops can deliver enough food to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants and are instead demanding that Israel allow more overland convoys.But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart airdrops — and with France and Germany to develop a plan for a lasting ceasefire.An Israeli official told AFP on Friday that airdrops in Gaza would resume soon, adding they would be conducted by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.Starmer’s office said that in a call with his French and German counterparts, the “prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance”.The United Arab Emirates said it would resume airdrops “immediately”.”The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a post on X. “Air drops are resuming once more, immediately.”- ‘Starving civilians’ -A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, at a time when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.”Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.Israel imposed a total blockade on the entry of aid into Gaza on March 2 after talks to extend a ceasefire in the now 21-month-old conflict broke down. In late May, it began to allow a trickle of aid to enter.Israel’s military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting the aid once it is inside the territory.But humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza.A separate aid operation is under way through the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but has faced fierce international criticism after Israeli fire killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution points.- Naval blockade -On Saturday, pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla said its latest aid boat, the Handala, was approaching Gaza and had already got closer than its previous vessel, the Madleen, which was intercepted and boarded by Israeli forces last month.The Israeli military said it was monitoring the situation and was prepared to enforce what it called its “legal maritime security blockade”.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 40 people on Saturday, including 14 killed in separate incidents near aid distribution centres.One of the 14 was killed “after Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid” northwest of Gaza City, the agency said.Witnesses told AFP that several thousand people had gathered in the area.Abu Samir Hamoudeh, 42, said the Israeli military opened fire while people were waiting to approach a distribution point near an Israeli military post in the Zikim area, northwest of Sudaniyah.The Israeli military told AFP that its troops fired “warning shots to distance the crowd” after identifying an “immediate threat”. It added that it was not aware of any casualties as a result of the fire.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.burs-dc/glp/kir