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From skies over Gaza, Jordanian crew drops lifeline to civilians

Aboard a Jordanian military plane, aid crates are parachuted into Gaza, where war and blockade have pushed more than two million Palestinians to the brink of famine.The Jordanian Air Force C-130’s crew of eight soldiers pushes pallets of food out of the rear hatch.Parachutes unfurl, and the crates — stamped with the Jordanian flag — drift toward the devastated Gaza Strip, nearly 22 months into the war, an AFP journalist on board reported.Journalists were only allowed to film the airdrop operation but not the vast swathes of destruction during the two-hour flight, which overflew Palestinian territory for just a few minutes.The flight departed a base near Amman and was joined by a second plane from the United Arab Emirates. Approaching Gaza by sea, the aircraft released aid packages containing sugar, pulses and baby milk.Aid agencies, while grateful, stress that airdrops — first launched in early 2024 — are no substitute for overland access.- ‘Tragic’ -This latest round of airdrops, authorised by Israel last week, is led by Jordan and the UAE. The United Kingdom carried out its first drop on Tuesday, while France plans to deliver 40 tonnes of aid starting Friday.Inside the aircraft, crew members whispered prayers as the packages were released.”There’s a big difference between what we see of Gaza on television and what we see now, and what (Gaza) was like before,” said the captain, peering down at the landscape from 2,000 feet (600 metres).”It’s a tragic and very sad scene — entire neighborhoods are being razed.”The pilot, who asked not to be identified, said he could see people on the ground tracking the plane’s path.”It shows how bad their situation is,” he said. Israel imposed a total blockade on aid entering Gaza in March, before allowing very limited quantities in late May.Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Wednesday said the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza was the worst in modern history, and said current levels of aid were far from sufficient. – ‘Humanitarian catastrophe’-UN-backed experts warned Tuesday that a “worst-case scenario” famine was happening in Gaza that cannot be reversed unless humanitarian groups get immediate and unimpeded access.The Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said airdrops over Gaza, announced by various countries in recent days, would not be enough to avert the “humanitarian catastrophe”.”The worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip,” the IPC said in a statement.The World Food Programme, UNICEF and the Food and Agriculture Organisation warned time was running out and that Gaza was “on the brink of a full-scale famine”.”We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction, and keep it flowing each and every day to prevent mass starvation,” WFP executive director Cindy McCain said in a joint statement by the three UN agencies.Facing intense international pressure, Israel announced on Sunday a daytime pause in hostilities in certain areas for humanitarian purposes.

Trump’s new tariff to impact Indian economy, could reshape bilateral ties

US President Donald Trump’s decision to slap harsh tariffs on Indian exports and a “penalty” on purchases of Russian weapons and energy will cost thousands of jobs and could fundamentally change the nature of bilateral ties, experts said Wednesday.Months of negotiations between the two countries over an interim trade deal had stalled in recent weeks …

Trump’s new tariff to impact Indian economy, could reshape bilateral ties Read More »

Gaza civil defence says 14 killed by Israeli fire

Gaza’s civil defence agency said 14 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in four separate incidents on Wednesday, three of them near aid distribution sites.The territory has been in the grip of war for almost 22 months and now, according to a UN-mandated report, its two-million-plus inhabitants are facing an unfolding famine.Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Basal said six people were killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre northwest of Rafah.The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at a group of people who approached its troops hundreds of metres (yards) away from the aid centre and hours before its opening.The civil defence agency said two people were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for aid near Netzarim junction, while four were killed while waiting for aid near the Wadi Gaza bridge. The Israeli army acknowledged opening fire near an aid site in the central Gaza Strip, where both Wadi Gaza and Netzarim are located, but said its assessment was that there were no casualties.The civil defence agency said an air strike near the territory’s sole Catholic church, the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City, killed two people.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties.The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 60,034 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run government’s health ministry.Since the weekend, Israel has observed a daytime pause in military operations on secure routes and in built-up areas to facilitate aid delivery and distribution.The move was announced amid an international outcry over the deepening hunger crisis facing Palestinian civilians.

WHO chief says continuous medical aid into Gaza ‘critical’

The World Health Organization’s chief said getting a continuous flow of medical supplies into Gaza was “critical”, as WHO trucks carrying aid headed for the border on Wednesday.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency had moved 10 trucks from El-Arish in Egypt to Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing into the Gaza Strip.The trucks are carrying “essential medicines, laboratory and water testing supplies”, he said, with two additional trucks with medical supplies, along with 12 pallets of blood products, expected to join them on Thursday.”All WHO supplies will then be moved into Gaza, along with three trucks with medical supplies from health partners,” Tedros said on X.”The health needs in Gaza are immense. A continuous flow of medical supplies is critical.”We continue to call for sustained, safe, and unhindered access for medical aid into and across Gaza and for a ceasefire. Peace is the best medicine.”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, amid warnings of a wave of starvation.This week, Israel launched daily pauses in its military operations in some parts of Gaza and opened secure routes to enable UN agencies and other aid groups to distribute food in the densely populated territory of more than two million.The WHO says that in Gaza, airstrikes and a lack of medical supplies, food, water and fuel have “virtually depleted” the under-resourced health system, with many hospitals out of operation and others barely functioning.The provision of essential health services — from maternal and newborn care to treatment for chronic conditions — has been “severely compromised”, the UN health agency it says.A WHO spokesman told AFP that nine of the agency’s trucks had gone into Gaza on June 25; four on June 28; 11 on July 8; and six more on July 20.”None of the trucks were looted since we resumed supplies,” he added.