Russia ‘will not back down’ on Ukraine war goals, Putin tells Trump - Full Statement, Kremlin discloses content of Putin-Trump conversation

US President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a one-hour phone conversation on July 3, 2025 - their sixth since Trump began his second term in January [File: AP Photo]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his United States counterpart, Donald Trump, that Moscow will not give up on its goal of eliminating the “root causes” of the war in Ukraine.

“Russia will not back down,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters although he added that Putin had also expressed a “readiness” to “seek a political and negotiated solution to the conflict” during his one-hour phone conversation with Trump on Thursday.

The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for the Kremlin’s argument that it was compelled to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to prevent the country from joining NATO and being used by the Western alliance as a launchpad to attack Russia – arguments rejected by Kyiv and its allies but supported in part by Trump.

Trump said after the call that he had made “no progress” with Putin on moving towards a ceasefire, adding that he was “not happy” about the war in Ukraine.

The phone call, their sixth since Trump started his second term in January, came the day after the Pentagon confirmed it was halting some weapons deliveries to Kyiv, including air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery. They were promised under President Joe Biden’s administration. The announcement was made as Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine

Trump and Putin did not broach the subject of the paused weapons deliveries, according to the Kremlin aide, who said the US president had raised the issue of bringing about a swift end to the war.

While the prospect of a face-to-face meeting was not discussed, the two leaders agreed to keep talking.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, have held a lengthy telephone conversation on Thursday, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has announced.

The two leaders discussed ongoing Ukraine peace talks, the volatile state of affairs in the Middle East, and Russia-US cooperation, he stated.

Below is the full text of Ushakov’s statement as published on the Kremlin website.

Dear colleagues,

Another almost hour-long telephone conversation between President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump has just concluded.

Donald Trump began the conversation by announcing that the US Congress passed his administration’s flagship bill envisaging reforms in taxation, immigration, and the energy sector. President Trump himself calls it the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’.

Vladimir Putin wished Donald Trump success in implementing the changes he envisioned and, naturally, offered greetings for Independence Day, the national day of the United States, which will be celebrated tomorrow.

At the same time, it was noted by our side that Russia had played a significant part in the establishment of the United States as a nation, including during the War of Independence, fought 250 years ago, and later during the Civil War, which ended 160 years ago. It was stated that our countries are bound not only by their alliance during World Wars One and Two, but also by deeper historical ties.

Incidentally, Vladimir Putin mentioned that just before speaking with Donald Trump, he had a conversation with representatives of Russia’s business community. One of the ideas suggested during that meeting was holding an exchange of motion pictures promoting traditional values, which both we and the Trump administration hold dear. President Trump reacted immediately and said he liked this idea.

There was a detailed discussion of the situation surrounding Iran, and the state of affairs in the Middle East in general. The Russian side emphasized it was crucial to settle any and all contentious issues, differences, and conflicts exclusively via political and diplomatic means. The two leaders agreed to maintain contact on the issue between the respective foreign services, defense ministries, and presidential aides.

The latest developments in Syria were addressed as well. Similarly, the Russian and US sides intend to continue the dialogue on the matter.

Naturally, the issues surrounding Ukraine were also discussed. Donald Trump has once again raised the issue of ending the hostilities as soon as possible. In turn, Vladimir Putin noted that we still continued the search for a political, negotiated solution to the conflict. He informed his counterpart on the progress in implementing the humanitarian agreements reached during the second round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks held in Istanbul. He also noted Russia was willing to pursue negotiations. Additionally, the President of Russia said that Russia would strive to achieve its goals, namely the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs, the bitter confrontation that we are seeing now. Russia will not back down from these goals.

While exchanging views on bilateral matters, the two sides confirmed their mutual interest in implementing a number of promising projects in economy, notably the energy sector and space exploration.

Overall, I would like to point out that the conversation between the two presidents has, as always, shown that they are on the same page. It was candid, business-minded, and concrete. The two presidents will naturally continue communicating and will have another conversation soon.

Thank you.

Kiev ablaze after reported overnight missile and drone barrage - Video

©Telegram

Ukrainian officials have claimed that the Russian military launched a wave of missile and drone strikes targeting the capital early Friday. The Russian Ministry of Defense has yet to comment.

The first strikes in Kiev were reported shortly after midnight, with Mayor Vitaly Klitschko urging residents to seek shelter as the capital’s air defenses engaged incoming targets. Officials confirmed that by 4am, several mostly “non-residential” facilities in multiple districts had been hit in successive waves.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities, but Klitschko said at least 14 people were injured after falling debris from intercepted missiles and drones triggered fires in residential areas and private yards.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Kiev's Zhuliany International Airport is reportedly on fire following multiple ballistic missile and drone strikes this evening.

US-supplied Patroit and other air defense batteries has been known to be stationed at the airport.

Footage was recorded from coordinates:… pic.twitter.com/UoszbukZIN

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) July 4, 2025

Meanwhile, multiple blurred-out videos shared on Ukrainian social media appeared to show the aftermath of the strikes, with numerous fires lighting up the city skyline.

Officials confirmed at least 13 impacts in different parts of the capital.

🇷🇺 Russia is ROCKING Kiev tonight. At least 10 explosions in one minute (video). pic.twitter.com/Moq4C36pwR

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) July 4, 2025

The exact locations and types of facilities hit were difficult to verify, as Ukrainian authorities heavily censor the flow of information and punish those who share footage of the impacts – unless a civilian facility is affected.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet issued a statement on the incident. Moscow regularly conducts drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure, maintaining that its operations do not target civilians and blaming Kiev for placing air defense systems in densely populated areas.

The reported strikes came just hours after President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with his US counterpart, during which Donald Trump reportedly urged Russia to cease hostilities in Ukraine “as soon as possible.” Putin, in turn, reaffirmed Moscow’s openness to a negotiated solution but reportedly stated that Russia would not back down until the “well-known root causes” of the conflict are addressed.

Despite several rounds of direct negotiations in Istanbul in recent months, Kiev has continued long-range attacks on Russian territory, including nightly drone raids. On Friday Morning, a woman was killed when a drone crashed into an apartment building in the Rostov Region. On Tuesday, a Ukrainian drone strike caused multiple fatalities and serious injuries at an industrial plant in the city of Izhevsk, located about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of Moscow. On Monday, a woman was killed and three others injured in a missile strike on the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

Israel kills dozens of Gaza aid seekers in ‘unprovoked gunfire‘

At least 33 aid seekers are among 73 Palestinians killed in Gaza since dawn, medical sources have told Al Jazeera, with witnesses describing “horror scenes” after “unprovoked gunfire” at the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites.

More than 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the last 48 hours, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, which says Israel has “committed 26 bloody massacres” in that period.

At least 73 people have been killed by Israel since dawn on Thursday, including 33 desperate aid seekers at the controversial Israeli and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites.

Thirteen people were killed when Israeli forces attacked a tent in al-Mawasi in the south, while 16 were killed and many wounded in an attack on Mustafa Hafez School, sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City, medical sources told Al Jazeera

The Government Media Office statement on Thursday said the attacks over the last 48 hours had targeted civilians in shelters and displacement centres overcrowded with tens of thousands of displaced people, public rest areas, Palestinian families inside their homes, popular markets and vital civilian facilities, and starving civilians searching for food.

This video may contain light patterns or images that could trigger seizures or cause discomfort for people with visual sensitivities

Reporting from Deir el-Balah on the latest killings of Palestinians near GHF aid centres, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said, “People described scenes of horror as they wait for hours just hoping to get their hands on basic food supplies, only to be met with sudden and unprovoked gunfire … I’ve been speaking to a number of survivors this morning, and they told me such heartbreaking testimonies and they shared the horrific scenes that unfolded near the GHF-run aid centres.

“They told me that there was no prior warning, no prior indication – just gunfire ripping through the crowd, desperate Palestinians scattered for cover as bullets flew. They told me that emergency services and medical teams were not able to access the area due to the intensity of the gunfire … This absolutely reflects the collapse of the humanitarian landscape here in Gaza,” he added.

GFH’s US contractors reportedly using live fire

US contractors ostensibly guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza have been using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press news agency.

Two US contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, said they were speaking out because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open licence to do whatever they wished.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, said an Israeli statement on a recent Haaretz report that detailed Israeli troops shooting Palestinians at aid sites stated “that the Israeli army does not deliberately target civilians and that media reports are exaggerated about the number of casualties. Of course, this is a template, if you will, of Israeli reaction that we see every time something is uncovered about the conduct of the Israeli army. This particular report talks about the [US] contractors as well.”

GHF, she added, is “not just to replace the humanitarian mechanism run by international organisations for decades in Gaza, but it’s also to apply maximum pressure on the civilian population”. Odeh also noted that Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said this week that too much aid is going to Gaza and that none should enter to ensure an Israeli victory.

Dr Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian emergency medicine doctor and professor who has provided healthcare in Gaza for more than 30 years, told Al Jazeera the GFH operation “is part of the Israeli occupation forces’ and the Israeli government plan to ethnically cleanse and to fulfil their goal of genocide in Gaza”.

ATTACKED BY ISRAEL, DIRECTOR OF INDONESIAN HOSPITAL IN GAZA KILLED WITH HIS WIFE AND CHILD

Marwan al-Sultan, a renowned cardiologist and director of the Indonesian hospital, is the 70th healthcare worker to be killed by Israeli attacks in the past 50 days, says Palestinian medical organisation

Killed: Dr Marwan al-Sultan, head of the Indonesian hospital in Gaza. Photograph: X

An Israeli airstrike has killed one of Gaza’s most senior doctors in a “catastrophic” loss to the already decimated healthcare system. A number of family members were reported to have been killed alongside him.

Dr Marwan al-Sultan, a renowned and highly experienced cardiologist and director of the Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip, is the 70th healthcare worker to be killed by Israeli attacks in the last 50 days, according to Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), a Palestinian medical organisation.

“The killing of Dr Marwan al-Sultan by the Israeli military is a catastrophic loss to Gaza and the entire medical community, and will have a devastating impact on Gaza’s healthcare system,” said Muath Alser, director of HWW.

“This is part of a much longer and systematic atrocious targeting of healthcare workers sanctioned by impunity. This is a tragic loss of life, but also an obliteration of their decades of lifesaving medical expertise and care at a time when the situation facing Palestinian civilians is unfathomably catastrophic,” Alser added.

“We are in great shock and grief. He cannot be replaced,” said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

“He was a prominent scholar and one of the two remaining cardiologists left in Gaza. Thousands of heart patients will suffer as a result of his killing. His only fault was that he was a doctor. We have no option but to be steadfast, but the sense of loss is devastating.”

Earlier this month, al-Sultan spoke to the Guardian about the critical situation he and other staff at the Indonesian hospital were facing as they struggled to cope with the number of civilian casualties after the escalation of Israeli attacks in May.

Among the healthcare workers killed in the past 50 days were three other doctors, the chief nurses of the Indonesian hospital and al-Nasser children’s hospital, one of Gaza’s most senior midwives, a senior radiology technician and dozens of young medical graduates and trainee nurses.

On 6 June, the first day of Eid, nine healthcare workers were killed in one day in airstrikes in the north of Gaza, where they were sheltering with their families, according to HWW.

Fares Afana, who leads ambulance services in northern Gaza, lost his son in June. Bara’a, who was also working as a paramedic, was at an apartment block in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighbourhood on 9 June treating people injured in an Israeli airstrike when the building was hit for a second time by Israeli artillery, killing everyone inside.

“They were directly targeted,” said Afana, who says that Bara’a died alongside two other paramedics.

“When I went to the place, it was a horrible sight and cruel to see their bodies torn to pieces. If there had been some reaction from the world when healthcare workers were first targeted by the Israeli forces, they would have not dared to commit more of these attacks.”

He said his son had dedicated his life to the medical profession and had dreams of being a doctor. “He was kind and loved by everyone who knew him.”

The total number of healthcare workers who have lost their lives in military attacks since the war began in October 2023 now exceeds 1,400 according to UN figures.

Insecurity Insight, a conflict data NGO, says it has verified the deaths of hundreds of healthcare workers who have been killed inside health facilities, while attempting to reach wounded civilians, by Israeli sniper fire, when travelling in ambulances, while evacuating patients, at checkpoints and inside schools and refugee camps used as temporary shelters since October 2023.

It is believed that hundreds more healthcare workers from Gaza remain in Israeli detention, where they have reported being tortured, beaten and held without charge.

Medglobal, a medical NGO based in the US that provides medical services and care in Gaza, says it believes more than 300 medical staff are in Israeli prisons, among them senior physicians including Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital who has been held in detention since December 2024.

Over 30 Palestinians killed as Trump says Israel agrees to Gaza truce

Israeli forces have killed more than 30 Palestinians across Gaza as they target aid seekers and displaced people sheltering in tents.

More than 600 Palestinians have been killed in just five weeks while waiting for food parcels at the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites.

US President Donald Trump says Israel has agreed to “the necessary conditions to finalise” a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, and urges Hamas to accept the proposal.

Officials at al-Shifa, the largest medical centre in northern Gaza, say hundreds of patients are “facing death” as the hospital runs out of fuel amid Israel’s blockade.

At least 74 killed as Israeli forces strike a Gaza cafe and fire on people seeking food, health officials say

A day earlier Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said.

One airstrike hit Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City when it was crowded with women and children, said Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside.

"Without a warning, all of a sudden, a warplane hit the place, shaking it like an earthquake," he said.

Dozens were wounded, many critically, alongside at least 30 people killed, said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry's emergency and ambulance service in northern Gaza.

Two other strikes on a Gaza City street killed 15 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. A strike on a building killed six people near the town of Zawaida, according to Al-Aqsa hospital.

The cafe, one of the few businesses to continue operating during the 20-month war, was a gathering spot for residents seeking internet access and a place to charge their phones. Videos circulating on social media showed bloodied and disfigured bodies on the ground and the wounded being carried away in blankets.

The mother of the Palestinian journalist Ismail Abu Hatab, who was killed in an Israeli strike on a café, on Monday.Jehad Alshrafi/AP

Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed 11 people who had been seeking food in southern Gaza, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza's Health Ministry.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said it received the bodies of people shot while returning from an aid site associated with the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. It was part of a deadly pattern that has killed more than 500 Palestinians around the chaotic and controversial aid distribution program over the past month.

The shootings happened around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the GHF site in Khan Younis, as Palestinians returned from the site along the only accessible route. Palestinians are often forced to travel long distances to access the GHF hubs in hopes of obtaining aid.

Nasser Hospital said an additional person was killed near a GHF hub in the southern city of Rafah. Another person was killed while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza, according to Al-Awda hospital.

Ten other people were killed at a United Nations aid warehouse in northern Gaza, according to the Health Ministry's ambulance and emergency service.

Witnesses describe Israeli gunfire

One witness, Monzer Hisham Ismail said troops attacked the crowds returning from the GHF hub in Khan Younis.

"We were targeted by (the Israeli) artillery," he said.

Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar was walking with dozens of others when he saw troops in tanks and other vehicles racing toward them. They fired warning shots before firing at the crowds, he said.

GHF may be liable for criminal prosecution over aid site killings in Gaza

British international human rights lawyer Toby Cadman says the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) may be liable for criminal prosecution over the daily killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces near aid sites it operates in Gaza.

“As we’ve seen, the targeting of civilians, particularly those who are seeking aid, is relentless,” he sai. “We have seen hundreds of casualties so far.”

He said the question of criminal liability would “come down to the circumstances and the evidence surrounding each individual attack”.

“But what we are seeing very clearly is that they are not taking sufficient steps [to ensure the safety of Palestinian aid seekers] – if not being directly involved.”

There were “very real risks that they are not providing sufficient care, which imposes a form of criminal liability”, he said.

Watch our interview with Toby Cadman here:

Zuckerberg unveils new ‘superintelligence laboratory’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the formation of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), a new division dedicated to building AI systems that surpass human capabilities.

Mark Zuckerberg said Monday that he's creating Meta Superintelligence Labs, which will be led by some of his company's most recent hires, including Scale AI ex-CEO Alexandr Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.

Zuckerberg said the new AI superintelligence unit, MSL, will house the company's various teams working on foundation models such as the open-source Llama software, products and Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research projects, according to an internal memo obtained by CNBC.

Bloomberg first reported about the new unit.

Meta's co-founder and CEO has been on an AI hiring blitz as he faces fierce competition from rivals such as OpenAI and Google. Earlier in June, the company said it would hire Wang, now Meta's chief AI officer, and some of his colleagues as part of a $14.3 billion investment into Scale AI.

Meta also hired Friedman and his business partner, Daniel Gross, who was CEO of Safe Superintelligence, the AI startup created by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, CNBC earlier reported. Meta had attempted to buy Safe Superintelligence but was rebuffed by Sutskever.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a recent podcast that Meta was recruiting AI researchers from his company, offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million.

Meta technology chief Andrew Bosworth told CNBC's "Closing Bell Overtime" in an interview on June 20 that OpenAI was countering Meta's offers.

"The market is setting a rate here for a level of talent which is really incredible and kind of unprecedented in my 20-year career as a technology executive," Bosworth said.

Here is Zuckerberg's full internal memo released Monday:

As the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight. I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes for Meta to lead the way. Today I want to share some details about how we're organizing our AI efforts to build towards our vision: personal superintelligence for everyone.

We're going to call our overall organization Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). This includes all of our foundations, product, and FAIR teams, as well as a new lab focused on developing the next generation of our models.

Alexandr Wang has joined Meta to serve as our Chief AI Officer and lead MSL. Alex and I have worked together for several years, and I consider him to be the most impressive founder of his generation. He has a clear sense of the historic importance of superintelligence, and as co-founder and CEO he built ScaleAI into a fast-growing company involved in the development of almost all leading models across the industry.

Nat Friedman has also joined Meta to partner with Alex to lead MSL, heading our work on AI products and applied research. Nat will work with Connor to define his role going forward. He ran GitHub at Microsoft, and most recently has run one of the leading AI investment firms. Nat has served on our Meta Advisory Group for the last year, so he already has a good sense of our roadmap and what we need to do.

We also have several strong new team members joining today or who have joined in the past few weeks that I'm excited to share as well:

• Trapit Bansal -- pioneered RL on chain of thought and co-creator of o-series models at OpenAI.



• Shuchao Bi -- co-creator of GPT-4o voice mode and o4-mini. Previously led multimodal post-training at OpenAI.



• Huiwen Chang -- co-creator of GPT-4o's image generation, and previously invented MaskGIT and Muse text-to-image architectures at Google Research



• Ji Lin -- helped build o3/o4-mini, GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.5, 4o-imagegen, and Operator reasoning stack.



• Joel Pobar -- inference at Anthropic. Previously at Meta for 11 years on HHVM, Hack, Flow, Redex, performance tooling, and machine learning.



• Jack Rae -- pre-training tech lead for Gemini and reasoning for Gemini 2.5. Led Gopher and Chinchilla early LLM efforts at DeepMind.



• Hongyu Ren -- co-creator of GPT-4o, 4o-mini, o1-mini, o3-mini, o3 and o4-mini. Previously leading a group for post-training at OpenAI.



• Johan Schalkwyk -- former Google Fellow, early contributor to Sesame, and technical lead for Maya.



• Pei Sun -- post-training, coding, and reasoning for Gemini at Google Deepmind. Previously created the last two generations of Waymo's perception models.



• Jiahui Yu -- co-creator of o3, o4-mini, GPT-4.1 and GPT-4o. Previously led the perception team at OpenAI, and co-led multimodal at Gemini.



• Shengjia Zhao -- co-creator of ChatGPT, GPT-4, all mini models, 4.1 and o3. Previously led synthetic data at OpenAI.

I'm excited about the progress we have planned for Llama 4.1 and 4.2. These models power Meta AI, which is used by more than 1 billion monthly actives across our apps and an increasing number of agents across Meta that help improve our products and technology. We're committed to continuing to build out these models.

In parallel, we're going to start research on our next generation of models to get to the frontier in the next year or so. I've spent the past few months meeting top folks across Meta, other AI labs, and promising startups to put together the founding group for this small talent-dense effort. We're still forming this group and we'll ask several people across the AI org to join this lab as well.

Meta is uniquely positioned to deliver superintelligence to the world. We have a strong business that supports building out significantly more compute than smaller labs. We have deeper experience building and growing products that reach billions of people. We are pioneering and leading the AI glasses and wearables category that is growing very quickly. And our company structure allows us to move with vastly greater conviction and boldness. I'm optimistic that this new influx of talent and parallel approach to model development will set us up to deliver on the promise of personal superintelligence for everyone.

We have even more great people at all levels joining this effort in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. I'm excited to dive in and get to work.

Israeli strike kills 18 Palestinians at food aid site in Gaza

A mourner during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to the Gaza health ministry, were killed in the strike in Deir al-Balah on Thursday. Photograph: Ramadan Abed/Reuters

An Israeli strike hit a street in central Gaza where witnesses said a crowd of people were getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials said 18 people were killed.

Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys.

The strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah appeared to target members of Sahm, a security unit tasked with stopping looters and cracking down on merchants who sell stolen aid at high prices. The unit was part of Gaza's Hamas-led Interior Ministry but included members of other factions.

Eighteen people have been killed in an Israeli strike targeting Palestinian police distributing flour in a market in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, medical officials have said.

The reported strike, on Thursday afternoon, is the latest in a series of air attacks, shootings and bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that has killed hundreds of desperate civilians seeking aid in the devastated Palestinian territory.

It appears to have targeted members of a security force set up by the Hamas-led interior ministry to target looters and merchants who sell stolen aid at high prices.

The unit, known as Sahm, or Arrow, confiscates stolen aid which it then distributes. Witnesses said many of the casualties were ordinary civilians who had gathered to receive sacks of flour from a warehouse near the Birka crossroads in the northern part of Deir al-Balah.

The dead included a child and at least seven Sahm members, according to the nearby al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, where casualties were taken.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Food has become extremely scarce in Gaza since a tight blockade on all supplies was imposed by Israel throughout March and April, threatening many of the 2.3 million people who live there with a “critical risk of famine”.

A horrific scene

Witnesses said the Sahm unit was distributing bags of flour and other goods confiscated from looters and corrupt merchants, drawing a crowd when the strike hit.

Video of the aftermath showed bodies, several torn, of multiple young men in the street with blood splattering on the pavement and walls of buildings. The dead included a child and at least seven Sahmt members, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where casualties were taken.

Relatives of Palestinians killed in Israeli army strikes wait for their burials at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, June 26, 2025. (Jehad Alshrafi)

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has accused the militant Hamas group of stealing aid and using it to prop up its rule in the enclave. Israeli forces have repeatedly struck Gaza's police, considering them a branch of Hamas.

An association of Gaza's influential clans and tribes said Wednesday (local time) they have started an independent effort to guard aid convoys to prevent looting. The National Gathering of Palestinian Clans and Tribes said it helped escort a rare shipment of flour that entered northern Gaza that evening.

It was unclear, however, if the association had coordinated with the UN or Israeli authorities. The World Food Programme did not immediately respond to requests for comment by The Associated Press.

"We will no longer allow thieves to steal from the convoys for the merchants and force us to buy them for high prices," Abu Ahmad al-Gharbawi, a figure involved in the tribal effort, told the AP.

Accusations from Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz in a joint statement Wednesday accused Hamas of stealing aid that is entering northern Gaza and called on the Israeli military to plan to prevent it.

Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centre. (Source: Associated Press)

The National Gathering slammed the statement, saying the accusation of theft was aimed at justifying the Israeli military's "aggressive practices". It said aid was "fully secured" by the tribes, which it said were committed to delivering the supplies to the population.

The move by tribes to protect aid convoys brings yet another player in an aid situation that has become fragmented, confused and violent, even as Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians struggle to feed their families.

Throughout the more than 20-month-old war, the UN led the massive aid operation by humanitarian groups providing food, shelter, medicine and other goods to Palestinians even amid the fighting. The UN and other aid groups say that when significant amounts of supplies are allowed into Gaza, looting and theft dwindles.

Israel, however, seeks to replace the UN-led system, saying Hamas has been siphoning off large amounts of supplies from it, a claim the UN and other aid groups deny.

Israel has backed an American private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has started distributing food boxes at four locations, mainly in the far south of Gaza for the past month.

Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the hubs, moving through Israeli military zones where witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire with heavy barrages to control the crowds.

Health officials say hundreds of people have been killed and wounded. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots.

Palestinians line up to receive bags of flour distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, June 26, 2025.

Palestinians line up to receive bags of flour distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, June 26, 2025. (Source: Associated Press)

A trickle of aid

Israel has continued to allow a smaller number of aid trucks into Gaza for UN distribution. The World Health Organization said it had been able to deliver its first medical shipment into Gaza since March 2, with nine trucks bringing blood, plasma and other supplies to Nasser Hospital, the biggest hospital still functioning in southern Gaza.

In Gaza City, large crowds gathered at an aid distribution point to receive bags of flour from the convoy that arrived the previous evening, according to photos taken by a cameraman collaborating with the AP.

Hiba Khalil, a mother of seven, said she can't afford looted aid that is sold in markets for astronomical prices and was relieved to get flour for the first time in months.

"We've waited for months without having flour or eating much and our children would always cry," she said.

Another woman, Umm Alaa Mekdad, said she hoped more convoys would make it through after struggling to deal with looters.