Israeli attacks kill Palestinians at water distribution point

Palestinians go to collect aid from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Khan Younis. (Reuters: Hatem Khaled)

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes have killed at least 27 Palestinians today, including 10 near a water distribution point.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP news agency that houses and displacement shelters were among the targets hit overnight.

Medical sources confirmed that a total of 27 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since the start of the day, 18 of them in Nuseirat alone.

Thousands of victims are feared trapped under rubble, inaccessible to emergency and civil defense teams due to Israeli attacks.

Israel's genocidal attacks continue unabated despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Dozens of Palestinians reportedly killed while seeking aid as more perish in Israeli air strikes

At least 31 Palestinians have been fatally shot on their way to an aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip, while Israeli air strikes have killed at least 28 Palestinians, including four children, on the same day, according to Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses.

There were no signs of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks following two days of meetings between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Trump had said he was nearing an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would potentially wind down the war.

Those shot dead were on their way to a distribution site run by the Israeli-backed American organisation Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) near Rafah in southern Gaza, hospital officials and witnesses said.

The Red Cross said its field hospital saw its largest influx of dead in more than a year of operation after the shootings, and that the overwhelming majority of the more than 100 people hurt had gunshot wounds.

Palestinian woman Somaya Al-Shaer, pictured with her daughter, mourns her son, who medics say was killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid near a distribution point. (Reuters: Ramadan Abed)

Air strikes in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah killed 13, including the four children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.

Fifteen others were killed in Khan Younis in the south, according to Nasser Hospital.

Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Intense air strikes continued on Saturday evening in the area of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

"Arrogance is what brought the disaster upon us," former hostage Eli Sharabi said of Israeli leaders.

Teen's first attempt to pick up food ends in death

The 21-month war has left much of Gaza's population of more than 2 million reliant on outside aid, with food security experts warning of famine.

Israel blocked and then restricted aid entry after ending the latest ceasefire in March.

"All responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites," the Red Cross said after the shootings near Rafah, noting the "alarming frequency and scale" of such mass casualty incidents.

Israel's military said it fired warning shots toward people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching.

It said it was not aware of any casualties.

The GHF said no incident occurred near its sites.

Palestinians collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution centre of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah. (Reuters: Stringer)

Sumaya al-Sha'er's 17-year-old son, Nasir, was killed, hospital officials said.

"He said to me, 'Mom, you don't have flour and today I'll go and bring you flour, even if I die, I'll go and get it,'" she said.

"But he never came back home."

Until then, she said, she had prevented the teenager from going to GHF sites because she thought it was too dangerous.

Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, another witness, said Israel's military had ordered them to proceed to the site when the shooting started.

Witnesses, health officials and UN officials say hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire while heading toward GHF distribution points through military zones off limits to independent media.

The GHF denied there had been violence in or around its sites. But two of its contractors told The Associated Press that their colleagues had fired live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scrambled for food, allegations the foundation denied.

The first fuel — 150,000 litres — entered Gaza this week after 130 days, a joint statement by UN aid bodies said, calling it a small amount for "the backbone of survival in Gaza".

Fuel runs hospitals, water systems, transport and more, the statement said.

The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 2023 has so far resulted in at least 57,882 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 138,095 others injured.

Kiev needs ceasefire by the end of 2025 – Ukrainian spy chief

Head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kirill Budanov in Kiev, Ukraine, February 25, 2024. ©Getty Images/Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Anadolu

A ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine must be reached by the end of the year, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kirill Budanov, said in an interview with Bloomberg published on Friday.

He made his remarks as Ukrainian troops have been steadily losing ground along different sections of the front line, and after the 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region ended in costly failure. The Ukrainian army has also been struggling to bring in new conscripts.

According to Bloomberg, Budanov argued that “a ceasefire must be reached as soon as possible and well before the end of this year.”

“Is it realistic to do so? Yes. Is it difficult? No,” he told Bloomberg. “It takes at least three sides – Ukraine, Russia, and the US. And we will get to this position.”

Moscow has rejected the proposal for an immediate and unconditional truce, insisting that Kiev and its Western backers must first agree to several demands, including the withdrawal of troops from Russian territory claimed by Ukraine, an end to Ukraine’s mobilization campaign, and a halt to foreign military aid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also accused Ukraine of wanting to use any pause in fighting to rearm and regroup its forces. Moscow has further warned that it will not accept the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine, even if they are deployed under the guise of peacekeepers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this week that the sides are working to arrange a third round of direct talks in Türkiye. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, however, said during a summit in Rome on Thursday that the countries must first complete the prisoner swaps agreed during negotiations in Istanbul on June 2.

Israel kills 45 in Gaza today as UN says starvation ‘worse than ever’

Sara Al-Nouri mourns over the body of her 13-year-old sister, Sama, who was among 10 children and five adults killed by an Israeli strike outside a medical clinic while they were waiting to receive nutritional supplements at a Project Hope-run medical clinic in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has accused Israel of engineering the “most cruel and Machiavellian scheme to kill” in Gaza, which has become “the graveyard of children and starving people”.

The UN’s World Food Programme says that as Israeli attacks intensify, hunger in Gaza is “worse than ever”, with 90,000 children needing urgent treatment from malnutrition.

Several people, including children, have been killed in an Israeli bombardment of the Halimah al-Saadiyah School in Jabalia an-Nazla, in northern Gaza.

A source at Nasser Medical Complex has told Al Jazeera that an unspecified number of Palestinians were wounded in Israeli drone strikes on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.

People in Gaza have “no way out”, he said. “Their choice is between 2 deaths: starvation or being [shot] at.”

Lazzarini was reacting to the Israeli military’s killing of 15 people, including nine children and four women, as they waited in line for nutritional supplements in the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on Thursday

Inaction & silence are complicities.
Under our watch, #Gaza has become the graveyard of children & starving people.

No way out. Their choice is between 2 deaths: starvation or being shoot at.

The most cruel & machiavellian scheme to kill, in total impunity.

Our norms & values… https://t.co/oWQYXSn1fb

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 11, 2025

A father mourns 2 sons killed in an Israeli strike as hunger worsens in Gaza

Three brothers in the Gaza Strip woke up early to run to a local clinic to get “sweets,” their word for the emergency food supplements distributed by aid groups. By the time their father woke up, two of the brothers had been fatally wounded by an Israeli strike and the third had lost an eye.

Fadi Al-Nouri carries the body of his 11-year-old nephew Omar, who was among 10 people, including two women and five children, killed in an Israeli strike while they were waiting to receive nutritional supplements at a Project Hope-run medical clinic in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)

The strike outside the clinic on Thursday in the central city of Deir Al-Balah killed 14 people, including 9 children, according to a local hospital, which had initially reported 10 children killed but later said one had died in a separate incident.

The Israeli military said it targeted a militant it said had taken part in the Hamas attack that ignited the 21-month war. Security camera footage appeared to show two young men targeted as they walked past the clinic where several people were squatting outside.

The bodies of two children lie on the hospital floor of a Project Hope-run medical clinic in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, after an Israeli strike on Thursday [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]

Hatem Al-Nouri’s four-year-old son, Amir, was killed immediately. His eight-year-old son, Omar, was still breathing when he reached the hospital but died shortly thereafter. He said that at first he didn’t recognize his third son, two-year-old Siraj, because his eye had been torn out.

“What did these children do to deserve this?” the father said as he broke into tears. “They were dreaming of having a loaf of bread.”

Violence in the West Bank

In a separate development, Israeli settlers killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. It said Seifeddin Musalat, 23, was beaten to death and Mohammed Al-Shalabi, 23, was shot in the chest in the village of Sinjil near the city of Ramallah. Both were 23.

The military said Palestinians had hurled rocks at Israelis in the area earlier on Friday, lightly wounding two people. That set off a larger confrontation that included “vandalism of Palestinian property, arson, physical clashes, and rock hurling,” the army said. It said troops had dispersed the crowds, without saying if anyone was arrested.

Palestinians and rights groups have long accused the military of ignoring settler violence, which has spiked — along with Palestinian attacks and Israeli military raids — since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

A ‘sharp and unprecedented’ rise in malnutrition

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks while trying to get food, according to local health officials. Experts say hunger is widespread among the territory’s 2 million Palestinians and that Israel’s blockade and military offensive have put them at risk of famine.

The deputy director of the World Food Program said Friday that humanitarian needs and constraints on the UN’s ability to provide aid are worse than he’s ever seen, saying “starvation is spreading” and one in three people are going for days without eating.

Carl Skau told UN reporters in New York that on a visit to Gaza last week he didn’t see any markets, only small amounts of potatoes being sold on a few street corners in Gaza City. He was told that a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of flour now costs over $25.

The international aid group Doctors Without Borders said it has recorded a “sharp and unprecedented rise” in acute malnutrition at two clinics it operates in Gaza, with more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women, and nearly 500 children, receiving outpatient therapeutic food.

“Our neonatal intensive care unit is severely overcrowded, with four to five babies sharing a single incubator,” Dr. Joanne Perry, a physician with the group, said in a statement. “This is my third time in Gaza, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Mothers are asking me for food for their children, pregnant women who are six months along often weigh no more than 40 kilograms (88 pounds).”

The Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza says it is allowing enough food to enter and blames the UN and other aid groups for not promptly distributing it.

Risking their lives for food

Israel ended a ceasefire and renewed its offensive in March. It eased a 2 1/2 month blockade in May, but the UN and aid groups say they are struggling to distribute humanitarian aid because of Israeli military restrictions and a breakdown of law and order that has led to widespread looting.

A separate aid mechanism built around an American group backed by Israel has Palestinians running a deadly gantlet to reach its sites. Witnesses and health officials say hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire while heading toward the distribution points through military zones off limits to independent media.

The military has acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

The Israeli- and US-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation denies there has been any violence in or around its sites. But two of its contractors told The Associated Press that their colleagues have fired live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food, allegations denied by the foundation.

The UN Human Rights Office said Thursday that it has recorded 798 killings near Gaza aid sites in a little over a month leading up to July 7. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the office, said 615 were killed “in the vicinity of the GHF sites” and the remainder on convoy routes used by other aid groups.

A GHF spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the group’s policies, rejected the “false and misleading stats,” saying most of the deaths were linked to shootings near UN convoys, which pass by Israeli army positions and have been attacked by armed gangs and unloaded by crowds.

Israel has long accused UN bodies of being biased against it.

No ceasefire after two days of Trump-Netanyahu talks

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

Moscow responds to German Chancellor ultimatum

FILE PHOTO: Maria Zakharova.
©Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev

Moscow has pushed back against German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s demand that Russia fund Ukraine’s reconstruction, indicating that Berlin could owe Russia a significant amount for the Soviet Union’s efforts to rebuild Europe after World War II.

On Thursday, speaking at the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference in Rome, Merz claimed that Russia had inflicted at least €500 billion ($540 billion) in damages and should be held responsible for covering them. He insisted that until Moscow agrees to the terms, it should not regain access to any of its frozen assets in the West.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected Merz’s demands, suggesting that it was time for Russia to calculate what it is owed. “We can start with the Western intervention of 1918–1922,” she said, referring to British, French, US, Japanese, and German troops that occupied parts of the country and supported anti-Bolshevik forces during the civil war.

She went on to suggest that Germany owes Russia a great deal for the Soviet efforts to liberate and rebuild the country and Europe after WWII. Zakharova also pointed out that “the collapse of the Soviet Union didn’t come cheap for us either. Given that Western officials have long admitted they played a role in that:

"we have every reason to get out the calculator."

Zakharova added that Merz might also “voluntarily pony up” for several instances of aid, including the restoration by Soviet specialists of masterpieces in the German Dresden Gallery which were damaged during WWII.

While most of the paintings hidden by the Nazis in Saxon mines escaped the devastating effects of Allied bombing raids, poor storage conditions damaged them, requiring extensive restoration work led by the Soviets. In 1955, the Soviet Union returned more than 1,200 paintings to East Germany.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the West has frozen around $300 billion in Russian central bank and sovereign assets. While some Western countries pushed to seize these assets outright to fund Ukraine, many have pointed to serious legal hurdles to the move. Instead, the EU has approved using profits generated from these frozen assets to provide military and economic aid to Kiev.

Moscow has denounced the measure as outright “theft,” arguing that the practice violates international norms on sovereign property and warning of long-term risks to global financial stability.

UN expert Albanese rejects ‘obscene’ US sanctions for criticising Israel

UN special rapporteur Albanese on US sanctions: ‘This is not a sign of power, it’s a sign of guilt’

United Nations expert Francesca Albanese has slammed the decision by the United States to sanction her as “obscene”, saying she is being targeted for calling out Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Speaking on Thursday, Albanese, who serves as the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said she would not be cowed into silence by the US move against her on Wednesday.

Francesca Albanese said in an interview with The Associated Press that the powerful were trying to silence her for defending those without any power of their own, “other than standing and hoping not to die, not to see their children slaughtered.”

“This is not a sign of power, it’s a sign of guilt,” the Italian human rights lawyer said.

The State Department’s decision to impose sanctions on Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, followed an unsuccessful U.S. pressure campaign to force the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the U.N.’s top human rights body, to remove her from her post.

She is tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories and has been vocal about what she has described as the “genocide” by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the U.S. have strongly denied that accusation.

Last week, she released a report mapping the corporations aiding Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza in breach of international law.

Albanese told Al Jazeera that she was still evaluating the effects the US sanctions would have on her.

However, she said her problems are nothing compared with what Palestinians face in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing bombardments, ground operations and blockade of the territory.

Albanese also took aim at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), calling it a “death trap”. The Israeli- and US-backed group runs the aid distribution sites where hundreds of Palestinians have been shot and killed since late May while queueing for food.

Move against Albanese ‘a dangerous precedent’

The UN expert also defended the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) investigation into Israeli actions in Gaza and its decision to call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest on charges of war crimes.

Rubio has described Albanese’s push for the prosecution of Israeli officials at the ICC as the legal basis for the sanctions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman was among those to criticise the US sanctions on Albanese.

While highlighting that Albanese reports to the UN Human Rights Council rather than the secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric called the decision “a dangerous precedent”.

“The use of unilateral sanctions against special rapporteurs or any other UN expert or official is unacceptable,” he said.

UN Human Rights Council Ambassador Jurg Lauber also lamented the move against Albanese.

“I call on all UN member states to fully cooperate with the special rapporteurs and mandate holders of the council and to refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal against them,” Lauber said.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has destroyed most of the territory and killed more than 57,575 Palestinians over the past 21 months, according to local health officials.

Bridge collapse in Gujarat kills 10

The bridge in Mujpur near the Vadodara district in Gujarat was built in 1985. (AP)

At least ten people were killed after a bridge over a river collapsed in India's western Gujarat state, news agency Press Trust of India reported while quoting police officials.

Gujarat's Health Minister Rushikesh Patel said several vehicles were on the bridge when a portion of it collapsed, sending many into the river.

He said at least five people were rescued.

The incident occurred in Gujarat's Vadodara district, which has witnessed heavy rains over the past few days.

The bridge was constructed in 1985, Mr Patel said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the accident was "deeply saddening" and offered condolences to those who died.

India's infrastructure has long been marred by safety concerns, sometimes leading to major disasters on its highways and bridges.

In 2022, a century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed into a river in Gujarat, sending hundreds plunging into the water and killing at least 132.

"A portion of the bridge collapsed suddenly. Three vehicles that were passing from that stretch fell into the river below. We have initiated rescue operations and 10 have been pulled out of the river," said a fire brigade officer.

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The collapsed bridge is located around 25km from Vadodara city and serves as a vital route for transport vehicles travelling towards Saurashtra.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the PM National Relief Fund for the next of kin of the deceased in the Vadodara bridge collapse. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.

PM Modi paid condolences to the families of the deceased. PMO wrote in an X post, "The loss of lives due to the collapse of a bridge in Vadodara district, Gujarat, is deeply saddening. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon."