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Rescuers say Israeli fire kills at least 27 near Gaza aid point

Rescuers said the Israeli military killed at least 27 people near a US-backed aid centre in Gaza on Tuesday, with the army reporting it had fired on “suspects who advanced toward the troops”.The UN human rights chief condemned such attacks on civilians as “a war crime” after a similar shooting in the same area on Sunday killed and wounded scores of Palestinians seeking aid, according to the civil defence agency.Tuesday’s deaths in the southern city of Rafah came as rescuers reported 19 people killed in other Israeli attacks in the territory, and as the Israeli army announced three soldiers had been killed in northern Gaza.”Twenty-seven people were killed and more than 90 injured in the massacre targeting civilians who were waiting for American aid in the Al-Alam area of Rafah,” said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal, who earlier told AFP the deaths occurred “when Israeli forces opened fire with tanks and drones”.The Al-Alam roundabout is about a kilometre (just over half a mile) from a centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a recently formed group that Israel has worked with to implement a new aid distribution mechanism in the territory.The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the group over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.The military said a crowd was moving towards the aid centre when troops saw them “deviating from the designated access routes”. “The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” it said, adding it was looking into reports of casualties.At Nasser Hospital, the husband and children of Reem Al-Akhras, who was killed at Al-Alam, were beside themselves with grief.”How can I let you go, mum?” her son Zain Zidan said through tears as he cradled her white-shrouded head outside the hospital.”She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her.”Akhras’s husband, Mohamed Zidan, said “every day, unarmed people” were being killed. “They carry no weapons or knives — just bags to collect aid.”This is not humanitarian aid; it’s a trap,” he said.- ‘Unconscionable’ -Rania al-Astal, 30, said she had gone to Al-Alam with her husband to try to get food.”The shooting began intermittently around 5:00 am. Every time people approached Al-Alam roundabout, they were fired upon,” she told AFP. “But people didn’t care and rushed forward all at once — that’s when the army began firing heavily.”Fellow witness Mohammed al-Shaer, 44, said at first “the Israeli army fired shots into the air, then began shooting directly at the people”.In the end, he said, “I didn’t reach the centre, and we didn’t get any food.”The army maintained it was “not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites”.GHF said the operations at its site went ahead safely on Tuesday, but added it was aware the military was “investigating whether a number of civilians were injured”. “This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and operations area,” it added, advising “all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when travelling to our distribution sites”.The previous shooting on Sunday killed at least 31 people at the Al-Alam roundabout as they congregated before heading to the aid centre, rescuers said.A military source later acknowledged “warning shots were fired towards several suspects” about a kilometre from the aid site on Sunday. UN chief Antonio Guterres urged an independent investigation into that shooting, calling it “unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food”.”Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said after Tuesday’s deaths. “Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime.”- Soldiers killed -Israel has come under mounting pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where people are facing severe shortages after Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade on supplies.The blockade was recently eased, but the aid community has urged Israel to allow in more food, faster.The US-backed GHF says it has distributed more than seven million meals’ worth of food.Israel has stepped up its offensive in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war.The army said three of its soldiers had been killed in combat in northern Gaza, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed in the territory since the start of the conflict to 424.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 4,240 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,510, mostly civilians.Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Lee Jae-myung’s rise from poverty to brink of South Korean presidency

Lawsuits, scandals, armed troops and a knife-wielding attacker all failed to deter Lee Jae-myung’s ascendancy from sweatshop worker to the cusp of South Korea’s presidency.After losing by a razor-thin margin in 2022, the left-leaning Democratic Party candidate is now poised to be elected head of state in a landslide, according to exit polls.Opponents decry Lee, …

Lee Jae-myung’s rise from poverty to brink of South Korean presidency Read More »

Saudi readies for ‘worst case scenario’ in sweltering hajj

Near a sprawling tent city outside Mecca, Saudi hospital staff are preparing for a flood of heat-related cases as Muslim pilgrims begin hajj this week in sweltering summer temperatures.The Mina Emergency Hospital is one of 15 such facilities operating just a few weeks a year around the annual pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest sites, which in 2024 saw more than 1,300 people die in the desert heat.Saudi authorities hope to head off a fatal repeat of last year’s pilgrimage, when temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit).Temperatures this year are forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius as one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings, bringing together devotees from around the globe, officially commences on Wednesday.So far, authorities have recorded 44 cases of heat exhaustion. Abdullah Asiri, Saudi Arabia’s deputy minister for population health, told AFP at the Mina hospital that “the focus is on heat-related conditions because the hajj coincides with extreme heat”.Brimming with staff but no patients just yet, the hospital is part of the kingdom’s efforts to prepare for “the worst case scenario” after pilgrims descend on Mina, Asiri said.Defying the scorching heat, pilgrims have already started to flock to Mecca.As of Sunday, more than 1.4 million pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia for the multi-day pilgrimage, according to officials.Mecca’s Grand Mosque is serviced by the largest cooling system in the world, according to Saudi state television, with enormous fans and cooled pavements dotting the massive complex.But outside, hiding from the heat can prove challenging.- Increased capacity -Some pilgrims wear caps or carry umbrellas, but others walk on foot without any protection from the sun, like Palestinian Rabah Mansour, 70, who said that after a lifetime of working outside as a farmer, “heat doesn’t bother me”.”I have been working in the fields since I was a child,” he said, as sweat trickled down his face.While many pilgrims may be overcome with religious fervour, Asiri warned devotees against unnecessarily exposing themselves to harsh conditions.Badr Shreiteh, another Palestinian pilgrim, told AFP that he believed such hardships on the hajj trail would increase the blessings he reaps.”As you can see, we’re dripping with sweat,” he said, adding: “The more hardship we endure, the more reward we gain.”According to Asiri, of the health ministry, a total of 50,000 healthcare workers and administrative staff have been mobilised for the hajj, far exceeding previous years’ numbers.More than 700 hospital beds are ready, equipped with fans to treat severe cases of heat illnesses.”Capacity this year has been expanded by more than 60 percent compared to last year,” Asiri said, expecting greater numbers of patients.”That’s why we are doing all of these measures,” he said.Last year, medical staff treated 2,764 pilgrims for heat exhaustion and other heat-related conditions, according to the health ministry.- ‘Challenge’ -To prevent people from needing hospitalisation in the first place, 71 emergency medical points have been set up around Mecca’s holy sites with a focus on “treating patients on the ground before their case deteriorates”, said Asiri.On the second day of hajj, pilgrims will head to Mount Arafat, climbing it and reciting prayers for the whole day.Asiri said pilgrims can stay in the shade.”Most of the heat-related illnesses that happen in Arafat is because people think that they must be under the sun,” he said.”You don’t have to be outside your tent during Arafat. You don’t have to climb the mountain,” he added, citing no religious obligation to do so, “and it’s very risky from a health point of view”.Hajj Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah told AFP earlier that thousands of misting fans and more than 400 water cooling units have been deployed.Authorities built cooled walkways, including a newly completed four-kilometre (2.5-mile) pathway leading to Arafat.Last year’s hajj deaths were a high-profile example of the havoc wrought by heat in 2024, which the Copernicus Climate Change Service said was the hottest ever recorded.Abdul Majid Ati, from the Philippines, said there “extreme heat, but there are also times that we are inside the (Grand mosque) — it’s extreme cold because of the tiles and of the aircon”.”We take this as a challenge and a test of our moral character.”