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Nearly 800 people have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May, with most killed near the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s sites, the UN said Friday.An officially private effort, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations on May 26 after Israel halted supplies into the Gaza Strip for more than two months, sparking warnings of imminent famine.Since those operations began and through July 7, United Nations rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the agency had recorded “615 killings in the vicinity of the GHF sites”.Another 183 people had been killed “presumably on the routes of aid convoys” carried out by UN and other aid organisations, she told reporters in Geneva.”This is nearly 800 people who have been killed while trying to access aid,” she said, adding that “most of the injuries are gunshot injuries”.GHF operations, which effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza, have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.The GHF, which said Thursday it had distributed more than 69 million meals to date, has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.The Israeli army has accused Hamas of being responsible for firing at civilians in the vicinity of aid centres.The army said Friday it had issued instructions to Israel’s forces in the field “following lessons learned” after reports of deadly incidents at distribution facilities.It explained that it “allows the American civilian organisation (GHF) to distribute aid to Gaza residents independently, and operates in proximity to the new distribution zones to enable the distribution alongside the continuation of IDF operational activities in the Gaza Strip”.”As part of this effort, IDF forces have recently worked to reorganise the area through the installation of fences, signage placement, the opening of additional routes, and other measures,” it said.The army stressed that “following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted,” adding those incidents were “under review by the competent authorities in the IDF”.Shamdasani highlighted that the UN rights office had repeatedly raised “serious concerns about respect for international humanitarian law principles” in the war in Gaza, which erupted following Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel.”Where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food and medicine, and where they are being attacked, where… they have a choice between being shot or being fed, this is unacceptable,” she said.

Thirty PKK fighters destroyed their weapons at a symbolic ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan Friday, two months after the Kurdish rebels ended their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state.The ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region’s longest-running conflicts.Analysts say with the PKK weakened and the Kurdish public exhausted by decades of violence, Turkey’s peace offer handed its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan a chance to make the long-desired switch away from armed struggle.  The PKK’s disarmament also frames President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the Turkish leader who managed to draw a line under a bloody conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives and wrought havoc in Turkey and beyond. Outside the ancient cave of Casene, a group of 30 PKK fighters, both men and women, gathered on a stage in khaki fatigues, their faces uncovered, in front of an audience of around 300 people, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. One by one, they walked down to lay their weapons in a pit which was then set on fire. Most were rifles but there was one machinegun and one rocket-propelled grenade. As they looked on, people in the crowd started cheering while others could be heard weeping. “We voluntarily destroy our weapons as a step of goodwill,” said a statement read by the PKK’s top woman commander Bese Hozat.”Given the rising fascist pressure… and current bloodbath in the Middle East, our people are more than ever in need of a peaceful, free, equal and democratic life. “In such a context, we fully comprehend the… urgency of the step we have taken,” she said.After the ceremony, the fighters were to return to the mountains, a PKK commander said.- ‘Irreversible turning point’ -Ankara hailed the ceremony as an “irreversible turning point” on the road to peace. “The laying down of arms by PKK militants in Sulaimaniyah — a milestone of the third stage of the ongoing disarmament and decommissioning process — marks a concrete and welcome step,” a senior Turkish official said.”We view this development as an irreversible turning point.”The ceremony followed months of indirect negotiations between Ocalan and Ankara that began in October with Erdogan’s blessing, and were facilitated by Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party.The PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives.But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution, saying it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence in Turkey since 1999.Tensions rose ahead of the ceremony as two drones were shot down overnight near Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga bases, one in Sulaimaniyah, and the other in Kirkuk, according to officials, who said no-one was hurt. – ‘Power of politics’ -Throughout the morning, scores of cars could be seen pulling up to Casene cave, a symbolic location that once housed a Kurdish printing press, Firat news agency said. Representatives of top officials in Iraqi Kurdistan were at the ceremony alongside Turkish intelligence officials, DEM lawmakers and journalists. Earlier this week Ocalan said the disarmament process would be “implemented swiftly”.”I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I urge you to put this principle into practice,” he said. And Erdogan said peace efforts would gain momentum after the disarmament began. “The process will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms,” he said at the weekend.In recent months, the PKK has taken several historic steps, starting with a ceasefire and culminating in its formal dissolution announced on May 12.The shift followed a historic appeal at the end of February by Ocalan, who has spent the past 26 years in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul. 

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least seven people, including five at a school-turned-shelter in the Palestinian territory’s north.”Five martyrs and others injured in an Israeli strike on Halima al-Saadia School, which was sheltering displaced persons in Jabalia al-Nazla, northern Gaza,” the agency said in a brief statement.Nearly all of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once during the more than 21-month war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living there.Many have sought shelter in school buildings, but these have repeatedly come under Israeli attacks that the military often says target Hamas militants hiding among civilians.The civil defence agency also reported two people killed in separate strikes in Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Yunis.There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently expanded its military operations across Gaza.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.A Palestinian speaking to AFP from southern Gaza on condition of anonymity said there were ongoing attacks and widespread devastation, with Israeli tanks seen near Khan Yunis.”The situation remains extremely difficult in the area — intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land to the south, west and north of Al-Maslakh,” an area to Khan Yunis’s south, said the witness.Israel’s military said in a statement that its soldiers were operating in the area, dismantling “terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground” and seizing “weapons and military equipment”.It also said that troops had killed earlier this week two members of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza.The military statement said the two dead include an Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza City whom it accused of being part Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.bur-mib-phz-acc/ami

Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, who won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for women’s and human rights in Iran, has received death threats from Tehran, the Nobel Committee said Friday.Mohammadi, who has spent much of the past decade behind bars, was released from Tehran’s Evin prison in December for a limited period on medical leave, with her legal team repeatedly warning that she could be re-arrested at any time.Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said in a statement he had received an “urgent phone call” from Mohammadi, 53, who said her life was now in danger.”The clear message, in her own words, is that ‘I have been directly and indirectly threatened with ‘physical elimination’ by agents of the regime’,” he said.”The threats conveyed to Ms. Mohammadi make it clear that her security is at stake, unless she commits to end all public engagement within Iran, as well as any international advocacy or media appearances in support of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression,” the statement added.The Committee said it was “deeply concerned” about the threats against Mohammadi and “all Iranian citizens with a critical voice, and call upon the authorities to safeguard not only their lives, but also their freedom of expression.”Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran’s widespread use of capital punishment and its mandatory dress code for women.She won the Nobel primarily for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran. Her children collected the award on her behalf as she was in prison at the time.

Israeli forces were targeting “terrorist infrastructure” in southern Gaza, the military said Friday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced hope that an agreement with Hamas could be reached within days for a pause in the 21-month war.Negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian militant group have been locked in indirect talks in Qatar since Sunday to try to agree a temporary ceasefire.Netanyahu said a lasting truce could follow, but only if Hamas lays down its arms and is no longer able to govern or operate in the Gaza Strip.On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported a fresh wave of Israeli strikes, including one that killed five people at a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties.In the south of the territory, a witness said there were ongoing attacks and widespread devastation, with Israeli tanks seen near the city of Khan Yunis.”The situation remains extremely difficult in the area — intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land” south of Khan Yunis, he added.Israel’s military said in a statement that it was operating in the Khan Yunis area against “terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground”.In Qatar, sticking points remain in the talks, both sides said.Hamas, whose cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 sparked the war, has said that as part of a truce deal it was willing to release 10 of the hostages taken that day.In an interview with US outlet Newsmax broadcast on Thursday, Netanyahu said that would leave 10 living hostages still in captivity.”I hope we can complete it in a few days,” he added of the initial ceasefire agreement and hostage release.”We’ll probably have a 60-day ceasefire, get the first batch out, then use the 60-day ceasefire to negotiate an end to this.”- Unresolved issues -Netanyahu, who was in Washington this week and met US President Donald Trump twice to discuss the ceasefire proposals, is under pressure at home to end the war because of mounting military casualties.Trump is looking to secure a deal while his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has said it could be concluded by the end of this week.On Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel was ready to start talks for a lasting deal with Hamas when a temporary ceasefire is in place.But he said the Islamist militants must first give up their weapons and their hold on the Palestinian territory.Failure to do so on Israel’s terms would lead to further conflict, Netanyahu said.Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has also said the Doha talks could take “a few more days”, with unresolved issues including agreement on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages.Hamas has said it wants “real guarantees” on a lasting truce as well as the free flow of aid to help Gaza’s population of more than two million people, who are facing dire humanitarian conditions.Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told AFP on Thursday that his group wanted Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza and would not accept any Israeli moves to herd Palestinians into “isolated enclaves”.Hamas’s October 2023 attack led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Out of 251 hostages seized in the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.At least 57,762 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.