‘Eid of sadness’: Palestinians in Gaza mark Muslim holiday with dwindling food and no end to war

Update ‘Eid of sadness’: Palestinians in Gaza mark Muslim holiday with dwindling food and no end to war
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had little to celebrate on Sunday as they began marking a normally festive Muslim holiday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas war. (AP)
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Updated 31 March 2025
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‘Eid of sadness’: Palestinians in Gaza mark Muslim holiday with dwindling food and no end to war

‘Eid of sadness’: Palestinians in Gaza mark Muslim holiday with dwindling food and no end to war
  • Many Palestinians prayed outside mosques destroyed in Israeli strikes to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan
  • Israeli strikes on Sunday morning killed at least 16 people, including nine children and three women, according to Nasser Hospital

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Palestinians in Gaza marked the normally festive Eid Al-Fitr on Sunday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and mourning for several children killed in Israel’s latest airstrikes.

There was anger as the bodies of 14 emergency responders were recovered in the southern city of Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, which the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called the “single most deadly attack on Red Cross Red Crescent workers anywhere in the world since 2017.”

Many Palestinians prayed outside demolished mosques to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. It’s supposed to be a joyous occasion when families feast and purchase new clothes for children, but most of Gaza’s 2 million people are just trying to survive.

“It’s the Eid of sadness,” Adel Al-Shaer said after attending prayers amid rubble in the central town of Deir Al-Balah. “We lost our loved ones, our children, our lives and our futures.”

Twenty members of his extended family have been killed by Israeli strikes, including four young nephews a few days ago, he said and began to cry.

Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas and resumed the 17-month war earlier this month with a surprise bombardment that killed hundreds, after the militant group refused to accept changes to the truce reached in January. Israel has not allowed food, fuel or humanitarian aid to enter Gaza for a month.

“There is killing, displacement, hunger and a siege,” said Saed Al-Kourd, a worshipper. “We go out to perform God’s rituals in order to make the children happy, but as for the joy of Eid? There is no Eid.”

Arab mediators are trying to get the truce back on track. Hamas said Saturday it had accepted a new proposal from Egypt and Qatar. Israel said it made a counter-proposal in coordination with the United States, which has also been mediating. Details were not immediately known.

Emergency workers’ bodies found.

 

 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of eight of its emergency medical technicians, and five members of Gaza’s Civil Defense, were recovered a week after they and their ambulances vanished in Rafah during heavy fire.

The PRCS said a ninth colleague was still missing, adding that the targeting of medics “cannot be seen as anything other than a war crime.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry asserted that some of the bodies had been bound and shot in the chest, and it called on the United Nations and other international organizations to investigate and hold Israel accountable.

There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military, which had said it fired on advancing “suspicious vehicles” and later discovered some were ambulances.

Netanyahu lays out conditions for ending the war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue military operations while negotiating. He rejected claims that Israel does not want to end the war, while laying out conditions that go far beyond the ceasefire agreement and have been rejected by Hamas.

“Hamas will disarm. Its leaders will be allowed out. We will look out for the general security in the Gaza Strip and allow for the realization of (President Donald) Trump’s plan,” Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting.

Trump has proposed that Gaza’s population be resettled in other countries so the US can redevelop Gaza for others. Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland. Human rights experts say the plan would likely violate international law.

Israeli strikes on Sunday morning killed at least 16 people, including nine children and three women, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Two girls appeared to be wearing new clothes purchased for the holiday, according to an Associated Press cameraman, including spotless sneakers.

On Sunday evening, a strike hit a tent in Deir Al-Balah and killed at least two people, according to an AP journalist at the hospital.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Hamas is still holding 59 captives — 24 believed to be alive.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence, and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.

Israel approves controversial project in West Bank

Netanyahu’s security Cabinet approved the construction of a road for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Critics say it will open the door for Israel to annex a key area just outside Jerusalem, further undermining the feasibility of a future Palestinian state.

Netanyahu’s office said the project is meant to streamline travel for Palestinians in communities near the large Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group, said the road will divert Palestinian traffic outside of Maaleh Adumim and the surrounding area known as E1, a tract of open land deemed essential for the territorial contiguity of a future state.

That will make it easier for Israel to annex E1, according to Hagit Ofran, a settlement expert with the group, because Israel can claim there is no disruption to Palestinian movement.

Critics say Israeli settlements and other land grabs make a contiguous future state increasingly impossible. Several roads in the West Bank are meant for use by either Israelis or Palestinians, which international rights groups say is part of an apartheid system, allegations Israel rejects.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three for their future state. A two-state solution is widely seen as the only way to resolve the decades-old conflict.

 


Hundreds of Sudanese refugees in Cairo take up chance to return home for free

Hundreds of Sudanese refugees in Cairo take up chance to return home for free
Updated 5 sec ago
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Hundreds of Sudanese refugees in Cairo take up chance to return home for free

Hundreds of Sudanese refugees in Cairo take up chance to return home for free
  • But while some Sudanese are returning home, many continue to flee their homeland
  • Egypt now hosts an estimated 1.5 million Sudanese refugees
CAIRO: On a sweltering Monday morning at Cairo’s main railway station, hundreds of Sudanese families stood waiting, with bags piled at their feet and children in tow, to board a train bound for a homeland shattered by two years of war.
The war is not yet over, but with the army having regained control of key areas and life in Egypt often hard, many refugees have decided now is the time to head home.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” said Khadija Mohamed Ali, 45, seated inside one of the train’s aging carriages, her five daughters lined beside her.
“I’m happy that I’ll see my neighbors again – my family, my street,” she said ahead of her return to the capital Khartoum, still reeling from a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 14 million.
She was among the second group of refugees traveling under Egypt’s voluntary return program, which offers free transportation from Cairo to Khartoum, more than 2,000 kilometers away by train and bus.
The first convoy left a week earlier.
The program is a joint effort between the Egyptian National Railways and Sudan’s state-owned arms company Defense Industries System, which is covering the full cost of the journey, including tickets and onward bus travel from Egypt’s southern city of Aswan to the Sudanese capital.
The Sudanese army is keen for the refugees to return, in part to reinforce its control over recently recaptured areas and as a step toward normality.
Each Monday, a third-class, air-conditioned train departs Cairo carrying hundreds on a 12-hour journey to Aswan before they continue by bus across the border.
At precisely 11:30 am, a battered locomotive rumbled into the station and women broke into spontaneous ululation.
But while some Sudanese are returning home, many continue to flee their homeland, which has been ravaged by war and famine.
According to a June report from the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR, over 65,000 Sudanese crossed into Chad in just over a month.
Crossings through Libya, one of the most dangerous routes to Europe, have increased this year, according to the Mixed Migration Center.
The war, which began in April 2023, pits army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The fighting first erupted in Khartoum and quickly spread, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations.
Earlier this year, Sudan’s army declared it had fully retaken Khartoum. Since then, a trickle of returnees has begun.
Last week, the country’s new prime minister, Kamil Idris, made his first visit to the capital since the conflict began, promising that “national institutions will come back stronger than before.”
The UN has predicted that more than two million people could return to greater Khartoum by the end of the year, though that figure depends heavily on improvements in security and public infrastructure.
The capital remains a fractured city. Its infrastructure has been decimated, health services remain scarce and electricity is still largely out in many districts.
“Slowly things will become better,” said Maryam Ahmed Mohamed, 52, who plans to return to her home in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman with her two daughters.
“At least we’ll be back at home and with our family and friends,” she said.
For many, the decision to return home is driven less by hope than by hardship in neighboring countries like Egypt.
Egypt now hosts an estimated 1.5 million Sudanese refugees, who have limited access to legal work, health care and education, according to the UNHCR.
Hayam Mohamed, 34, fled Khartoum’s Soba district with her family to Egypt 10 months ago when the area was liberated, but was in ruins.
Though services remain nearly non-existent in Khartoum, Mohamed said she still wanted to leave Egypt and go home.
“Life was too expensive here. I couldn’t afford rent or school fees,” Mohamed said.
Elham Khalafallah, a mother of three who spent seven months in Egypt, also said she struggled to cope.
She’s now returning to the central Al-Jazirah state, which was retaken by the army late last year and is seen as “much safer and having better services than Khartoum.”
According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, about 71 percent of returnees were heading to Al-Jazirah, southeast of the capital, while fewer than 10 percent were going to Khartoum.
Just outside the Cairo station, dozens more were sitting on benches, hoping for standby tickets.
“They told me the train was full,” said Maryam Abdullah, 32, who left Sudan two years ago with her six children.
“But I’ll wait. I just want to go back, rebuild my house, and send my children back to school,” she said.

Approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza drops among Democrats and independents: Gallup poll

Approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza drops among Democrats and independents: Gallup poll
Updated 17 min 49 sec ago
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Approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza drops among Democrats and independents: Gallup poll

Approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza drops among Democrats and independents: Gallup poll
  • The new polling also found that about half of US adults now have an unfavorable view of Israel’s prime minister
  • Republicans, on the other hand, remain largely supportive of both Israel’s military actions and Benjamin Netanyahu

WASHINGTON: Support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has declined substantially among US adults, with only about one-third approving, according to a new Gallup poll – a drop from the beginning of the war with Hamas, when about half of Americans approved of Israel’s operation.

The new polling also found that about half of US adults now have an unfavorable view of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the most negative rating he has received since he was first included in Gallup polling in 1997. The poll was conducted from July 7-21, while reports of starvation in Gaza led to international criticism of Israel’s decision to restrict food aid but before President Donald Trump expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian situation.

The findings underscore the Israeli government’s dramatic loss of support within the US. But not everyone is shifting – instead, the war has become more politically polarizing. The rising disapproval is driven by Democrats and independents, who are much less likely to approve of Israel’s actions than they were in November 2023, just after Israel expanded its ground offensive in Gaza.

Republicans, on the other hand, remain largely supportive of both Israel’s military actions and Netanyahu.

Most Americans now disapprove of Israeli military action in Gaza

The new poll finds that about 6 in 10 US adults disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza, up from 45 percent in November 2023.

Support for the war has been dwindling in Gallup’s polling for some time. In March 2024, about half of US adults disapproved of Israel’s military action in Gaza, which fell slightly as the year wore on.

In a new low, only 8 percent of Democrats and one-quarter of independents say they now approve of Israel’s military campaign. Some of that decline may be attributed to the change in administration. While former President Joe Biden faced significant pushback from fellow Democrats on his handling of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, they may be even more frustrated by the approach of Trump, a Republican.

Young adults are also much more likely to disapprove of Israel’s actions. Only about 1 in 10 adults under age 35 say they approve of Israel’s military choices in Gaza, compared with about half of those who are 55 or older.

Gallup senior editor Megan Brenan says the latest figures reflect the enduring partisan divide. Even as Democrats grow increasingly unhappy with Israel’s military campaign, Republicans remain supportive.

“We’ve seen this drop in approval since last fall, and it’s really driven by Democrats and independents,” Brenan says. “Republicans are still willing to be in this for the time being.”

Netanyahu’s favorability among US adults is historically low

Views of Netanyahu have also grown less favorable over the past few years, with more viewing him negatively than positively in measurements taken since the war in Gaza began.

About half of US adults, 52 percent, now have an unfavorable view of Netanyahu in the new poll, which overlapped with Netanyahu’s recent visit to the US Just 29 percent view him positively, and about 2 in 10 either haven’t heard of him or don’t have an opinion.

That’s a change – although not a huge one – since December 2023, when 47 percent of US adults had an unfavorable view of Netanyahu and 33 percent had a favorable opinion. But it’s a reversal from as recently as April 2019, when more US adults viewed him positively than negatively.

Republicans have a much more positive view of Netanyahu than Democrats and independents do. About two-thirds of Republicans view him favorably, which is in line with last year. About 1 in 10 Democrats and 2 in 10 independents feel the same way.

“This is the first time we’ve seen a majority of Americans, with an unfavorable view of him,” Brenan says. “All of these questions in this poll show us basically the same story, and it’s not a good one for the Israeli government right now.”

Trump is unlikely to face the same pressure on his approach to Israel

More than half of US adults, 55 percent, disapprove of Trump’s handling of the situation in the Middle East, according to a July AP-NORC poll.

But the conflict has not weighed as heavily on Trump as it did on Biden, who watched Democrats splinter on the issue. That’s because of Trump’s solid support from his base on this issue, further reflected in Republicans’ continued approval of Israel’s military action. About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the situation in the Middle East. By contrast, only about 4 in 10 Democrats approved of Biden’s handling of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians last summer, shortly before he dropped out of the presidential race.

In an AP-NORC poll from March, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats and independents to say they sympathized more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians in the conflict.

And while Americans overall were more likely to say it was “extremely” or “very” important for the United States to provide humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza than to say the same about providing aid to Israel’s military, Republicans said the opposite – more saw military aid to Israel as a higher priority than providing humanitarian relief to the Palestinians in Gaza.


Over 60,000 Palestinians have died in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry says

Over 60,000 Palestinians have died in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry says
Updated 27 min 28 sec ago
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Over 60,000 Palestinians have died in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry says

Over 60,000 Palestinians have died in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry says
  • The ministry said the latest death toll had risen to 60,034, with 145,870 people wounded since Oct. 7, 2023
  • Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90 percent of the population and caused to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine

DEIR AL-BALAH: Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said the death toll has climbed to 60,034, with another 145,870 people wounded since Oct. 7, 2023.

It did not say how many were civilians or militants, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties.

Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90 percent of the population and caused to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine.

The war took a major turn in early March when Israel imposed a complete 2 ½ month blockade, barring the entry of all food, medicine, fuel and other goods. Weeks later, Israel ended a ceasefire with a surprise bombardment and began seizing large areas of Gaza, measures it said were aimed at pressuring Hamas to release more hostages.

At least 8,867 Palestinians have been killed since then.


Lebanon sentences man to death in absentia over peacekeeper’s killing

Lebanon sentences man to death in absentia over peacekeeper’s killing
Updated 29 July 2025
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Lebanon sentences man to death in absentia over peacekeeper’s killing

Lebanon sentences man to death in absentia over peacekeeper’s killing
  • A Lebanese court sentenced a man to death in absentia for killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper after Hezbollah members were accused of involvement in the 2022

BEIRUT: A Lebanese court sentenced a man to death in absentia for killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper, a judicial official said Tuesday, after Hezbollah members were accused of involvement in the 2022 incident.

Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were wounded after a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) convoy came under fire on December 14, 2022 in south Lebanon, long a stronghold of the Iran-backed militant group.

The judicial official, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media, said Lebanon’s military court issued its ruling in the case at around midnight on Monday.

The court “imposed the death sentence... on the main defendant, Mohammad Ayyad,” the official said, adding that the ruling was issued in absentia.

A security source told AFP in December 2022 that Hezbollah had handed Ayyad over to the army that month.

But he was released from custody in November 2023 “for health reasons” and had not appeared at any trial session since, the official said Tuesday.

The military court also handed a combination of fines and lighter custodial sentences to four other people “who handed themselves in to the court hours before the session” and acquitted a fifth, the official said.

Skirmishes occur occasionally between UNIFIL patrols and Hezbollah supporters, but they rarely escalate and are generally quickly contained by Lebanese authorities.

In June 2023 a judicial official told AFP that five Hezbollah members were accused of killing Rooney.

A Hezbollah official had denied members of the group were involved.

UNIFIL, which counts around 10,000 peacekeepers from nearly 50 countries, acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel and operates in the south near the border.


Dutch to ban far-right Israeli ministers over Gaza

Dutch to ban far-right Israeli ministers over Gaza
Updated 29 July 2025
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Dutch to ban far-right Israeli ministers over Gaza

Dutch to ban far-right Israeli ministers over Gaza
  • The ban and other measures were announced in a letter Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp sent to lawmakers late Monday evening
  • The ban targets hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich

THE HAGUE: The Netherlands will ban two far-right Israeli ministers from entering the country, in the latest European response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza, the country’s foreign minister said.

The ban and other measures were announced in a letter Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp sent to lawmakers late Monday evening, declaring “The war in Gaza must stop.”

The ban targets hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, key partners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

The pair are champions of the Israeli settlement movement who support continuing the war in Gaza, facilitating what they call the voluntary emigration of its Palestinian population and the building of Jewish settlements there.

Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed financial sanctions on the two men last month.

Later on Tuesday, leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss a European Union response, including evaluating a trade agreement between the bloc and Israel. The Netherlands wants part of that agreement to be suspended.

Ben-Gvir and Smotrich remained defiant. In a statement on social media, Smotrich said European leaders were surrendering to “the lies of radical Islam” and that Jews may not be able to live safely in Europe in the future.

Ben-Gvir said he will “continue to act” and said that in Europe “a Jewish minister from Israel is unwanted, terrorists are free, and Jews are boycotted.”

Pressure has been mounting on the Dutch government, which is gearing up for elections in October, to change course on Israeli policy. Last week, thousands demonstrated at train stations across the country, carrying pots and pans to signify the food shortage in Gaza.

The government will also summon the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands to urge Netanyahu to change course and “immediately take measures that lead to a substantial and rapid improvement in the humanitarian situation throughout the Gaza Strip,” Veldkamp wrote.

After international pressure, Israel over the weekend announced humanitarian pauses, airdrops and other measures meant to allow more aid to Palestinians in Gaza. But people there say little or nothing has changed on the ground. The UN has described it as a one-week scale-up of aid, and Israel has not said how long these latest measures would last.

Israel asserts that Hamas is the reason aid isn’t reaching Palestinians in Gaza and accuses its militants of siphoning off aid to support its rule in the territory. The UN denies that looting of aid is systematic and says it lessens or ends entirely when enough aid is allowed to enter Gaza.

Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, are currently wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. The men are accused of using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid, and of intentionally targeting civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Member states of the ICC are obliged to arrest the men if they arrive on their territory.