Without meat, families in Gaza struggle to celebrate Islam’s Eid Al-Adha holiday
No fresh meat has entered Gaza for three months
Some of the little livestock left was on sale at a makeshift pen set up in the vast tent camp of Muwasi in the southern part of Gaza’s Mediterranean coast
Updated 06 June 2025
AP
MUWASI, Gaza Strip: With the Gaza Strip devastated by war and siege, Palestinians struggled Thursday to celebrate one of the most important Islamic holidays.
To mark Eid Al-Adha – Arabic for the Festival of Sacrifice — Muslims traditionally slaughter a sheep or cow and give away part of the meat to the poor as an act of charity. Then they have a big family meal with sweets. Children get gifts of new clothes.
But no fresh meat has entered Gaza for three months. Israel has blocked shipments of food and other aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war. And nearly all the territory’s homegrown sheep, cattle and goats are dead after 20 months of Israeli bombardment and ground offensives.
Some of the little livestock left was on sale at a makeshift pen set up in the vast tent camp of Muwasi in the southern part of Gaza’s Mediterranean coast.
But no one could afford to buy. A few people came to look at the sheep and goats, along with a cow and a camel. Some kids laughed watching the animals and called out the prayers connected to the holiday.
“I can’t even buy bread. No meat, no vegetables,” said Abdel Rahman Madi. “The prices are astronomical.”
The Eid commemorates the test of faith of the Prophet Ibrahim – Abraham in the Bible – and his willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of submission to God. The day is usually one of joy for children – and a day when businesses boom a bit as people buy up food and gifts.
But prices for everything have soared amid the blockade, which was only slightly eased two weeks ago. Meat and most fresh fruits and vegetables disappeared from the markets weeks ago.
At a street market in the nearby city of Khan Younis, some stalls had stuffed sheep toys and other holiday knickknacks and old clothes. But most people left without buying any gifts after seeing the prices.
“Before, there was an Eid atmosphere, the children were happy … Now with the blockade, there’s no flour, no clothes, no joy,” said Hala Abu Nqeira, a woman looking through the market. “We just go to find flour for our children. We go out every day looking for flour at a reasonable price, but we find it at unbelievable prices.”
Israel’s campaign against Hamas has almost entirely destroyed Gaza’s ability to feed itself. The UN says 96 percent of the livestock and 99 percent of the poultry are dead. More than 95 percent of Gaza’s prewar cropland is unusable, either too damaged or inaccessible inside Israeli military zones, according to a land survey published this week by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Israel barred all food and other supplies from entering Gaza for more than two months. It eased the blockade two weeks ago to allow a trickle of aid trucks in for the UN to distribute. The trucks have brought in some food items, mainly flour. But the UN says it has struggled to delivery much of the incoming aid because of looting or Israeli military restrictions.
Almost the entire population of more than 2 million people have been driven from their homes, and most have had to move multiple times to escape Israeli offensives.
Rasha Abu Souleyma said she recently slipped back to her home in Rafah — from which her family had fled to take refuge in Khan Younis — to find some possessions she’d left behind.
She came back with some clothes, pink plastic sunglasses and bracelets that she gave to her two daughters as Eid gifts.
“I can’t buy them clothes or anything,” the 38-year-old said. “I used to bring meat in Eid so they would be happy, but now we can’t bring meat, and I can’t even feed the girls with bread.”
Near her, a group of children played on makeshift swings made of knotted and looped ropes.
Karima Nejelli, a displaced woman from Rafah, pointed out that people in Gaza had now marked both Eid Al-Adha and the other main Islamic holiday, Eid Al-Fitr, two times each under the war. “During these four Eids, we as Palestinians did not see any kind of joy, no sacrifice, no cookies, no buying Eid clothes or anything.”
Iran warns US, UK and France against helping stop strikes on Israel
Tehran warns their bases and ships in the region will be targeted
Updated 1 min 33 sec ago
Agencies
SUMMARY
Tehran has warned the US, UK and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Iranian strikes on Israel – Iran state media.
Around 60 people, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a housing complex in Iranian capital Tehran.
Iran’s civil aviation authority has declared the country’s airspace closed “until further notice.”
CAIRO: Iran has warned the United States, United Kingdom and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Tehran’s strikes on Israel, Iran state media reported on Saturday.
Iran’s state TV also reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a housing complex in Iranian capital Tehran.
Iran’s strikes against Israel will continue, with targets set to expand to include US bases in the region in the coming days, Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Saturday, citing senior Iranian military officials.
“This confrontation will not end with last night’s limited actions and Iran’s strikes will continue, and this action will be very painful and regrettable for the aggressors,” Fars reported, citing senior military officials.
They were quoted saying that the war would “spread in the coming days to all areas occupied by this (Israeli) regime and American bases in the region”.
The threat of a wider war comes as Iran and Israel continue targeting each other on Saturday after Israel launched its biggest-ever air offensive against its longtime foe in a bid to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s civil aviation authority has declared the country’s airspace closed “until further notice,” state media reported Saturday, as Israel and Iran continued to trade fire for a second day.
“No flights will be operated at any airports in the country in order to protect the safety of passengers... until further notice,” the official IRNA news agency said.
US warship arrives in Australia ahead of war games, summit
More than 30,000 personnel from 19 militaries have begun to arrive in Australia for Talisman Sabre, the largest Australian-US war-fighting exercise
Updated 34 min 34 sec ago
Reuters
SYDNEY: A key US warship arrived in Australia on Saturday ahead of joint war games and the first summit between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump, which is expected to be dominated by military issues.
The America, the US Navy’s lead amphibious assault ship in the Indo-Pacific, entered Sydney Harbor as the first of three ships in a strike group carrying 2,500 sailors and marines, submarine-hunting helicopters and F-35B fighter jets.
More than 30,000 personnel from 19 militaries have begun to arrive in Australia for Talisman Sabre, the largest Australian-US war-fighting exercise. It will start next month and span 6,500 km (4,000 miles), from Australia’s Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia’s east coast.
The commander of the America, Rear Admiral Tom Shultz, said exercising in Australia was critical for the US Navy’s readiness, while the Australian fleet commander, Rear Admiral Chris Smith, said the “trust and robust nature” of the bilateral relationship allowed the two allies to deal with change.
“The diversity of how we view the world is actually a real great strength in our alliance,” Smith told reporters, adding that Australia also had strong relationships with nations across the region.
Albanese and Trump are expected to meet on the sidelines of a summit in Canada of the Group of Seven economic powers, which starts on Sunday. Washington’s request for Canberra to raise defense spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product from 2 percent is expected to dominate the discussion.
The Pentagon said this week it was reviewing its AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership with Australia and Britain. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Saturday this was “not a surprise,” adding the two countries continued to work closely.
But Michael Green, a former national security adviser to President George W. Bush, said it was unusual for the review into AUKUS to be conducted solely by the Pentagon and that Trump might link it to the spending request or to tariffs.
“It is unusual to make the review unilateral and public right before a summit, even if the Australian side knew. That is not good alliance management – it jams the Australian side,” said Green, president of the United States Studies Center in Sydney.
Support for AUKUS in the Congress and US Navy is considerable, however, and the review is unlikely to result in the submarine program being canceled, he said.
India will participate for the first time in Talisman Sabre, along with a large contingent from Europe, said the exercise’s director, Brig. Damian Hill. Australia, Singapore, the US and Japan will hold large-scale live firings of rocket and missile systems, he said.
“It is the first time we are firing HIMARs in Australia, and our air defense capability will work alongside the United States Patriot systems for the first time, and that is really important,” Hill added.
ISLAMABAD: Around 700 army personnel have been killed in various militant attacks over the past two years, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Saturday, accusing India of supporting terror outfits in the country.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since November 2022 in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces bordering Iran and Afghanistan. In KP, the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against law enforcers.
In Balochistan, separatist ethnic Baloch militant groups demand independence from the state, accusing Islamabad of denying locals a share in the province’s mineral resources. Islamabad denies the allegations.
“In the past two years, 700 of our soldiers have been martyred,” Asif told lawmakers during a televised parliamentary session. “Our civilians have been martyred. Several districts of a province of ours are being targeted by terrorism.”
The minister said that militant outfits such as the TTP or the separatist Baloch Liberation Army are “agents of India,” alleging that they were fighting New Delhi’s war on Pakistani soil.
“Any person who even has a speck of sympathy toward them is not a Pakistani,” Asif said, vowing that Islamabad would win its war against militancy.
India and Pakistan have traded allegations of supporting militant groups for years. New Delhi blames Islamabad for supporting militant outfits who carry out attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir, an allegation that Pakistan has always rejected.
The two countries engaged in a military confrontation for days last month after India attacked Pakistan with missiles, accusing it of supporting an April 22 attack in the Pahalgam tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan denied the allegations and called for an international, credible probe into the incident.
The defense minister expressed solidarity with Iran over Israel’s recent attacks against it, vowing to extend support to the neighboring country.
“In this hour of trial, we are with them in every way,” Asif said. “Whatever help they need at the international level, at the United Nations or any other institution or at the Islamic conference, we will defend their interests there.”
Bella Hadid’s Orebella named conscious brand of the year
Updated 52 min 9 sec ago
Arab News
DUBAI: Ulta Beauty — one of the largest beauty retailers in the US — has awarded Bella Hadid’s fragrance brand, Orebella, its prestigious “conscious brand of the year” title, recognizing the label’s commitment to clean ingredients, ethical practices and sustainable packaging.
Hadid took to Instagram to announce the news with her followers. “Thank you to our Ulta Beauty family for recognizing our commitment to creating a healthy daily ritual for all,” she wrote.
Hadid went on to share the criteria that helped Orebella to earn the title, noting that the brand meets Ulta’s guidelines across several categories. These include clean ingredients — excluding parabens, phthalates and more than 20 other substances on Ulta’s “Made Without” list.
Orebella goes further, she said, banning more than 1,300 ingredients in line with EU standards.
She also emphasized that the brand is certified cruelty-free by PETA and Leaping Bunny, and is entirely vegan, formulated without any animal products or byproducts. In addition, all Orebella packaging is recyclable, refillable or made from recycled or bio-sourced materials, including its line of perfumes.
Hadid also highlighted Orebella’s philanthropic efforts, explaining that the brand’s Alchemy Foundation donates at least 1 percent of domestic net sales to causes “close to our hearts.”
The alcohol-free scents of Orebella, which launched in 2024, were Hadid’s answer to traditional perfumes.
Hadid wrote on her website: “For me, fragrance has always been at the center of my life — helping me feel in charge of who I am and my surroundings,” she said. “From my home to nostalgic memories, to my own energy and connection with others, scent has been an outlet for me. It made me feel safe in my own world.
“Through my healing journey, I found that I was extremely sensitive to the alcohol in traditional perfumes — both physically and mentally — it became something that was more overwhelming than calming to me,” she added. “That is the main reason I wanted to find an alternative, so essential oils became an artistic and experimental process for me.”
She started growing lavender on her farm, walking through the garden every morning and learning about her family’s tradition of making homemade scents. “I realized I might have a calling in this. I found healing, joy and love within nature’s scents,” she said.
How Israeli strikes have pushed Iran’s leadership into a corner
Severely degraded missile capabilities and military network mean Tehran is unable to respond with effective strikes
Regional security experts believe Tehran is left with limited options, each more perilous than the other
Updated 30 min 29 sec ago
Reuters
DUBAI: Israel has gutted Iran’s nuclear and military leadership with airstrikes that leave a weakened Tehran with few options to retaliate, including an all-out war that it is neither equipped for nor likely to win, according to four regional officials.
The overnight strikes by Israel – repeated for second night on Friday – have ratcheted up the confrontation between the arch foes to an unprecedented level after years of war in the shadows, which burst into the open when Iran’s ally Hamas attacked Israel in 2023.
Regional security sources said it was unlikely that Tehran could respond with similarly effective strikes because its missile capabilities and military network in the region have been severely degraded by Israel since the Hamas attacks that triggered the Gaza war.
State news agency IRNA said that Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday in retaliation. But the Israeli military said the missiles numbered fewer than 100 and most were intercepted or fell short. No casualties were immediately reported.
Rescue personnel work at an impact site following missile attack from Iran in Ramat Gan, Israel on June 14, 2025. (Reuters)
The regional security sources said Iran’s leaders, humiliated and increasingly preoccupied with their own survival, cannot afford to appear weak in the face of Israeli military pressure, raising the prospect of further escalation – including covert attacks on Israel or even the perilous option of seeking to build a nuclear bomb rapidly.
“They can’t survive if they surrender,” said Mohanad Hage Ali at the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank in Beirut. “They need to strike hard against Israel but their options are limited. I think their next option is withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Withdrawing from the NPT would be a serious escalation as it would signal Iran is accelerating its enrichment program to produce weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb, experts said.
Iran’s leadership has not confirmed whether it would attend a sixth round of deadlocked talks with the US over its nuclear program scheduled for Sunday in Oman.
Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its proxies – from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq – as well as by the ousting of Iran’s close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.
Western sanctions have also hit Iran’s crucial oil exports and the economy is reeling from a string of crises including a collapsing currency and rampant inflation, as well as energy and water shortages.
People gather for a protest against Israel’s wave of strikes on Iran in central Tehran on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
“They can’t retaliate through anyone. The Israelis are dismantling the Iranian empire piece by piece, bit by bit … and now they’ve started sowing internal doubt about (the invincibility of) the regime,” said Sarkis Naoum, a regional expert. “This is massive hit.”
Israel strikes targeting key facilities in Tehran and other cities continued into the night on Friday. The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was defiant on Friday, saying Israel had initiated a war and would suffer “a bitter fate.”
Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, director of the Gulf Research Center think tank, said Iran has been backed into a corner with limited options. One possibility would be to offer assurances – in private – that it will abandon uranium enrichment and dismantle its nuclear capabilities, since any public declaration of such a capitulation would likely provoke a fierce domestic backlash.
Sites of strikes and explosions following the attack of June 13.
He said another option could involve a return to clandestine warfare, reminiscent of the 1980s bombings targeting US and Israeli embassies and military installations.
A third, and far more perilous option, would be to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accelerate its uranium enrichment program.
Such a move, Sager warned, would be tantamount to a declaration of war and would almost certainly provoke a strong international response – not only from Israel, but also from the US and other Western powers.
Trump has threatened military action to ensure Iran does not obtain an atomic weapon. He reiterated his position on Thursday, saying: “Iran must completely give up hopes of obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
First responders gather outside a building that was hit by an Israeli strike in Tehran on June 13, 2025. (Tasnim News/AFP)
Iran is currently enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent it would need for nuclear weapons. It has enough material at that level, if processed further, for nine nuclear bombs, according to a UN nuclear watchdog yardstick.
Israel’s strikes overnight on Thursday targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories, military commanders and nuclear scientists. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
At least 20 senior commanders were killed, two regional sources said. The armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards Chief Hossein Salami, and the head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were among them.
People chant slogans during a protest against Israel’s wave of strikes on Iran in Enghelab (Revolution) Square in central Tehran on June 13, 2025. ( AFP)
“It’s a big attack: big names, big leaders, big damage to the Iranian military leadership and its ballistic missiles. It’s unprecedented,” said Carnegie's Hage Ali.
Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said Israel would probably not be able to take out Iran’s nuclear project completely without US help.
“Therefore, if the US will not be part of the war, I assume that some parts of (Iran’s) nuclear project will remain,” she said on Friday.
Above, a handout satellite image released by Planet Labs on June 13, 2025, shows the Natanz nuclear facilities (Shahid Ahmadi Roshan Nuclear Facilities) near Ahmadabad, Iran on May 20, 2025. (Planet Labs/AFP)
Friday’s strikes have not only inflicted strategic damage but have also shaken Iran’s leadership to the core, according to a senior regional official close to the Iranian establishment.
Defiance has transformed into concern and uncertainty within the ruling elite and, behind closed doors, anxiety is mounting, not just over the external threats but also their eroding grip on power at home, the official said.
“Panic has surged among the leadership,” the senior regional official said. “Beyond the threat of further attacks, a deeper fear looms large: domestic unrest.”
A moderate former Iranian official said the killing in 2020 of General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, on the orders of President Donald Trump, started the rot.
Since then, the Islamic Republic has struggled to reassert its influence across the region and has never fully recovered. “This attack might be the beginning of the end,” he said.
If protests erupt, and the leadership responds with repression, it will only backfire, the former official said, noting that public anger has been simmering for years, fueled by sanctions, inflation and an unrelenting crackdown on dissent.
In his video address shortly after the attacks started, Netanyahu suggested he would like to see regime change in Iran and sent a message to Iranians.
“Our fight is not with you. Our fight is with the brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years. I believe the day of your liberation is near,” he said.
The hope for regime change could explain why Israel went after so many senior military figures, throwing the Iranian security establishment into a state of confusion and chaos.
“These people were very vital, very knowledgeable, many years in their jobs, and they were a very important component of the stability of the regime, specifically the security stability of the regime,” said Shine.
Iranian state media reported that at least two nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, were killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran.
Iran’s most powerful proxy in the region, Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, is also in a weak position to respond.
In the days leading up to the strikes on Iran, security sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters the group would not join any retaliatory action by Iran out of fear such a response could unleash a new Israeli blitz on Lebanon.
Israel’s war last year against Hezbollah left the group badly weakened, with its leadership decimated, thousands of its fighters killed, and swathes of its strongholds in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s suburbs destroyed.
Analysts said Trump could leverage the fallout from the Israeli strikes to bring Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table – but this time more isolated, and more likely to offer deeper concessions.
“One thing is clear: the Iranian empire is in decline,” said regional expert Naoum. “Can they still set the terms of their decline? Not through military terms. There’s only one way to do that: through negotiations.”
