Media Report 2025.08.15
US Ambassador to Israel says decision of Australia, other countries Palestine pledge is ‘hurtful timing’
America’s top diplomat in Israel has branded Australia’s Palestinian statehood recognition ‘ill-timed’ while hostages remain captive under Hamas control.
The US ambassador to Israel has slammed as “ill-timed” and “not OK” the announcement by Australia and other countries to recognise a Palestinian state.
Mike Huckabee says the decision of Australia, the UK, Canada, France and other countries was the wrong thing to do while hostages were still being held and “tortured”.
“Australia can do what it wants to do but we certainly don’t have to agree with it,” Mr Huckabee told ABC TV’s 7.30 program on Thursday night.
“We don’t have to like it, we don’t have to pretend that it’s OK because in our view it’s not OK and it was ill-timed.
“I think, when hostages are being held and tortured – not just held – they’re not being fed, they’re being forced to dig their own graves. We’ve seen the videos.
“And for this to come at a time like this, further endangering them and endangering any hopes of some peaceful resolution of dealing with Hamas and getting them to lay down their arms.”
When asked if the matter had been discussed President Donald Trump, Mr Hackabee said: “Absolutely, and we discussed it at state department level with the Secretary. There is an enormous level of disappointment, and some disgust.”
While Mr Hackabee said President Trump may not have used the word ‘disgust’ himself, it conveyed the sentiment.
“I think it does express the emotional sentiment, a sense of, ‘You’ve got to be kidding … why would they be doing this? And why would they be doing it now’?,” he said.
Anthony Albanese on Monday announced that Australia would move to recognise a Palestinian state, under certain conditions, at the United Nations General Assembly next month, citing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The Prime Minister heralded the decision as a step toward breaking “the cycle of violence in the Middle East” and bringing “an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza”.
But he placed conditions on the recognition, including that the terrorist organisation Hamas have “no role” in a future Palestinian state and the Palestinian Authority recognise “Israel’s right to exist in peace and security”.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, was behind the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, killing
more than 1200 people in its unprecedented assault and taking hostages, with up to 20 still being held.
Its fighters slaughtered whole families and boasted about the violence on social media.
The October 7 attacks represent the worth loss off Jewish lives since the Holocaust.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s relentless pursuit of Hamas.
With civilians making up the majority of deaths and no end in sight to the conflict, Mr Albanese said recognising Palestine was about saying “enough is enough” to the “cycle of violence”.
‘Propaganda’: Albanese dismisses Hamas ‘praise’
Meanwhile, Mr Albanese is warning of Hamas “propaganda” after the Islamist group put out statements overnight welcoming his pledge to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Its support for recognition is not a surprise – Palestinian statehood is a core goal for the group.
So too is the destruction of Israel, meaning it does not support a two-state solution, which would see Israelis and Palestinians living within sovereign, internationally recognised borders.
The Prime Minister made this point when fronting media in Brisbane on Thursday.
“Hamas do not want a two-state solution,” he told reporters.
“What they want is one state.”
Mr Albanese also cast doubt on the initial statement reported by the Nine newspapers on Wednesday.
It was attributed to Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, who was arrested in an Israeli raid in the West Bank after the 2023 attacks.
In one statement overnight, Hamas rejected that Mr Yousef could issue comments given his imprisonment.
“I notice in the statement that’s made today, they say that the alleged statement from the person yesterday is someone who’s been in prison in Israel since October 2023 and has no means of communication,” Mr Albanese said.
“What that should be is a warning to the media of being very careful about the fact that Hamas will engage in propaganda because what is happening is the international community are united about isolating Hamas, about supporting a peaceful way forward.”
Meanwhile, Sussan Ley has called on Mr Albanese to reconsider his decision to recognise Palestine.
Speaking later on Thursday, the Opposition Leader said Mr Albanese “should look at his own statements” because they “say quite clearly that Hamas would not support the decision he’s made”.
“But Hamas is more than supporting the decision he’s made,” Ms Ley told reporters in Adelaide.
“They’re in full-throated praise of it. They are cheering on. They’re calling our Prime Minister a man of courage on a day when a terrorist organisation calls our Prime Minister a hero.
“Surely he has to think about reversing the decision that led to that.”
Hamas overnight welcomed any support to “help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals” but did not directly praise Mr Albanese. “Any efforts from any party to help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals of (an) independent state and self sovereignty is very welcomed, but the core question is how to implement this and how to oblige Israel to abide (by) international law,” it said to Sky News.
“These movements are in need for teeth, for practical guide and for honest commitment to reach this goal, otherwise we will continue.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said it was true that Hamas opposed a two-state solution, but Mr Albanese did not have the full picture.
“The Prime Minister framed the announcement as a defeat for Hamas because of its violent opposition to a two-state solution and desire to replace Israel with a Palestinian state from the river to the sea,” co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said in a statement.
“He is right about Hamas’s intentions but wrong about how they see the struggle.
“They view the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as a leap towards eventual conquest and slaughter of the Jews.”
He added that Hamas was praising Mr Albanese because it feels “like October 7 has worked perfectly and now brought them a step closer to total victory”. “Western governments have unwittingly played along with Hamas’s vision of annihilation,” Mr Ryvchin said.
More Hamas officials welcome Albanese’s recognition move, as PM warns against propaganda
Two senior Hamas officials have confirmed the organisation welcomes Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, as Opposition Leader Sussan Ley doubled down in her criticism of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for being praised by a listed terrorist group.
But Albanese hit back, citing a post in a Hamas Telegram channel disavowing an earlier statement from the group celebrating Australia’s move to recognise a Palestinian state, and told media outlets on Thursday not to promote propaganda from the militant organisation.
Hamas media director Ismail Al-Thawabta used similar language to that of the office of jailed senior Hamas official Hassan Yousef, which provided a statement praising the recognition decision to this masthead on Tuesday.
“We welcome Australia’s decision to recognise the State of Palestine, and consider it a positive step towards the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” Al-Thawabta told the ABC.
A statement on a Telegram channel in Hamas’ name on Thursday had disavowed comments attributed to Yousef in this masthead on Wednesday, saying that he had been “held in poor detention conditions, cut off from the outside world, and has no means of communication with any local or international press outlets”.
The original comments were provided by Yousef’s office in Beitunia, a town near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, which issues statements on his behalf.
Contacted on Thursday, a spokesperson for the office confirmed it had released the statement and that Youssef was still in jail, but said he was expected to be released soon.
With many of its top leaders killed and imprisoned in recent years, and with surviving officials scattered throughout multiple countries, Hamas’ communications can be unco-ordinated and at times contradictory. The group has more and less radical elements, and engages in information warfare to help achieve its military aims.
Al-Thawabta, who is based in Gaza, said in his comments originally provided to the ABC that Australia’s move to recognise a Palestinian state “reflects a growing global awareness of the necessity to end the injustice suffered by our people for decades”.
“We call on the Australian government to translate this recognition into concrete actions — by exerting diplomatic pressure to end the Israeli occupation.”
Al-Thawabta added that “while recognition has come late”, the move was “better late than never”.
Albanese on Monday confirmed that Australia would recognise a state of Palestine at the United Nations next month, following similar moves from France, the United Kingdom and Canada in an international push to revive momentum for a two-state solution.
Albanese told Channel Seven’s Sunrise earlier this week: “Hamas will be totally opposed to this decision. Hamas don’t support two states, they support one state.”
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim, said in a statement quoted by Sky News: “Any efforts from any party to help the Palestinian people to achieve their national goals of independent state and self sovereignty is very welcomed, but the core question is how to implement this and how to oblige Israel to abide international law.”
Calling for the government to go further than recognition, he said such steps needed “teeth” or the region would “continue to stay struggling in the same violent vicious circle”.
Speaking at a press conference in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Albanese said: “Hamas do not want a two-state solution.
“What they want is one state and I notice in the statement that’s made today, they say that the alleged statement from the person yesterday [came from] someone who’s been in prison in Israel since October 2023, and has no means of communication.
“What that should be is a warning to the media of being very careful about the fact that Hamas will engage in propaganda because what is happening is the international community are united about isolating Hamas, about supporting a peaceful way forward.”
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said: “When you have terrorists cheering on your foreign policy, you know that you have got it wrong… I am calling on the Prime Minister to reverse his position because we cannot have recognition of a Palestinian state ahead of a proper peace process and two-state solution process.”
Albanese said the Arab League, which represents 22 nations, had united to say in July that Hamas “must be isolated, it must be disarmed” and that the group should play no role in the governance of Gaza.
“People who look at Gaza can’t just continue to say ‘Well, we’ll just keep doing more of the same’,” Albanese said.
Hamas launched the October 7 attacks in Israel that killed an estimated 1200 people and triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said in a statement: “Calling out Hamas propaganda is right. Doing it only when it suits politics is not.
“Hamas always lies: about casualty numbers, about hiding in hospitals and schools, and about who really puts Gazans at risk. Truth is not selective.”
The statement provided by Yousef’s office said: “We welcome Australia’s decision to recognise the State of Palestine, and consider it an important step towards achieving justice for our people and securing their legitimate rights.
“This position reflects political courage and a commitment to the values of justice and the right of peoples to self-determination.
“We call on all countries, especially those that believe in freedom and human dignity, to follow Australia’s example.”
The comments echoed similar recent remarks from Hamas officials, including Ghazi Hamad, who is based in Qatar.
Hamad told Al Jazeera on August 2: “The initiative by several countries to recognise a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7. We proved that victory over Israel is not impossible, and our weapons are a symbol of Palestinian dignity.”
Hamad also said: “Without our weapons, no one would be looking in our direction.”
Has state recognition changed the game in Gaza? Only for the deluded Irris Makler
When Australia joined France, the UK and Canada in planning to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly next month, Anthony Albanese argued that Hamas didn’t support a two-state solution. Its aim, he said, was instead to control all the land between the river and the sea.
The prime minister was right about that. Reaching a compromise with Israel, dividing the territory so that two countries could live side by side in peace was the path chosen by Fatah, which controlled the West Bank, not Hamas, which controlled Gaza.
But Hamas is prepared to make political capital out of a plan to recognise the state of Palestine, even if it’s one it opposes. Hamas is looking to claim a victory, any victory, after 22 months of conflict in Gaza. More than 60,000 Palestinian lives have been lost, according to Hamas Health Ministry figures, including most of the senior Hamas leadership there. Huge swathes of the strip have been destroyed. Images of Gaza from the air conjure up the destruction of Grozny in Chechnya by the Russian military at the start of this century – or Dresden after Allied bombing during World War II.
Hamas began this round of its conflict with Israel on October 7, 2023, murdering and raping some 1200 people, mostly Israelis, and taking some 250 into the Gaza Strip as hostages, uploading images to social media live as they went. It was the deadliest raid since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, leading to the longest conflict in Israel’s history, and the costliest one for the people of Gaza. Last month, there was unprecedented criticism from Arab sources, with calls from the Arab League for Hamas to lay down its weapons, to release the remaining Israeli hostages and leave Gaza.
Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad came out fighting. One of the group’s “external leadership” members based in Qatar, Hamad did a long interview on Al Jazeera, asserting that Hamas would never lay down its weapons, while spinning the Gaza war as a victory. “Why are all these countries recognising Palestine now? Had any country dared to recognise the state of Palestine prior to October 7? … October 7 forced the world to open its eyes to the Palestinian cause, and to act forcefully in this respect,” he said. “The powerful blow that was delivered to Israel on October 7 has yielded important historic achievements… People who thought that defeating Israel is difficult, [realised] today that it is very easy. Today, through October 7, we proved that defeating Israel is not as difficult as people had thought.”
However, most Palestinians don’t regard this Gaza war as a victory for themselves, or for Hamas, according to polls conducted across Gaza and the West Bank over the past 22 months by Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki. They show that the October 7 attacks are viewed with increasing disfavour by Palestinians – as is Hamas itself. “The resistance”, as the Islamist group styles itself, is less popular now than it was before the war, with support for a negotiated settlement with Israel climbing.
In Israel, polls show that more than 75 per cent of Israelis want the war in Gaza to end, so that as many Israeli hostages as possible can be returned. It’s estimated that Gaza militants hold about 50 hostages, of whom 19 are believed to still be alive. Or half alive. On August 1, 664 days after taking him captive from the Nova Music Festival, Hamas released a video showing an emaciated Evyatar David given a shovel with which to dig his own grave. Tal Shoham, who had been held hostage with him, but was released during the second ceasefire back in April, said their thirst was so severe they drank from the toilet.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest plan to expand Israel’s military operation and to occupy Gaza City “temporarily” – forcibly relocating a further 800,000 Palestinians – is not popular in Israel. It was not supported by Israel’s military, with Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir arguing it could expand Gaza’s humanitarian crisis as well as endangering the hostages. Still, the widening of the war was pushed through by the most hard-line government in Israeli history, including parties led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who say openly they wish to move the Palestinian population out of Gaza and return Jewish settlers there in their stead.
But Israel’s plans to expand the war, along with the searing images of hungry people being shot – by Israeli soldiers and Hamas – while they waited at food distribution points have led to an international backlash. As the Atlantic magazine wrote last month, Israel’s partners are waking up to the fact that they are no longer dealing with a typical, if deeply conservative, Israeli government. “Now they seem to be dealing with a Smotrich-Ben-Gvir government in a Netanyahu-shaped trenchcoat.”
The campaign for diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state will remain symbolic without support from the United States, with its crucial UN Security Council veto; also, practically speaking, because the borders of the new state are not yet set, nor recognised by either Israel, or Hamas in Gaza, or Fatah in the West Bank. But it is damaging for Israel, which has long opposed such a move, and it’s an own goal for the extremist Israeli right, whose plans to annexe the West Bank and Gaza would be weakened by Israel’s deepening diplomatic isolation.
In parallel, there’s been another first: Germany announced an arms embargo on Israel, refusing to sell it any weapons which would be used in Gaza. It’s significant because, in addition to being a staunch ally, Germany is Israel’s second-largest weapons supplier, providing nearly one-third of Israel’s arms imports.
But there can be little doubt that what would most likely make a difference is American pressure – as was seen by the agreement to a second ceasefire in January this year. The US is Israel’s largest weapons supplier, and military aid has soared during this war. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, from October 2023 to November 2024 the US provided Israel with direct military aid valued at between $US12.5 billion and $US17.9 billion, depending on how you calculate the figures.
Reports out of Washington suggest that a phone call between Trump and Netanyahu last week descended into a shouting match over images of hunger in Gaza. Israel has increased food aid to Gaza and so far, the US hasn’t turned off the military spigot.
Israeli minister launches settlement plan to ‘bury’ Palestinian statehood
Maale Adumim, West Bank/Tel Aviv: Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that work will start on a long-delayed settlement that will divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, a move his office said would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinian government, allies and campaign groups condemned the scheme, calling it illegal and saying the fragmentation of territory would rip up peace plans for the region.
Standing at the site of the planned settlement in Maale Adumim overnight, Smotrich – a settler himself – said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the E1 development, though there was no immediate confirmation from either.
“Whoever in the world is trying to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive our answer on the ground. Not with documents nor with decisions or statements, but with facts. Facts of houses, facts of neighbourhoods,” Smotrich said.
Asked about the remarks, a US State Department spokesperson said: “A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region,” and referred reporters to Israel’s government for further information.
The spokesperson said Washington remained primarily focused on ending the war in Gaza.
The United Nations urged Israel to reverse its decision to start work on the settlement.
“It would put an end to prospects of a two-state solution,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “Settlements go against international law … [and] further entrench the occupation.”
Israel froze construction plans at Maale Adumim in 2012, and again after they were revived in 2020, amid objections from the US, European allies and other powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Restarting the project could further isolate Israel, which has watched some of its Western allies condemn its military offensive in Gaza and announce they may recognise a Palestinian state, including Australia.
Palestinians fear settlement building in the West Bank – which has sharply intensified since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the Gaza war – will rob them of any chance to build a state of their own in the area.
In a statement headlined “Burying the idea of a Palestinian state”, Smotrich’s spokesperson said the minister had approved the plan to build 3401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
In Maale Adumim, Smotrich – an ultranationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition who has long advocated for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank – told Reuters the plan would go into effect on Wednesday.
Breaking the Silence, an Israeli rights group established by former Israeli soldiers, said what it called a land grab “will not only further fragment the Palestinian territory, but will further entrench apartheid”.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the Palestinian president’s spokesperson, called on the US to pressure Israel to stop settlement building.
“The EU rejects any territorial change that is not part of a political agreement between involved parties. So annexation of territory is illegal under international law,” European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper said.
British Foreign Minister David Lammy said the plan must be stopped. “The UK strongly opposes the Israeli government’s E1 settlement plans, which would divide a future Palestinian state in two and mark a flagrant breach of international law,” he said in a statement.
Peace Now, which tracks settlement activity in the West Bank, said there were still steps needed before construction but infrastructure work could begin within a few months, and house building in about a year.
“The E1 plan is deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution. We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the government is driving us forward at full speed,” Peace Now said in a statement.
Consecutive Israeli governments have initiated, approved, planned and funded settlements, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
Some settlers moved to the West Bank for religious or ideological reasons, while others were drawn by lower housing costs and government incentives. They include American and European dual citizens.
Palestinians are already demoralised by the Israeli military campaign which has killed more than 61,000 people in Gaza, according to local health authorities, and fear Israel will ultimately push them out of that territory.
About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, a move not recognised by most countries, but has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank.
Most world powers say settlement expansion has eroded the viability of a two-state solution by fragmenting Palestinian territory. The two-state plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel.
Israel cites historical and biblical ties to the area and says the settlements provide strategic depth and security.
Most of the global community considers all settlements illegal under international law.
Israel rejects this interpretation, saying the West Bank is “disputed” rather than “occupied” territory.
Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand imposed sanctions in June on Smotrich and another far-right minister who advocates for settlement expansion, accusing both of them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
More than 100 humanitarian groups call on Israel to end ‘weaponisation’ of aid
London: More than 100 aid groups have gone public about a border ban that has prevented at least 6 million meals from being taken into Gaza, saying Israel has rejected requests from dozens of organisations to move food by truck to Palestinians in need.
The organisations blamed the Israeli government for turning down 60 requests in July alone and said this meant Palestinians were being starved while food, medicine, water and shelter items were stranded in warehouses in Jordan and Egypt.
The Israeli military insisted on Wednesday that nearly 320 trucks had entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and that a further 320-odd trucks had had their aid collected and distributed by the United Nations and international organisations in the previous 24 hours, along with three tankers of fuel and 97 pallets of air-dropped aid.
But the global aid groups released their own account of the blockages to highlight Israeli registration rules they say prevent more supplies from flowing into Gaza, issuing a rare joint statement from 104 organisations including CARE, Oxfam, Save the Children and Caritas.
The statement called for an “end to Israel’s weaponisation of aid” and said the government policy was leaving hospitals without basic supplies and people without food.
Save the Children Australia chief Mat Tinkler said the Israeli government had set up an “abhorrent” system that blocked aid.
“The updates we are getting are constant, and they’re increasingly distressing,” he told this masthead.
“Children are starving, our own staff are starving, and they are pleading to the world to hold the government of Israel to account here and let aid supplies through.”
Oxfam said it had more than $3.8 million in supplies that Israel had rejected from entering Gaza, including hygiene items and food.
Anera, a US aid group, said it had supplies worth $10.7 million blocked in Ashdod, 15 kilometres from Gaza, including 744 tonnes of rice, enough for 6 million meals.
The aid groups said Israel had changed rules in ways that meant most non-government organisations had been unable to move supplies into Gaza since March 2, and they blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – set up with Israeli government approval – for making things worse.
Under the GHF system, Israel has replaced about 400 aid distribution points overseen by the United Nations with four points overseen by the Israeli military.
Tinkler said donations were still needed despite the blockages.
“My message to Australians is don’t give up. In our case, the hundreds of staff that we do have on the ground are still delivering life-saving support. Still, it’s not enough,” he said.
Anera chief executive Sean Carroll, who was chief of staff at USAID for three years during the Obama administration, said the solution was to allow thousands of trucks to move aid across the border.
“At this point, everyone knows what the correct, humane answer is, and it’s not a floating pier, airdrops or the GHF,” he said.
“The answer, to save lives, save humanity and save yourselves from complicity in engineered mass starvation, is to open all the borders, at all hours, to the thousands of trucks, millions of meals and medical supplies, ready and waiting nearby,” he said.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said the GHF aid distribution had led to “extreme levels of violence and killings”, and this was mostly of young Palestinian men, as well as some women and children.
“The militarised food distribution scheme has weaponised starvation and curated suffering,” said Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, the MSF emergency co-ordinator in Gaza, in the joint statement.
The Israeli registration rules require the aid groups to disclose a deeper level of detail about all their operations, including the names of Palestinians involved, something the aid groups are unwilling to do.
Meanwhile, Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid in Gaza, health officials and witnesses said on Thursday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called for what he refers to as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory.
“They’re not being pushed out; they’ll be allowed to exit,” he told Israeli television channel i24NEWS. “All those who are concerned for the Palestinians and say they want to help the Palestinians should open their gates and stop lecturing us.”
Arab leaders and many world leaders are aghast at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another “Nakba” (catastrophe), when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the 1948 war.
South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry has denied being in talks with Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza.
Earlier this week, the Associated Press, citing six people with knowledge of the matter, reported that Israel was holding discussions to resettle Palestinians in the East African nation.
Military misgivings
Israel’s planned re-seizure of Gaza City – which it took in the early days of the war, before withdrawing – is probably weeks away, officials say. That means a ceasefire is still possible, though talks have been floundering.
The New York Times reported that Israel’s top military commander, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who officials say has cast doubt on the planned new offensive, is under increasing pressure, with one minister criticising him over the promotion of top officers and another suggesting he could be fired.
Zamir was worried about the exhaustion and fitness of reservists, risking the lives of Israeli hostages and potentially asking troops to govern millions of Palestinians, the newspaper cited officials speaking on the condition of anonymity as saying. Nonetheless, Israel’s security cabinet backed the plan.
The enclave has sustained massive fatalities from the nearly two-year war, with more than 61,000 deaths reported by the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The latest deaths came a day after the Gaza Health Ministry reported 123 deaths over 24 hours, the worst figure in a week.
Shot while fleeing
Among those killed while seeking aid on Wednesday were 14 Palestinians in the Teina area, about three kilometres from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, staff at Nasser Hospital said. Hashim Shamalah said Israeli troops opened fire as people tried to get through, and many were shot and fell while fleeing.
Israeli gunfire killed five other Palestinians while they were trying to reach another GHF distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area, according to Awda hospital and witnesses. The Israeli military said it was not aware of any casualties in that area, and the GHF said there were no incidents at or near its sites.
Eight more people, including three children, had died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said, taking the total to 235, including 106 children, since the war began. Israel disputes the ministry’s figures.
‘Credible’ reports of sexual violence
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that Israel, along with Russia, could be added to a list of countries suspected of, or responsible for, sexual violence in armed conflict.
In a letter to Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Guterres said a UN report found “credible information of violations by Israeli armed and security forces, perpetrated against Palestinians in several prisons, a detention centre and military base”.
The Israeli mission to the UN called Guterres’ accusations baseless and “steeped in bias”. Ambassador Danny Danon urged the secretary-general to instead turn his attention to Hamas.
Commentary
Promises on statehood? We’ve been here before, with dire consequences Henry Ergas
Some experiences are unforgettable. Few, however, were as searing as watching Yugoslavia’s descent into wars that ultimately cost 140,000 lives.
Now, as our government and others stampede to confer statehood on Palestine, in exchange for what are claimed to be credible commitments from Mahmoud Abbas, that tragedy’s lessons are being cavalierly ignored.
At their heart was the impact of international recognition – and the utter vanity of the promises that accompany it.
By 1990, when elections brought extremists to power in Yugoslavia’s component republics, it was clear that the country was on the brink of being torn apart.
Within a few months, serious ethnic clashes had broken out in Croatia, raising the spectre of all-out civil war.
Croatia’s goal was obvious and explicit: to be recognised as an independent state. That met with staunch opposition from the EU and from US secretary of state James Baker, who warned that “unilateral secession”, as well as being ‘‘illegal and illegitimate”, would trigger an uncontrollable spiral of violence. But the secessionists were encouraged by Germany, where chancellor Helmut Kohl, who personally despised the Serbs, was under intense pressure from Bavaria’s Christian Social Union and from a powerful lobby of 300,000 Croat “guest workers”.
Eventually, a compromise was brokered. The US, whose attention was focused on Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the crisis in the USSR, would leave the deteriorating situation in Yugoslavia to the EU, which would convene negotiations to settle boundaries and establish democratic constitutions.
At the same time, the EU would appoint a commission to determine stringent conditions Yugoslavia’s former component parts had to meet before obtaining international recognition. Taken as a package, those conditions would ensure Yugoslavia’s ethnic groups could live together in peace and security.
Both processes were speedily put in place. A peace conference, involving negotiations between the republics, got under way while the Badinter Commission – named after its French chairman, Robert Badinter – set out conditions for recognition that protected the territorial integrity of each republic and enshrined its citizens’ civil rights. Moreover, the Badinter Commission, as well as the EU, made it clear that irrevocably implementing those conditions was a prerequisite for recognition.
But Germany, now backed by Austria and the Netherlands, was determined to expedite Croatia’s recognition, regardless of whether it met the criteria international law sets down for statehood, much less the Badinter conditions: mere promises would do, even if entirely unenforceable. Moreover, to accelerate the process, Kohl made a deal with France’s Francois Mitterrand and Britain’s John Major whereby Germany withdrew some of the conditions it had imposed on the European Monetary Union in exchange for expedited recognition.
To make things worse, the Croatians had, in the meantime, discovered what the Brookings Institution’s Susan Woodward, in her classic study of the Yugoslav wars, described as an “infallible strategy”: that by far the “surest way to succeed was to instigate a war, win international sympathy and then recognition”.
Thus, beginning on May 1, 1991, Croatian forces repeatedly provoked both the Yugoslav national army and Serb militias into fierce gunfights in which civilians were killed or wounded. By casting their opponents as aggressors who were illegally on Croatia’s sovereign territory, the Croatians fuelled the calls for recognition – not as a reward to the Croatians but as a punishment for the Serbs.
With international condemnation of the Serbs continuing to swell, the EU recognised Croatia on January 15, 1992, despite the Badinter Commission’s determination that it had not complied with the mandatory conditions. Like lemmings, a host of other countries, including Australia, soon followed.
The results were disastrous. When it became clear that the EU was moving towards immediate, effectively unconditional, recognition, Cyrus Vance, who was instrumental in the peace negotiations, angrily told Germany’s foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher that “recognition had to be held out as a reward for a peaceful settlement. To give up that weapon before such a settlement was reached would mean more war”. Lord Peter Carrington, the chair of the peace conference, echoed his words, all the more so as he feared that the precedent “might well be the spark that sets Bosnia-Herzegovina alight”.
And US deputy secretary of state Larry Eagleburger insistently warned the Europeans that premature recognition would not only end the peace efforts but would “almost inevitably lead to greater bloodshed”.
Those predictions proved grimly accurate. Having achieved its goal, Croatia simply refused to implement the Badinter requirements – knowing full well that the powerful movements that had secured its recognition would make it politically impossible to withdraw. With those commitments out of the way, Croatia proceeded, through a series of attacks riddled with war crimes, to ethnically cleanse the newly independent country, rapidly reducing the Serb population from 570,000 to less than 80,000.
By January 15, 1996, Croatian president Franjo Tudjman could assure the Croatian National Assembly that “a successful Operation Storm”, as the final assault on the country’s Serbian enclaves was called, had “resolved the principal internal problem of the Croatian state forever”. The result, said Cedric Thornberry, the then UN mission’s deputy head, was that Croatia, long home to a mix of ethnicities, had “become the most ‘ethnically pure’ state in the whole of the former Yugoslavia”.
The consequences of premature recognition in Bosnia-Herzegovina were, if anything, even graver. Greatly aggravating them was the fact that the Europeans’ abject failure to enforce the Badinter conditions radicalised both sides. It encouraged the Bosnian Muslims to abandon the peace agreement they had signed only a week before, confident that violence would yield them greater territory; and every bit as importantly, it convinced the Bosnian Serbs, many of whom had been moderates, that they were utterly on their own, strengthening Slobodan Milosevic’s most intransigent supporters. Genscher had assured his European counterparts early recognition would help bring peace. In reality, said Lord David Owen, who coauthored the Vance-Owen peace agreement the parties rejected, by empowering the extremes that “gratuitous” gesture turned out to be a crucial step on the path to genocide.
Woodward, having observed Yugoslavia’s descent into that inferno, concluded that Western governments had not only failed, they had “revealed little capacity for learning”. “Their actions repeated over and over the same approach, same thinking and same mistakes”, taking mere promises for firm commitments, despite lacking either the means or the will to enforce them.
Nor was that an accident: “make believe” offered the easiest “solution to the dilemma of moral pressure without strategic intent” – that is, to the conflict between Western governments’ refusal to actually impose the conditions they believed were indispensable and “the growing pressure from domestic publics outraged by their countries’ apparent indifference to the immorality and injustice of the war”.
Yes, talk is cheap. Wishful thinking is even cheaper. But in Yugoslavia, as in Burundi and Rwanda, Armenia and Azerbaijan, it served as the gravedigger of peace, burying hundreds of thousands of men, women and children with it. Confusing one’s dreams for realities, Immanuel Kant wrote, is best left to “the fantasies of the feeble-minded”. Unfortunately, it is the feeble-minded who are currently in control.
Israeli minister strikes at Palestinian state with move to expand key settlement
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel would move ahead with a controversial settlement expansion near East Jerusalem that would isolate key Palestinian communities and significantly complicate prospects for a Palestinian state.
Smotrich, who also oversees civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories via a separate post in the defence ministry, said construction plans have been approved for a project that “finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”
The move comes after countries including France, the UK and Australia said they would recognise a Palestinian state by September, seeking to pressure Israel to scale back the nearly two-year war in Gaza. The recognitions would be symbolic but would leave Israel more isolated.
“Today, anyone in the world who tries to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive an answer from us on the ground,” Smotrich said Thursday.
“They will talk about a Palestinian dream — and we will continue to build a Jewish reality.”
The plan approves thousands of new housing units in an area in the West Bank called E1, where construction plans have been delayed for years due to international criticism that they would carve a deep division in the heart of the territory.
The development would link East Jerusalem to the nearby settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, isolating Palestinian populations in East Jerusalem and putting a significant obstacle between the Palestinian towns of Ramallah in the north and Bethlehem in the south.
“Construction in E1 is considered essentially fatal to the prospect of a two-state solution,” according to Peace Now, an Israeli organisation that tracks land seizures in the West Bank. The group said a hearing for final approval of the E1 settlement plan is scheduled for next week.
Much of the world considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. Already, the patchwork of settlements and associated roads and other infrastructure have divided population centres in the territory, where residents are regularly subjected to diversions and long delays at checkpoints. Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have surged in recent years, especially since the start of the war in Gaza, according to rights groups.
The prospect of settlements in E1 has been controversial for years. Israel announced it had authorised development in the area in 2012 in retaliation against the United Nations’ decision to grant the Palestinian territories observer status, drawing condemnation from European countries and the US.
US pressure to stop settlement expansion has been dialled back under President Trump, who appointed an ambassador who supports settlements and ended Biden-era sanctions on settlers deemed responsible for attacks on Palestinians.
“Under the Trump administration, it has been viewed that it is not a violation of international law for Israelis to live in Judea and Samaria,” US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, using the biblical term for the West Bank.
Smotrich, a settler himself who has been sanctioned by several Western countries, including Australia, for allegedly inciting violence against Palestinians, thanked Huckabee and Trump when announcing the plan, calling them “true friends of Israel like we have never had before.”
The State Department didn’t respond to requests for comment. The US Embassy in Jerusalem directed questions to Israel’s government. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The two-state solution, still the cornerstone of much thinking around resolving the tension in the Middle East, has lost adherents in Israel and the Palestinian territories for years. After the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023 and the resulting war that has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and Gaza in ruins, the idea has even fewer supporters on either side.
Anthony Albanese maps out Australia’s role in Middle East peace between Palestine and Israel
Anthony Albanese is convinced Australia can play a small role in achieving a comprehensive peace deal for Gaza under which Arab peacekeepers would be brought in to secure the war-torn territory and Saudi Arabia’s potential normalisation of relations with Israel.
Sources familiar with the Prime Minister’s thinking said he hoped the peace plan, being developed by France, Britain and the Arab League, would be finalised before the UN General Assembly next month, when Australia will formally recognise a Palestinian state.
A senior government source said the plan, based on discussions chaired by France and Saudi Arabia last month, was seen as “the best option that there has been for a very long time” to bring peace to the Middle East.
“We are talking to the key players,” the source said. “We are engaging. We are working on it. But we are not the protagonists here. Arab countries have got to be the key protagonists in this. Both the French and the Brits have much more connection to that part of the world. But we are supporting them and supporting the Arab countries.”
Mr Albanese underscored his enthusiasm for the process on Thursday, saying the Arab League had “stepped up” in its landmark New York declaration last month condemning Hamas and demanding the group lay down its weapons and release its hostages. “Their statement was historic that they made weeks ago and people who’ve followed this debate know how significant that statement was,” he said.
The Prime Minister also accused the media of reporting Hamas “propaganda” after the terrorist group disavowed a statement from one of its leaders to Nine newspapers hailing the government’s recognition of Palestine. The terrorist group said on its official Telegram channel that the statement could not have been made by Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef because he had been detained in an Israeli jail since October 19, 2023.
“What that should be is a warning to the media of being very careful about the fact that Hamas will engage in propaganda,” Mr Albanese said.
He insisted Hamas did not support Australia’s recognition of Palestine because it did not support a two-state solution.
Another Hamas statement, issued to the ABC by its media director Ismail Al-Thawabta on the same day, made clear the terrorist group was pleased with the Albanese government’s decision. “We welcome Australia’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine, and consider it a positive step towards the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” Mr Al-Thawabta said. “We call on the Australian government to translate this recognition into concrete actions by exerting diplomatic pressure to end the Israeli occupation.“
The Hamas endorsement is uncomfortable for Mr Albanese, who has said Australia’s recognition of Palestine is part of a growing “momentum for peace”. Sussan Ley said having terrorists “cheering” his foreign policy showed Mr Albanese was “out of his depth”. The Prime Minister accused the Opposition Leader of hypocrisy, reviving her past statements as a supporter of a Palestinian state. “She said she supported Palestinian statehood,” he said. “To quote her: ‘Because it will give heart to the ordinary people of the West Bank’. And she went on to say: ‘We must stand in solidarity with those seeking the nonviolent path to a secure Israel and an independent Palestine’.”
Saudi Arabia is seen as the linchpin in the peace plan but the government knows its normalisation of relations with Israel remains a longshot. “The Israelis would need to come to the table in some meaningful way before the Saudis come on board,” the source said. “They would need to see Israel move pretty substantially before they could give the big prize of normalisation.”
Saudi Arabia held out on joining the Abraham Accords, brokered by the first Trump administration, under which Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco and Sudan normalised relations with Israel. Last month’s New York declaration endorsed by the Arab League did not specifically reference normalisation of relations with Israel, but said “regional integration” was critical. “We agreed to take tangible steps in promoting mutual recognition, peaceful coexistence, and co-operation among all states in the region, linked to irreversible implementation of the two-state solution,” the declaration said.
Toronto International Film Festival pulls documentary on 2023 Hamas attack from festival line-up, citing footage rights issue
The Toronto International Film Festival has pulled from its line-up a documentary on the Hamas 2023 attack into Israel over a footage rights issue believed to relate to the terrorists’ bodycam footage.
Organisers for the festival acknowledged on Tuesday that they withdrew Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich’s The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue after initially offering the film a spot in the upcoming edition of TIFF.
The film chronicles the story of retired Israeli General Noam Tibon, whose efforts to save his family and others during the October 7, 2023 attack was profiled in a 60 Minutes segment.
Representatives for the festival said in a statement that the film’s invitation “was withdrawn by TIFF because general requirements for inclusion in the festival, and conditions that were requested when the film was initially invited, were not met, including legal clearance of all footage”.
“The purpose of the requested conditions was to protect TIFF from legal implications and to allow TIFF to manage and mitigate anticipated and known risks around the screening of a film about highly sensitive subject matter, including potential threat of significant disruption,” the festival said.
The filmmakers, though, say the festival is engaging in “censorship” by denying the film a place in the festival.
“We are shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film,” the filmmaking team said in a statement.
“Ultimately, film is an art form that stimulates debate from every perspective that can both entertain us and make us uncomfortable.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar lashed the decision, saying: “This festival would have asked Hitler or Goebbels for copyright on Auschwitz footage … This vicious and sickening decision must be cancelled immediately!”
Deadline, which first reported the news, said a sticking point was related to the identification and legal clearance of Hamas militants’ own livestreaming of the attack.
The filmmakers pledged to release the film regardless: “We invite audiences, broadcasters and streamers to make up their own mind, once they have seen it.”
Later Wednesday, TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey apologised “for any pain this situation may have caused” and said he was still hoping to have the film at the festival.
“I remain committed to working with the filmmaker to meet TIFF’s screening requirements to allow the film to be screened at this year’s festival,” Bailey said.
“I have asked our legal team to work with the filmmaker on considering all options available.”
Bailey strongly rejected allegations of censorship, explaining instead the situation required compassion and sympathy.
“The events of October 7, 2023, and the ongoing suffering in Gaza weigh heavily on us, underscoring the urgent need for compassion amid rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” he said.
“While we are not a political organisation, TIFF will always strive to present our programming in a safe, inclusive environment.”
The Toronto festival has sometimes prompted headlines over its selections. Last year, it cancelled screenings of Russians at War, a documentary about Russian soldiers in the war with Ukraine. Protesters in Toronto called the film Russian propaganda.
After the festival paused screenings due to “significant threats,” Russians at War was quietly screened toward the end of the festival.
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 4–14.
Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza weakens its ‘trust us’ approach
Matthew Doran
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-14/israeli-killing-of-journalists-weakens-trust/105650674
In a glossy document it prepared for the world’s media to consume, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) laid out evidence it claimed justified the killing of a high-profile Palestinian journalist in Gaza.
But if the IDF expected that material to be swallowed without question, it was sorely mistaken — particularly given the targeting of journalists is a war crime under international law.
Scepticism regarding anything Israel has to say about its conduct in Gaza has spread far and wide. It’s a phenomenon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has realised, holding rare press conferences in recent days to target what he calls a “global campaign of lies” against Israel.
But the “trust us” mentality employed by Israeli authorities has long lost its power after 22 months of death and destruction in Gaza.
In the hours after the IDF killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, described by his colleagues as one of the bravest journalists in Gaza, officials once again published documents claimed to link him with Hamas.
One of the records purportedly showed Al-Sharif was a Hamas “team commander” from 2013 to at least 2019. The other suggested he was paid $200 by Hamas in 2017.
A third item, said to be a Hamas phone directory, was also included.
The reproduced information was provided without any detail other than that it was “obtained during ground operations in Gaza at two separate locations”, according to the IDF’s international spokesperson on social media.
“What we have presented publicly is only a small, declassified portion of our intelligence on al-Sharif leading up to the strike,” he posted.
Al-Sharif had always denied the allegations against him. Al Jazeera had too.
The way the IDF presented the information demanded those reading it to trust that it was accurate and genuine.
The Israeli military ratcheted up its allegations against Al-Sharif following the criticism of those documents, publishing photos of the journalist with senior Hamas members, including its former leader Yahya Sinwar.
Sinwar was killed by the Israeli forces in October 2024.
“Only a terrorist sits in the gatherings of terrorists,” the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson posted on X.
There was no information about where or when the photos were taken, or in what context Al-Sharif was seen with the Hamas officials. The IDF wouldn’t comment.
The BBC reported Al-Sharif had done some work with Hamas’s media unit prior to the war, but the ABC hasn’t been able to confirm that.
Despite this, Israeli authorities provided no information to justify why other Al Jazeera journalists were killed in the same strike, which targeted a clearly marked media tent near the Al Shifa Hospital.
Their names are Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal.
Therein lies the problem.
Inconsistent evidence
Israel has faced repeated accusations it has deliberately targeted Palestinian journalists trying to tell the story of its war in Gaza — the few journalists able to report firsthand, given Israel bans all foreign media from independently accessing the strip.
Israel says the ban is for the safety of the international media.
In mid-2024 another Al Jazeera correspondent, Ismail Al-Ghoul, and his cameraman, Rami Al-Rifi, were killed in a strike by Israeli forces.
Again, the IDF claimed Al-Ghoul was a Hamas operative, but provided no detail about why Al-Rifi was targeted as well.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the evidence Israel relied on to support its claim Al-Ghoul was a member of the militant group, which is a proscribed terrorist organisation under Australian law, was riddled with inconsistencies.
The records suggested Al-Ghoul was a ranking member of Hamas’s military wing in 2007, when he was just 10 years old. But another line item said he had only been recruited in 2014, RSF said.
The organisation reported Israel’s military had responded to its questions about the inconsistencies by saying it couldn’t be held responsible for Hamas’s shoddy record keeping.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 186 journalists have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. The UN puts that figure even higher at 242.
These are the people responsible for documenting death and destruction on a scale not seen by the world for decades, and showing the horrors of war Israel does not want beamed around the globe.
They have been the first on the scene when Israeli strikes have torn through schools and tent communities providing shelter to displaced Palestinians, and have seen the bodies of lifeless aid seekers shot whilst clamouring to secure food rushed past them into makeshift morgues.
For every journalist like Anas Al-Sharif, killed with a flimsy public dossier of evidence and following months of blatant threats and mockery directed at him by the IDF, many more have been targeted without any attempt at justification.
Press under strict supervision
Israeli authorities reject almost all news coming out of Gaza as Hamas propaganda, despite refusing to allow foreign media in to do the work themselves.
It’s a convenient position to take.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said he had directed the IDF to facilitate access to international press — but, as has been the case throughout the war, this would only be under the strict supervision of Israeli soldiers in designated areas.
These are highly controlled and choreographed missions, designed to show the world parts of Gaza Israel believes will shore up support for its offensive in the strip.
Last week, ABC News was granted access to one of these “embeds” for the first time since the war began — travelling just inside the Gaza border to an aid depot.
Nothing was seen of the destruction beyond its fences. For that, international organisations rely on Palestinians to help tell the story.
Australia’s commitment to recognise Palestine met with ‘disappointment and disgust’ by Trump administration
The US ambassador to Israel says the Australian government’s decision to recognise Palestine was met with disgust by senior members of the Trump administration.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee told 7.30 he discussed Australia’s decision with US President Donald Trump.
“There’s an enormous level of disappointment and some disgust,” Ambassador Huckabee said.
“I don’t know that the president used that word, [but] I would say that is a characterisation of a sentiment.
“I think it does express the emotional sentiment, a sense of, ‘You’ve got to be kidding … why would they be doing this? And why would they be doing it now’?”
Ambassador Huckabee also said Australia’s timing was “terrible”.
“I think the timing has been very hurtful to any prospects of negotiating some settlement in Gaza with Hamas … this is a gift to them, and it’s unfortunate,” he said.
The ambassador continued his critique of the Albanese government’s decision, saying it would have a direct impact on the remaining hostages of Hamas.
“For this to come at a time like this, further endangering them and endangering any hopes of some peaceful resolution of dealing with Hamas and getting them to lay down their arms,” he said.
Australia followed similar commitments to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, that were made by France, Canada and the UK.
“As Israel’s closest partner, we would have expected that there would have been some heads up,” he said.
On 7.30 this week, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she had spoken to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the government’s intentions.
“As a matter of courtesy, I did want to give him advance notice of our announcement,” Ms Wong said.
Annexation of the West Bank
Earlier in the week, Minister Wong warned there would be “no Palestine left” to recognise if the world did not act.
Asked about Senator Wong’s comments, Mr Huckabee claimed Australia’s decision could inadvertently push Israel towards annexation of the West Bank.
“What Australia and the other countries may have done inadvertently is push Israel to do exactly what they’re afraid of,”
he said.
However, in July, the Israeli Knesset passed a non-binding motion calling for the annexation of the West Bank.
On Thursday, multiple outlets reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened an expansion of settlements outside Jerusalem.
“Those who try to recognise a Palestinian state will receive from us an answer on the ground … and ensure that by September the hypocritical leaders in Europe will have nothing to recognise,” he said.
Starvation and Trump’s role
Pressed on whether the Trump administration should have sought to influence Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza, the ambassador said: “I guess if we wanted to tell them what to do we would, but we respect the fact they were attacked on October 7.”
“I’m so tired of people blaming Israel for defending themselves,”
Mr Huckabee said.
On Wednesday, the total number of hunger-related deaths since the war began in October 2023 rose to 235, among them 106 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Asked about Mr Trump’s recent comments expressing discomfort at images of malnourished children, Mr Huckabee said Mr Trump had done “more than anyone else” to stop starvation.
“He was the one who authorised us to create the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to start feeding people … get food to people who are hungry to give it to them in a way where Hamas cannot steal it,” he said
Since the GHF has been operating in Gaza, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, according to the UN.
The UN also says 500,000 people are facing famine and every child under five is at risk of acute malnutrition.
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