Gaza Crisis Deepens: Starvation Deaths and Fiercest Attacks in Weeks
At least 56 Palestinians killed in 24 hours as WFP warns of rising malnutrition; UN agency says “every day matters” in delivering aid.
Three Palestinians have starved to death and at least 56 Palestinians, including 22 aid seekers, have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza in 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera’s team on the ground has reported an intensification of Israeli assault on Gaza City where residential neighbourhoods “are coming under some of the fiercest Israeli attacks we have seen in recent weeks”. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that malnutrition is rising across Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing blockade on aid, with Palestinian children and mothers especially at risk. “Malnutrition is a silent killer,” the agency said, noting that it causes “lifelong developmental damage” and weakens immune systems, “making common illnesses deadly”. The WFP said it is providing nutritional supplements but cannot keep pace with the demands.“We need safe access to deliver” assistance, it said. “Every day matters.” - Al Jazeera
Relatives of Israeli captives held in Gaza have condemned the Israeli Defence Ministry’s approval of a plan to seize Gaza City and accused the government of ignoring a ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas, saying it was “a stab in the heart of the families and the public in Israel”.
The Trump administration has sanctioned four International Criminal Court (ICC) officials it says are involved in efforts “to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation”. Washington has been hitting out against the ICC after it announced plans to investigate, then issued arrest warrants for, Israeli leaders accused of committing war crimes in Gaza. Earlier this year, the US government announced sanctions against ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who brought the arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It also sanctioned four ICC judges. The new US sanctions target Kimberly Prost of Canada, Nicolas Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, the US State Department said in a statement - AJE
The US and its European allies are trying to hash out what security guarantees for Ukraine will look like, following President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump ruled out putting US troops on the ground in Ukraine, but the White House left the door open to air support, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling that “an option and a possibility.” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine hosted a meeting Tuesday with European defense officials to talk through options for their political leadership, a defense official told Semafor, part of a series of engagements the administration has planned over the coming days. There is a separate NATO meeting set for today. A deal to end the war remains far afield, as the US prepares for a potential sit-down between Zelenskyy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin; possible venues include Geneva and Budapest - Semafor
Moscow isn’t shifting on what it considers to be acceptable security guarantees for Ukraine, a top Kremlin official said Wednesday. The comments by Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov undercut hopes that any progress has been made toward ending the Ukraine war since Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska. Lavrov’s remarks further indicate that the Kremlin has not softened on its maximalist positions on Ukraine: that it becomes a neutral rump state; drastically reduces its military; and abandons its NATO membership aspirations after Russia is finished with it.
The White House is planning for a possible trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russian and Ukrainian presidents in the Hungarian capital of Budapest as the next steps in negotiating an end to the years-long war, according to a Trump administration official and a person close to the administration. The U.S. Secret Service is preparing for the summit in the Central European nation led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been close with President Donald Trump since the American president’s first term in office. While the Secret Service often scouts multiple locations and the ultimate venue could change, Budapest is emerging as a first choice for the White House, said the two people, both granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Russian President Vladimir Putin told Trump he preferred Moscow and French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for Geneva as ideal meeting spots. Not to be left out, the Swiss foreign minister promised “immunity” to Putin for an outstanding war crimes warrant if the nation known for neutrality was chosen for peace talks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday criticized the idea of Budapest being a potential venue for peace talks. “Budapest? Not everyone may remember this, but in 1994 Ukraine already got assurances of territorial integrity from the US, Russia and the UK. In Budapest,” Tusk said. “Maybe I’m superstitious, but this time I would try to find another place.”
Russia has sharply increased sabotage operations in Europe, targeting critical infrastructure since 2023, according to a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. European governments have struggled to coordinate responses to Russia's hybrid attacks, which include arson, cable damage, GPS disruptions, and hacking. Russian agencies have shifted to using proxy operatives after the expulsion of intelligence officers, exploiting legal gaps and online recruitment. "While Russia has so far failed to achieve its primary aim, European capitals have struggled to respond to Russian sabotage operations and have found it challenging to agree a unified response, coordinate action, develop effective deterrence measures and impose sufficient costs on the Kremlin," the report by the London-based think tank said. The scope of so-called hybrid attacks blamed on Russia includes arson attacks, incidents where ships have damaged undersea communications cables, disruption of GPS satellite navigation signals, and the hacking of computer infrastructure. - RFE/RL
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ’s powerful sister yet again taunted South Korean efforts to improve ties, state media reported Wednesday, saying that her country will never accept Seoul as a diplomatic partner. Kim Yo Jong’s remarks fit a longstanding pattern of aggressive language during ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills, which the North has long denounced as invasion rehearsals, but also reflect a shift in Pyongyang’s approach to its rival. Her brother has shifted his focus to Moscow, and last year declared that North Korea was abandoning long-standing goals of a peaceful unification with South Korea. He ordered the constitution rewritten to declare the South a permanent enemy. Since the collapse of a 2019 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term, Kim Jong Un doubled down on his nuclear ambitions while embracing the idea of a “new Cold War.” In Seoul, former President Yoon Suk Yeol, after taking office in 2022, responded by expanding military drills with Washington and Tokyo and seeking stronger assurances of U.S. nuclear deterrence. But South Korea’s new liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who replaced Yoon after he was removed from office in disgrace, has pushed to revive dialogue between the Koreas since taking office in June. He’s extended olive branches like ending cross-border propaganda broadcasts that irritate Pyongyang. But Kim Yo Jong claimed Seoul’s peace gestures conceal a “sinister intention” to blame Pyongyang for strained relations. She said the “reckless” South Korea-U.S. military drills as a proof of Seoul’s hostility, state media said Wednesday. Kim told Foreign Ministry officials during a Tuesday meeting that reconciliation with the South would never happen, and urged them to pursue “proper countermeasures” against Seoul, which she labeled the “most hostile state” and a “faithful dog” of the U.S. Once regarded by the North as a useful go-between for extracting concessions from Washington, South Korea is now viewed in Pyongyang as a regional obstacle to its attempts to carve out a larger role in world affairs. In response to Kim Yo Jong’s latest comments, South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said Lee’s government will continue to take “proactive steps for peace” and called for mutual respect between the countries - AP
Few videos in recent memory have spread as quickly and generated as much bewilderment among defense types as those capturing the collision of Chinese vessels as they harassed boats in the South China Sea. The mid-August incident, documented and amplified by the Philippines, is emblematic of Beijing's naval buildup and extraterritorial aggression. Over the course of several days, reports emerged that: a China Coast Guard cutter and a People's Liberation Army Navy destroyer rammed each other, rendering one unseaworthy: a Chinese fighter jet intercepted a Cessna turboprop with journalists aboard; China claimed to have scared a U.S. warship, the USS Higgins, away from the contested Scarborough Shoal. (The Navy rejected this characterization, instead calling it an undeterred freedom of navigation operation.) The energy in the region is "incredibly tense," Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told Axios on the heels of a trip to Palawan in the Philippines.Today's conditions are decades in the making. The U.S. is prioritizing — or attempting to, despite fights elsewhere — the Indo-Pacific. Both Trump and Biden administrations have relayed the stakes of the theater. Washington's relationship with Manila grows closer, between military exercises like Balikatan, which drew 14,000 troops this year, and millions of dollars poured into Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites. Plus, there are plans for a new fast-boat facility. China is plowing ahead with land reclamation, military fortification and shipbuilding. The nearby waters are saturated with vessels. The Pentagon's 2024 assessment of Chinese activity noted 3,200 acres of land were added to the Spratlys, now dotted with dozens of hangars, docks, antenna arrays, radars and hardened shelters for missiles.The bottom line: "There's a lot of speculation as to why China is doing this," Ann Kowalewski, a senior fellow at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security, told Axios. “Is it to secure natural resources? Is it to push the U.S. and its allies out of the waters? Is it just that China has the military capability to do so? I think the answer is all of the above." - Axios
Zhou Ming, renowned as the mastermind behind key industrial software used in planes such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380, has left his leadership role at US-based global engineering giant Altair to return to China. An announcement on the website of the College of Engineering at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Ningbo said Zhou had joined as a chair professor and the first dean of the college in June and was already setting up a research team. The university said Zhou would “establish a world-class research and development team for engineering software and optimisation design technology”. Its biography of Zhou said he had achieved “remarkable results … on many iconic products, including the Boeing 787, Airbus 380 and 350”.The industrial software that he helped develop has also been used in other critical sectors, including power plants and supercomputers - SCMP
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