'Worst-case scenario of famine' is now unfolding in Gaza - UN
With 60,000 Palestinians killed and children dying of malnutrition, aid agencies say only a massive, sustained influx of relief and a ceasefire can avert further mass starvation.
"The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip," an alert from a UN-backed food security body says. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) says "mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths.” It comes as Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave since Israel's offensive began. Aid agencies warn Israel's measures to increase aid supplies to Gaza aren't enough - Israel insists there are no restrictions on aid deliveries and that there is "no starvation.” Some people in Gaza say they have not eaten in two days, accusing armed gangs of looting incoming aid trucks and selling the contents on the black market at high prices. - BBC
The UK will recognise Palestinian statehood in September ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Keir Starmer now says - before listing some conditions for this to happen. According to a written handout of the cabinet meeting he held earlier, Starmer said this would happen "unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a Two State Solution.” He also reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that the UK's demands on Hamas remain - that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarm. Starmer committed to make an assessment ahead of UNGA on how far the parties have met these steps before making a final decision, ensuring that no one side will have a veto, the statement says. Starmer says the UK's goal remains a "safe and secure" Israel alongside a "viable and sovereign" Palestinian state. That goal however is under pressure "like never before", he says. He adds he has always said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process at the moment of maximum impact - BBC
UN agencies have issued a joint response to today's famine declaration by the IPC, BBC reported. The World Food Programme's executive director says that awaiting the official IPC confirmation of famine to provide "life-saving food aid" that's "desperately" needed, Cindy McCain says, is "unconscionable". "We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction, and keep it flowing each and every day to prevent mass starvation," she says, adding: "The longer we wait to act, the higher the death toll will rise". Unicef, the UN's agency for the welfare of children, goes on to say that "emaciated children and babies are dying from malnutrition in Gaza.”
Aid organisations need to bring in at least 500-600 aid trucks into Gaza every day – carrying food, medicine, hygiene products, fuel and other critically needed supplies. The number allowed under the new measures is a fifth of that. “They’re not enough,” Sam Rose, acting director of UNRWA in Gaza, told Al Jazeera. “They need to be expanded and they need to be sustained and they need to be accompanied by a ceasefire, because that is the only thing that is going to stabilise conditions for hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of desperate people in Gaza.”
US President Donald Trump said Monday there was “real starvation” in Gaza, disputing Israeli leaders’ claims about conditions in the enclave that have sparked growing international condemnation. Trump’s comments came after his meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland; the two leaders are expected to discuss differences over US tariffs on UK steel and aluminum later on Monday. Trump broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement claiming there is “no starvation in Gaza,” telling reporters “that’s real starvation stuff,” and announced plans for the US to set up “food centers” in the enclave - Semafor
“When a society is destroyed so systematically over such a sustained period, it gets to a place where the harms are so deep, so complex and so intertwined that the death rate escalates and bringing it back is not simply a question of distributing rations,” - Alex de Waal, author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine
The head of an anti-corruption agency at the heart of turmoil that has shaken Ukraine and threatened to undermine wartime unity has called for the swift passage of a bill meant to restore the independence of his office and another organization that fights graft. In an interview with RFE/RL, National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) director Semen Kryvonos also said the agencies are bracing for further pressure from “evil” forces he did not identify but suggested were out to undermine the country’s crucial anti-corruption efforts. On July 22, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law that critics said robs NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Office (SAPO) of their autonomy by handing the Prosecutor-Generals’ Office control over the agencies. Zelensky’s move sparked the biggest protests over a political issue since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and prompted vocal criticism from Western countries whose support for Kyiv is vital to its defense against the onslaught and its path toward the European Union. In a stunning reversal, Zelensky submitted new legislation on July 24 in an attempt to undo the damage. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, is set to discuss the new bill on July 31. “It’s important to pass this law as soon as possible, to restore the independence of NABU and SAPO, to restore the normal operations of these institutions,” Kryvonos said in the interview on July 25 - RFE/RL
The Kremlin has responded to Donald Trump's new deadline for Russia to agree to a Ukraine ceasefire deal within 10-12 days, which he lowered from 50 days on Monday. "We have taken note of President Trump's statement yesterday," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says, before adding that Russia's "special military operation continues". Despite reports of Russian strikes killing more than 20 people across Ukraine on Tuesday, Peskov says Russia remains "committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests". Trump reiterated his threat to impose sanctions and secondary tariffs on Moscow if the deadline is not met. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia's latest strikes happened "after a completely clear position was voiced by the United States – a position supported by the world – that Russia must end this war and move to diplomacy….Ukraine welcomes President Trump’s efforts and his determination to achieve peace," Zelensky says, adding: "Peace is possible. But only when Russia ends the war it itself started and stops tormenting people." - BBC
Watch my interview today with TVP World, broadcast live from their studios in central Warsaw. We discussed Trump’s tariff threats, whether they’re fair for Poland and the EU, the ongoing war in Ukraine, shifting Trump deadlines and the ant-corruption crisis rocking the Zelensky government. Click here to watch.
The Thailand-Cambodia border, where fighting has raged since last week, was calm on Tuesday (Jul 29) following a ceasefire deal and military commanders from both sides are set to meet for talks later in the day, acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said. Phumtham and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet met in Malaysia on Monday and agreed to halt their deadliest conflict in more than a decade following five days of intense fighting that killed at least 38 people, mostly civilians, and displaced over 300,000. The Thai army said in a statement that there had been attacks by Cambodian troops in at least five locations early on Tuesday, violating the ceasefire that had come into effect from midnight, and Thailand's military had retaliated proportionately. Phumtham played down the clashes, and said he had spoken with Cambodia's defence minister ahead of the talks between military commanders - CNA
Staff at the European Central Bank (ECB) have written to President Christine Lagarde warning that the institution is becoming an “unaccountable legal fortress.” In the letter, the Staff Committee says that ECB leadership is misusing its extraterritorial status to undermine staff representation, silence staff representatives and erode democratic checks and balances inside the bank. The European Public Service Union, which claims to represent 8-million civil servants on the continent, said it stands in full solidarity with IPSO and ECB staff. “ECB’s actions represent clear violations of trade union and workers’ rights. No other public or private employer in Europe would be allowed to impose such measures without facing scrutiny and legal challenge,” it said.
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was found guilty of corruption in a trial that could worsen already fraying ties between Bogotá and Washington. Uribe — who remains a towering figure in Latin America — was convicted of bribing a witness who alleged the former president masterminded a paramilitary group three decades ago, and faces up to 12 years in prison. He said he would appeal. The case has implications for Colombia’s relations with the US: “The weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges has now set a worrisome precedent,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. Rubio’s statement echoes Washington’s attacks against Brazil’s judiciary for its prosecution of a former leader the White House also sees as an ideological ally - Semafor
Four pro-Russian parties in Moldova said on Tuesday they would form a bloc in order to press for victory in September's parliamentary election and oust the current government committed to seeking European Union membership by 2030. The vote, scheduled for September 28, could see President Maia Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity unable to keep a majority in the assembly in the ex-Soviet state lying between Ukraine and Romania. The bloc brings together the Party of Socialists, headed by former president Igor Dodon, the Heart of Moldova and Future of Moldova parties, as well as the Communist Party. "We are in favour of re-establishing strategic ties with Russia. We want peace, not war ... Our bloc will put an end to foreign interests and NATO," Dodon told a press conference as he introduced the new union. Sandu, who has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accuses the Kremlin of trying to destabilise Moldova, won re-election last year by a 10.7% margin over a Socialist challenger. And a referendum asking voters to back the drive for EU membership only just cleared a 50% majority. Parliament Chairman Igor Grosu, who also leads Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity, dismissed the left-wing bloc as a Kremlin invention. “Tired politicians who have swapped places in power and kept Moldova in poverty and a grey zone have been hauled out of mothballs at the Kremlin's behest," Grosu wrote on social media. “What unites all these worn-out politicians? The same sack of money and the same boss behind it. We must keep Moldova on the same path into the European Union." - Reuters
The journals…
