This is how people are trying not to starve in Gaza
NewsFeed Gaza’s health ministry says 18 people have starved to death in the last 72-hours, including four children. Experts say the famine is predictable and planned. This is how some people are trying to stay alive. Published On 21 Jul 202521 Jul 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
At least 49 killed in Gaza attacks as Israel sends tanks into Deir el-Balah
At least 49 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, medical sources say, as the Israeli military has sent tanks into areas of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza for the first time since Israel began its assault on the besieged territory in October 2023. Israel on Monday launched the ground offensive on southern and eastern areas of the city that is packed with displaced Palestinians, a day after its military issued a forced displacement order for residents in the areas, forcing thousands of people to flee west towards the Mediterranean coast and south to Khan Younis. Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting local medics. Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said gunfire was audible as Israeli tanks rolled into the area on Monday morning. “We can see that the entire city is under Israeli attack,” he said. “We did not manage to sleep last night.” “There has been an ongoing Israeli bombardment. Israeli jets, tanks and naval gunboats continue to strike multiple residential areas. Three more squares were destroyed in the city, and then residential houses were flattened.” Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza City on July 21, 2025 [Khamis Al-Rifi/Reuters] He said many Deir el-Balah residents fled using donkey carts and other modes of transport. Israel intensifies attacks In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, an Israeli air strike killed at least five people, including a husband and wife and their two children, in a tent, medics said. Advertisement Among those reported killed since dawn on Monday were four aid seekers waiting for food near a distribution centre operated by the United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Five other Palestinians were killed in a separate Israeli bombardment in Jabalia al-Balad in the north. Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that its teams had recovered the body of one person and evacuated three wounded after an Israeli artillery strike on the nearby Jabalia al-Nazla area. Drone strikes were reported in Gaza City, resulting in casualties, a source at al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera Arabic. The previous day, at least 134 people were killed and 1,155 injured by Israeli forces, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. At least 59,029 people in Gaza have been killed since the war began. On Sunday, Gaza health authorities reported at least 19 people had starved to death in one day, highlighting the desperate situation under the Israeli aid blockade. In an interview with Al Jazeera, the World Food Programme’s Palestine representative, Antoine Renard, said the United Nations agency has warned for “weeks” that Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation. “You have a level of despair that people are ready to risk their lives just to reach any of the assistance actually coming into Gaza,” Renard said from occupied East Jerusalem. “[There’s a] soaring number of people facing malnutrition, and we can really see that the situation is really getting to levels that we’ve never seen ever before.” UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said it is receiving “desperate messages of starvation” from inside Gaza, including from its staff, as humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate. “The suffering in Gaza is manmade and must be stopped. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale,” UNRWA said in a statement posted on X. Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network, told Al Jazeera on Monday that 900,000 children are experiencing varying degrees of malnutrition in Gaza. Twenty-five countries, including the United Kingdom, France and other European nations, issued a joint statement saying the war in Gaza “must end now” and Israel must comply with international law. The foreign ministers of the 25 countries, including Australia, Canada and Japan, said “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths”, and they condemned “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food”. Advertisement “The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the statement said. “The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” it said. Adblock test (Why?)
Bangladesh plane crash: What we know, what’s the latest
A Bangladesh air force training jet has crashed into a school campus, killing at least 19 people. Here’s the latest we know: What happened during the Bangladesh plane crash? “Bangladesh Air Force’s F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed in Uttara. The aircraft took off at 13:06 [07:06 GMT],” the Bangladesh military’s public relations team said. Local media reported that the plane crashed at about 1:30pm. Videos emerged of the aftermath of the crash, showing a fire, as well as plumes of thick smoke rising into the sky as people watched from a distance. The crash marks the deadliest aviation incident in Bangladesh since the 1984 crash of a plane travelling from Chattogram to Dhaka killed all 49 people on board. Last month, an Air India passenger plane crashed into a medical college hostel in India’s Ahmedabad city, killing 241 of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground. This incident marked the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. (Al Jazeera) Where did the plane crash? The plane crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College, a private school in the northern Dhaka neighbourhood of Uttara. Footage shared online after the crash showed the point where the aircraft had crashed into the side of a building, leaving a gaping hole. At the time of the crash, students were taking tests or attending regular classes. How big is this school? According to the information available on the school’s website, there are 6,000 enrolled students at Milestones. What kind of plane was it? The F-7 BGI is a light, “multi-role” fighter aircraft manufactured by the Chinese Chengdu Corporation. Advertisement Multi-role fighter aircraft are built to perform several “roles” in combat, including air-to-air combat, aerial bombing, reconnaissance, and suppression of air defences. The BGI was billed as the most advanced F-7 when Bangladesh bought 36 of them in 2022. It had been upgraded according to Bangladesh’s specifications. The Bangladesh Air Force’s F-7 BGI [Bangladesh Air Force] What do we know about the victims? At least 19 people have died and more than 100 have been injured, based on data from multiple hospitals. Authorities have not released details about those who have died or are injured. “A third-grade student was brought in dead, and three others, aged 12, 14 and 40, were admitted to the hospital,” Bidhan Sarker, head of the burn unit at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, told the Reuters news agency. What do the rescue efforts look like? More than 50 people, including children, were admitted to the hospital with burn injuries following the crash, a doctor at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery told reporters. An emergency hotline has been set up at the institute, Muhammad Yunus, the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, wrote in a post on X. Local media reported that several of the injured were transported to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) through air force helicopters. The army, air force, police and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), a paramilitary border security force, are working together on rescue efforts, local media reported. Eight units of the fire service are working to contain the fire, the Dhaka Tribune reported. What is the latest situation on the ground? Yunus said the government is taking all “necessary measures” in the aftermath of the crash. He posted on his X account that the bodies of those who can be identified will be returned to their families as soon as possible. Those whose identities cannot be immediately confirmed will undergo DNA testing, after which their remains will also be released to their families. In another post, Yunus shared the emergency contacts of different rescue departments regarding missing school students. Adblock test (Why?)
Do Africa’s leaders have a ‘game plan’ to deal with Trump?
Former African Union diplomat Arikana Chihombori argues that Trump’s Africa policy is ‘a step in the right direction’. Africa’s leaders have no one to blame but themselves if they cannot reach equitable trade deals with the United States, argues the former representative of the African Union to the US, Arikana Chihombori-Quao. Chihombori-Quao tells host Steve Clemons that US President Donald Trump’s “trade, not aid” policy opens up “an opportunity that African leaders were not awarded by the colonisers, the European nations, when they set out to exploit the continent of Africa”. She adds that African leaders should not allow themselves to be bullied by Trump, “because he has what you need, you also have what he wants”. Adblock test (Why?)
Brief: Ceasefire in south Syria, Gaza students sit for exams
Today is Sunday, July 20. It is day 653 of the war in Gaza, where at least 58,765 Palestinians have been killed. It is day 653 of the war in Gaza, where at least 58,765 Palestinians have been killed. In this episode: Mohammed Vall (@Md_Vall) Al Jazeera Correspondent Nour Odeh, (@nour_odeh) Al Jazeera Correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum, (@TareqAzzom) Al Jazeera Correspondent Adblock test (Why?)
Japan’s far-right party makes electoral gains with anti-globalist message
Japan’s Sanseito party wins big with ‘Japanese First’ push and anti-immigration rhetoric. Japan’s far-right Sanseito party has emerged as a major winner in the country’s upper house election, riding a wave of nationalist rhetoric, anti-immigration warnings and populist pledges on tax cuts and social welfare. Once seen as a fringe movement born on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanseito was projected on Sunday by national broadcaster NHK to secure up to 22 seats in the 248-member chamber, dramatically expanding its presence beyond the single seat it held previously. The party, which only holds three seats in the more powerful lower house, has broken into the political mainstream by capitalising on voter frustration over economic decline and rising living costs. Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya, a 47-year-old former English teacher and supermarket manager, has been at the forefront of this shift. He has stirred controversy with conspiracy theories about vaccines and “globalist elites” and openly credits US President Donald Trump’s “bold political style” as inspiration. According to an exit poll by local media, Japan’s governing coalition is likely to lose its majority in the upper house where it is forecast to secure 32 to 51 seats. ‘Japan First’ movement In an interview with Nippon Television after the election, Kamiya defended his “Japanese First” slogan. “The phrase was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people’s livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan,” he said. Despite his denial of xenophobia, Sanseito has built its platform on fears of a “silent invasion” by immigrants. Political analysts say this message resonates with many Japanese voters facing a stagnant economy and weakening yen, which has drawn record numbers of tourists and fuelled inflation. Advertisement Foreign residents in Japan reached a record 3.8 million last year, only about 3 percent of the population, but concerns about immigration remain present, even if not dominant. NHK polling before the election showed just 7 percent of respondents cited immigration as their main concern. Far more voters expressed anxiety over the country’s declining birth rate and rising food prices, particularly rice, which has doubled in cost over the past year. “The buzz around Sanseito, especially here in the United States, stems from its populist and anti-foreign message. But it’s also a reflection of the LDP’s [Liberal Democratic Party] weakness,” said Joshua Walker, president of the US-based Japan Society. Still, right-wing populism remains a relatively new phenomenon in Japan. While Kamiya and his party draw comparisons with other far-right European groups such as Germany’s AfD and Reform UK, these ideologies have not yet gained the same level of traction in Japan as they have in the West. Adblock test (Why?)
Usyk knocks out Dubois in fifth to unify heavyweight boxing belts
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk knocks out Daniel Dubois of United Kingdom to unify the heavyweight title belts in London. Oleksandr Usyk has cemented his status as the outstanding heavyweight of his generation with an emphatic fifth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois in their undisputed world title bout at London’s Wembley Stadium. Victory on Saturday saw Ukraine’s Usyk extend his unbeaten professional record to 24 fights as the WBA, WBC and WBO champion added his British opponent’s IBF belt to his collection. Usyk dominated the opening four rounds and early in the fifth, dropped Dubois to the canvas. Moments later, he finished the fight in decisive fashion after a trademark left hook left his British rival unable to beat the count one minute and 52 seconds into the round. Oleksandr Usyk knocks down Daniel Dubois and wins the fight [Andrew Couldridge/Reuters] It was the second time Usyk, at 38, some 11 years older than his opponent, had defeated Dubois after a ninth-round stoppage success in Krakow, Poland, in 2023, where the Briton was ruled to have landed an illegal low blow in the fifth round. Lennox Lewis, the last British boxer to be the undisputed world champion in 1999, forecast before Saturday’s fight that Usyk would face a vastly-improved Dubois, saying: “Dubois was a baby in the sport and now he’s a man…You’re not going to see the same Daniel Dubois from 18 months ago.” But after Usyk was roared into the ring by a huge contingent of supporters, many of them waving Ukraine’s national flag in a 90,000 capacity crowd at Wembley, best known as the London base of England’s national football team, it was largely one-way traffic as their hero conducted a ruthless masterclass against local favourite Dubois. “Thirty-eight is a young guy, remember,” Usyk told DAZN in the ring after dropping to his knees in celebration. “Thirty-eight is only [the] start. Advertisement “I want to say thank you to Jesus Christ. I want to say thank you to my team and Wembley, thank you so much! It’s for the people. “Nothing is next. It’s enough, next, I don’t know. I want to rest. My family, my wife, my children, I want to rest now. Two or three months, I want to just rest.” The UK’s Daniel Dubois takes a punch from Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk towards the end of the fight [Adrian Dennis/AFP] Asked about his next opponent, Usyk, who has already twice beaten former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, added: “Maybe it’s Tyson Fury. “Maybe we have three choices, Derek Chisora and Anthony Joshua. Maybe Joseph Parker. Listen, I cannot now say because I want to go back home.” Dubois insisted he would return to the ring, saying: “I have to commend him [Usyk] on the performance, I gave everything I had. Take no credit away from that man, I’ll be back.” Daniel Dubois after being knocked down by Oleksandr Usyk [Richard Pelham/Getty Images] Adblock test (Why?)
Syria clears fighters from Druze city of Suwayda, declares halt to clashes
Syria’s government says it has cleared Bedouin fighters from the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda and declared a halt to the deadly clashes there, hours after deploying security forces to the restive southern region. The announcement on Saturday came after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa ordered a new ceasefire between Bedouin and Druze groups, following a separate United States-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention in the clashes. Shortly before the government’s claim, there were reports of machinegun fire in the city of Suwayda as well as mortar shelling in nearby villages. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Nour al-Din Baba, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Interior, said in a statement carried by the official Sana news agency that the fighting ended “following intensive efforts” to implement the ceasefire agreement and the deployment of government forces in the northern and western areas of Suwayda province. He said the city of Suwayda, located in the province’s west, has now been “cleared of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighbourhoods have been brought to a halt”. Israeli intervention The fighting broke out last week when the abduction of a Druze truck driver on a public highway set off a series of revenge attacks and resulted in tribal fighters from all over the country streaming into Suwayda in support of the Bedouin community there. The clashes drew in Syrian government troops, too. Israel intervened in the conflict on Wednesday, carrying out heavy air attacks on Suwayda and Syria’s capital, Damascus, claiming it was to protect the Druze community after leaders of the minority group accused government forces of abuses against them. Advertisement Syrian government troops withdrew from Suwayda on Thursday. At least 260 people have been killed in the fighting, and 1,700 others have been wounded, according to the Syrian Ministry of Health. Other groups, however, put the figure at more than 900 killed. More than 87,000 people have also been displaced. The fighting is the latest challenge to al-Sharaa’s government, which took over after toppling President Bashar al-Assad in December. Al-Sharaa, in a televised statement on Saturday, called on all parties to lay down arms and help the government restore peace. “While we thank the [Bedouin] clans for their heroic stance, we call on them to adhere to the ceasefire and follow the orders of the state,” he said. “All should understand this moment requires unity and full cooperation, so we can overcome these challenges and preserve our country from foreign interference and internal sedition.” He condemned Israel’s intervention in the unrest, saying it “pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability”. After the president’s announcement, the Syrian government began deploying troops to Suwayda and Bedouin groups said they would withdraw from the city of Suwayda. “Following consultations with all members of Suwayda’s clans and tribes, we have decided to adhere to the ceasefire, prioritise reason and restraint, and allow the state’s authorised institutions the space to carry out their responsibilities in restoring security and stability,” the Bedouin factions said in a statement. “Therefore, we declare that all our fighters have been withdrawn from the city of Suwayda,” they added. Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Damascus, said the Druze, too, seemed to have accepted the truce. “Hikmat Al Hajri, a prominent spiritual leader, has called for all Bedouin fighters to be escorted safely out of Suwayda,” he said. “Security forces from the interior ministry have been deployed to help separate rival groups, and oversee the implementation of the ceasefire. But there are still reports of ongoing fighting in the city, with some Druze leaders voicing strong opposition to the cessation of hostilities,” he said. “So while there is hope, there is also doubt that this conflict is over,” Vall added. World welcomes truce Jordan, meanwhile, hosted talks with Syria and the US on efforts to consolidate the ceasefire in Suwayda. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani and the US special envoy for Syria, Thomas Barak, “discussed the situation in Syria and efforts to consolidate the ceasefire reached around Suwayda Governorate to prevent bloodshed and preserve the safety of civilians”, according to a readout by the Jordanian government. Advertisement The three officials agreed on “practical steps” to support the ceasefire, including the release of detainees held by all parties, Syrian security force deployments and community reconciliation efforts. Safadi also welcomed the Syrian government’s “commitment to holding accountable all those responsible for violations against Syrian citizens” in the Suwayda area, the statement said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also commented on the developments in Syria in a post on X, urging Syrian government troops to prevent fighters from entering Suwayda and “carrying out massacres”. “They must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks,” he said. “Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately.” Countries around the world also called for the truce to be upheld. The United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, said in a post on X that he was horrified by the violence in southern Syria and that “a sustainable ceasefire is vital”. France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs stressed the need for “Syrian authorities to ensure the safety and rights of all segments of the Syrian people”, and called for investigations into abuses against civilians in Suwayda. Japan also expressed concern over the violence, including the Israeli strikes, and called for the ceasefire to be implemented swiftly. It added that it “strongly urges all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint, preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity, and respect its independence and sovereignty”. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,242
Here are the key events on day 1,242 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is how things stand on Sunday, July 20: Fighting Russian forces launched a missile attack on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two people and damaging “an outpatient clinic, a school and a cultural institution”, according to the central region’s governor, Serhiy Lysak. Another Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa killed at least one person overnight and wounded six others, including six children, officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched “more than 300 strike drones and over 30 missiles” against Ukrainian cities during the overnight attack. The attacks also damaged critical infrastructure in the Sumy region, “leaving several thousand families without electricity”, the Ukrainian president added. In Russia, the Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said early on Sunday that Russian air defences downed at least 15 Ukrainian drones heading for the capital. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said early on Sunday that its air defence units destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones, including 21 over the Bryansk region, on the Ukrainian border. This came hours after the ministry said its air defence units shot down six missiles and 349 drones over Russian territory on Saturday. Earlier, Russia had to suspend trains for about four hours overnight in the southern Rostov region when it came under a Ukrainian drone attack, which injured one railway worker. The acting governor of the Rostov region, on Ukraine’s eastern border, said Ukrainian drones had also caused fires and knocked down power lines. Ukrainian emergency service workers extinguish a fire in a residential building after Russian shelling, in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, on Saturday [Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu] Politics and diplomacy Zelenskyy said Ukraine sent Russia a proposal offering a new round of peace talks to take place next week, after negotiations stalled last month. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of deporting Ukrainians to Georgia and leaving them stranded there without proper documents, hundreds of miles from their home. He said Ukraine has brought back 43 people so far, but more people remain in “difficult conditions” at the border. Earlier, Volunteers Tbilisi, an aid group, said at least 56 Ukrainians, mostly prisoners who completed their sentences and were subsequently ordered to leave Russia, were being held in “inhumane” conditions in a basement near the Russian-Georgian border. India said it did not support “unilateral sanctions” by the European Union, after Brussels imposed penalties on Russia that included a Rosneft oil refinery in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Adblock test (Why?)
Bus crash in southern Iran kills at least 21, injures 34
Rescue operations are ongoing south of Shiraz, in Fars province. At least 21 people have been killed after a bus overturned in the south of Iran, state media has reported. Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organisation, said 34 other people were injured in the accident on Saturday south of Shiraz, the province’s capital. Abed said rescue operations are ongoing, and additional information and final figures will be released to the public after the operation is complete and detailed investigations have been carried out. The cause of the incident is under investigation. With nearly 17,000 casualties annually, Iran is among the countries most affected by road and street accidents. The high toll is attributed to lax application of safety measures, the widespread use of old vehicles and depleted emergency services. Adblock test (Why?)