Afghans show solidarity as migrant returns from Iran surge
Afghans show solidarity as migrant returns from Iran surge/node/2609820/middle-east
Afghans show solidarity as migrant returns from Iran surge
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Updated 44 sec ago
AFP
Afghans show solidarity as migrant returns from Iran surge
Since the beginning of the year, more than 1.6 million Afghans, including many children, have returned after being deported or driven out of Iran, which accuses them of pushing up unemployment and crime
Taliban authorities struggle to support the influx of Afghans who have often left everything behind and returned to a country mired in poverty
Updated 44 sec ago
AFP
ISLAM QALA: At the border with Iran, Fatima Rezaei distributes food and hygiene products to Afghans forced to return, unable to passively stand by as the deportation crisis grows.
The 22-year-old is one of many Afghan volunteers rallying to help their compatriots, despite having little themselves.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 1.6 million Afghans, including many children, have returned after being deported or driven out of Iran, which accuses them of pushing up unemployment and crime.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have a lot of money or not. I don’t have much, but with the help of Afghans here and abroad, we manage,” said Rezaei.
The number of crossings at the Islam Qala border has reached 30,000 on several days, peaking at 50,000 on July 4, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
In response, residents of the western region have mobilized, partly thanks to donations sent by Afghans living in Europe or North America.
A journalist for a local television channel, Rezaei travels over 100 kilometers (62 miles) to reach the border from her hometown of Herat.
From a stack of cardboard boxes, she distributes baby wipes and sanitary towels to women gathered under a tent and surrounded by around a dozen children.
“It is our responsibility to stand by their side,” she said.
“The government tries to help, but it’s not enough.”
International organizations are helping to register migrants but face massive budget cuts.
Meanwhile, Taliban authorities struggle to support the influx of Afghans who have often left everything behind and returned to a country mired in poverty.
Unemployed Hosna Salehi volunteers with her parents’ charitable organization, Khan-e-Meher, to distribute aid, such as infant formula.
“Some women with young children tried to breastfeed but didn’t have enough milk due to stress,” she told AFP.
“Our fellow Afghans need our support right now. We have a duty to give what we can, no matter if it is a little or a lot.”
The show of solidarity “makes us proud,” said Ahmadullah Wassiq, director of Afghanistan’s High Commission for Refugees.
“The government cannot solve these problems alone,” he acknowledged, “and the efforts of citizens must be applauded.”
The Taliban government says it provides money upon arrival and is establishing towns dedicated to returning Afghans, though it does not specify when they will be ready.
In Herat, the nearest major city to the border, some in the most precarious circumstances have been living in parks in tents donated by residents.
Some said they were having to rebuild their lives after returning home.
“The only thing we’re worried about is finding work,” said Hussein, 33, who spent more than 10 years in Iran.
“There, they told us our papers were no longer valid. We had good jobs, now we need to find work and start from scratch,” said the father-of-two, who was moved by the support he encountered on the Afghan side of the border.
“They really helped us and extended a hand,” he said as he waited for a free bus to take him the nearly 1,000 kilometers to the capital Kabul.
In Afghanistan, where half the population of around 48 million lives below the poverty line according to the World Bank, “there isn’t much of a culture of volunteering,” said 27-year-old Omid Haqjoo, as he prepared food in vast cooking pots.
“But we are trying to promote it... to provide the support that is missing,” he added.
After a day of heat in the humanitarian tents at Islam Qala, Salehi felt strengthened by a “life lesson.”
“If I was able to help volunteer, I think everyone can,” she said.
“And when I go home and think of all the fellow Afghans who smiled at me and prayed for me, that’s enough for me.”
Gangs and merchants sell food aid in Gaza, where Israel’s offensive has shattered security
Updated 7 sec ago
DEIR AL BALAH: Since Israel’s offensive led to a security breakdown in Gaza that has made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food to starving Palestinians, much of the limited aid entering is being hoarded by gangs and merchants and sold at exorbitant prices. A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of flour has run as high as $60 in recent days, a kilogram of lentils up to $35. That is beyond the means of most residents in the territory, which experts say is at risk of famine and where people are largely reliant on savings 21 months into the Israel-Hamas war. Israel’s decision this weekend to facilitate more aid deliveries — under international pressure — has lowered prices somewhat but has yet to be fully felt on the ground. Bags of flour in markets often bear UN logos, while other packaging has markings indicating it came from the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — all originally handed out for free. It’s impossible to know how much is being diverted, but neither group is able to track who receives its aid. In the melees surrounding aid distributions in recent weeks, residents say the strong were best positioned to come away with food. Mohammed Abu Taha, who lives in a tent with his wife and child near the city of Rafah, said organized gangs of young men are always at the front of crowds when he visits GHF sites. “It’s a huge business,” he said. Every avenue for aid is beset by chaos The UN says up to 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, aid groups and media outlets say their own staffers are going hungry, and Gaza’s Health Ministry says dozens of Palestinians have died from hunger-related causes in the last three weeks. When the UN gets Israeli permission to distribute aid, its convoys are nearly always attacked by armed gangs or overwhelmed by hungry crowds in the buffer zone controlled by the military. The UN’s World Food Program said last week it will only be able to safely deliver aid to the most vulnerable once internal security is restored — likely only under a ceasefire. “In the meantime, given the urgent need for families to access food, WFP will accept hungry populations taking food from its trucks, as long as there is no violence,” spokesperson Abeer Etifa said. In the alternative delivery system operated by GHF, an American contractor, Palestinians often run a deadly gantlet. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops while seeking food since May, mainly near the GHF sites, according to the UN human rights office, witnesses and local health officials. The military says it has only fired warning shots when people approach its forces, while GHF says its security contractors have only used pepper spray or fired in the air on some occasions to prevent stampedes. ‘You have to be strong and fast’ A man in his 30s, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisal, said he had visited GHF sites about 40 times since they opened and nearly always came back with food. He sold most of it to merchants or other people in order to buy other necessities for his family. Heba Jouda, who has visited the sites many times, said armed men steal aid as people return with it and merchants also offer to buy it. “To get food from the American organization, you have to be strong and fast,” she said. Footage shot by Palestinians at GHF sites and shared broadly shows chaotic scenes, with crowds of men racing down fenced-in corridors and scrambling to grab boxes off the ground. GHF says it has installed separate lanes for women and children and is ramping up programs to deliver aid directly to communities. The UN’s deliveries also often devolve into deadly violence and chaos, with crowds of thousands rapidly overwhelming trucks in close proximity to Israeli troops. The UN does not accept protection from Israel, saying it prefers to rely on community support. The Israeli military did not respond to emails seeking comment about the reselling of aid. Israel denies allowing looters to operate in areas it controls and accuses Hamas of prolonging the war by not surrendering. “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The situation changed dramatically in March For much of the war, UN agencies were able to safely deliver aid, despite Israeli restrictions and occasional attacks and theft. Hamas-led police guarded convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid. During a ceasefire earlier this year, Israel allowed up to 600 aid trucks to enter daily. There were no major disruptions in deliveries, and food prices were far lower. The UN said it had mechanisms in place to prevent any organized diversion of aid. But Israel says Hamas was siphoning it off, though it has provided no evidence of widespread theft. That all changed in March, when Israel ended the ceasefire and halted all imports, including food. Israel seized large parts of Gaza in what it said was a tactic to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. As the Hamas-run police vanished from areas under Israeli control, local tribes and gangs — some of which Israel says it supports — took over, residents say. Israel began allowing a trickle of aid to enter in May. GHF was set up that month with the stated goal of preventing Hamas from diverting aid. Since then, Israel has allowed an average of about 70 trucks a day, compared to the 500-600 the UN says are needed. The military said Saturday it would allow more trucks in — 180 entered Sunday — and international airdrops have resumed, which aid organizations say are largely ineffective. Meanwhile, food distribution continues to be plagued by chaos and violence, as seen near GHF sites or around UN trucks. Even if Israel pauses its military operations during the day, it’s unclear how much the security situation will improve. With both the UN and GHF, it’s possible Hamas members are among the crowds. In response to questions from The Associated Press, GHF acknowledged that but said its system prevents the organized diversion of aid. “The real concern we are addressing is not whether individual actors manage to receive food, but whether Hamas is able to systematically control aid flows. At GHF sites, they cannot,” it said. Hamas has denied stealing aid. It’s unclear if it’s involved in the trade in aid, but its fighters would be taking a major risk by operating in a coordinated way in Israeli military zones that UN trucks pass through and where GHF sites are located. The UN says the only solution is a ceasefire UN officials have called on Israel to fully lift the blockade and flood Gaza with food. That would reduce the incentive for looting by ensuring enough for everyone and driving down prices. Another ceasefire would include a major increase in aid and the release of Israeli hostages, but talks have stalled. Hamas started the war when its fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. Fifty captives are still being held in Gaza. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and is run by medical professionals. Israel has disputed its figures without providing its own.
Houthis say they hold 10 crew from Greek-operated ship they sank off Yemen/node/2609814/middle-east
Houthis say they hold 10 crew from Greek-operated ship they sank off Yemen
On Monday, the Houthis group released a six-minute video showing pictures of the 10 seafarers with some of them contacting their families
Updated 29 July 2025
Reuters
CAIRO/ATHENS: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they had rescued 10 seafarers from the Greek-operated cargo ship Eternity C which they attacked and sank in the Red Sea earlier this month. The Liberia-flagged Eternity C was the second ship to sink off Yemen this month after repeated attacks by Houthi militants with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades. Another Greek-operated vessel, the Magic Seas, had gone down days earlier. The strikes on the two vessels marked a revival of attacks on shipping by the Houthis, who have hit more than 100 ships between November 2023 and December 2024 in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians in the war in Gaza. The Eternity C crew and three armed guards were forced to abandon the ship following the attacks. Ten people were rescued by a privately led mission, while five more are feared dead mainly due to the attacks.
Another 10 people were believed to be held by Houthis, maritime security sources had told Reuters.
On Monday, the Houthis group released a six-minute video showing pictures of the 10 seafarers with some of them contacting their families. They also showed testimonies saying that the crew members were not aware of a maritime ban by Houthis against vessels sailing to Israeli ports. They said the vessel was heading to Israel’s Eilat Port to load fertilizers.
Reuters could not independently verify the footage. In what they called phase four of their military operations, the Houthis said on Sunday they would target any ships belonging to companies that do business with Israeli ports, regardless of their nationalities. Following the recent attacks, Greece said it would deploy a salvage vessel in the Red Sea to assist in maritime accidents and protect seafarers and global shipping.
Detained Gaza aid boat activists launch hunger strike: NGO
One US activist reported “severe physical violence by Israeli forces,” while others described being held in poor conditions, Adalah said
Updated 29 July 2025
AFP
JERUSALEM: More than a dozen activists being held by Israel after their aid boat was intercepted en route to Gaza launched a hunger strike on Monday to protest their detention, according to a local NGO assisting them.
At least five of the 21 passengers of the Freedom Flotilla vessel Handala have agreed to be summarily deported after the boat was stopped and boarded by the Israeli navy while attempting to break a military blockade of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
The legal aid group Adalah said that on Monday afternoon, “hearings concluded at Givon Prison, concerning the continued detention of the 14 volunteers who... refused to consent to an expedited deportation process.”
“During the hearings, the volunteers stressed that their mission was humanitarian — motivated by the need to act against Israel’s illegal siege and the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” the group said in a statement.
One US activist reported “severe physical violence by Israeli forces,” while others described being held in poor conditions, Adalah said.
“The activists told the tribunal that they remain on an open hunger strike in protest of their unlawful detention,” it added.
It later said the tribunal had “upheld the continued detention of the 14 volunteers.”
Israel has been treating their cases as immigration violations, which Adalah maintains is illegal, saying they were brought into the country against their will from international waters.
The Handala’s 21 passengers hailed from 10 countries, and included two French lawmakers and a pair of Al Jazeera journalists.
Adalah said at least one of the lawmakers, the two journalists and two other passengers were already on their way out of the country.
Two passengers who were Israeli-American dual nationals were released after being interrogated, according to the organization.
A previous boat sent by Freedom Flotilla, the Madleen, was also intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters on June 9.
It carried 12 campaigners, including prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. The activists were eventually expelled by Israel.
Landmark Saudi-French peace summit signals growing international consensus for Palestinian statehood
Global representatives are attending a conference at the UN in New York to revive hopes for a two-state solution
Summit delegates demanded a Gaza ceasefire, unrestricted aid delivery, and accountability for Israeli attacks
Updated 29 July 2025
Zaira Lakhpatwala GABRIELE MALVISI
DUBAI/LONDON: The first day of the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine sent a unified message: the path toward Palestinian statehood is taking shape, with international actors working to chart what France’s foreign minister described as an “irreversible political path” to a two-state solution.
Co-hosted by Ƶ and France at the UN from July 28 to 30, the conference seeks to revive global momentum around Palestinian recognition — momentum that has waned amid Israel’s military campaign in Gaza triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
“This is a historic stage that reflects growing international consensus,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a near-capacity hall on Monday, adding that the gathering aims to shift the international atmosphere decisively toward a two-state solution.
Attendees stand during a moment of silence during a ministerial high level meeting during the United Nations conference on a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, at UN headquarters on July 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
“This is not simply a political position. Rather, this is a deeply entrenched belief that an independent Palestinian state is the true keys to peace,” which he said he envisioned in the form of the Arab Peace Initiative, presented by Ƶ and adopted by the Arab League in Beirut in 2002.
The conference comes days after French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to officially recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September — a move that would make France the first G7 country to do so.
The US, however, declined to participate, saying in a memo that the meeting was “counterproductive to ongoing, life-saving efforts to end the war in Gaza and free hostages.”
Washington added that it opposes “any steps that would unilaterally recognize a conjectural Palestinian state,” arguing such moves introduce “significant legal and political obstacles” to resolving the conflict.
Israel, which faces mounting international pressure over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — where the UN says starvation is taking hold — also boycotted the meeting.
Naeema, a 30-year-old Palestinian mother, sits with her malnourished 2-year-old son Yazan in their damaged home in the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 23, 2025. (AFP)
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the wide attendance at the conference proved “the consensus and the mobilization of the international community around the appeal for an end to the war in Gaza.” He urged participants to view the gathering as “a turning point — a transformational juncture for implementing the two-state solution.”
“We have begun an unprecedented and unstoppable momentum for a political solution in the Middle East, which is already beginning to bear fruit,” Barrot said, citing tangible steps such as “recognition of Palestine, normalization and regional integration of Israel, reform of Palestinian governance, and the disarmament of Hamas.”
While the 1947 UN Partition Plan originally proposed separate Jewish and Arab states, Israel’s far-right government continues to reject any form of Palestinian statehood, advocating instead for the permanent annexation of land and, in some cases, the expulsion of Palestinian residents.
“This conference does not promote a solution, but rather deepens the illusion,” said Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, on Monday, accusing organizers of being “disconnected from reality” by prioritizing Palestinian sovereignty over the release of hostages and the dismantling of Hamas.
Palestinians inspect the site struck by an Israeli bombardment in Muwasi, Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP)
The future of Hamas and Israeli settler violence dominated discussions on the first day and are expected to remain a focus throughout the conference.
Juan Manuel Santos, the former Colombian president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told the conference that the current Israeli government is “pursuing a greater Israel through the destruction of Gaza, illegal settlement expansion and the annexation of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
He called on nations to recognize the State of Palestine, saying it would send a clear message that Israel’s “expansionist agenda will never be accepted and does not serve their true interests.”
Ƶ's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud (C) speaks during a ministerial high level meeting during the United Nations conference on a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, at UN headquarters on July 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
Intervening on the issue, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa described Gaza as the “latest and most brutal manifestation” of the crisis.
“The idea that peace can come through the destruction or subjugation of our people is a deadly illusion,” he said, arguing that the Palestinian people — and not Hamas — “have demonstrated an ironclad commitment to peace in the face of brutal violence.”
Israel has defended its actions as essential to national security and has signaled its intention to maintain military control over Gaza and the West Bank after the war. But on Monday, several speakers insisted that true security cannot exist without peace.
“Just as there can be no peace without security, there can be no security without peace,” said Italian representative Maria Tripodi.
Mourners pray over the body of Soad Qeshtah, who died hours after being delivered by emergency caesarean section from her mother, seven-months pregnant Soad al-Shaer, killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP)
Participants proposed building an inclusive regional security framework modeled after the OSCE or ASEAN, focused on negotiations and policy rather than military control.
Qatar’s representative emphasized that while a ceasefire and increasing the flow of humanitarian aid remain the immediate goals, lasting peace requires a two-state solution, tackling root causes, protecting independent media, and countering hate speech.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo has “intensified efforts” to end the war, resume aid, and provide security training to forces that could help create the conditions for a viable Palestinian state.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza loomed large over discussions. With the territory’s health and food systems in a state of collapse, the UN has warned that famine is already unfolding in parts of the enclave, where hundreds of thousands remain trapped.
An Israeli tank enters Israel from Gaza, July 28, 2025. (REUTERS)
Despite mounting international pressure, Israel has maintained tight control over land access and aid convoys, increasing the allowance of humanitarian convoys entering the enclave on Sunday — efforts that humanitarian groups say are insufficient, erratic, and dangerous.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the Arab League, warned that “a new Middle East will never emerge from the suffering of Palestinians.” Peace, he said, will not come through “starvation, deportation or total suppression,” and cannot exist while occupation and apartheid persist.
Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, former UN high commissioner for human rights, urged the international community to define a clear and pragmatic plan for a new and independent Palestine.
“A vision is not for today’s emotional audit,” he said, but for a new tomorrow for both Israel and Palestine. This is why, “a two-state solution would have to be practical to gain support” and “wholesale vagueness about the end game is not strategic; it is dangerous.”
A displaced Palestinian girl reacts as she receives lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on July 25, 2025. (AFP)
He advocated for a “cleverly designed, regionally anchored security arrangement to prevent unilateral abrogation as a first urgent transitional step” in addition to a reconstruction and rehabilitation mission with an international mandate.
Addressing delegates, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the conflict had reached a “breaking point,” and urged a shift from rhetoric to concrete action.
Nothing justifies “the obliteration of Gaza that has unfolded before the eyes of the world,” he said, listing illegal settlement expansion, settler violence, mass displacement and the annexation drive as elements of a “systemic reality dismantling the building blocks of peace.”
The sun sets over north Gaza, July 28, 2025. (REUTERS)
He called for an immediate end to unilateral actions undermining a two-state solution, and reaffirmed the UN vision of two sovereign, democratic states living side-by-side in peace, based on pre-1967 borders and with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
“This remains the only framework rooted in international law, endorsed by this Assembly, and supported by the international community,” he said. “It is the only credible path to a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. And it is the sine qua non for peace across the wider Middle East.”
Hamas must surrender Gaza control, disarm: Palestinian PM
Mohammad Mustafa made the statement at UN conference on the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians
Updated 28 July 2025
AFP
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa said Monday that Hamas must disarm and give up control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority to restore security in the war-torn territory.
“Israel must withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip and Hamas must relinquish its control over the strip and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority,” Mustafa said at a conference on the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians at the United Nations in New York.
