Latest news with #US-backed
TimesLIVE
3 hours ago
- Health
- TimesLIVE
Gaza faces a man-made drought as water systems collapse, says Unicef
Gaza is facing a man-made drought as its water systems collapse, the UN's children agency said on Friday. 'Children will begin to die of thirst. Only 40% of drinking water production facilities remain functional,' Unicef spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva. 'We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza.' Unicef also reported a 50% increase in children aged six months to five years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half-a-million people going hungry. It said the US-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was 'making a desperate situation worse'. On Friday at least 25 people awaiting aid trucks or seeking aid were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities. On Thursday at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the GHF in the central Gaza Strip.
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- General
- Straits Times
Gaza faces a man-made drought as water systems collapse, Unicef says
Unicef said just 40 per cent of drinking water production facilities in Gaza remain functional. PHOTO: REUTERS GENEVA - Gaza is facing a man-made drought as its water systems collapse, the United Nations' children agency said on June 20. "Children will begin to die of thirst... Just 40 per cent of drinking water production facilities remain functional," Unicef spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva. "We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza," he added. Unicef also reported a 50 per cent increase in children aged six months to 5 years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half a million people going hungry. It said the US-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was "making a desperate situation worse." On June 20, at least 25 people awaiting aid trucks or seeking aid were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities. On June 19, at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the GHF in the central Gaza Strip. Mr Elder, who was recently in Gaza, said he had many testimonials of women and children injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries. He said a lack of public clarity on when the sites, some of which are in combat zones, were open was causing mass casualty events. "There have been instances where information (was) shared that a site is open, but then it's communicated on social media that they're closed, but that information was shared when Gaza's internet was down and people had no access to it," he said. On June 18, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed three million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident. On June 20, at least 12 people were killed in an airstrike on a house belonging to the Ayyash family in Deir Al-Balah, taking the day's death toll to 37. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
'Fan of Les Miserables, 95 billion dollar empire': 10 interesting things about Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran 'SMASHES' Israeli Military's Intel Office In Tel Aviv; Big Attack After Beersheba Strikes As Iran battles a waves of Israeli airstrikes targeting its nuclear infrastructure and military leadership, one man remains at the centre of the unfolding crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At 86, he has outlasted presidents, weathered international sanctions, and crushed domestic uprisings. Now, with his regime's regional proxy network weakened and his own survival reportedly under threat, Khamenei faces the most serious challenge of his long reign. Rarely seen in public and yet ever present in Iran's decision-making, Khamenei exerts unmatched authority across all branches of the state. He commands the military, directs foreign policy, shapes the nuclear programme, and controls vast economic assets. To supporters, he is the embodiment of revolutionary resolve; to critics, the architect of repression and confrontation. From secret bunkers to literary praise for Les Misérables, Khamenei remains a deeply enigmatic figure. Here are ten interesting facts about Iran's most influential man: From prisoner to president Born in 1939, Khamenei was repeatedly jailed under the US-backed Shah for his political activism. A close ally of Ruhollah Khomeini, he rose through the clerical ranks during the revolution and became Iran's president in the 1980s. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy Brass Idols - Handmade Brass Statues for Home & Gifting Luxeartisanship Buy Now Undo When Khomeini died in 1989, Khamenei though lacking the senior religious credentials expected for the role, was elevated to Supreme Leader. His presidency and wartime leadership had earned him enough support among key factions to secure the top post. The real power behind the presidency Although Iranian presidents often dominate headlines particularly firebrands like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad it is Khamenei who ultimately decides policy. He holds the final say over the military, judiciary, foreign relations, and even who can run for office. Presidents may act as public faces, but no major decision proceeds without the Supreme Leader's approval. Western leaders, including Trump and Bush, have misjudged the power dynamics in Iran by focusing too heavily on elected figures. Architect of Iran's 'axis of resistance' Khamenei has long positioned Iran as a regional counterweight to US, Israeli, and Saudi influence. He helped build and maintain a vast network of proxy forces across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza. Known as the 'Axis of Resistance,' this coalition allowed Iran to exert influence without direct confrontation. But recent Israeli military actions have badly damaged this network, especially in Syria and Gaza. Relentless against domestic dissent Internally, Khamenei has responded harshly to political opposition and protest movements. From the reformist wave of the late 1990s to the 2009 Green Movement and the 2022 protests over Mahsa Amini's death, his security apparatus particularly the Revolutionary Guard has cracked down ruthlessly. Mass arrests, killings, and alleged torture have been reported, with each wave of dissent testing but not breaking his grip on power. Supreme religious power with political priorities While officially the highest clerical authority in Iran, Khamenei lacks the religious gravitas of his predecessor, Khomeini. Many Shiites in Iran and abroad turn instead to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq. Yet, Khamenei has compensated by transforming the Supreme Leader's office into a powerful political hub, centralising control over Iran's fragmented system and ensuring that all levers of power answer to him. A hidden billion-dollar empire According to a Reuters investigation, Khamenei controls a vast economic empire worth an estimated $95 billion through an organisation called Setad. Though there is no evidence he enriches himself personally, Setad consolidates wealth and influence for the regime, managing assets across oil, telecoms, finance, and even ostrich farming. It has also been accused of seizing properties from religious minorities and exiles under dubious legal claims. The Revolutionary Guard: His private army Under Khamenei's leadership, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has become Iran's most powerful institution. Tasked with defending the Islamic system, the IRGC controls Iran's missile and drone programmes and has deep economic interests. The Quds Force, its external wing, manages Iran's regional operations. In return for loyalty, Khamenei has allowed the Guard significant autonomy and influence in both business and politics. A cautious but calculated leader Though he often uses fiery rhetoric, Khamenei is seen by analysts as more pragmatic than many of Iran's presidents. He has oscillated between engaging with the West and pushing hardline resistance. In 2003, he issued a fatwa declaring nuclear weapons un-Islamic, but he still backs Iran's enrichment programme. His decisions are often guided by a cold calculation of what best preserves the regime and his position atop it. Rare public appearances, constant control Khamenei is reclusive, with carefully managed public appearances and tightly guarded movements. His personal security is handled by a special IRGC unit. During recent Israeli strikes on Tehran, reports claimed he was moved to a secret bunker to remain in contact with military leadership. Despite his physical absence from the frontline, his role as Iran's supreme commander remains undiminished. Cultural interests amid geopolitical turmoil Despite his hardline politics and reclusive persona, Ayatollah Khamenei has often spoken about the power of literature particularly Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. He once said: 'Les Misérables is miraculous among all other novels. I have recommended all young individuals repeatedly to read the novel. Les Misérables is in a way a sociological work of art: it's a record of history. It's a significant book: a book about divinity, kindness, compassion, and love. '
AsiaOne
11 hours ago
- Health
- AsiaOne
As death toll rises, Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food, World News
GAZA/CAIRO — Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, Hind Al-Nawajha takes a dangerous, miles-long journey every day to try to get some food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive. Accompanied by her sister, Mazouza, the mother-of-four had to duck down and hide behind a pile of rubble on the side of the road as gunshots echoed nearby. "You either come back carrying (food) for your children and they will be happy, or you come back in a shroud, or you go back upset (without food) and your children will cry," said Nawajha, 38, a resident of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza. "This is life, we are being slaughtered, we can't do it anymore." In the past two days, dozens of Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said. On Thursday (June 19), medics said at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the central Gaza Strip, the latest in near-daily reports of killings of people seeking food. The Israeli military said there were several attempts by "suspects" to approach forces in the area of Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip, in a manner that endangered them. It said forces fired warning shots to prevent suspects from approaching them, and it was currently unaware of injuries in the incident. In an email, GHF criticised Gazan health officials, accusing them of regularly releasing inaccurate information. GHF said that Palestinians do not access the nearby GHF site via the Netzarim corridor. It did not address questions about whether GHF was aware that such an incident had occurred. Thirty-nine people were killed, meanwhile, in separate Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. One of those strikes killed at least 19 people, including women and children, in a tent in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they added. Another strike killed at least 14 people and damaged several houses in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave, medics said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on those attacks. In recent days, the Israeli military said its forces had opened fire and fired warning shots to disperse people who approached areas where troops were operating, posing a threat. It said it was reviewing reports of casualties among civilians. Sleeping by the road Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new US and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces. The Gaza health ministry said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach GHF sites since late May. The United Nations rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, which Hamas denies. On Wednesday, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed 3 million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident. The Gaza war was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis. The Norwegian Refugee Council warned on Thursday that more than 1 million people were without adequate shelter, saying equipment such as tents and tarpaulins had been blocked by Israel from entering since March 1. Nawajha returned empty-handed on Wednesday from her journey to find food, flopping down exhausted on the dusty ground outside the tent in Gaza City, where she has been displaced and sheltering with her family. She and her sister have been camping by the road for the past 20 days. They say they try to force their way into the distribution site where trucks carrying aid arrive, but are often outmuscled by men, who sometimes fight over sacks of flour coming off UN trucks. "(When) there is no food, as you can see, children start crying and getting angry," said Nawajha. "When we are for three, four kilometres or more on our legs... Oh my... our feet are bruised and our shoes are torn off." [[nid:719244]]
Daily Maverick
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Condemn Gaza genocide, academics, staff urge Stellenbosch University
More than 200 Stellenbosch University staff have said they believe the institution has 'a special moral responsibility' to break its silence on the issue, given its history with apartheid. Academics and staff at Stellenbosch University have called on the institution to break its silence and call for an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and sever any ties with implicated Israeli universities. In a statement issued on Wednesday, 18 June, more than 200 signatories called for the university's leadership 'to officially and unequivocally add the university's voice to this worldwide call'. 'The gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including the crime of genocide, being committed by Israel in its devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, raise profound questions about the responsibility of universities to condemn such acts and avoid collaborating with implicated Israeli institutions. 'Unlike several other South African universities, Stellenbosch University as an institution has been largely silent on this issue. A Senate motion calling for an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of attacks on civilians in Gaza and Israel, the passage of humanitarian aid and the return of all captives was defeated on 30 April 2024. As concerned members of the university community, we again call upon our university to take a public stand on the violations of international law being committed against the Palestinian people,' read the statement. According to the statement, the Stellenbosch University academics and administrative staff are calling for: An immediate end to the genocide in Gaza; Immediate relief aid, including food, medicine and fuel into Gaza; An end to starvation as a strategy of war; The establishment of humanitarian corridors so that the injured and sick may be safely evacuated and attended to; and A lasting cessation of violence against the Palestinian people. Several South African universities, including the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape and Nelson Mandela University, have all made official statements calling for a ceasefire and immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza. In April 2024, a special sitting of the Stellenbosch University Senate rejected a motion urging the institution to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to a GroundUp report. The motion followed a statement signed by 103 Senate members calling for an end to Israel's ' brutal and barbaric ' destruction of Gaza. It has been more than 18 months since Hamas' incursion into southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and took about 251 hostage. Since then, Israel has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, while displacing almost the entire population of 2.2 million, according to a Reuters report. On Thursday, 19 June, at least 51 people were reported killed by Israeli authorities, including 12 people who tried to reach the new aid distribution site operated by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the central Gaza Strip – the latest in reports of near-daily incidents of Palestinians killed while seeking food. The United Nations (UN) has rejected the contentious GHF operation in Gaza. In a statement on Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory called on the Israeli military to 'immediately cease its use of lethal force around food distribution points in Gaza, following repeated incidents of shooting and killing of Palestinians seeking to access food there'. 'We are horrified at the repeated incidents, continuously reported in recent days across Gaza, and we call for an immediate end to these senseless killings,' said OHCHR. The aid currently reaching Palestinians in Gaza is far from sufficient, and international humanitarian organisations have warned that the vast majority of Palestinians who live in the enclave are at risk of starvation unless the distribution of aid is urgently increased. 'A special moral responsibility' The signatories to the statement said they believed that Stellenbosch University had 'a special moral responsibility' to break its silence on the issue, given its history of facilitating, colluding and collaborating with apartheid, and thus violating human rights'. 'As academics and concerned staff on the African continent, and part of a global society, we recognise that our responsibilities must extend into the cultivation of a public good, not for some, but for all people. 'We also recognise our own positioning at Stellenbosch University, a context that continues to enjoy immense privilege, but which carries historical burdens. Our institution's renewed commitment to transformation demands a heightened sensitivity to human suffering and indifference, not only in the context of South Africa, but also beyond,' the statement read. Speaking to Daily Maverick, Professor Ashraf Kagee from Stellenbosch University's Department of Psychology said he believed that individual academics and institutions 'must be vocal and outspoken in condemning human rights violations of this nature'. 'I think we need to be very clear that we do not ever want to see a world where this is possible; where this is acceptable. And we need to marshal all organs of society, the institutions, the corporations, the governments of the world to address this matter, to isolate Israel, to put as much pressure on the Israeli government and its supporters in the West to make this genocide stop immediately,' he said. 'It's remarkable that almost two years since the genocide began, nothing has been done to stop it. In fact, Western countries are aiding and abetting Israel with support of their militaries.' Kagee said while there had been 'historical complicity with apartheid' at Stellenbosch University, the institution was making a concerted effort to reposition itself, and publicly calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza 'fits in' with its transformation efforts and a crackdown on racism, sexism and other issues of injustice at the institution. 'Suspend collaboration with implicated Israeli universities' Among the demands in the statement is the call for Stellenbosch University to 'commit itself to suspending all collaboration with Israeli universities where there is a risk of direct or indirect involvement in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories'. Professor Sandy Liebenberg, the HF Oppenheimer chair in Human Rights Law at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Law, said several universities worldwide had done audits of their relationships with Israeli universities and severed ties with those complicit in human rights violations. 'We would like to see the management of the university putting out a statement at least distancing itself from and condemning the gross violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law that's unfolding. But, perhaps more fundamentally, we would like to see some kind of audit committee set up to look at the contacts which might exist between Stellenbosch and implicated institutions – Israeli universities that might be complicit in human rights violations,' she said. In response to questions from Daily Maverick, Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen said: 'Stellenbosch University (SU) recognises the severity and far-reaching impact of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. It is important to emphasise that our institution stands firmly for the principles of peace, respect for human rights, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and the principles of international humanitarian law. 'SU is a multistakeholder institution and members of this diverse community will often have differing views on a multitude of matters. While SU as an institution must safeguard this freedom, it does however strongly condemn any form of violence where innocent lives are affected,' said Viljoen. He said that although a resolution on the conflict was not accepted by a majority of the Stellenbosch University Senate in April last year, the university 'acknowledges that this is a humanitarian crisis that has a devastating impact in the region as well as globally and has repeatedly expressed its sympathy for all those affected. 'It is important to emphasise that as a community of scholars, the university is committed to providing a space that encourages constructive debate and academic freedom. To fully perform its role in society, the university must maintain an environment of freedom of inquiry and expression,' he continued. Viljoen said that Stellenbosch University was 'not the only university, locally or globally, that has refrained from an institutional stance on this issue to safeguard academic freedom'. He did not respond to Daily Maverick's question on whether Stellenbosch University had any memoranda of understanding with Israeli universities. DM
