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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emphasised the importance of increasing diplomatic pressure on the Israeli occupation and removing all obstacles to the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.“These matters cannot be postponed. A determined demonstration of the international community’s will and capacity to impose sanctions would effectively restrain the Israeli occupation,” Erdogan said during a press gaggle aboard his plane returning from South Africa on Sunday, following his participation in the G20 Summit.During his meetings with G20 leaders and in the speeches he delivered throughout the summit sessions, Erdogan highlighted the need to maintain the existing ceasefire and advance reconstruction efforts.Addressing the humanitarian catastrophe facing Gazans, Erdogan underscored that all nations have a moral duty to stand with the Palestinians in their struggle. He stressed that the countries responsible for enabling Israel’s reckless actions must immediately assume responsibility for their role.Erdogan also criticised the United Nations for failing to fulfill its responsibilities so far, urging it to assert its influence in the measures to be taken going forward.According to the Gaza Government Media Office, although a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on October 10 as part of its first phase, Israel has since violated the deal more than 497 times, resulting in the deaths of 342 Palestinians.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stressed that it is important to ramp up diplomatic pressure on the Israeli occupation and remove all obstacles to surge the humanitarian aid into Gaza.Such things can't be postponed, as long as the demonstration of resolute desire and capability of imposing sanctions by the international community would literally restrain the Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Erdogan said while he was in a press gaggle aboard the plane returning from South Africa Sunday after his participation in the G20 Summit.During his meetings with leaders of G20 and the speeches he delivered throughout the sessions, Erdogan noted the significance of maintaining the ceasefire that had been achieved, as well as the reconstruction efforts.Erdogan tackled the humanitarian catastrophe gripping the Gazans, highlighting that it behooves all nations to stand in support of the Palestinians' hard struggle. He stressed that it is essential for the countries that pushed the Israeli occupation to this recklessness to bear their responsibility right away.The UN hasn't delivered on its role up to this point, and it is imperative to demonstrate their weight in the steps that would be taken from now onward, Erdogan said.The ceasefire deal had been reached in Gaza, whose first phase took effect on October 10, but since then Israel has breached the deal more than 497 times and killed 342 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

More than half of Sudan's population is in need of humanitarian aid, the head of the Danish Refugee Council said, as fighting ravages the northeast African nation.Since breaking out in April 2023, the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 mn and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises."We see a situation where more than 30mn people are in need of humanitarian assistance. That is half of the population of Sudan," Danish Refugee Council Secretary General Charlotte Slente told AFP by phone this week after a visit to a border region in neighbouring Chad."The suffering we see is unimaginable." Sudan had a population of around 50mn people in 2024, according to the World Bank.The aid official's comments came after a field visit to an area in Chad that borders Sudan's western Darfur region, which has seen fierce fighting of late.Violence has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with the RSF seizing control of the key town of El-Fasher — the army's last stronghold in Darfur — after an 18-month siege and reports of atrocities multiplying."There are violations that cross all international humanitarian laws," she added.Slente said the NGO had seen evidence of mass killings and sexual violence in Sudan.**media[382270]**"We see detentions, we see abductions, forced displacement and torture," she said.She accused the international community of not doing enough."Statements have a very limited impact both on the ongoing humanitarian needs on the ground, and they have not been able to stop the violence," she said.She warned that there were other cities still under siege that were not receiving the same level of attention.The town of Babanusa, the last army stronghold in West Kordofan state, has been under siege for several months, as have North Kordofan state capital El-Obeid and South Kordofan's Kadugli and Dilling."The international community must stop managing the consequences of this conflict and must start preventing the atrocities," said Slente.

Qatar Charity has announced the arrival of a new batch of Qatari relief aid to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, in support of the brotherly Palestinian people.In a statement, Qatar Charity said the shipment includes 2,790 shelter tents in addition to essential humanitarian supplies, provided by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), Qatar Charity, and the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS).**media[379092]**The organisation explained that this batch comes as part of the ongoing aid efforts previously dispatched under the maritime bridge established by Qatar. It reflects Qatar's swift response to urgent humanitarian needs and its continued commitment to alleviating the suffering of civilians in Gaza.

The United Nations said Tuesday it had distributed food parcels to one million people in Gaza since the ceasefire, but warned it was still in a race to save lives.The UN's World Food Programme stressed all crossing points into the Gaza Strip should be opened to flood the famine-hit Palestinian territory with aid, adding that no reason was given why the northern crossings with Israel remained closed."Three and a half weeks into the ceasefire in Gaza, we have distributed food parcels to around one million people across the Gaza Strip," said the WFP's Middle East spokeswoman Abeer Etefa."That's part of the broad operation to push back hunger in Gaza," she told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Cairo.WFP aims to reach 1.6 million people in the territory with parcels, which provide enough food for a family for 10 days.However, to get operations running at the level required, "we really need more access, more border crossings to be opened and more access to key roads inside Gaza," said Etefa.The US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on October 10.Etefa described how the WFP was scaling up operations in Gaza and opened 44 of the 145 food distribution points it hopes to run.An estimated 700,000 people are now receiving fresh bread daily, supplied through 17 WFP-supported bakeries: nine in south and central Gaza, and eight in the north.The agency is hoping to get 25 up and running.Etefa said while food consumption levels had increased slightly thanks to the humanitarian aid and commercial trucks now allowed to enter, they remained well below pre-conflict levels.Furthermore, at this stage, households are still eating mostly cereals and pulses, with meat, eggs, vegetables and fruit being consumed "extremely rarely".Nour Hammad, WFP's spokeswoman in Gaza, said commercial food prices were still beyond the reach of most families, saying an apple now costs as much as a kilogramme of apples did before the war broke out in October 2023.The WFP said it had only been able to bring in roughly half of what was required to meet the food needs of people in Gaza."The needs are overwhelming," said Etefa, adding: "We are in a race to save lives."She said WFP trucks were still only coming through the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings, severely limiting the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, and posing a major obstacle to getting aid to the north."We actually haven't been given clear answers on why the northern crossing points are still closed," she said.

The State of Qatar has dispatched urgent relief and humanitarian aid to the city of Al Dabbah in the Northern State of the Republic of the Sudan, as part of its firm commitment to supporting the Sudanese people, particularly amid the difficult humanitarian conditions faced by civilians, including severe food shortages and an increasing need for shelter and essential supplies.**media[376433]**The aid includes approximately 3,000 food baskets, 1,650 shelter tents, and other essential items, provided by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and Qatar Charity, to support displaced persons from the city of Al-Fashir and nearby areas.The assistance is expected to benefit more than 50,000 people and includes the establishment of a special camp for Qatari aid under the name “Qatar Al-Khair.”This initiative comes as part of Qatar’s ongoing efforts to stand by the people of Sudan and alleviate their suffering caused by the armed conflict.It also reflects Qatar’s leading humanitarian role in strengthening global response efforts and fostering solidarity with affected communities around the world.**media[376432]**

The United Nations' top legal body, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on Wednesday gave an advisory opinion saying that Israel is under the obligation to ensure the basic needs of the civilian population in Gaza are met.The panel of 11 judges added Israel has to support relief efforts provided by the United Nations in the Gaza Strip, and UN entities, including UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East."As an occupying power, Israel is obliged to ensure the basic needs of the local population, including the supplies essential for their survival," presiding judge Yuji Iwasawa said. He added that basic needs include food, water, shelter, fuel and medical services.Advisory opinions of the ICJ, also known as the World Court, carry legal and political weight, but they are not binding and the court has no enforcement power.The opinion, which was requested by the UN General Assembly in December, clarified the protections states must provide for UN staff and is expected to have effects beyond the Gaza conflict.In a post on X, Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the court's findings and added "Israel fully upholds its obligations under international law".The ICJ judges on Wednesday found that Israel had not substantiated its claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are Hamas members.In April this year lawyers for the United Nations and Palestinian representatives at the ICJ accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza between March and May, a time when Israel completely cut off all goods.Since then, some humanitarian aid has been allowed in but UN officials say it was nowhere near what was needed to ease a humanitarian disaster which crossed the threshold into famine. A ceasefire agreed this month calls for Israel to admit 600 trucks of aid per day, but the UN says far less is entering so far.The ICJ opinion found Palestinians in Gaza were inadequately supplied and stressed Israel cannot use starvation as a weapon of war.Paul Reichler, a lawyer acting for the Palestinians, said the findings meant Israel was not complying with its international law obligations."On the one hand, you have the court finding that starvation as a method of warfare is illegal, and on the other, the court found that Israel deliberately prevented food from reaching the civilian population in Gaza," he said.UNRWA, which serves millions of Palestinians by running schools and aid distribution, employs more than 30,000 people.Within hours of the ruling, Norway said it would propose a UN General Assembly resolution demanding that Israel lift restrictions on Gaza aid.And the Palestinian delegate to the ICJ, Ammar Hijazi, urged nations to ensure Israel complies with the court to let aid into Gaza."The responsibility is on the international community to uphold these values and oblige Israel, bring Israel into compliance," he told reporters.Before the ruling, Abeer Etefa, Middle East spokeswoman for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), said 530 WFP trucks had crossed into Gaza since the ceasefire started on October 10.The trucks had delivered more than 6,700 tonnes of food, which she said was "enough for close to half a million people for two weeks".Etefa said around 750 tonnes a day were now coming through, well below WFP's target of around 2,000 tonnes daily.ICJ judges heard a week of evidence in April from dozens of nations and organisations, much of which revolved around the status of UNRWA.Hijazi told the April hearings that Israel was blocking aid as a "weapon of war", sparking starvation in Gaza.The case was separate from the others Israel faces under international law over its Gaza campaign.In July 2024, the ICJ issued another advisory opinion stating that Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories was "unlawful" and must end as soon as possible.ICJ judges are also weighing accusations, brought by South Africa, that Israel has broken the 1948 UN Genocide Convention with its actions in Gaza.Another court in The Hague, the International Criminal Court, has issued arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Qatar Charity has announced allocation of an additional $16mn to expand humanitarian interventions in the Gaza Strip.This came in the speech delivered by Qatar Charity’s CEO Yousef bin Ahmed al-Kuwari on the margins of the high-level event Qatar held in Cairo, highlighting joint Qatari-Egyptian efforts to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, as part of the ongoing humanitarian partnerships between the two countries. Al-Kuwari emphasised that this support is intended to expand emergency assistance operations across Gaza, covering essential sectors such as food, water, healthcare, and shelter for civilians affected by the ongoing conflict. He added that this additional allocation raises Qatar Charity’s total contribution to Gaza to USD142mn, stressing Qatar Charity’s steadfast commitment to supporting the Palestinian people in Gaza and enhancing urgent humanitarian responses to meet the basic needs of affected families.Qatar Charity reaffirmed its commitment to close co-operation with the relevant authorities in Egypt, UN agencies, and partner organisations to expedite logistics, monitor distribution, and ensure effective delivery of aid, al-Kuwari pointed out.Al-Kuwari stated: “Our continued dedication to delivering lifesaving assistance has enabled us, over the past week, to transport more than 16,694 tents to Gaza via the land bridge between Doha and Al Arish.

WFP says just two aid crossings are open and none to northIsrael says aid is entering in accordance with ceasefire planGazans store supplies for fear they will halt againThe UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday that supplies into Gaza were ramping up after the US-brokered ceasefire but were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tons because only two crossings are open, and none to the famine-hit north of the enclave.Around 750 metric tons of food are now entering the Gaza Strip daily, according to the WFP, but this was still well below the scale of needs after two years of conflict between Israel and Hamas that has reduced much of Gaza to ruins."To be able to get to this scale-up, we have to use every border crossing point right now," WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told a Geneva press briefing.She said only two of the Israeli-controlled crossings into Gaza were operational - Kerem Shalom in the south and Kissufim in the centre.The ceasefire plan brokered by US President Donald Trump envisages "full aid" being sent into Gaza. An Israeli security official said that humanitarian aid continues to enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing and additional crossings in accordance with the plan, without naming them.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until further notice, with its reopening dependent on Hamas handing over bodies of deceased hostages.The UN children's agency spokesperson Ricardo Pires said on Tuesday the humanitarian response was still far below the required scale and called for all entry points to reopen.Some nutrition supplies for children and pregnant women have reached the north via the south, Etefa said, but far short of the level required. "We haven't had large-scale convoys into Gaza City or to the north of Gaza," she said, adding that WFP had not been granted permission to use the main north-south Salah al-Din road.Food supplies delivered so far are enough to feed around half a million people for two weeks, she said.Many Gazans were storing the food they are receiving because they are afraid that supplies might again dry up."They eat part of it, and they ration and keep some of the supplies for an emergency, because they are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and what will happen next," she said.

HE Minister of State for International Cooperation Dr. Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad witnessed Monday the departure of 60 trucks loaded with Qatari aid from 10th of Ramadan City to the Egyptian city of Al Arish, in preparation for their entry into the Gaza Strip via the Rafah Crossing.**media[371430]**This came during Her Excellency’s inspection of the Qatari humanitarian aid warehouse in 10th of Ramadan City, during her current visit to the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt.The Qatari aid to Gaza includes (25,500) comprehensive food baskets, (1,800) hygiene baskets, (1,000) shelter kits, (400) tons of flour, and (7,400) cartons of baby milk.**media[371433]**Her Excellency also toured the Qatari humanitarian aid warehouse, which contains relief and food supplies.**media[371431]**

The British Foreign Office expressed concern over the escalation carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip. "The escalation today in Gaza is deeply concerning," Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement. "The ceasefire must hold, and humanitarian aid must get through to those in need." Cooper called on all parties to respect US President Donald Trump's peace plan to avoid further bloodshed. Dozens of Palestinians were killed earlier in intensive Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, the most significant violation of the ceasefire agreement signed on October 9. Meanwhile, reports emerged that Israel decided to close all crossings into the Strip but later reversed its decision.

The United Nations' aid chief took stock of the monumental task of restoring dignity and hygiene to Palestinians clinging to life in Gaza's ruins on Saturday, as Israel and Hamas exchanged more bodies. A convoy of white UN jeeps carried relief coordinator Tom Fletcher and his team through the twisted rubble of shattered homes to see a wastewater treatment plant in Sheikh Radwan, north of Gaza City. "I drove through here seven to eight months ago when most of these buildings were still standing and, to see the devastation -- this is a vast part of the city, just a wasteland -- and it's absolutely devastating to see," he told AFP. The densely populated cities of the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million Palestinians, have largely been reduced to ruins by two years of bombardment and intense fighting between Hamas and the Israeli army. Just over a week since US President Donald Trump helped broker a truce, the main border crossing to Egypt has yet to be reopened, but hundreds of trucks roll in daily via Israeli checkpoints and aid is being distributed. Hamas has returned the final 20 surviving hostages it was holding and has begun to hand over the remains of another 28 who died. On Friday night, it turned over a body identified by Israel as Eliyahu Margalit, 75, who died in the October 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war in Gaza. On Saturday, in line with the terms of the ceasefire deal, Israel returned the bodies of 15 more Palestinians to Gaza, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said. Surveying the damaged pumping equipment and a grim lake of sewage at the Sheikh Radwan wastewater plant, Fletcher said the task ahead for the UN and aid agencies was a "massive, massive job". The British diplomat said he had met residents returning to destroyed homes trying to dig latrines in the ruins. "They're telling me most of all they want dignity," he said. "We've got to get the power back on so we can start to get the sanitation system back in place. "We have a massive 60-day plan now to surge in food, get a million meals out there a day, start to rebuild the health sector, bring in tents for the winter, get hundreds of thousands of kids back into school." According to figures supplied to mediators by the Israeli military's civil affairs agency and released by the UN humanitarian office, on Thursday some 950 trucks carrying aid and commercial supplies crossed into Gaza from Israel. Relief agencies have called for the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to be reopened to speed the flow of food, fuel and medicines, and Turkey has a team of rescue specialists waiting at the border to help find bodies in the rubble. Some violent incidents have taken place despite the ceasefire. Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority, said Saturday that it had recovered the bodies of nine Palestinians -- two men, three women and four children -- from the Shaaban family after Israeli troops fired two tank shells at a bus. Two more victims were blown apart in the blast and have yet to be recovered, it said. At Gaza City's Al-Ahli Hospital, the victims were laid out in white shrouds as their relatives mourned. "My daughter, her children and her husband; my son, his children and his wife were killed. What did they do wrong?" demanded grandmother Umm Mohammed Shaaban. "They were little... What did they do wrong? There is no truce."

Convoys face challenges reaching north Gaza due to war damage, border road closuresFamine conditions persist in Gaza City area, massive aid influx needed, says UN'To turn the tide on this famine..., it is very important to get these openings,' WFP spokesperson saysThe UN said on Friday aid convoys were struggling to reach famine-hit areas of north Gaza due to war-damaged roads and the continued closure of key routes into the enclave's north despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.Around 560 metric tons of food had entered the Gaza Strip per day on average since the US-brokered halt to two years of devastating war but this was still well below the scale of need, according to the UN World Food Programme.With famine conditions in the Gaza City region, UN humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher said this week thousands of aid vehicles would have to enter weekly to tackle widespread malnutrition, homelessness and a collapse of infrastructure."We're still below what we need, but we're getting there... The ceasefire has opened a narrow window of opportunity, and WFP is moving very quickly and swiftly to scale up food assistance," WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told a news briefing in Geneva.But the WFP said it had not begun distributions in Gaza City, pointing to the continued closure of two border crossings, Zikim and Erez, with Israel in the north of the enclave where the humanitarian debacle is most acute."Access to Gaza City and northern Gaza is extremely challenging," Etefa said, saying the movement of convoys of wheat flour and ready-to-eat food parcels from the south of the territory was being hampered by broken or blocked roads."It is very important to have these openings in the north, this is where the famine took hold. To turn the tide on this famine..., it is very important to get these openings."Global medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said many relief agencies had not fully returned to the north, where hospitals are barely functioning, leaving many Gaza civilians still unable to access regular care.Jacob Granger, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, described the case of a Gaza City woman with a shrapnel wound suffered during the war who was unable to get to a medical facility to change her dressings for five days earlier this month. When she managed to see an MSF nurse and her dressing was unfolded, the wound was infected with worms and maggots, Granger said.Though small amounts of nutrition products have reached the north - the area of heaviest and most devastating fighting between Israel and Hamas - relief convoys were still unable to move significant quantities of food there.Around 950 trucks entered south and central Gaza on Thursday via the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings with Israel, the UN's humanitarian coordination agency said, citing figures from Israel's military aid agency COGAT presented to mediators.That followed around 715 trucks that rolled into Gaza on Wednesday, including 16 bearing fuel and gas, OCHA said.