07/21/2025 July 21, 2025 UNRWA chief calls rival aid scheme a ‘sadistic death trap’

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), described the aid distribution scheme of a rival organization as a “sadistic death trap.”

“The so called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution schemes is a sadistic death trap,” Lazzarini wrote is a post on X. “Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a licence to kill. A massive hunt of people, in total impunity.”

Recently, an Israeli and US-backed rival aid group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating in the Gaza Strip. However, there have been widespread media reports of Israeli attacks on people waiting in line for aid.

Although the foundation has repeatedly denied the reports, the UN claims that hundreds of people have died at GHF distribution stations since the end of May.

Israel implemented a new distribution system, saying that its purpose was to prevent Hamas from seizing aid supplies.

Anthony Albanese is now giving a response to the Welcome to Country and something of a defence of the traditional custom, which became a political football during the election campaign.

The Prime Minister describes it as a powerful way to begin any new parliament, but notes it only became part of proceedings in 2007.

“Like a lot of the most positive things about this country, we shouldn’t take it for granted,” he says.

“It is not controversial today and nor should it be. It is a respectful way of us beginning our deliberations here in Canberra, which of course means meeting place.”

LONDON — Twenty-five countries including Britain, Japan and a host of European nations issued a joint statement on Monday saying the war in Gaza “must end now” — the latest sign of allies’ sharpening language as Israel’s isolation deepens.

The foreign ministers of countries also including Australia and Canada said “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.” 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.”

The statement described as “horrifying” the recent deaths of over 800 Palestinians who were seeking aid, according to the figures released by Gaza’s Health Ministry and the U.N. human rights office.

©Marek Studzinski | Unsplash

(The Center Square) – North Carolina congressional support of Israel in its Middle East war with Hamas was affirmed Monday evening by U.S. Sen. Ted Budd.

The Republican’s position was made clear on a social media post by Rev. Mike Huckabee, the ambassador to Israel for the Trump administration and former governor of Arkansas. They were responding to 25 Western countries – led by Britain, Canada, France, Italy and Australia – and the European Union commissioner issuing a joint statement calling for a ceasefire and assessing blame to both sides.

Budd said on social media, “653 days after October 7th, 50 hostages remain held captive by Hamas in Gaza. What was true on day one is still true today: Hamas is the impediment to peace and must release the hostages immediately.”

Huckabee called the statement “disgusting.” He said putting pressure on Israel “instead of savages of Hamas” and blaming America’s ally was “irrational.”

Israel rejected the statement.

The North Carolina Democratic Party, gathering this coming weekend for its annual convention in Raleigh, has through its executive committee on June 28 adopted a resolution declaring Israel of apartheid against Palestinians. It also said Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza; and using American weapons in “self defense” against hospitals, schools, homes, refugee camps, mosques, churches, journalists and humanitarian aid workers.

The Center Square was unsuccessful getting comment, and has otherwise seen silence, on the statement from the governor, former Gov. Roy Cooper, four other Democratic members of the Council of State, and all four North Carolinians in the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., said on Monday, “Trump’s aid plan for Gaza doesn’t work. Starving civilians are being met with gunfire at aid sites – it’s inhumane and unacceptable. I continue to call for a ceasefire to ensure the flow of aid to the region and safe return of the remaining hostages.”

The statement said 800 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid. “The Israeli Government’s denial,” it said, “of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.”

The statement also said, “The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 continue to suffer terribly. We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release. A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families.

“We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life-saving work safely and effectively.”

The acronyms are for the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, meaning typically nonprofits.

The statement also said, “The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.”

The countries making the statement, according to Global Affairs Canada, are the foreign ministers of “Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the European Union Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.”

Israel has rejected the calls from 25 nations, including Australia, to end the war in Gaza that has been waging on for more than two years.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong along with her counterparts of Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Italy, to name a few, jointly signed a statement urging Israel to end the war in the enclave “now” and lift restrictions on the flow of aid in the Gaza Strip.

The statement also condemned Hamas for the ongoing captivity of hostages since the October 7, 2023, attacks and called for immediate and unconditional release.

”A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families,” the statement released Monday night read.

Israel has restricted supplies into Gaza since the beginning of March 2025, as residents are left starving and have been shot at while waiting for aid at distribution points. Picture: Getty

Oren Marmorstein, spokesman for Israel’s foreign affairs ministry, confirmed Israel has rejected the joint statement, calling it “disconnected from reality” and instead arguing it “sends the wrong message to Hamas”.

“The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation. Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides,” Marmorstein wrote in a social media statement.

“At these sensitive moments in the ongoing negotiations, it is better to avoid statements of this kind.”

Mr Marmorstein further argued Hamas is “solely” to blame for the lack of movement on a ceasefire, accusing the militant group of “deliberately” increasing tensions and civilian harm at humanitarian aid stations.

Israel’s Western allies, calling for peace in the occupied Palestinian territories, further claimed Israel’s aid delivery model is “dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity”.

“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,” the statement continued.

“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.”

Israel has rejected the calls from 24 nations to end the war in Gaza. Picture: Getty

More than 800 Palestinians have died so far while seeking aid.

Since dawn on Monday, at least 61 Gazans were gunned down across the devastated enclave as more than two million Palestinians struggle with starvation and a lack of water supply.

Following Israel’s rejection to the call for peace in Gaza and its accusations against Hamas, the militant group claimed it is proceeding with” responsibility and rationality” by engaging mediators “in order to stop famine and stop this criminal war”.

More than 800 Palestinians have died so far in Israel’s deliberate aid-restricting strategy to starve out Hamas. Picture: Getty

At least 61 Gazans were gunned down across the devastated enclave, since dawn on Monday. Picture: Getty

Israel is engaging in “blackmail” as it seeks to commit massacres against Palestinians to gain what it has failed to impose at the negotiating table, Hamas said in a statement as unnamed Israeli sources claim leaders in Gaza have been uncontactable for days.

“We affirm we are proceeding with responsibility and rationality, and with the utmost urgency, to complete our consultations and contacts with Palestinian forces and factions, in order to reach an honourable agreement that leads to ending the aggression, halting the genocide, achieving our people’s goals of reconstruction, lifting the siege, and ensuring a dignified life for our people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas wrote in a statement.

It comes as former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told Sky News “Israel is fighting, but this situation is not Israel’s fault” before arguing the war was “started” by Hamas.

“I am saddened that so many Western governments are falling for Hamas propaganda and not seeing the reality, the cruel, horrible reality in Gaza under Hamas for what it really is and doing the easy thing, which is to blame the Jewish state for what’s going on,” he said.

Asked whether Israel accepts responsibility for the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians, Mr Conricus said “there is no proof of anything” as the media and UN organisations are “simply amplifying” the voices of Hamas.

“If there are alleged casualties in Gaza, they blame it on Israel, nobody verifies it, there’s no proof of anything, it is Hamas saying it, and then it is reported across international media as if it is true and as if really is exactly what happened,” he said.