People in Gaza are ‘walking corpses’, says Unrwa, as agency says it has 6,000 aid trucks ready to enter – Middle East crisis live
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Airline denies claims passengers were kicked off a plane because they are Jewish
44 minors and eight adults were removed from flight V8166 on Wednesday. Spanish police and the airline described the passengers as unruly. Israeli news outlets reported that the students are Jewish and that their removal was religiously motivated. Vueling, the carrier, denied reports that the incident was related to the passengers’ religion. The Federation for Jewish Communities of Spain expressed concern about the incident. The Civil Guard said 23 minors and two adults boarded a flight belonging to another airline, while the rest spent Wednesday night at a hotel.
Several dozen passengers were removed from a flight leaving Valencia for Paris for what Spanish police and the airline described as unruly behaviour.
Some Israeli news outlets reported that the students are Jewish and that their removal was religiously motivated.
The claim that was repeated by an Israeli minister online.
Vueling, the carrier, denied reports that Wednesday’s incident, which involved the removal of 44 minors and eight adults from flight V8166, was related to the passengers’ religion.
Spain’s Civil Guard said the minors and adults are French nationals.
A Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved were not aware of the group’s religious affiliation.
A Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane’s emergency equipment and interrupted the crew’s safety demonstration.
Vueling deny the removal of the passengers was religiously motivated (AP)
“A group of passengers engaged in highly disruptive behaviour and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct of the flight,” Vueling said in a statement.
“We categorically deny any suggestion that our crew’s behaviour related to the religion of the passengers involved.”
A Civil Guard spokesperson said the captain of the plane ordered the removal of the minors from the plane at Valencia’s Manises Airport after they repeatedly ignored the crew’s instructions.
On Thursday, the Federation for Jewish Communities of Spain expressed concern about the incident.
The group said that Vueling needed to provide documentary evidence of what happened on the plane.
“The various accounts circulating on social media and in the media to which we have had access do not clarify the cause of the incident,” the organization said.
“We are particularly interested in clarifying whether there were any possible religiously discriminatory motives toward the minors,” the group said.
The Civil Guard said 23 minors and two adults from the group boarded a flight belonging to another airline, while the rest spent Wednesday night at a hotel.
The spokesperson said arrangements were being made for them to leave Valencia later on Thursday.
UN agency says staff fainting from hunger as starvation spreads in Gaza
At least 113 people have died of hunger in Gaza, 45 of them in the last four days. Civil defence workers have released pictures of gaunt bodies with little more than skin covering their bones. Israel only lets a trickle of aid into Gaza, the vast majority of which is distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US firm. More than 1,000 people seeking aid have been killed trying to access supplies in the nearly two months since GHF began operating in Gaza. Israel accuses GHF of stealing UN aid, which humanitarians say violates key humanitarian principles. Israel says the global media is exaggerating the scale of the hunger crisis, even though aid groups and pictures coming from Gaza show clear evidence of starvation. Israeli media reported that significant gaps remained between the two sides, including over to what point Israeli troops should withdraw during the ceasefire. Israel had agreed to expand aid access with the EU earlier this month. The deal under consideration is expected to involve a 60-day ceasefire during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
“People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said in a post on X.
At least 113 people have died of hunger in Gaza, 45 of them in the last four days.
“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave … When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,” Lazzarini said.
He added that Unrwa had the equivalent of 6,000 loaded trucks of food and medical supplies waiting in Jordan and Egypt and urged Israel to allow “humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza”.
Reports of people fainting and dropping dead of hunger have emerged in recent days. Civil defence workers have released pictures of gaunt bodies with little more than skin covering their bones.
As international pressure mounted for a breakthrough to end nearly two years of devastating war, Hamas said it had sent its response on the latest ceasefire proposal to mediators. An Israeli official told Associated Press that the latest Hamas proposal was “workable”.
The US envoy, Steve Witkoff, was scheduled to meet the top Israeli adviser, Ron Dermer, and the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Sardinia, an Italian government source confirmed.
Mediators rejected a previous version of the deal, telling Hamas to come back with a more realistic proposal or risk jeopardising the negotiations.
A Palestinian official close to the talks told Reuters the Hamas response was “flexible, positive and took into consideration the growing suffering in Gaza and the need to stop the starvation”.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recalled the Israeli negotiators from Doha on Thursday for consultations. Israeli media reported that significant gaps remained between the two sides, including over to what point Israeli troops should withdraw during the ceasefire.
International pressure for a deal is growing, as images of starving Palestinians provoke global condemnation of the Israeli blockade of the strip. An EU commission spokesperson said all options remained on the table if Israel did not improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israel had agreed to expand aid access with the EU earlier this month.
The deal under consideration is expected to involve a 60-day ceasefire during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Talks would be held during the ceasefire period to reach a lasting truce and aid supplies to the besieged strip would be increased.
It has only been since the end of the war between Iran and Israel war last month that the serious prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza has emerged. The outcome of the 12-day conflict has given Netanyahu domestic breathing space to push for a deal.
As negotiations continue, Israeli attacks have increased. At least 89 people were killed in the last 24 hours as Israeli airstrikes pounded central Gaza, health authorities said.
Israel says the global media is exaggerating the scale of the hunger crisis, even though aid groups and pictures coming from Gaza show clear evidence of starvation and doctors who treat malnourished children say they are unable to get enough to eat themselves.
Israel only lets a trickle of aid into Gaza, the vast majority of which is distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US firm. GHF operates four food distribution points staffed by US mercenaries, a system which has been described as a death trap.
More than 1,000 people seeking aid have been killed trying to access supplies in the nearly two months since GHF began operating in Gaza.
Aid used to be distributed through more than 400 distribution points under a UN-led system, but Israel has all but stopped UN aid into the territory since March. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing UN aid, a claim for which humanitarians say there is little evidence.
Aid groups say GHF, which was meant to replace the UN, lacks the capacity to do so and that its militarised model violates key humanitarian principles.
Restoring the UN aid system as a part of a ceasefire deal is a key Hamas demand. Israeli negotiators have softened their stance on the issue as pressure grows even within Israel to stop the starvation crisis, which the World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described on Wednesday as man-made.
Thousands of Israeli demonstrators carrying bags of flour and pictures of Palestinian children who died of starvation protested in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, calling for an end to the Gaza blockade.
Hamas is also calling for a ceasefire deal to include a permanent end to the Gaza war, something that Israel has refused. A ceasefire deal is unpopular among the more extreme members of Netanyahu’s cabinet and Israel has sought to keep open the possibility of restarting the war after the ceasefire period.
European Central Bank leaves interest rates unchanged despite trade war uncertainty – as it happened
Christine Lagarde says the ECB is in a ‘good place’ amid the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs. She said that the prospect of a 15% tariffs between the EU and US remained ‘conjecture’ Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not destroy Elon Musk ’s companies by taking away federal subsidies. UK businesses are cutting jobs at the fastest pace since February in response to higher taxes and global uncertainty. Lloyds Banking Group has warned Rachel Reeves that increasing taxes on banks in her autumn budget would damage Labour’s plan for the City of London to power an economic recovery. Britain may have lower gas stockpiles going into the winter after the owner of British Gas indicated it plans to sell its stored gas.
Christine Lagarde appeared to be in relatively relaxed mood this afternoon as she took questions from the press pack in Frankfurt: she said the European Central Bank is in a “good place” – or as good as it can be with the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The ECB will be “data-dependent” on whether the next move in interest rates is up or down, she said repeatedly.
She said that the prospect of a 15% tariffs between the EU and US remained “conjecture”, but suggested the ECB would not exclude any actions depending on what happens with the trade war.
David Rea, chief economist for Europe at JLL, a property company, said:
The ECB’s decision to hold rates indicates it is keeping its powder dry as the economic situation continues to evolve. The bank is already significantly ahead of most central banks in terms of rates cut, and so the continuation of the neutral policy now means the ECB is in a good position to move rates in whichever direction necessary in future without the need for large swings.
Charlie Cornes, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said:
While inflationary pressures have eased considerably and the growth outlook for the Eurozone still relatively subdued, there is impetus for the ECB to move further with its loosening cycle. That said, uncertainty amidst ongoing trade negotiations with the US are holding the ECB back. Maintaining its commitment to price stability, the ECB is likely to proceed cautiously. As such, we expect that the ECB will conduct only one further rate cut before the end of 2025.
In other business news:
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not destroy Elon Musk ’s companies by taking away federal subsidies and that he wants the billionaire tech-entrepreneur’s businesses to thrive. “Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE.”
Tesla sales in Europe have collapsed by one-third this year, data shows, after Elon Musk warned the electric carmaker faced “a few rough quarters” ahead.
Donald Trump will heap further pressure on the chief of the Federal Reserve , Jerome Powell, on Thursday when the US president makes a visit to the central bank’s Washington offices.
UK businesses are cutting jobs at the fastest pace since February in response to higher taxes and global uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Britain may have lower gas stockpiles going into the winter after the owner of British Gas indicated it plans to sell its stored gas to help reduce losses at a North Sea gas storage facility.
The boss Lloyds Banking Group has warned Rachel Reeves that increasing taxes on banks in her autumn budget would damage Labour’s plan for the City of London to power an economic recovery.
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At least six killed and dozens injured in explosion in northern Syria, officials say
The Syrian Civil Defence volunteer organisation, also known as the White Helmets, confirmed at least six deaths from the blast. The state-run news agency, SANA, reported 140 injured, citing local health officials, but gave no further details. Syria is struggling to recover from a nearly 14-year civil war that ended with the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad in December.
There has been no official statement on the cause of the blast.
The UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that the explosion took place in an ammunition depot.
The Syrian Civil Defence volunteer organisation, also known as the White Helmets, confirmed at least six deaths from the blast, which took place in the town of Maarat Misrin north of the city of Idlib.
“This is the death toll only of those recovered by Syrian Civil Defence teams, who continue to search for those trapped under the rubble,” the White Helmets said in a statement.
Syrian Civil Defence workers run at the explosion scene in Maarat Misrin village in Idlib province, 24 July, 2025 (Syrian Civil Defence workers run at the explosion scene in Maarat Misrin village in Idlib province, 24 July, 2025)
Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh said in a post on the social media platform X that teams were transporting the wounded and dead despite “continued recurring explosions in the area, which are hampering response efforts.”
The state-run news agency, SANA, reported 140 injured, citing local health officials, but gave no further details.
Syria is struggling to recover from a nearly 14-year civil war that ended with the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December.
During the war, which killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, Idlib was an opposition-held enclave.
The country’s current interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa formerly led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an insurgent group based in Idlib that spearheaded the offensive that unseated al-Assad.
Death toll from South Korean rains rises to 17
Close to 170mm (6.7in) of rain hit the resort town of Gapyeong county in Gyeonggi province, 40 miles east of Seoul. A landslide engulfed houses and flooding swept away vehicles. The confirmed number of deaths from the five-day deluge stood at 17, according to official data. Scientists say the climate crisis has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.
Close to 170mm (6.7in) of rain hit the resort town of Gapyeong county in Gyeonggi province, 40 miles east of Seoul, early on Sunday. A landslide engulfed houses and flooding swept away vehicles.
The number of casualties rose as bodies of those previously reported missing – many swept away in landslides – were recovered.
The confirmed number of deaths from the five-day deluge stood at 17, according to official data. Scientists say the climate crisis has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.
The downpours started on Wednesday, mainly hitting southern and central parts of the country. Northern regions were affected on Sunday morning.
View image in fullscreen County officials help visitors who had been isolated in local accommodation evacuate to a safe area after heavy rains in Gapyeong. Photograph: Yonhap/EPA
A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in a landslide in Gapyeong, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Most of the deaths were in the southern county of Sancheong, which has had nearly 800mm of rain since Wednesday.
South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well prepared. But this week it suffered some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record. The downpours are likely to be followed by a heatwave, the government weather forecaster said.
In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding that killed at least 11 people.