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Israel Furiously Counters Top EU Official’s Claim That ‘Starvation Is Being Used as Weapon of War’
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Photo: Reuters/Johanna Geron
Israeli officials reacted with outrage on Monday in the face of a claim by the EU’s foreign policy chief that Jerusalem is imposing a famine on Palestinian civilians in Gaza as the war in the beleaguered territory continues to rage.
“In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine; we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” Josep Borrell — a Spanish official who serves as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy — said at the opening of a conference in Brussels on humanitarian aid for Gaza.
“This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine,” Borrell continued.
Among those who responded to Borrell was Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who highlighted the seizure of aid convoys by Hamas terrorists with the apparent acquiescence of UNRWA, the UN agency solely dedicated to Palestinian refugees and their descendants, several of whose employees participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel. Confronted with this evidence, more than a dozen countries — among them EU members Germany and France — paused funding to the agency in January.
“Israel allows extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air, and sea for anyone willing to help,” Katz declared in a post on X/Twitter. “Despite Hamas violently disrupting aid convoys and UNRWA’s collaboration with them, we persist.”
Katz then told Borrell to “stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against Hamas’s crimes.”
In a blunt posting on the same platform, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy noted that on Sunday, “8 million lbs. of food entered Gaza by land. That’s ~4LBS. OF FOOD PER CAPITA. That’s not famine, starvation, or catastrophic food insecurity.”
Levy added tartly: “I’m sorry if the facts are awkward for your efforts to help Hamas rapists survive 10/7 and live to fight another day.”
Separately, in a statement on Friday, COGAT — the Israeli agency that assists with humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza — noted that since the beginning of March, “an average of 126 food trucks entered Gaza daily. This is 80 percent more food trucks entering compared to before Oct. 7. 500 trucks entered Gaza daily before Oct. 7, carrying building, agriculture, and industrial supplies; only an average of 70 carried food.”
The post Israel Furiously Counters Top EU Official’s Claim That ‘Starvation Is Being Used as Weapon of War’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.