An aid group is to resume its work in Gaza four weeks after suspending operations following the killing of seven workers.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) says it will restart operations in the besieged strip on Monday, delivering food to “address widespread hunger”, including in the north.
It comes following the killing of the WCK workers in an Israeli military strike on 1 April.
Three British nationals, who were part of WCK’s security team, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen, and a Palestinian, were killed in the strike.
An Israeli investigation found that incorrect assumptions, decision-making mistakes and violations of the rules of engagement had resulted in their deaths.
WCK suspended its operations in Gaza following their deaths. They had previously distributed more than 43 million meals in Gaza and accounted for more than 60% of all international non-governmental aid.
More on Gaza
Related Topics:
Erin Gore, the group’s chief executive, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza “remained dire”.
“We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible,” she said.
Advertisement
“We will continue to get as much food into Gaza, including northern Gaza, as possible – by land, air, or sea.”
She said despite assurances by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) of changes to their rules of operations in the wake of the workers’ deaths, their staff still faced the threat of being threatened or killed.
“We have been forced to make a decision: Stop feeding altogether during one of the worst hunger crises ever, ending our operation that accounted for 62% of all International non-governmental-organisation (NGO) aid, or keep feeding knowing that aid, aid workers and civilians are being intimidated and killed,” Ms Gore said.
“These are the hardest conversations, and we have considered all perspectives when deliberating.
“Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding, continuing our mission of showing up to provide food to people during the toughest of times.”
Strikes on Rafah and Blinken’s visit
It comes as medics said 13 people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern city of Rafah on Monday.
The strikes on Rafah, where over a million people are sheltering from months of Israeli bombardment, came hours before Egyptwas expected to host leaders of Hamas to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
On Sunday, Hamas officials said a delegation, led by Khalil al Hayya, the group’s deputy Gaza chief, would discuss a ceasefire proposal handed by Hamas to mediators from Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel’s response.
Mediators, backed by the US, have stepped up their efforts to conclude a deal amid threats by Israel to invade Rafah.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Antony Blinken is beginning his seventh diplomatic mission to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began more than six months ago.
He will visit Saudi Arabia, where Arab and European foreign ministers have gathered in Riyadh for a meeting of the World Economic Forum, before making stops in Jordan and Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In Jordan and Israel, Mr Blinken will focus largely on aid, meeting with various relief organisations, as well as officials in both countries, to underscore the urgent need for more humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
On Sunday, the IDF said the amount of aid going into Gaza had increased “significantly” and would be scaled up “even more” in the coming days.
IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: “Getting aid to the people of Gaza is a top priority – because our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”
Representatives of dozens of climate vulnerable islands and African nations have stormed out of high-stakes negotiations over a climate funding goal.
Patience is wearing thin and negotiations have boiled over at the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, which were due to finish yesterday but are now well into overtime.
After two weeks of talks, the more than 190 countries gathered in the capital Baku are still trying to agree a new financial settlement to channel money to poorer countries to both curb and adapt to climate change.
Talks have now run well into overtime at COP29, but a deal now feels much more precarious.
The least developed countries like Mozambique and low-lying island nations like Samoa say their calls for a portion of the fund to be allocated to them have been ignored.
Samoa’s minister of natural resources and environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster is one of the representatives who walked out.
“We are here to negotiate but we have walked out… at the moment we don’t feel we are being heard in there,” he said on behalf of more than 40 small island and developing states, whose shorelines are being lost to rising sea levels.
More on Cop29
Related Topics:
Shortly after he made a veiled threat of leaving COP29 altogether, saying: “We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE.
“If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”
Advertisement
Evans Njewa, who chairs a group of more than 40 least developed countries, said the current deal is “unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”
The last official draft on Friday pledged $250bn a year annually by 2035.
This is more than double the previous goal of $100bn set 15 years ago, but nowhere near the annual $1.3trn that experts say is needed.
Sky News understands some developed countries like the UK were this morning willing to bump up the goal to $300bn.
Developing countries are angry not just about the finance negotiations, but also on how to make progress on a pledge from last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”.
A group of oil and producing countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have tried to dilute that language, while the UK and island state are among those that have fought to keep it in.
Mr Schuster said all things being negotiated contain a “deplorable lack of substance”.
He added: “We need to see progress and follow up on the transition away from fossil fuels that we agreed last year. We have been asked to forget all about that at this COP, as though we are not in a critical decade and as though the 1.5C limit is not in peril.”
“We need to be shown the regard which our dire circumstances necessitate.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
At least 11 people have been killed and 63 injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
State-run National News Agency (NNA) said the attack “completely destroyed” an eight-storey residential building in the Basta neighbourhood early on Saturday.
Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station also showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack – the fourth targeting the centre this week.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack, security sources told Reuters news agency.
The blasts happened at about 4am (2am UK time).
A seperate drone strike in the southern port cuty of Tyre this morning killed one person and injured another, according to the NNA.
The blasts came after a day of bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes.
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israel has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will ramp up the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.
In a nationally-televised speech, Mr Putin said the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was used in an attack on Ukrainian city Dnipro in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.
Referring to the Oreshnik, the Russian president said: “No one in the world has such weapons.
“Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
He added: “We have this system now. And this is important.”
Detailing the missile’s alleged capabilities, Mr Putin claimed it is so powerful that using several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with nuclear weapons.
More on Russia
Related Topics:
General Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads – while Mr Putin alleged Western air defence systems will not be able to stop the missiles.
Mr Putin said of the Oreshnik: “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”
Testing the Oreshnik will happen “in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia“, the president added, stating there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”.
NATO and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro, a central city with a population of around one million. No fatalities were reported.
EU leaders condemn Russia’s ‘heinous attacks’
Numerous EU leaders have addressed Russia’s escalation of the conflict with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying the war is “entering a decisive phase [and] taking on very dramatic dimensions”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:30
Russia’s new missile – what does it mean?
Speaking in Kyiv, Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky called Moscow’s strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.
At a news conference, Mr Lipavsky gave his full support for delivering the additional air defence systems needed to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks”.