Good morning.
Famine is unfolding in Gaza, where Israeli restrictions on food aid and ongoing fighting have produced a “worst-case scenario”, UN-backed hunger experts have said, calling for immediate intervention to save lives.
“Mounting evidence shows widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert said. “The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”
This is the first time the IPC has said famine is under way in Gaza, although it has previously warned the territory was on the brink. During nearly two years of war, Israel has repeatedly limited aid trucks reaching Gaza, sometimes halting aid shipments entirely.
The famine alert came as health authorities in Gaza said the Palestinian death toll from the war had passed 60,000. Civilians make up most of the victims.
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What did the UN World Food Programme’s emergency director say? “This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” said Ross Smith, addressing reporters in Geneva via video link from Rome. “It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century. We need urgent action now.”
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This is a developing story. Follow our live coverage of the Middle East crisis here.
New York shooting: gunman kills four people at Manhattan skyscraper
A gunman killed four people at a Manhattan skyscraper that is home to the headquarters of the NFL and several financial firms before turning the gun on himself, New York officials said.
An NYPD officer identified as Didarul Islam, originally from Bangladesh and a father of two whose wife is pregnant, was among those killed. He was working off-hours as a security guard at the time, the New York mayor, Eric Adams, told reporters, describing him as a “true blue hero”.
Authorities offered few details about the three others killed by the suspect – two men and a woman.
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What do we know about the shooter so far? Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, said the gunman, identified as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness, had driven cross-country to New York in recent days. Tisch said the gunman opened fire on the 33rd floor. The gunman then went to the stairwell and shot himself, she said.
‘Cemetery of the living dead’: Venezuelans recall 125 days in notorious El Salvador prison
Arturo Suárez struggles to pinpoint the worst moment of his incarceration inside an El Salvador prison the warden boasted was “a cemetery of the living dead”.
After 125 days behind bars, Suárez and the other Venezuelan detainees were freed on 18 July after a prisoner swap deal between Washington and Caracas.
Since flying home to Venezuela, they have started to open up about their torment, offering a disturbing glimpse into President Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian crackdown in El Salvador and Donald Trump’s campaign against immigration.
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What have lawyers said about the imprisonments? Lawyers for some Venezuelans deported to El Salvador’s most notorious megaprison said they endured “state-sanctioned torture”. Meanwhile, the US congresswoman Delia Ramirez has “urgently” requested a congressional hearing regarding the use of federal funds to pay El Salvador to detain immigrants.
In other news …
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Donald Trump said he was setting a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to make progress towards ending the war in Ukraine. Russian airstrikes on Ukraine killed 22 people overnight, said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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Thailand’s prime minister has tried to ease fears of a shaky ceasefire with Cambodia, hours after the Thai military reported violations of a deal to end recent border hostilities.
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Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, requested that the supreme court overturn her conviction, claiming she was unjustly prosecuted.
Stat of the day: only 0.5% of 90,000 oil slicks reported over five-year period, analysis finds
Just 474 out of more than 90,000 oil slicks between 2014 and 2019 from ships around the world were reported to authorities over a five-year period, and barely any resulted in punishment or sanctions. That is according to data obtained from Lloyd’s List and compared with a scientific study using satellite imagery to identify slicks.
Pavlo Makov, one of Ukraine’s most respected cultural figures, has recently renovated a new studio in Kharkiv. It is on the ground floor: less vulnerable to Russian air attacks than his old place in a city where glass gets blown out of buildings every day. “The language of war is so strong,” he tells Charlotte Higgins. “But at the same time, art exists. … You’ll never save the world with it – but it will help you survive your life.”
Climate check: eastern US swelters from heatwave as high temperatures affect half of country
The eastern half of the US is facing a significant heatwave, with more than 185 million people under weather warnings on Monday. Spanning from the Carolinas through Florida, heat index values are forecast to range between 105 and 113F. While no single weather event can be blamed on the climate crisis, the world is experiencing increasingly frequent extreme weather.
Last Thing: meet the new James Bond … developed by Danish studio IO Interactive
While the future of the British spy franchise remains in flux after creative control was handed to Amazon earlier this year, the developer of a forthcoming video game reveals how it pitched its origin story to Eon Productions, and reinvented the James Bond character for a new era.
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