KHAN YOUNIS: Palestinians sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food aid were among at least 25 people killed by Israeli strikes and shootings Saturday in Gaza, according to local hospitals, as the world confronted an exceptional announcement that famine is now gripping Gaza’s largest city.
The famine determination by the world’s leading authority on food crises galvanized governments and aid groups to intensify pleas for Israel to halt its 22-month offensive on Gaza Aid groups have warned for months that the war and Israel’s restrictions of food into Gaza are causing starvation among civilians.
Israel denounced the famine declaration as lies and the military is pressing ahead with preparations to seize Gaza City. Efforts toward a ceasefire that could forestall the offensive are on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps.
Gaza hospitals take in new dead and wounded
Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people in the southern Gaza Strip early Saturday, according to morgue records and health officials at Nasser Hospital. The officials said the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, which became home to hundreds of thousands who had fled from elsewhere in Gaza. More than half of the dead were women and children.
Awad Abu Agala, uncle of two children who died, said no place in Gaza is now safe.
“The entire Gaza Strip is being bombed … In the south. In the north. Everywhere,” Abu Agala told The Associated Press, saying the children were targeted overnight while in their tents.
A grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a truce.
“We want to rest,” Foujo said, fighting through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us.”
In northern Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed at least five aid-seekers Saturday near the Zikim crossing with Israel, where UN and other agencies’ convoys enter the enclave, health officials at the Sheikh Radwan field hospital told the AP.
Six people were killed in other attacks on Gaza elsewhere Saturday, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about the deaths.
A famine announcement ups the pressure
A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Friday that Gaza City is gripped by famine that is likely to spread if fighting and restrictions on humanitarian aid continue.
It was a highly rare pronouncement by the group, its first in the Middle East, and came after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month blockade on Gaza earlier this year, then eased access with a focus on a new US-backed private aid supplier, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF.
In response to global outrage over images of emaciated children, Israel in recent weeks has allowed airdrops and a new influx of aid entering by land, but UN and other aid agencies say the food reaching Gaza is still not nearly enough.
AP journalists have seen chaos and security problems on roads leading to aid deliveries, and there have been reports of Israeli troops firing toward aid-seekers. Israel’s military says they fire warning shots if individuals approach the troops or pose a threat to soldiers.
The IPC said nearly half a million people in Gaza, about one-fourth of the population, face catastrophic hunger that leaves many at risk of dying. It said hunger has been magnified by widespread displacement and the collapse of food production.
Netanyahu’s office denounced the IPC report as “an outright lie,” and accuses Hamas of starving the hostages. Israel says it has allowed enough aid to enter during the war.
Activity is escalating ahead of Gaza City offensive
With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the widescale operation in Gaza City could start within days.
Aid group Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said Saturday its clinics around Gaza City are seeing high numbers of patients as people flee recent bombardments. The group said in a statement that “strikes are forcing people, including MSF staff, to flee their homes once again, and we are seeing displacement across Gaza City.″
The Israeli military has said troops are operating on the outskirts of Gaza City and in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood.
Israel says Gaza City is still a Hamas stronghold, with a network of militant tunnels. The city also is home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, some of whom have fled from elsewhere.
Ceasefire efforts await Israel’s response
Many Israelis fear the assault on Gaza City could doom the roughly 20 hostages who have survived captivity since 2023.
Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed officials to begin immediate negotiations to release hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms. It is unclear if Israel will return to long-running talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar after Hamas said earlier this week that it accepted a new proposal from the Arab mediators.
Hamas has said it would release captives in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarmament without the creation of a Palestinian state.
US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Hamas’ stance, suggesting the militant group was less interested in making deals to release hostages with so few left alive.
“The situation has to end. It’s extortion, and it has to end,” Trump told reporters Friday. “I actually think (the hostages are) safer in many ways if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it.”
WASHINGTON: Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng on Friday criticized the impact on agriculture brought by trade war and rising protectionism at a China-U.S. soybean industry reception.
“Agriculture should not be politicized, and farmers should not pay the cost of trade war,” Xie told the U.S.-China Partner Breakfast Reception, which was attended by the U.S. Soybean Export Council and a Chinese agricultural delegation.
He also slammed attempts to restrict Chinese citizens and businesses from buying U.S. farmland as “purely a move of political manipulation on the pretext of national security.”
“The U.S. farmland held by Chinese investors accounts for less than 0.03 percent of the total. How can it pose a threat to U.S. food security as some have claimed?” Xie asked.
The accusation is completely unfounded and is aimed at hijacking China-U.S. agricultural cooperation for a few individuals’ own agenda, he added.
Citing data, Xie said U.S. agricultural exports to China dropped 53 percent year-over-year in the first half of this year, and the number for soybeans dropped 51 percent compared with last year in the same period.
“The rising protectionism has undoubtedly cast a shadow over our agricultural cooperation,” he said.
Addressing the broader economic and trade ties between the two countries, the ambassador said China is ready to work with the U.S. side to make good use of the economic and trade consultation mechanism, build consensus, clear up misunderstandings and strengthen cooperation so as to jointly share the dividends of development and return to the right track of win-win cooperation.
Lt Gen Jeffrey Kruse will no longer serve as head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Pentagon’s intelligence agency chief, just weeks after a White House rebuke of a report assessing the impact of American strikes on Iran, US media report.
Lt Gen Jeffery Kruse will no longer serve as head of US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), reports suggest. Two other senior military commanders have also been ousted by the Pentagon.
The defence department has not offered any immediate explanation on the firings.
In June, President Donald Trump had pushed back strongly on a leaked DIA report that found that attacks on Iran had only set back its nuclear programme by months. The White House declared the agency’s assessment “flat out wrong”.
Trump had declared the nuclear sites in Iran “completely destroyed”, and had accused the media of “an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history”.
Speaking at the Nato summit at the time, Hegseth had said that the report was made on “low intelligence” and that the FBI was probing the leak.
Kruse’s exit was first reported by the Washington Post. The BBC has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
The DIA is part of the Pentagon and specialises in military intelligence to support operations. It collects large amounts of technical intelligence, but is distinct from other agencies like the CIA.
It is understood that Hegseth had also ordered the removal of the chief of US Naval reserves and the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, an anonymous source told Reuters on Friday.
In a statement, US Senator Mark Warner warned that Kruse’s sacking was a sign that Trump had a “dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country”.
Trump has removed a number of officials whose analysis have been seen to be at odds with the president.
In July, Trump said that he had ordered his team to dismiss Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer “immediately”, after a report showed that job growth had slowed.
And in April, Trump fired General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency, along with more than a dozen staff at the White House national security council.
Hegseth has also pushed out a number of military officials at the Pentagon. In February, he fired Air Force General C Q Brown, who was dismissed along with five other admirals and generals.
Once the largest country in Northeast Africa, unified Sudan was one of the most strategically important countries due to its geographic location, resources, and regional connectivity. However, it was divided in 2011, resulting in the creation of the Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of the Sudan (Sudan). South Sudan, with a population of approximately 12 million, ranks 38th in global oil production. Sudan, with a population of 51 million, ranks 16th in gold reserves and 46th in oil production. The River Nile tributaries flowing through it make it vital for regional water control and strategic influence; however, internal power struggles, economic decline, and foreign intervention fuel instability. The insight argues that foreign involvement under the pretext of support and reform has exacerbated the worsening internal conflict in Sudan.
Unified Sudan was divided due to geopolitical rivalries compounded by ethno-religious conflicts and continuous power struggles. Two major civil wars, the First Sudanese Civil War (1955-1972) and the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), were fought between the central government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). In 2005, the Central Government and the SPLA signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) brokered by the US, UK, and Norway, which ended the second Sudanese civil war. This led to a referendum in South Sudan, resulting in its independence in 2011, with Salva Kiir Mayardit becoming its President and remaining in power to this day.
In 1989, General Omar al-Bashir seized power in Sudan through a military coup by ousting Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, who had been in office since 1986. His rule focused on restoring stability amid internal divisions, external pressures, and isolation. For this, his government turned to local alliances in response to rebellion and instability, such as the Janjaweed militia, which was later restructured and formalised as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Economically, GDP growth increased at the start of Bashir’s era (1991-1992), primarily due to the early reforms. Later, due to US-led sanctions and isolation, it dropped to 1% in 1994 before reaching a peak of 18.3% in 1997, driven by Chinese investment.
This was followed by a decline in 1998-99, due to the initial phase of oil exports after infrastructural completion, followed by a steady growth observed from 2000 to 2007 as Sudan aligned with China and Iran. Thereafter, a downward trend has persisted to this day.
The 2011 split left unresolved border demarcation, oil transit, and revenue sharing issues, as 75% of the oil reserves remained in South Sudan, and most pipelines and refineries were in Sudan. The map in Figure 3 highlights the oil infrastructure in Sudan and South Sudan, including oil fields, pipelines, and border lines.
China had adopted a pragmatic, non-interventionist approach since the 1990s. After 1995, it heavily invested in Sudan’s oil industry, with over 130 companies investing US$13 billion across various sectors. Chinese crude oil import patterns underwent significant changes before and after 2011 due to conflicts and instability in the region. A sharp decline occurred after 2011, mainly due to the loss of oil-rich South Sudan, political repression, and internal unrest.
The recent instability in Sudan finds its roots in the ouster of Omar Al-Bashir. In 2018, Public and civil society protests started over economic grievances inspired by the Arab Spring and US-led Western pressure, enabling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to oust Bashir in a coup in 2019. A Joint Civil-Military Sovereignty Council was established, which was dissolved by SAF leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in 2021, returning Sudan to military rule.
The post-Bashir Sudan re-engaged with the West, normalised ties with Israel in 2020, and was removed from the US terrorism list, boosting aid. In the same year, the United Nations established the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) to support the country’s democratic transition. The mission ended in 2024 at Sudan’s request, due to ineffectiveness and bias. Meanwhile, US aid through USAID rose from $134 million in 2018 to $773 million in 2021.
During the transitional period, the RSF, under the leadership of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), expanded both financially and militarily, mainly due to illicit trade and its control over gold mines.
Tensions escalated as the RSF’s integration into the army failed, making the SAF view it as a threat to its power. Resultantly, in April 2023, violent clashes erupted between the SAF and RSF, starting a civil war that devastated major cities, displaced 8 million people, and caused Sudan’s GDP to contract by nearly 12% by the end of the year. In April 2025, the RSF announced the formation of a parallel government to manage areas under its control. However, this move has been firmly rejected by Sudan’s internationally recognised government.
Sudan’s internal politics are deeply entangled with global power rivalries, particularly between the US and China. Since the 1990s, China has remained a dominant economic actor, especially in the oil sector. After 2011, despite a decline in crude imports due to the loss of oil sources in South Sudan, it continued to invest in both states.
Conversely, the US has maintained a more interventionist approach. Critics argue that Washington’s policy has often destabilised regimes under the banner of counterterrorism and democracy, as seen in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The US-backed CPA and the 2011 referendum, though aimed at peace, ultimately created two fragile states.
Later in 2019, the US pushed for Bashir’s ouster without establishing an alternative institutional framework, fueling a power struggle. More recently, it seeks to influence the Red Sea, while countering China’s Belt and Road initiative and Russia’s presence through strategic containment, diplomatic pressure, and targeted sanctions.
The SAF is supported by Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. Their strategic interests include safeguarding Nile water access, countering Gulf rivals, influencing Africa, securing the Red Sea near the NEOM project, and pursuing a naval base in Port Sudan. On the other hand, the RSF is backed by the UAE, Chad, and the Libyan National Army, with interests in gold resources and the Red Sea routes. These alignments show how regional states exploit Sudan’s conflict for strategic and economic gain.
Sudan’s prolonged instability reflects the convergence of internal fractures and external rivalries, making it a proxy battleground for African, Arab, and global interests. While the SAF and RSF compete for control and foreign actors influence, shaping its political future, people suffer the worst crisis. The country reflects a complex, multipolar world in which the sovereignty of fragile states weakens as they become entangled in the power plays of external actors.
KABUL, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — Afghanistan’s Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation announced plans to appoint new transport attaches in neighboring and regional countries to facilitate trade and provide better services for Afghan citizens.
“In line with the approved structure of the ministry, we have positions for transport attaches in Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Though so far only representatives in Pakistan’s Peshawar and Quetta have been introduced, efforts are underway to expand this to other countries as well,” local media Tolonews quoted Hikmatullah Asifi, spokesman for the ministry, as saying.
Business leaders welcomed the decision, saying it could help ease transit challenges, boost exports, and expand access to international markets.
As a landlocked country, Afghanistan relies heavily on road transport through neighboring states for its imports and exports. Trade corridors and other regional agreements are seen as crucial for connecting Afghan traders to global markets. ■
The Dutch foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, has resigned after a cabinet meeting failed to secure sanctions against Israel, weakening the Netherlands’ already fragile caretaker government.
Veldkamp’s colleagues from the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) party also walked out after the cabinet debate late on Friday reached an impasse over adopting harsher measures against Israel.
The discussions about taking further steps against Israel came after the Netherlands joined 20 other countries in signing a joint declaration on Thursday condemning Israeli plans to build an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank. Critics say the 3,400-home settlement would split the territory in half.
The Netherlands barred the far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country in July.
After Friday’s meeting, Veldkamp – a former ambassador to Israel – told the Dutch news agency ANP he was “insufficiently able to take meaningful additional measures”. In a statement announcing his resignation, he said “we are living in a time of unprecedented geopolitical tension, where diplomacy matters more than ever”.
Backing his stance, the NSC said its coalition partners, the centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), “refuse to acknowledge the alarming situation [in Gaza] and take necessary action”.
There have been a number of protests in the Netherlands to pressure the government to take action against Israel’s war in Gaza, which is nearing its two-year mark. Between 100,000 and 150,000 people took part in a demonstration in The Hague in June, making it the largest protest in the Netherlands in two decades.
Veldkamp’s resignation came after UN-backed experts said on Friday that Gaza City and the surrounding area was in the grip of an “entirely man-made” famine, and that deaths could rise exponentially. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has only declared four famines since it was established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year.
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The NSC wwas part of a caretaker administration that has been running the Netherlands since June, when the coalition government collapsed after the far-right politician Geert Wilders withdrew his party’s ministers from the alliance.
The PVV’s withdrawal from the coalition in June triggered an early election, with a snap poll called for 29 October.
India’s foreign minister said on Saturday that trade negotiations with Washington are continuing but there are lines that New Delhi needs to defend, just days before hefty additional tariffs by the United States are due to hit.
Indian goods face additional US tariffs of up to 50 per cent, among the highest imposed by Washington, due to its increased purchases of Russian oil. A 25pc tariff has already come into effect, while the remaining 25pc is set to be enforced from August 27.
A planned visit by US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been called off, dashing hopes that the levies may be lowered or postponed.
“We have some redlines in the negotiations, to be maintained and defended,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at an Economic Times forum event in New Delhi, singling out the interests of the country’s farmers and small producers.
India-US trade talks collapsed earlier this year due to India not agreeing to open its vast agricultural and dairy sectors. Bilateral trade between the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies is worth over $190 billion.
“It is our right to make decisions in our ‘national interest’,” Jaishankar said.
Analysts at Capital Economics said on Friday that if the full US tariffs come into force and stick, the hit to India’s economic growth would be 0.8 percentage points both this year and next.
“The longer-term harm could be even greater as a high tariff could puncture India’s appeal as a global manufacturing hub.”
The Indian minister described US President Donald Trump’s policy announcements as “unusual”.
“We have not had a US president who conducts his foreign policy so publicly as the current one and [it] is a departure from the traditional way of conducting business with the world,” Jaishankar said.
He also said Washington’s concern over India’s Russian oil purchases was not being applied to other major buyers such as China and the European Union.
“If the argument is oil, then there are [other] big buyers. If the argument is who is trading more [with Russia], then there are bigger traders,” he said.
Russia-European trade is bigger than India-Russia trade, he added.
The minister also said India’s purchases of Russian oil had not been raised in earlier trade talks with the US before the public announcement of tariffs.
India to suspend postal deliveries to US over tariff confusion
India will temporarily suspend postal deliveries to the United States, the government said today, citing confusion stemming from tariffs imposed by Trump.
India’s communications ministry said the executive order issued last month requires transport carriers or other “qualified parties” approved by US authorities to collect and remit the tariff duties.
But “several critical processes relating to the designation of ‘qualified parties’ and mechanisms for duty collection and remittance remain undefined,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Consequently, US-bound air carriers have expressed their inability to accept postal consignments after August 25, citing lack of operational and technical readiness.”
As a result, India’s department of posts will temporarily suspend bookings of “all types of postal articles” destined for the United States from Monday except letters, documents and gift items of up to $100 in value.
“These exempt categories will continue to be accepted and conveyed to the USA, subject to further clarifications from CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and USPS (United States Postal Service),” the ministry said, adding that “every effort is being made to normalise services”.
The move follows similar steps taken by postal services and mail carriers across Europe. France’s La Poste told AFP it would suspend most package deliveries to the United States from Monday.
It said the new implementation rules were issued by the CBP on August 15, “leaving European postal services with an extremely limited timeframe to get prepared”.
The Trump administration has said that it would abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the United States from August 29.
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Indian Minister of External Affairs at the World Trade Center on June 30, 2025 in New York City.
Roy Rochlin | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
India’s foreign minister said on Saturday that trade negotiations with Washington are continuing but there are lines that New Delhi needs to defend, just days before hefty additional U.S. tariffs are due to hit.
Indian goods face additional U.S. tariffs of up to 50%, among the highest imposed by Washington, due to its increased purchases of Russian oil. A 25% tariff has already come into effect, while the remaining 25% is set to be enforced from August 27.
A planned visit by U.S. trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been called off, dashing hopes that the levies may be lowered or postponed.
“We have some redlines in the negotiations, to be maintained and defended,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at an Economic Times forum event in New Delhi, singling out the interests of the country’s farmers and small producers.
India-U.S. trade talks collapsed earlier this year due to India not agreeing to open its vast agricultural and dairy sectors. Bilateral trade between the world’s largest and fifth largest economy is worth over $190 billion.
“It is our right to make decisions in our ‘national interest’,” Jaishankar said.
Analysts at Capital Economics said on Friday that if the full U.S. tariffs come into force and stick, the hit to India’s economic growth would be 0.8 percentage points both this year and next.
“The longer-term harm could be even greater as a high tariff could puncture India’s appeal as a global manufacturing hub.”
The Indian minister described U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy announcements as “unusual”.
“We have not had a U.S. president who conducts his foreign policy so publicly as the current one and (it) is a departure from the traditional way of conducting business with the world,” Jaishankar said.
He also said Washington’s concern over India’s Russian oil purchases was not being applied to other major buyers such as China and European Union.
“If the argument is oil, then there are (other) big buyers. If argument is who is trading more (with Russia), than there are bigger traders,” he said. Russia-European trade is bigger than India-Russia trade, he added.
The minister also said India’s purchases of Russian oil had not been raised in earlier trade talks with the U.S. before the public announcement of tariffs.
Reuters
