Category: 2. World

BOGOTA, Colombia — A car bomb and a separate attack on a police helicopter in Colombia killed at least 17 people Thursday, according to authorities. President Gustavo Petro attributed both attacks to dissidents of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly known as FARC.

At least 12 police officers died in the attack on a helicopter that according to authorities was transporting personnel to an area in Antioquia in northern Colombia, to eradicate coca leaf crops, the raw material for cocaine. Petro had reported initially eight officers killed, but Antioquia Gov. Andrés Julián said four others died later and three remain injured.

The Antioquia governor had said on X that a drone attacked the helicopter as it flew over coca leaf crops. Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said preliminary information indicates the attack caused a fire in the aircraft.

Meanwhile, authorities in the southwest city of Cali reported that a vehicle loaded with explosives detonated near a military aviation school, killing five people and injuring more than 30. The Colombian air force did not immediately provide additional details of the explosion.

Petro initially blamed the Gulf Clan, the country’s largest active drug cartel, for the attack on the helicopter. He said the aircraft was targeted in retaliation for a cocaine seizure that allegedly belonged to the group.

The president said an alleged member of the dissident group was arrested in the area of the explosion.

FARC dissidents, who rejected a peace agreement with the government in 2016, and members of the Gulf Clan both operate in Antioquia.

Coca leaf cultivation is on the rise in Colombia. The area under cultivation reached a record 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the latest report available from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

GAZA CITY: The world’s leading authority on food crises said Friday the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it is likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said famine is occurring in Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and that it could spread south to Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.

The IPC determination comes after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel’s restrictions of food and other aid into Gaza, and its military offensive, were causing high levels of starvation among Palestinian civilians, particularly children.

Gaza City offensive could exacerbate hunger

The grim milestone — the first time the IPC has confirmed a famine in the Middle East — is sure to ramp up international pressure on Israel, which has been in a brutal war with Hamas since the militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Israel says it plans to escalate the war soon by seizing Gaza City and other Hamas strongholds, which experts say will exacerbate the hunger crisis.

The IPC said hunger has been driven by fighting and the blockade of aid, and magnified by widespread displacement and the collapse of food production in Gaza, pushing hunger to life-threatening levels across the entire territory after 22 months of war.

More than half a million people in Gaza, about a quarter of the population, face catastrophic levels of hunger, and many are at risk of dying from malnutrition-related causes, the IPC report said. Last month, the IPC said the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza, but stopped short of an official determination.

Israel disputes report of famine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied there is hunger in Gaza, calling reports of starvation “lies” promoted by Hamas. After the publication of images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of hunger-related deaths, Israel announced measures to let more humanitarian aid in. Yet the UN and Palestinians in Gaza say what’s entering is far below what’s needed.

The Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to the territory rejected the report Friday, calling it “false and biased.” The agency, known as COGAT, rejected the claim that there was famine in Gaza and said that significant steps had been taken to expand the amount of aid entering the strip in recent weeks.

In a post on social media, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs also rejected the findings, saying the IPC report was “based on Hamas lies.” It said that more than 100,000 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the start of the war, including a massive influx in recent weeks with staple foods.

“A rapidly increasing number of people, especially young children, are dying preventable deaths from starvation and disease because Israel made starvation a core part of its campaign to control the strip,” said Chris Newton, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Israel’s plan to escalate the war in Gaza City weeks after a warning that famine was beginning there demonstrates how “intentional the famine is and how Israel wields starvation,” he said.

Netanyahu says more military pressure is needed to achieve Israel’s goals of freeing the hostages held by Hamas and eliminating the militant group altogether.

How a famine is determined

Formal famine determinations are rare. The IPC has previously determined famines in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region last year.

The IPC, a coalition of monitors tasked by the UN to warn of impending crises, says a famine exists in an area when all three of the following conditions are confirmed:

At least 20 percent of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving. At least 30 percent of children 6 months to 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, based on a weight-to-height measurement; or 15 percent of that age group suffer from acute malnutrition based on the circumference of their upper arm. And at least two people, or four children under 5, per 10,000 are dying daily due to starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.

Israel’s offensive and its restrictions on access to Gaza have made collecting data difficult.

The data analyzed between July 1 and Aug. 15 showed clear evidence that thresholds for starvation and acute malnutrition have been reached. Gathering data for mortality has been harder, but the IPC said it is reasonable to conclude from the evidence that the necessary threshold has likely been reached.

The IPC warned that a third of Gaza’s population could face catastrophic levels of hunger by the end of September, and that this is probably an undercount.

Alex de Waal, author of “Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine” and executive director of the World Peace Foundation, said that had Israel allowed the IPC better access to collect data, a famine might have been determined months ago, which would have raised global awareness sooner.

“Sadly, it seems that it’s necessary for experts to shout ‘famine!’ before the world takes notice, by which time it is too late,” he said.

Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free hostages.

Israel eased those restrictions in May and says there’s currently no limit on how many aid trucks can enter Gaza. But it also pushed ahead with a new US-backed aid delivery system that requires Palestinians to travel long distances and pass through Israeli military lines to get aid.

The traditional, UN-led aid providers say deliveries have been hampered by Israeli military restrictions and incidents of looting, while criminals and hungry crowds overwhelm entering convoys.

Witnesses, health officials and the UN rights office say hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid from both providers, while Israel says it has only fired warning shots and that the toll is exaggerated.

A parent in Gaza City watches his children waste away

On the eve of the war, Gaza City was home to some 700,000 people, about the population of Washington.

Throughout the conflict, it has been the focus of regular Israeli bombardment and ground operations. Several neighborhoods have been almost completely destroyed. Hundreds of thousands fled under Israeli evacuation orders at the start of the war but many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year.

Doctors and nurses in Gaza in recent weeks have seen rising numbers of visibly malnourished patients.

Kirsty Blacka, an Australian emergency nurse who worked in Gaza City’s Al-Quds hospital through June, said emaciated men with no preexisting conditions were coming in looking like teenagers because they were starving.

She said the lack of food has been compounded by contaminated water causing diarrhea and infections, and that diseases are harder to recover from when people are malnourished.

If Israel evacuates people from the city ahead of its new offensive, thousands will be too weak to leave, said Blacka. “Because of the starvation it will put extra strain on already depleted bodies and will lead to the death of many of the Palestinians,” she said.

Families in Gaza City say they’re watching their loved ones waste away.

Yousef Sbeteh’s two teenage children were injured by shrapnel during an Israeli airstrike in June and have spent the last two months in the hospital. While there, they’ve both lost weight because there hasn’t been enough food, he said, adding that he can’t afford to buy more because prices at markets have soared. Doctors say the teenagers had no preexisting conditions.

His 15-year-old daughter Aya lost nearly 20 kilograms (44 pounds), or about 30 percent of her body weight, according to her doctors. Her 17-year-old brother Ahmad has lost about 15 kilograms (33 pounds). The lack of nutritional supplements and healthy food is slowing their recovery, doctors say.

“Doctors say she needs protein, meat and fish,” Sbeteh said while sitting beside his frail daughter. “But I can’t provide that now.”

A group of NGOs is challenging Eswatini’s acceptance of five people deported by the US, arguing the deal was unconstitutional and violated the imprisoned men’s human rights.

The men from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, who the US said were dangerous criminals, were flown to the small southern African country in July, as the Trump administration attempts to deport millions of migrants and asylum seekers.

The men’s imprisonment, at the maximum security Matsapha correctional centre, caused outrage in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, whose king, Africa’s last absolute monarch, appoints the prime minister and cabinet.

A group of NGOs and activists filed a legal challenge against the government last week, arguing that the deal, whose terms have been kept private by the government, violated due process and that the prison where the men were being held was 190% over capacity.

The Southern African litigation centre (Salc), whose programme manager is one of the plaintiffs, said at the time: “This litigation signals to the continent and the world that African nations cannot serve as dumping grounds for unresolved issues.”

Eswatini’s attorney general, Sifiso Khumalo, told Reuters the case had no basis, adding: “It’s a frivolous legal application.”

The US had previously deported 252 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they spent more than four months in a notorious prison before being returned to Venezuela. Eight men were sent to South Sudan after spending weeks in a shipping container in Djibouti. Uganda and Rwanda have also agreed to take in deported people.

The high court case was postponed to 25 September and may be referred to the constitutional court by the high court judges, the Salc said.

Mzwandile Masuku, a lawyer for the applicants, said: “The judge was of the view that the pleadings or papers in the judge’s file were not complete, meaning the matter is not ripe for argument.”

In papers submitted to the court on Thursday, the attorney general argued that the case was not urgent and plaintiffs did not have legal standing. The papers said: “The [constitution] empowers government to executive international agreements in the name of the crown.”

Zakithi Sibandze, the national coordinator of Rural Women’s Assembly Eswatini, one of the plaintiff NGOs, said: “This agreement is unconstitutional because it should have been presented to and approved by our members of parliament. That clearly didn’t happen, and you could see our MPs were completely in the dark based on how they grilled the government about it.”

She added: “The government assures us these individuals are in secure facilities, but that does not ease our fears. We have heard stories of criminals escaping from prison. We are not convinced.”

Melusi Simelane of the Salc said: “We want the details of this deal … the prime minister and this government, they are withholding information, information that is very pertinent to our rights as citizens.”

The International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, said it was discussing with the Eswatini government a request to provide the deportees with “post-arrival assistance”, without providing further details or whether it would grant the request.