In Gaza, aid kills

Today, three Palestinians have been killed and 35 wounded by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah. The attack came a day after Israeli tanks opened fire on thousands of desperate and hungry Palestinians at the same site, killing at least 31 people. One person was also shot dead at another distribution site near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza the same day.

There are currently only four such sites distributing food to Gaza’s starving population of two million people, who for nearly three months were forced to contend with a full Israeli blockade that prevented the entry of all aid into the enclave.

On May 19, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu magnanimously opted to allow a resumption of “minimal” aid deliveries to Gaza, having determined that impending mass starvation was a “red line” that might jeopardise the undying support of the US, Israel’s traditional partner in crime and the primary enabler of its slaughter.

And yet these mass killings suggest that the new “minimal” arrangement offers Palestinians a decidedly horrific choice: either die of starvation or die trying to obtain food – not, of course, that these are the only two options for dying in a genocidal war in which Israel has indiscriminately bombed hospitals, refugee camps and everything else that can be bombed, killing more than 54,400 people.

The aid distribution hubs are run by a sketchy new outfit called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), initially an Israeli brainchild that operates as a private aid organisation registered in both Switzerland and the US state of Delaware. As The Guardian newspaper noted, the GHF has “no experience distributing food in a famine zone”. It does, however, have ties to the US and Israeli governments and employs former US military and intelligence officers.

So it is that food distribution in Gaza now transpires under the supervision of armed US security contractors at hubs conveniently located near Israeli military positions. The four sites that are currently operational are located in central and southern Gaza while a significant part of the enclave’s population is in the north. To reach the hubs, many Palestinians must walk long distances and cross Israeli military lines, further endangering their lives.

No mechanism is in place to distribute food to elderly, sick or wounded Palestinians – not to mention starving people unable to engage in such physical exertion in the hopes of putting something in their stomachs.

Furthermore, the GHF initiative feeds into Israel’s forced displacement scheme whereby surviving Palestinians will be concentrated in the south in preparation for their eventual expulsion, as per US President Donald Trump’s plan for a reborn Gaza Strip largely devoid of Palestinians.

In other words, the GHF is not in Gaza to alleviate hunger or cater to the needs of its population; rather, the food distribution hubs are a lucrative PR stunt aimed at creating a “humanitarian” distraction from a continuing policy of deliberate starvation and genocide.

The United Nations and aid organisations have lambasted the weaponisation of humanitarian aid while the situation was apparently too much to handle even for Jake Wood, the former US marine sniper who served as the GHF’s executive director before his recent resignation on the grounds that “it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence”.

The massacres of the past two days are not the first such incidents to occur on the GHF’s watch. Since the launch of the initiative in late May, there have been numerous killings of Palestinians near distribution points. According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, the total number of people killed while seeking aid from this scheme has reached 52 so far.

And yet the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza trying to engage in that most necessary human activity of eating is hardly new. Recall that on February 29, 2024, at least 112 desperate Palestinians were massacred while queueing for flour southwest of Gaza City. More than 750 were wounded.

After that particular episode, then-US President Joe Biden announced that the US would airdrop food into Gaza, another costly PR spectacle incapable of providing even a drop in the bucket in terms of the humanitarian needs of the population. A more straightforward and efficient move would obviously have been to pressure the Israelis to cease blocking aid trucks from entering Gaza by land – and for the US to, you know, cease bombarding Israel with billions of dollars in aid and weaponry.

As it turned out, airdrops can be lethal too, and just a week after Biden’s announcement, five Palestinians were killed when a parachute attached to an aid pallet failed to open. To be sure, there are few things more abominably ironic than hungry people being killed by food aid literally crashing onto their heads.

Call it humanitarian slaughter.

Then there was Biden’s $230m humanitarian aid pier, which shut down in July after a mere 25 days of service. It was heavily criticised by aid groups as another expensive, complex and ineffective means of getting food and other aid into Gaza. But then again, effectiveness was never the point.

Now, if the GHF’s Gaza debut is any indication, the militarised distribution of food will continue to provide opportunities for mass killing as crowds of starving Palestinians gather around aid hubs. The phrase “shooting fish in a barrel” comes to mind – as if the Gaza Strip weren’t enough of a barrel already.

To be sure, the idea of luring starving people to specific geographical points to facilitate Israel’s genocidal conquest is singularly diabolical. And as the US persists in enabling Israel’s fish-in-a-barrel approach, any remotely moral world would refuse to stomach the arrangement any longer.

VIDEO: Whenever I Look At What Fubara Did To Me, I Weep – Wike

Nyesom Wike, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, recalls Siminalayi Fubara, the river’s state governor, as he is overcome with emotion whenever he recalls his or her actions.

When I watch the governor’s speeches in my quiet moment, Wike said in a media interview on Monday, “I sometimes weep,” he said. “What he said and did to me, I weep.

Fubara, the former governor of the Rivers, claimed that he had ties to those who wanted to take him down because of his alignment.

He continued, “He gave himself to those who couldn’t directly oppose me.”

Wike emphasized the need for genuine peace while insisting that he has no personal conflict with Fubara. He noted that while I have vowed to foresee peace, you must also demonstrate that the peace you want is real.

He claimed Fubara, not him, is responsible for the Rivers Crisis.

Watch the video below:

Gauff sails into French Open quarter-finals

Images courtesy of Getty

French Open 2025

Location: Roland Garros, May 25 – June

Coco Gauff, the second-ranked player in the world, won another impressive straight sets victory to advance to the quarter-finals, continuing her quest for her first French Open singles title.

In Paris, the American, age 21, defeated Russian 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6 , 7-5.

Gauff only managed five points in the first five games of the first set, which lasted 29 minutes.

Gauff, who finished second in 2022, has made it to the quarter-finals for the fifth time in a row, at Roland Garros.

Madison Keys and Hailey Baptiste, the Australian Open champions, will face her in the fourth-round meeting.

Mirra Andreeva, a teenager from Russia, also advanced in straight sets to the last eight.

Gauff wins thanks to a fiery start.

Gauff started well against Alexandrova, but Alexandrova’s pressure was evident in the first set.

In a sixth game that lasted almost ten minutes before she finally converted her third set point, she had to withstand five break points.

Gauff faced break points for the first time in a close second set, but he came out on top to take the lead 4-3 to an improved opponent.

Gauff finished the game stronger and won with a run of three straight games as Alexandrova, who was first in Paris, faced immediate resistance.

Andreeva battles past Kasatkina in “I hate playing her”-

Mirra Andreeva celebrates her victory at the French Open Images courtesy of Getty

Andreeva, age 18, is the youngest player to reach Roland Garros’ second consecutive women’s singles quarter-final since 1998’s Martina Hingis.

And she did it with victory over a rival she admitted to not like to practice with, let alone compete for a spot in a significant quarter-final.

After breaking Kasatkina’s serve in the eighth game, Andreeva edged a close first set with a certain-service game.

In the second set, she came out strong and won four games straight to tie the game at 5-3.

Andreeva, who lost to Kasatkina in the Ningbo final last year in China, remarked, “It was a hell of a match.”

I detest playing against her, and I’m so happy I won.

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Ogun Govt Delegation Visits Kano, Donates ₦22m To Families Of Deceased Athletes

A powerful delegation from Ogun State, led by the Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, made its way to Kano on Monday morning to express condolences to the state government and the victims’ families.

Governor Dapo Abiodun’s condolences were conveyed by Salako-Oyedele, and a $1 million donation was made as initial support for each of the victims’ families.

In these trying times, the governor is out of the state on Hajj, but we felt the need to be there to show our support for him, the government, and the people of Kano State, Salako-Oyedele said.

“This is a heartbreaking loss for Kano State, the athletics industry, and especially the families and friends of the people who were affected by this tragic incident,” said the statement. Our prayer is that Allah accepts the deceased’s return to Him, pardons their shortcomings, and grants them Aljanat Firdaus, she continued.

Tokunbo Talabi, the governor of Ogun, Wasiu Isiaka, the executive secretary of the Gateway Games LOC, Kweku Tandoh, the commissioner for sports development, Wasiu Isiaka, and other officials and athletes made up the Ogun delegation.

The Deputy Governor, Aminu Gwarzo, who thanked the Ogun State Government for the kind gesture and solidarity, delivered the delegation’s thanks at the Government House in Kano.

“Governor Abiodun’s concern is unquestionable,” we said. Shortly after the incident, he called to express his thoughts to the Kano State government and the populace. Gwarzo said that this concern is being reinforced by the support shown today.

READ MORE: 22 Kano athletes die in a road accident after a sports festival

A Toyota Coaster Bus with the registration number KN041 A17 was involved in the accident, which took place on Saturday at 12:30 pm at Gadar Yankifi in the Garun Malam Local Government Area.

Ado Salisu, one of the crash’s survivors, had confirmed to journalists that the accident occurred just before the group’s scheduled arrival in Kano.

32 people were involved in the collision, according to a press release from the Federal Road Safety Corps, Kano Sector Command, 31 of whom were male and one female.

Lagos Govt To Resume Monthly Environmental Sanitation

On Sunday, the Lagos State government made the announcement that the sanitation exercise would resume every month.

Following an inspection tour to Idi-Araba and Orile Iganmu, Alaba Rago, the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, made the point that all residents must adopt good sanitation practices as a way of life.

The Lagos State Government has decided to begin the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, according to the commissioner, Kunle Adeshina, the spokesman for the ministry. A formal start date will soon be made public.

Wahab said at Alaba Rago Market that law enforcement officers would frequently visit the market and that the market had been shut down sometime last year. Wahab argued that it would be unfortunate if the market had to be closed once more because of unhygienic activities.

They have given them until tomorrow evening, “We’ll decide whether the market should or shouldn’t be sealed,” he said, “and they have extended the market, pushed it to the road, blocked all the median system, and they have dumped their waste.”

Read more about Mokwa Flood victims’ food shortages and the bleak conditions at camp.

The commissioner claimed that the market’s chairman has agreed that all infractions will be resolved and that the ministry will have no choice but to punish those who violate the regulations.

He issued a warning to traders selling on the road, drainage setback, and median at Alaba Rago Market, Badagry Expressway, and Ojo Local Government Area, to move their goods into the main market and conduct business there. He stated that if the unfavorable business practices persist, the government would lock the market by 6pm on Monday.

He argued that every state’s market should be aware that anyone trading illegally on the road or through the drainage channels should abstain from it because it does not permit that.

He urged people to support the government’s efforts to stop the unsanitary practice of disposing of illegal waste, arguing that it was preferable for everyone to take control of all the infrastructure the government provides.