Marc Marquez wins Czech MotoGP in Brno, extends championship lead

Marc Marquez now leads the world championship by eight victories in a row in the Czech MotoGP, which he achieved with his fifth victory in a row.

Marco Bezzecchi, a factory Ducati rider, lost by almost two seconds to Pedro Acosta in his third podium appearance of the season on Sunday against Marco Bezzecchi on an Aprilia by almost two seconds.

Marquez won both the Saturday and Sunday race’s sprint races for the fifth straight perfect weekend.

The 32-year-old Spaniard currently leads the world championship with 381 points, 120 more than his younger brother Alex, who crashed, and 168 more than Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.

“It has been a fantastic first half of the season, and especially these final races,” Marc Marquez said.

He continued, “I ride very well and feel better.”

In the opening two laps of the Czech MotoGP, Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia Racing leads Marc Marquez, #93.

Marquez outsmarts his rivals.

On a sunny Sunday at Brno, Bagnaia started from pole, but the lead was only reclaimed when Bezzecchi eased past him in the second lap, and Marc Marquez followed suit.

Acosta did the same to move up in third place in the weekend’s sprint after receiving a boost from a third-place finish.

On the eighth lap, Marquez passed Bezzecchi as the runaway trio continued to increase their lead and, as they did so frequently this season, kept widening the gap comfortably.

The three held their positions until the finish line, but fourth-placed Bagnaia, who had been pressing from behind, gave Acosta a difficult time.

Bezzecchi described the first lap as “unbelievable.”

“I had a lot of fun in the first half of the race, but when Marc passed me, I realized he had more.”

He was strong when I attempted to attack him. Anyway, I did a fantastic job. The Italian continued, “I’m very, very happy.”

Jorge Martin, a reigning world champion, won his first race and finished seventh overall.

After two preseason crashes, Martin sat out the first three races before returning to Qatar in April, colliding severely with his teammates, who then missed the following seven competitions.

Marc Marquez reacts.
Marc Marquez won the Czech MotoGP for the fifth time in a row [Michal Cizek/AFP].

Brno makes a faster than anticipated return.

The 21 laps on the resurfaced 5.4km (3. 4 mile) Brno circuit, which returned to the MotoGP calendar after a five-year break due to financial issues, took 40 minutes, 04. 628 seconds, according to Marc Marquez.

The Brno resurfacing improved the on-track results, which were immediately apparent in the lap times this year, which were several seconds lower than the previous record.

Acosta lost to the six-time MotoGP champion by 3.366 seconds as Bezzecchi passed the line 1.753 seconds behind Marquez.

Marquez won his fourth MotoGP title at Brno after victories in 2013, 2017, and 2019 and almost 220, 000 spectators over the weekend.

After finishing 17th place in the sprint race, Alex Marquez crashed on lap two to leave Brno without a point.

He defeated Enea Bastianini a lap later, who also walked away from the gravel safety area.

Takaaki Nakagami, a Japanese sprinter, was forced to miss the race after sustaining a knee injury in a collision on Saturday.

The MotoGP circus will now break up with the Austrian Grand Prix on August 15 and 17.

“There are still ten races left until the summer break.” Time to relax, but Marc Marquez said, “I will continue to have the same mindset with the same intensity in Austria.”

He hopes to win his seventh MotoGP title, which would put him one behind Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi, and his seventh since 2019.

Marc Marquez reacts.
Marc Marquez celebrates his eighth victory of the season with an “8” sign after winning the Czech MotoGP race in [Michal Cizek/AFP]

#GazaIsStarving trends on social media as Israel kills hungry Palestinians

Palestinians are now in the grip of a worsening hunger crisis as a result of Israel’s repeated bombardment of the enclave and limited aid.

The hashtag’s Arabic translation, which was recently at the top of the platform’s trending list, was published in more than 227, 000 posts on X on Sunday. The hashtag has been used in more than 5, 000 Instagram posts.

The majority of posts quote a post from October 31, 2023, which warns against “people starting to go hungry” (President Ghassan Abu Sittah).

As dozens of starving Palestinians are killed daily by Israeli forces, the phrase has since grown to become a global rallying cry almost two years later.

The United Nations and other aid organizations have also issued warnings that Israel is starving Palestinian civilians, including more than a million children, by preventing food and medicine from entering the region.

Nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed since May near GHF, a renowned aid organization supported by Israel and the United States.

Social media platforms have been flooded with images and videos demonstrating the scope of the humanitarian crisis, which many nations and human rights organizations have referred to as a genocide, using the hashtag #GazaIsStarving.

At a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) clinic in Gaza City, Palestinian children are shown to be clearly malnourished during medical examinations. UNRWA’s aid distribution in Gaza has been prohibited by Israel.

The following video from July 10, 2025, which was made available on Saturday and verified by Al Jazeera, depicts Israeli security forces pepper spraying Palestinians seeking food at a GHF aid distribution hub in Shakoush, southern Rafah.

The conflict between children fighting over rations and scraping the bottoms of pots for food in the north of Gaza is illustrated by the severity of the food crisis in Gaza and the level of desperate need for aid.

The following video shows civilians fleeing the area as Israeli tanks and bulldozers move through the area, which was captured on July 19 near a GHF distribution site in Rafah.

Yazan Abu Foul, a two-year-old child suffering from severe malnutrition, is depicted in the verified photos taken on July 19 amid restrictions preventing access to essential supplies and humanitarian aid in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.

Appeals and negotiations won’t make Israel stop starving Gaza

Three people were killed and at least 10 were hurt when the Israeli army bombed Gaza’s only Catholic church on July 17; at least ten were hurt. Gabriele Romanelli, a parish priest who used to communicate with the late Pope Francis almost daily, was among the injured.

Following the attack, there were condemnation statements. Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, called it “unacceptable.” Pope Leo claimed that it was “deeply saddened” and that it caused him to feel “vague” and “cowardly.”

The Israeli government responded quickly to the attack’s “regrett.”

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was able to negotiate with the international outcry for church officials to visit the Christian community, deliver limited supplies of food and medicine to Muslim and Christian families, and eject some of the injured for treatment outside of Gaza.

Even though those in Gaza’s desperate need are appreciative of these humanitarian actions, they are yet another illustration of international failure. Why must negotiation be used to “earned” the delivery of food, water, and medicine? Why is political bargaining necessary when enshrined in international law?

The efforts of the church leaders are greatly appreciated by Palestinians. Their actions demonstrate moral coherence and compassion. However, it shouldn’t be necessary to take these actions. Occupying powers have legally binding obligations to the people under their control under international humanitarian law. It is legal for people to obtain access to essential services like food, water, medicine, and legal services.

When the occupying power controls access to borders, infrastructure, and life-sustaining resources, the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention and the 1907 Hague Regulations make clear that civilians in occupied territory must be protected and provided with essential services. Aid is blocked or delayed, which is a war crime, not just inhumane.

Israeli practices continue impunously in Gaza and the West Bank while the occupying power is prohibited by international law from forcibly transferring the local population or settling its own citizens on occupied land. The occupier must guarantee nonstop access to humanitarian aid without interruption, including through political pressures or forced trade-offs.

On all of these issues, Israel has broken the law. However, Israel receives concessions in exchange for a promise to follow basic legal requirements in exchange for its use of collective punishment, starvation tactics, and attacks on civilian infrastructure like churches, hospitals, bakeries, and schools. The powers that execute these “deals” then spin them as diplomatic “successes.”

Pierre-Christophe Chatzisavas, the ambassador of the European Union to Jordan, made this clear during a recent lecture in Amman. According to him, “effective political pressure” was generated by EU “discussions” about addressing Israel’s violation of the EU-Israel partnership agreement’s human rights provisions. In response, Israel “agreed” to allow more food and aid deliveries, fuel for electricity and desalination, infrastructure improvements, the reopening of humanitarian corridors through Egypt and Jordan, and access for UN aid workers and observers.

The EU halted its 10 proposed sanctions after reaching an agreement. The action was characterized as a “cruel and unlawful betrayal” of its tenets, according to Amnesty International.

Israel’s failure to implement this “deal” is a problem, just like it did for all other countries before it. Gaza needs more than 500 trucks per day, according to EU sources who were quoted in the media. It’s unclear whether 80 trucks actually enter or how much of this aid actually gets to the recipients.

The Israeli army fires at anyone who attempts to defend these trucks from looters as gangs frequently attack aid convoys.

Numerous organizations and organizations are ringing the alarm about the daily malnutrition epidemic that causes children’s deaths. Even if the UN is under pressure to declare it, famine is still present.

Israeli forces and foreign mercenaries continue to kill people who are attempting to aid people at distribution centers run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which was established to remove UNRWA’s role as the country’s aid agency for Palestinian refugees. Since GHF’s operations started in the middle of May, nearly 900 people have died at these locations.

Individual member states are still legally responsible if the EU as a whole refuses to act. Should European nations at the very least stop cooperating with institutions that are involved in the occupation and apartheid, and stop arms transfers and trade with illegal settlements. These are not optional political positions. They are legal obligations. And the rest of the world is also affected by this.

Imprisonment becomes a normalized state when war crimes are ignored in exchange for temporary relief, a situation that Israel should avoid by appealing to them to allow them to receive aid. Starvation is a viable means of conflict. The lives of citizens become bargaining chips.

The international community, which includes the EU, churches, and world leaders, must continue to offer compassion and assistance. However, justice cannot be replaced by this. Israel must be held to its legal and moral obligations, and this is why peace and resolve are important. Christians and Muslims must treat Palestinians as human beings with the rights to dignity, safety, and peace, not as pawns.

Israel issues forced displacement order in central Gaza in new campaign

Palestinians in central Gaza have been given a new forced evacuation warning by the Israeli military, instructing them to move south to al-Mawasi, an area Israel has frequently attacked despite labeling it a “safe zone.”

On Sunday, thousands of leaflets were dropped over Deir el-Balah to direct displaced families who were residing in tents in various densely populated areas of the city.

As Hamas continued to launch deadly attacks on unarmed and starving civilians in northern Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 73 of them as aid seekers, the Israeli military warned of immediate action against Hamas fighters in the area.

The military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee advised Palestinians who were living in the Deir el-Balah region to leave right away in an article on X.

According to Adraee, Israel was “expanding its activities” in the Deir el-Balah, including “in an area where it has not previously operated,” instructing Palestinians to “southward travel to the al-Mawasi area” on the Mediterranean coast for “your safety.”

(Al Jazeera)

The Israeli army was seen filming a video that Al Jazeera verified showing the Israeli army distributing large quantities of leaflets over Deir el-Balah residential areas to warn the Palestinians of the order.

Nowhere else to go

According to Al Jazeera’s reporter from Deir el-Balah, the area targeted by Israel is densely populated and it would be “impossible” for the affected residents to leave on short notice.

Because even the areas that the Israeli army has designated as safe, Palestinians here are refusing to leave and saying they are staying in their homes, she said.

Because most of the west’s and even al-Mawasi’s are full of people and tents with no more room for expansion, Palestinians claim that there is no space and that they have nowhere else to go. There are no other choices for them.

Gaza
As he sits next to two injured Palestinian boys in the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Gaza, cries [AFP]

Israel and Hamas held indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators claimed there had never been any progress.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly urged Hamas to negotiate, but negotiations have been stymied for months.

The Israeli military claimed to have a controlling stake in the Gaza Strip in this month.

During the conflict, which is currently in its 22nd month, the majority of Gaza’s population, which is more than two million people, has been displaced at least once. In large parts of the coastal enclave, Israel has repeatedly ordered Palestinians to leave or face reprisals.

More than 80% of the Gaza Strip, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, were subject to Israeli evacuation orders that had been lifted in January, and many of its residents were living starving.

This weekend, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital admitted a 35-day-old baby to Gaza City and a four-month-old boy to Deir el-Balah for malnutrition.

At least 116 Palestinians were killed on Saturday, many of whom were aid workers, while others were attempting to get food from Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by Israel and the United States.

Since the GHF’s operations began in late May, at least 900 Palestinians have been killed at the sites because an Israeli blockade has prevented UN and other aid organizations from entering Gaza and causing them to flee.

Pope Leo XIV has called for the “barbarity” of the war and called for the “indiscriminate use of force” as a result of the genocide.