By Nadine Osman
London, (The Muslim News): Israeli forces have intercepted and seized the Handala, a humanitarian vessel operated by the Freedom Flotilla coalition, as it attempted to break the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. Eleven of the 21 international activists on board remain in custody after the ship was intercepted on international waters on Saturday night. Human rights defender Huwaida Arraf, who was among those detained, confirmed she was released after refusing to sign a pledge not to return. “What’s needed is global focus and continued action,” she said, calling for renewed international pressure to lift the siege. The remaining detainees have reportedly launched a hunger strike in protest.
The seizure of the aid vessel comes amid mounting international alarm over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The World Food Programme warned on Sunday that famine is rapidly tightening its grip on the enclave. “An agreed ceasefire is the only way for humanitarian assistance to reach the entire civilian population in Gaza with critical food supplies in a consistent, predictable, orderly and safe manner,” the UN agency said. Despite Israeli claims of facilitating aid corridors and airdrops, the WFP described operations on the ground as “extremely challenging” and “dangerous to civilians and aid workers alike.”
Gaza’s Government Media Office reported that only 73 trucks of aid entered the Strip on Sunday, far short of the minimum 600 daily deliveries international relief agencies say are necessary to prevent mass starvation. The office described Israel’s airdrops as dangerously inadequate and symbolic, stating, “We witnessed three airdrops, which combined did not equal the load of two truckloads of aid. What is happening is a farce in which the international community is complicit through false promises or misleading information.”
British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, warned that the crisis “has reached new depths” and demanded urgent escalation of aid efforts. “Access to aid must therefore be urgently accelerated over the coming hours and days,” he said. Lammy welcomed the announcement of tactical pauses to allow aid through but called the measures “long overdue” and insufficient given the scale of suffering. However, he did not say what action UK will take to forces Israel preventing humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Despite these declarations, Israeli bombardment continued across the Strip over the weekend, killing at least 63 Palestinians since early Sunday morning. Six more people reportedly died of starvation, further underscoring the collapse of Gaza’s food infrastructure. The Health Ministry said that a total of 59,821 Palestinians have now been killed since October 2023, with at least 144,851 wounded. “Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the Ministry said.
At least 22 civilians, including children, were killed in Israeli attacks on tents sheltering displaced families and crowds waiting for aid. Al-Awda Hospital confirmed 11 deaths and 101 injuries following a strike on Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza. A woman and her child were killed in an airstrike on their apartment in Gaza City, while five civilians, including children, died in Khan Younis when a drone hit a tent in the al-Mawasi area. Four more people were killed in Deir al-Balah, and Israeli forces reportedly detonated an explosive-laden robot in Shejaiya, though casualty figures from that incident remain unclear.
Israel’s military also sustained losses on Sunday. Two soldiers from the Golani Brigade were killed by a bomb in Khan Younis, and at least five others were wounded in separate incidents in Rafah, according to the army and the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Since the start of the war, the Israeli military has reported 895 soldiers killed and 6,134 wounded. The army is facing growing domestic scrutiny over accusations that it is underreporting the true scale of its losses, as Palestinian resistance factions continue to mount organised ambushes and improvised explosive attacks.
Meanwhile, regional tensions escalated further after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a personal threat against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. During a visit to Ramon Air Force Base, Katz said, “I want to send a clear message from here to dictator Khamenei: If you continue to threaten Israel, our long arm will reach Tehran again with even greater power – and this time personally to you too.” There has been no official response from Iranian authorities.
Katz’s remarks follow a recent flare-up between Israel and Iran. The confrontation began on June 13 when Israel struck Iranian military and nuclear sites. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks, prompting US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. A US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on 24 June.
[Photo: Hundreds of Palestinians carry sacks of flour distributed from aid trucks in the coastal Zikim area of northern Gaza, as they walk away from the distribution point under harsh conditions on July 27, 2025. Amid continued Israeli attacks and a crippling blockade, residents of Gaza are left with scarce access to food and basic supplies. Photojournalist: Khames Alrefi/AA]
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