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‘My children go to sleep hungry,’ Gazans tell the BBC

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As crowds gathered at a food distribution point in northern Gaza, six-year-old Ismail Abu Odeh fought his way to the front.

“Give me some,” he called out.

His bowl was filled with lentils, but as he made his way back, it was knocked out of his hands. He returned to his family’s tent crying.

An uncle who had managed to get some food later shared some with Ismail.

The following day, no deliveries of water or food arrived at the displacement camp where he lives, located in a school in Gaza City, and the people gathered there were left with empty bottles and bowls. Ismail cried again.

The BBC has spent the past two days speaking to people across Gaza, as Israel ramps up its military action and continues a more than 10-week total blockade on food, medical supplies and other aid.

There are mounting warnings from the United Nations and others that the enclave is on the brink of famine.

The Israeli government insists there is “no shortage” of food in Gaza and that the “real crisis is Hamas looting and selling aid”.

Government ministers have described the stoppage of aid as a “main pressure lever” to secure victory over Hamas and get all the hostages out. There are still 58 hostages in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel does not allow international journalists free access to Gaza, so our communication has been over phone calls and WhatsApp messages, and through trusted Palestinian freelancers who live in the territory.

Those who spoke to the BBC described their struggle to find even one meal a day, with food kitchens shutting down because of the shortages and few items in the markets. Items that are still available are at highly inflated prices that they cannot afford, they said.

A man running one of the remaining food kitchens in Gaza said he was operating “day by day” to find food and oil. Another man we spoke to said the kitchen he volunteered at had closed 10 days ago when supplies ran out, describing it as a “disastrous feeling”.

One 23-year-old woman living in north Gaza said “dizziness has become a constant feeling” as well as “general weakness and fatigue from the lack of food and medicine”.

Adham al-Batrawi, 31, who used to live in the affluent city of al-Zahra but is now displaced in central Gaza, said hunger was “one of the most difficult parts of daily life”.

He said people had to get “creative just to survive”, describing through WhatsApp messages how he would over-cook pasta and knead it into a dough before cooking it over a fire to create an imitation of bread – a staple in the Palestinian diet.

“We’ve invented ways to cook and eat that we never imagined we’d need,” he said.

He added that the one meal a day he had been eating recently was “just enough to get us through the day, but it’s far from enough to meet our energy needs”.

Close-up picture of Adham
Half of Adham al-Batrawi’s family home in al-Zahra was destroyed, he told the BBC

Elsewhere in central Gaza, in the city of Deir al-Balah, nurse Rewaa Mohsen said it was a struggle to provide for her two young daughters, aged three and 19 months.

She said she had stockpiled nappies during the ceasefire earlier this year but that these would run out in a month.

Speaking over WhatsApp on Thursday, she said her daughters had grown used to the sounds of bombing that would ring through the apartment. “Sometimes I feel more afraid than them,” she wrote, adding that she would distract her children with colouring books and toys.

The next day, over voice note she said evacuation orders had been issued for her area before an Israeli strike hit a nearby building.

When she returned to her home to “clean the mess”, she found that the doors and windows had been blown off.

“Thank God that I am still alive with my girls,” she said.

When asked if she would stay in the apartment, she responded: “Where else will I go?”

Across Gaza, medics described the impact of the blockade on medical supplies and said they no longer felt safe at work following Israeli strikes targeting hospitals.

Nurse Randa Saied said she was working at the European Hospital in Khan Younis when it was hit in an Israeli strike this week, describing it as a moment of “pure terror and helplessness”.

Israel has long accused Hamas of using hospitals as covert bases and for weapons storage, which the group denies.

The European Hospital is no longer operating, but Randa said staff and patients had moved to the nearby Nasser Hospital.

“Our patients are mothers, sons, daughters and siblings – just like us. We know deep in our hearts that our duty must not end, especially now when they need us the most,” she said.

Reuters Image of the corridor of a hospital, showing cracked walls, rubble and people walking
Images from the European Hospital in Khan Younis show piles of rubble on the floor

Staff at Nasser and other hospitals in Gaza told the BBC the blockade meant they were running short on basic supplies like painkillers and gauze, and had to shut down some services.

The US has confirmed that a new system for providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza through private companies is being prepared, with Israeli forces set to secure the centres’ perimeters. The United Nations has criticised the plan, saying it appears to “weaponise” aid.

Back in Gaza City, Ismail’s father said he struggled with no longer being able to provide for his six children.

“My children go to sleep hungry,” he said. “Sometimes I sit and cry like a little kid if I don’t manage to provide food for them.”

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Centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz site likely destroyed, nuclear watchdog says

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The centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant were likely “severely damaged if not destroyed altogether” in Israeli strikes, the head of the global nuclear watchdog has said.

Rafael Grossi, of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the BBC this was a result of power cuts caused by Friday’s attack, in which the plant’s above-ground facility was “completely destroyed”.

The damage was likely caused despite the underground hall housing the centrifuges – machines that enrich uranium – not being directly hit, he said.

Four buildings were also damaged at the Isfahan site, he said, and no damage was visible at the underground Fordo enrichment plant.

Israel said it attacked the sites and killed nine Iranian nuclear scientists to stop Tehran developing nuclear weapons.

It alleged that Iran had in recent months “taken steps to weaponise” its stockpile of enriched uranium, which can be used to make fuel for power plants but also nuclear bombs.

On Sunday, Iran reiterated that its nuclear programme was peaceful and urged IAEA’s 35-nation board to strongly condemn the Israeli strikes.

“Our assessment is that with this sudden loss of external power, in great probability the centrifuges have been severely damaged if not destroyed altogether,” Grossi told the BBC.

“There was almost total damage to electrical installations.”

Earlier on Monday, Grossi told the IAEA’s board of governors that his agency had been monitoring the situation in Iran very carefully, ascertaining the status of the country’s nuclear facilities and assessing radiation levels through communication with local authorities.

He said Friday’s attack on Natanz destroyed the above-ground part of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), where cascades of centrifuge were producing uranium enriched up to 60% purity – close to the 90% required for weapons-grade uranium.

“There has been no indication of a physical attack on the underground cascade hall containing part of the PFEP and the main Fuel Enrichment Plant. However, the loss of power to the cascade hall may have damaged the centrifuges there,” Grossi told the board.

He also said there was radiological and chemical contamination at the site, but that the level of radioactivity outside had remained unchanged and at normal levels.

The Israeli military has said that the underground centrifuge hall was also damaged as part of the attack on Natanz, but it provided no evidence.

Damage to Natanz nuclear site

Grossi said four buildings were destroyed in a separate attack on Friday on the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre – the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and a facility to convert uranium hexafluoride to uranium metal, which was under construction.

As at Natanz, off-site radiation levels remain unchanged, he added.

The Israeli military said that the Isfahan strike “dismantled a facility for producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for reconverting enriched uranium, laboratories, and additional infrastructure”.

Grossi told the BBC there was In Isfahan you have underground spaces as well, which do not seem to have been affected.”

At the Fordo plant, Grossi said there was “very limited if any damage registered [there]”.

Damage to Natanz nuclear site

On Saturday, Iran’s semi-official Isna news agency quoted spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) as saying there was “limited damage to some areas at the Fordo enrichment site” following an Israeli attack.

However, the Israeli military has not confirmed carrying out any strikes there.

Grossi said no damage had been seen at Fordo, or at the Khondab heavy water reactor, which is under construction.

He urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint, warning that military escalation threatened lives and increased the chance of a radiological release with serious consequences for people and the environment.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Saturday that Israel’s attacks on his country’s nuclear facilities were a “blatant violation of international law”, and that he hoped the IAEA’s board would issue a strong condemnation.

He also said that Iran’s missile strikes on Israel since Friday were a “response to aggression”.

The Israeli military’s spokesperson, Brig Gen Effie Defrin said on Monday that its large-scale air campaign would “continue to act in pursuit of the operation’s objective, to neutralize the existential threat from Iran, from its nuclear project to the regime’s missile array”.

Iran’s health ministry says Israeli strikes have killed more than 220 people since Friday. Twenty-four Israelis have been killed by Iranian missiles, according to Israeli authorities.

Last Thursday, the IAEA’s board formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years. A resolution said Iran’s “many failures” to provide the agency with full answers about its undeclared nuclear material and nuclear activities constituted non-compliance.

Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran was not permitted to enrich uranium above 3.67% purity – the level required for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants – and was not allowed to carry out any enrichment at Fordo for 15 years.

However, US President Donald Trump abandoned the agreement during his first term in 2018, saying it did too little to stop a pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions.

Iran retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions – particularly those relating to enrichment. It resumed enrichment at Fordo in 2021 and has amassed enough 60%-enriched uranium to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, according to the IAEA.

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The Collapse of Netanyahu’s Greater Israel Dream

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Paris (Imran Y. CHOUDHRY) :- Former Press Secretary to the President, Former Press Minister to the Embassy of Pakistan to France, Former MD, SRBC Mr. Qamar Bashir analysis : What Netanyahu truly wants is not security, peace, or diplomacy—it is the realization of Greater Israel, a dangerous vision that seeks to subjugate all neighboring nations and occupy any territory perceived as a threat. This concept, deeply rooted in biblical scripture and Zionist extremism, envisions Israel stretching from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq, covering not only Palestine but parts of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and even Saudi Arabia. Though not officially declared by the Israeli government, this ideology has been pursued relentlessly through military campaigns, illegal settlements, and wars under Netanyahu’s watch.
Already, Israel has occupied parts of Syria, including the Golan Heights; Southern Lebanon, through repeated invasions; the West Bank and Gaza, under siege and colonization; and violated Jordanian and Egyptian sovereignty under the banner of security. Now, Netanyahu has turned his guns toward Iran, the last standing regional power that has refused to bow to Israeli-American pressure.
Yet, it is Iran, and Iran alone, that has finally brought Israel to a position of humiliation and vulnerability. With precise retaliatory strikes, Iran has shattered the illusion of Israel’s invincibility, breaking through the Iron Dome and exposing Israel’s weaknesses to the world. This act has not only rattled Tel Aviv, but also shocked Washington into recalibrating its unflinching loyalty to Israel.
Now imagine a scenario where Egypt, strengthened militarily and economically, joins hands with Iran. Imagine Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Pakistan setting aside political differences and joining the cause. What would unfold is not a regional war—it would be a pan-Islamic resistance against a rogue nuclear power that has, for decades, dictated war and peace in the Middle East on its own terms.
Why would such unity be justified? Because Israel has always initiated conflict. Since its inception in 1948, it has never been Iran or any of these Muslim countries that launched aggressive wars, occupied foreign lands, or imposed sieges. Iran has not invaded anyone. Iran has not annexed territory. Iran has not built settlements on foreign land. In contrast, Israel has been in constant war with nearly every nation around it—with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and of course, the Palestinians.
Historically and practically, Iran’s actions have been defensive, while Israel’s aggression has always been pre-emptive and expansionist. The evidence lies in decades of occupation, illegal wars, and the horrifying genocide in Gaza. Netanyahu’s Israel kills with impunity, bombards hospitals and schools, displaces millions, and justifies it by blaming Hamas—a group that does not represent the children, elderly, women, journalists, or medics slaughtered in this campaign.
Now, what is the solution to this deepening crisis, this unending quagmire that threatens not only the Middle East but global peace?
The first step is global recognition that Israel’s current course is unsustainable and destructive. The United Nations and all its member states must acknowledge that the concept of Greater Israel, coupled with unconditional military backing from the United States, is a recipe for regional catastrophe. Millions of lives are at risk. Entire cities are being flattened. Peaceful coexistence is being erased.
Netanyahu is not a conventional leader. He is a possessed man, obsessed with a vision that defies logic, humanity, and international law. He speaks a different language—a language of domination, annihilation, and religious entitlement. His every action is governed by the fantasy of Greater Israel, which he believes to be divinely mandated. He expects the world to support him while he reigns with fire and blood across the Middle East.
But the world is not blind, and it is rapidly changing. The Middle East is no longer a region of weak, divided nations. It has become a commercial, financial, and strategic hub for the West. Countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Egypt host massive investments from the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Their economies are now intertwined. If war breaks out and expands across the region, the global economy will suffer, Western investments will vaporize, and energy supply chains will collapse.
Israel does not seem to comprehend this. It continues to kill thousands of innocent women and children, flatten homes, starve civilians, and justify this massacre by pointing fingers at Hamas. But Hamas is not the face of Gaza. It is not the identity of Palestinians. It is not the elderly woman dragged from her destroyed house, not the infant crushed under rubble, not the paramedic shot while rescuing the wounded. Israel’s campaign has now exited the domain of warfare and entered the domain of genocide.
The international community must act, and act decisively. The first measure must be to strip Israel of the illegitimate power it has accumulated unchecked over decades. Its military expansion must be halted. It must be forced back to its original 1948 boundaries through diplomatic isolation, sanctions, and enforcement by a global coalition. The dream of Greater Israel must be shattered, permanently.
Second, the world must restore the two-state solution, not as an empty promise, but as an enforceable reality. Israel must withdraw from occupied territories in Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. There must be strict surveillance over Israeli military activities and an end to its nuclear opacity. Israel is the only nuclear-armed state in the region that has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or subjected its arsenal to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. That must change immediately.
Third, the world must realize that Netanyahu today is not different from Adolf Hitler of yesterday. Just like Nazi Germany brought Europe to its knees, Netanyahu’s Israel is bringing the Middle East to the brink. And just as Germany was defeated, disarmed, and transformed into one of the most peaceful and lawful nations on earth, Israel too must be reformed—not by destruction, but by deweaponization, reintegration, and reeducation.
This is not anti-Semitism. This is not Islamic fanaticism. This is history demanding justice. This is the world telling Israel that it cannot destroy humanity to fulfill a mythological map drawn in scripture and conquest.
Israel, without its arrogance, without its nuclear weapons, and without U.S. impunity, will be far more secure. It can become a peaceful country among equals, respected and protected not by fear, but by trust. Only then can Palestinians live with dignity. Only then can children in Gaza and Tel Aviv play under the same sky, not drones.
The Middle East deserves peace, not permanent war. And the world deserves a future free from genocide, occupation, and imperial fantasies. Let this be the turning point. Let this be the fall of Greater Israel—and the rise of true humanity.

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The Last Stand: Iran Humiliates Israel and Revives the Dignity of the Ummah

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Paris (Imran Y. CHOUDHRY) :- Former Press Secretary to the President, Former Press Minister to the Embassy of Pakistan to France, Former MD, SRBC Mr. Qamar Bashir analysis : In a shocking revelation that sent ripples across global diplomatic circles, U.S. President Donald Trump recently vetoed a covert Israeli proposal to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plan, reportedly hatched by Israeli intelligence and pushed forward by Prime Minister Netanyahu, was seen by many as a desperate move to provoke a full-scale regional war under the pretext of nuclear containment—a narrative Israel has been nurturing for over thirty years. Iran, notably, does not possess nuclear weapons, a fact verified time and again by international watchdogs.
Israel’s obsession with Iran has little to do with nuclear fears and more to do with Tehran’s refusal to bow to Israeli supremacy. Since its inception, Israel has either dismantled or neutralized regimes that dared challenge its military and political dominance. Iran remains the last ideological adversary. Netanyahu’s dream of bringing down the Iranian regime was merely an extension of this hegemonic vision. The “nuclear threat” was a convenient excuse—much like the WMD hoax used to obliterate Iraq.
As a Muslim bearing the wounds of a broken Ummah, one cannot help but feel a deep, bitter sense of despair, humiliation, and abandonment. Wherever Muslims have been oppressed—be it Kashmir, Burma, Bosnia, Palestine, or Sub-Saharan Africa—they have been silenced, murdered, and exiled with brutal impunity. And tragically, no Muslim nation has risen to their aid—not militarily, not diplomatically, and not morally.
Kashmir remains under siege by India’s military. The region is a shadow of its former self, where people are deprived of political rights, economic liberty, and even the basic right to movement or speech. India has converted it into a prison, and the world, especially the Muslim world, has turned a blind eye.
The same holds true for the Rohingya Muslims in Burma, driven from their homes, raped, and murdered in droves. Stateless and impoverished, they continue to suffer in camps. In Bosnia, the genocide carried out by Serbians left millions of Muslims dead or displaced. Gaza has become a permanent warzone where generations have grown up knowing only fear, hunger, and death. The death toll in Gaza alone has surpassed 75,000 civilians, yet the Muslim world’s silence is deafening.
Meanwhile, Israel flourishes with impunity. Encircled by silent Arab nations rich in oil and influence, it bombs Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon without pause or consequence. The October 7 attack by Hamas, widely condemned, was immediately used as a moral blank check by Israel to raze entire neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. Its justification? That Hamas hides among civilians. But no civilized legal or moral system would condone the mass killing of civilians as retribution.
Israel brands itself as the “most moral army in the world,” a claim that collapses under the weight of its actions. When it bombed civilian targets in Gaza, it declared them legitimate; now, when Iranian missiles strike military targets in Israel, it cries foul. The hypocrisy is stunning.
But for the first time, that myth of Israeli invincibility has been shattered. Despite being crippled by over three decades of Western sanctions, Iran mustered the will, technological capability, and national unity to retaliate forcefully. Its missiles evaded Israel’s prized defense systems—Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Patriot batteries—hitting strategic sites and exposing the hollowness of Israeli arrogance. Iran’s defiance was not just military; it was moral and symbolic.
What startled observers was the response—or lack thereof—from the international community. When Israel called for help, no nation rushed to its side. Even President Trump held back, declaring that America would not intervene unless U.S. interests were directly threatened. This marks a tectonic shift in America’s blind allegiance to Israel.
And now, Trump’s strategy is becoming clear.
In hindsight, Trump’s game was brilliantly Machiavellian. First, he encouraged both Israel and Iran to pursue nuclear negotiations. When Israel sabotaged that process with its reckless airstrikes, Trump remained publicly aloof. He let Israel bear the brunt of Iranian retaliation while quietly calculating the diplomatic fallout. Israel, intoxicated by power and assured of international backing, assumed Iran would not respond. But it did—and with deadly precision.
The result? Israel is isolated. Its defense narrative is crumbling. Its allies are retreating. And now, with its arrogance bruised and its invincibility myth destroyed, Israel is finally talking about returning to negotiations. Trump is again hinting that a diplomatic resolution is not only possible but likely. And this time, it might work.
Why? Because Iran never left the negotiation table. It was Israel that walked away and triggered the escalation. Iran, despite the provocations, held its ground diplomatically while defending itself militarily. Now, with leverage restored and deterrence firmly established, Iran is negotiating from a position of strength. This shift could offer the most fertile ground for a lasting resolution in years.
However, settling the issue won’t be easy. The U.S. and Israel’s demands extend far beyond nuclear non-proliferation. They want Iran to cut ties with Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Syrian regime, and most importantly, Hamas. These demands are aimed at dismantling Iran’s ideological and strategic support for resistance groups that defend oppressed Muslim populations. But Iran is the only Muslim country that refuses to yield. It supports the oppressed not just rhetorically, but financially, diplomatically, and militarily.
This is Iran’s real “crime” in the eyes of the West—not its nuclear ambitions, but its unwavering support for Palestine and other subjugated Muslim communities. That is the red line for Israel and the U.S., and it is why they have waged an endless campaign to contain or destroy Iran.
Iran’s resilience should now serve as a beacon for the Muslim world. For decades, Muslims have watched their brethren suffer while their governments remained spineless. Iran, despite its economic isolation, stood firm. It not only survived but demonstrated that it could hurt those who believed themselves untouchable.
What terrifies Israel now is not Iran’s missiles—it is Iran’s example. If one sanctioned, isolated, Muslim-majority country can rise and challenge the status quo, what happens if others follow? What if other Muslim nations find the courage to defy oppression and injustice with action rather than silence?
This fear is precisely why Israel is ramping up its propaganda campaign, trying to portray Iran as the global threat. But the narrative is failing. Even former allies are growing wary of Israel’s endless wars. The old equation—Israel attacks, the world supports—no longer holds.
Let this moment be remembered not just as a military confrontation, but as a moral awakening. Iran has reminded the world that the oppressed are not voiceless. That dignity, when paired with courage, can upend even the strongest empires. The centers of power are shifting—China is rising, Europe is reasserting its independence, Russia remains potent, and now, Iran has emerged as a formidable power of resistance.
Let this also be a lesson to Muslims everywhere: silence is complicity. Action is the only antidote to oppression. The world may not hand over justice—but it respects those who demand it. And for once, a nation did. Iran did.

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