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By Quds News Network

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israeli forces opened fire on starving civilians waiting for food near an aid distribution site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in central Gaza on Tuesday morning, killing at least seven people and injuring several others. On Monday, the Israeli military admitted that its forces “harmed” Palestinians seeking aid.

Local and medical sources confirmed at least seven people were killed and 15 others injured while waiting for food after Israeli forces opened fire at a crowd seeking aid near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.

Since the GHF started its operations on May 27 in Gaza, over 580 aid seekers have been killed and over 4,216 others injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Additionally, 39 others have been reported missing after heading to the GHF sites to obtain food.

Israeli mass killings of aid seekers near GHF aid sites have become a grim daily reality amid chaotic scenes, as desperate Palestinians are given only a narrow window to rush for food and are targeted by Israeli forces.

Palestinians in Gaza and the UN described these sites as “mass death traps” and “slaughterhouses”.

On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report last month warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.

After more than 80 days of total blockade, starvation, and growing international outrage, limited aid has allegedly been distributed by the GHF, a scandal-plagued organization backed by the US and Israel, created to bypass the UN’s established aid delivery infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Most humanitarian organisations, including the UN, have distanced themselves from GHF, arguing that the group violates humanitarian principles by restricting aid to south and central Gaza, requiring Palestinians to walk long distances to collect aid, and only providing limited aid, among other critiques.

The UN confirmed that Israel is still blocking food from reaching starving Palestinians with only a few trucks of aid having reached Gaza.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that “weaponizing aid in this manner may constitute crimes against humanity.”

“Every day Palestinians are met with carnage in their attempts to receive supplies from the insufficient amount of aid trickling into Gaza,” MSF said.

The commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the “lethal” US-Israel aid distribution mechanism in Gaza. In a post on X, Lazzarini indicated that Palestinian lives “have been so devalued”.

“It is now the routine to shoot & kill desperate & starving people while they try to collect little food from a company made of mercenaries,” he said.

“Inviting starving people to their death is a war crime. Those responsible of this system must be held accountable. This is a disgrace & a stain on our collective consciousness.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the US-backed aid distribution mechanism is “inherently unsafe” and “it is killing people.”

“Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people,” Guterres told reporters.

Guterres said UN-led humanitarian efforts are being “strangled,” aid workers themselves are starving and Israel, as the occupying power, is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout the Palestinian enclave.

“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres told reporters.

According to a Haaretz report last week, conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered forces to shoot at crowds waiting for food near or at the US-backed GHF aid sites to drive them away or disperse them, despite posing no threat.

“It’s a killing field,” one soldier said. “Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day. They’re treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars. Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.”

On Monday, the Israeli military admitted that its forces “harmed” Palestinian civilians at US-Israeli aid distribution centers in Gaza. The army claimed new field instructions were issued based on “lessons learned.”

1 July 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By The New Arab Staff

Palestinian artist Frans al-Salmi was among the dead and journalist Bayan Abusultan was wounded in the strike.

An Israeli airstrike has killed more than 30 Palestinians at a beachfront cafe in Gaza City on Monday, according to the health ministry.

Around 50 others were wounded in the attack, which struck the Al-Baqa cafeteria on Monday, one of the few remaining locations with internet access in the area.

Images shared by Quds Network showed emergency responders recovering bodies and searching through the rubble. The cafe was reportedly crowded with civilians, including journalists, at the time of the strike.

Gaza’s Government Media Office confirmed that Palestinian photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab, who has worked with several media outlets and had organised exhibitions about Gaza abroad, was among those killed. His death brings the number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023 to 227, according to the same source.

Visual artist Frans al-Salmi was also reported among the fatalities, while famed journalist Bayan Abusultan was wounded in the strike, though her current condition remains unknown.

Witnesses described scenes of blood and carnage as people looking for a rare moment of calm were struck during the strike. Social media images shared by Gaza journalist Belal Khaled showed Abusultan injured and visibly shaken.

Continued attacks across the Strip

In the past 24 hours, Israel launched some of its heaviest air raids in recent weeks. Al Jazeera reported that at least 80 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday. The toll includes 57 people killed in northern Gaza and 15 near aid distribution centres in Rafah, in the south.

Two schools in Zeitoun and Tuffah, which were sheltering displaced Palestinians, were struck overnight. A food distribution warehouse in Zeitoun was also hit, as humanitarian infrastructure came under continued fire.

In a post on X, military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued threats to residents in parts of Gaza City, including East Zaytoun, the Old City, Turkmen, Ajdida, Tuffah, and Daraj.

Evacuation orders in northern Gaza have forced repeated displacement, with over 76 percent of the enclave under military orders as of 15 June, causing severe instability.

Hospitals hit amid fuel shortage crisis

The World Health Organisation in occupied Palestine reported that a tent sheltering displaced people at Al‑Aqsa Hospital in Deir al‑Balah was hit on Sunday, injuring five. The attack damaged the internal medicine department and disrupted the hospital’s oxygen supply.

Since October 2023, WHO has recorded 734 attacks on health care facilities in Gaza. WHO said that “ongoing attacks on health care and continued hostilities near hospitals are fuelling fear among already traumatised communities and placing further strain on facilities struggling to cope”.

A growing fuel crisis now threatens the delivery of essential services, including hospital and water services. As of June 26, only around 140,000 litres of fuel remained in northern Gaza and 272,000 litres in the south, with allocations limited to healthcare facilities for just four days.

Hospitals are operating on minimal power with critical systems, including ventilators, incubators, and cold-chain storage, at risk of shutting down.

OCHA warns that water, sanitation, and waste services are collapsing, and only 40 percent of drinking water production is operational, meaning a failure to lift the fuel blockade is likely to result in more “senseless and preventable death”.

Meanwhile, mediators continue to push for a truce, with Qatar and the US expressing cautious optimism. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister is expected to be in Washington, while Prime Minister Netanyahu and senior officials debate sending a delegation to talks in Egypt or Qatar.

According to reports, more than half of the deal terms are agreed, but disagreements remain over troop withdrawal, Hamas disarmament, and humanitarian monitoring.

1 July 2025

Source: newarab.com

TEHRAN, Jul. 01 (MNA) – The secretary general of Hezbollah says the Lebanese resistance movement will never surrender to the tyranny of the United States and the occupying Israeli regime.

“We are in an active defensive mode. Don’t tell us not to defend ourselves! Don’t ask us to surrender to the tyrants who want to control the destiny of humankind. We will never bow down and surrender to aggressors. Never to humiliation!!!” Sheikh Naim Qassem said as he delivered a televised speech broadcast from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, late on Monday.

He called the Israeli occupation of the Lebanese territory temporary, while characterizing its liberation as definitive. “This land will remain noble, dignified, and free, by God’s will. The occupation is temporary, but liberation is ultimate.”

The Hezbollah chief stated that the resistance group’s ongoing confrontation with the US and the Zionist entity is a just and divinely inspired battle, Press TV reported.

Sheikh Qassem then described Israel as “an aggressive, oppressive, and criminal entity,” and the United States as “a tyrannical force” attempting to destroy dignified life around the world.

“Israel is criminal, and America is tyrannical. We have the right to say ‘No’ to both,” the Hezbollah leader said.

“Our commitment to defend our land emanates from the fact that it is ours by right,” Sheikh Qassem said, underscoring, “Others cannot deprive us of this right for the sake of their own interests. We will act in defense of our right.”

The Hezbollah chief stated that Israel is on the rampage, and so is the United States. “They want to exploit the status quo to reshape the region.”

“Whoever supports Israel and the US is the one driving our country towards the brink of the abyss,” Sheikh Qassem noted.

He urged all walks of Lebanese society to establish their national loyalty as their number-one priority, and to refrain from supporting the schemes of the US and Israel, especially at this critical juncture.

“We can shape a future of dignity and have glamour once justice prevails. It is when we liberate our land and prevent Israel and the US from imposing their diktats upon us,” the Hezbollah leader said.

MNA/

1 July 2025

Source: en.mehrnews.com

By OXFAM

Financing Development, Not Oligarchy

26 Jun 2025 – A decade ago, the world‘s countries agreed to a vision of the common good, the Sustainable Development Goals, and a plan to achieve that vision, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Ten years later, that effort is failing. Nearly half the world‘s population— over 3.7 billion people— live in poverty, while gender injustice, hunger, and other denials of basic human rights are widespread. Since 2015, the richest 1 percent have gained at least $3.9 trillion in wealth in real terms, enough to end annual global poverty 22 times over. Billionaires—roughly 3,000 people—have gained 56.5 trillion in real terms, more than the $4 trillion estimated annual cost of achieving the SDGs.

A key factor undermining global development efforts is extreme economic inequality. A decade ago, major development institutions recast their mission to focus on enlisting powerful private Global North investors to achieve development goals, an idea the World Bank chief economist has since dismissed as a “fantasy.“ Today, the development agenda is captured by the interests of wealthy private investors to a considerable degree. Despite the significant evidence that this approach has not worked, can cause major harms, and is not superior to public financing, as the traditional aid system craters, there is alarming new momentum behind the idea.

A new agenda is needed—one that puts public power before private profit. The upcoming fourth Financing for Development Conference in Sevitta, Spain provides an opportunity for transformed muttitateralism that can be built on throughout 2025. Countries that are willing to lead can make real progress towards development goals by working together to tackle extreme inequality.

Countries and development actors should reject the “Watt Street Consensus“ around financing development, and embrace a public sector-first approach. They can start by taxing the very wealthiest—a new global survey finds 9 out of 10 people support taxing the super-rich to raise the revenue needed to invest in public services and climate action. Reforms to the international financial architecture and restoring aid are also key.

Extreme Inequality Is Derailing Global Development

A decade ago, the world‘s countries agreed to a vision of what the common good looks like—the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGsl—and a plan to finance that vision— the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.‘Ten years later, the SDGs and the Addis Agenda are failing.

0f a host of admirable aims—such as eradicating hunger and extreme poverty, achieving gender equality, and ensuring access to healthcare, education, and decent work—as of 2024, only 16 percent of the SDG targets were on track to be met by 2030. According to recent estimates, more than 3.7 billion people (nearly half the world) live in poverty,* over 700 million face hunger, and gender equality wilt not be achieved for another 123 years.‘The gap between the amount of money needed to meet basic needs and the amount actually mobilized to do so, the SDG “financing gap,“ has swelled drastically, from an estimated $2 trillion in 2015 to $4 trillion annually, and is projected to reach $6.4 trillion by 2030.* Moreover, countries are reeling from a sovereign debt crisis, the possibility of trade wars, the costs of climate inaction, and the rapid cratering of aid which could push millions more below the poverty line.

Concentrated Private Wealth Alongside Public Immiseration

TO READ FULL REPORT Download PDF file:

OXFAM: From Private Profit to Public Power

30 June 2025

Source: transcend.org

By UN News

Most families in the Gaza Strip are surviving on one meal a day and one-third go entire days without eating as a result of Israel’s continued bombardment of food aid seekers on the enclave, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and partners.

26 Jun 2025 – The meals which families are able to obtain are nutritiously poor — thin broths, lentils or rice, one piece of bread or sometimes just a combination of herbs and olive oil known as duqqa.

Adults are routinely skipping meals in order to leave more for children, the elderly and the ill. And still, on average since January, 112 children have been admitted on a daily basis for acute malnutrition.

“[When my children wake up at night hungry] I tell them ‘Drink water and close your eyes.’ It breaks me. I do the same – drink water and pray for morning,” as one parent said.

Risking lives for food

Due to these extreme food shortages, people in Gaza are forced to risk their lives on a daily basis to access small amounts of food. Since 27 May, 549 Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 have been injured trying to access food, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza.

“The majority of casualties have been shot or shelled trying to reach US-Israeli distribution sites purposefully set up in militarized zones,” said Jonathan Whittall, head of office for the UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Since the end of May, the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been distributing aid in Gaza, bypassing the UN and established NGOs.

The UN has said Palestinians who seek aid from the GHF face threats of gunfire, shelling and stampedes.

“We don’t want to be out there. But what choice do we have? Our kids cry for food. We don’t sleep at night. We walk, wait, and hope we come back,” one Palestinian told WFP.

Systems near collapse

Protracted conflict and bombardment have pushed almost all service systems in Gaza to the brink.

As a result of fuel shortages, only 40 per cent of drinking water facilities are functional and 93 per cent of households face water insecurity.

The fuel shortage is also negatively affecting the provision of medical services with medical equipment and medicine storage reliant on electricity.

For the first time since the resumption of limited aid entry on 19 May, nine trucks containing medical items offloaded supplies on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday.

Displaced, over and over again

Since the resumption of Israeli bombardment in Gaza on 18 March after a 42-day ceasefire, over 684,000 Palestinians have been displaced. And for almost all of them, this is not the first time.

With over 82 per cent of Gaza either designated as an Israeli militarized zone or under a displacement order, there are few places — much less safe places — that the newly displaced can go.

They have been forced to take shelter in overcrowded displacement camps, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings and sometimes just on open streets. Schools are no longer buildings of learning but of shelter.

“Schools have transformed into empty shelters, devoid of any elements of a safe learning environment,” said Kamla, a teacher with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Nuseirat.

All of these shelters are experiencing rapidly deteriorating conditions as a result of insufficient shelter materials, according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

“No shelter materials have entered Gaza since 1 March, before the Israeli authorities imposed a full blockade on aid and any other supplies for nearly 80 days,” he said at a briefing on 19 June.

“While some commodities have subsequently been allowed in small quantities, tents, timber, tarpaulins and any other shelter items remain prohibited.”

The UN and its partners have 980,000 shelter items prepared to dispatch into Gaza once authorization is granted by the Israeli authorities.

‘Symbols of hope’

Since the beginning of the violence in Gaza, UNRWA has continued to work tirelessly to provide displaced and injured Palestinians with many types of support.

“Despite all this, the eyes and hopes of our community remain fixed on us. UNRWA staff are not merely service providers. In the eyes of people in Gaza, we are pillars of resilience, lifelines of stability and symbols of hope,” said Hussein, an UNRWA worker in Gaza City.

But as fuel shortages continue and only small amounts of humanitarian aid — food, medicine, shelter materials — trickle through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the job of UNRWA workers and other humanitarians in Gaza is increasingly untenable.

“We have lost all the tools needed to work, so we have had to adapt,” said Neven, a psychosocial UNRWA worker in Khan Younis.

Despite their best efforts, the bombardment and devastation of Gaza continues with children going hungry and some even expressing suicidal thoughts.

“I told my daughter her deceased father is safe, eating and drinking with God,” one mother said. “Now, she cries every day and says, ‘I’m hungry and want to go to my father because he has food to feed us.’”

30 June 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Nikki McCann Ramírez

The Israeli military is managing aid distribution sites with live fire against crowds of unarmed civilians. Hundreds are dead.

27 Jun 2025 – Soldiers in the Israeli military have told the Israeli news outlet Haaretz that aid distribution centers in Gaza have become “a killing field,” with military leadership ordering soldiers to fire on unarmed Palestinians.

Massacres at aid distribution sites have become a common occurrence in recent weeks as the Israeli military ever so slightly loosened its blockade against humanitarian aid into Gaza, and tasked itself with aid management under the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, estimates that 549 have been killed and several thousands injured near aid sites since late May, when the foundation first began operations. The United Nations estimated that least 410 had been killed at aid sites over a similar time frame.

Soldiers and officers in the Israeli Defense Forces who spoke to Haaretz paint a bleak picture of the scene, indicating the killings are the result of IDF policies targeting civilians in violation of international law.

“Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day,” one soldier said. “They’re treated like a hostile force — no crowd-control measures, no tear gas — just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars. Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.”

The same soldier called the scene “a killing field,” adding that he was “not aware of a single instance of return fire. There’s no enemy, no weapons.”

Another enlisted officer acting as security for a GHF aid center said that “it’s neither ethically nor morally acceptable for people to have to reach, or fail to reach, a [humanitarian zone] under tank fire, snipers and mortar shells.”

Under Israel’s blockade against humanitarian aid, Palestinians in Gaza have been living in rubble under near famine conditions. Despite the creation of the GHF, the United Nations issued a report earlier this month indicating that its operations were insufficient, and it was imperative for an “unlimited and unfettered supply of aid to enter” Gaza.

According to IDF sources who spoke to Haaretz, the Israeli military is theoretically not supposed to be in direct contact with Palestinians at aid points. But as the over 2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza become increasingly desperate for life-sustaining resources, their efforts to secure what limited amounts of food they can are being met with gunfire.

“A combat brigade doesn’t have the tools to handle a civilian population in a war zone,” an Israeli officer said. “Firing mortars to keep hungry people away is neither professional nor humane. I know there are Hamas operatives among them, but there are also people who simply want to receive aid. As a country, we have a responsibility to ensure that happens safely.”

One officer, serving in the division of the notorious IDF Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, said that it was Vach who instituted the policy of using live munitions to disperse crowds. “This is Vach’s policy,” they said, “but many of the commanders and soldiers accepted it without question. [The Palestinians] are not supposed to be there, so the idea is to make sure they clear out, even if they’re just there for food.”

Another soldier, a tank operator, told the publication that while technically tank fire was supposed to be used as a warning, “firing shells has just become standard practice. Every time we fire, there are casualties and deaths, and when someone asks why a shell is necessary, there’s never a good answer. Sometimes, merely asking the question annoys the commanders.”

Earlier this week, as President Donald Trump attempted to enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, reports emerged that dozens of Palestinians — as many as 50 — as well as three aid workers, were killed by IDF gunfire while awaiting aid in Southern Gaza. Similar massacres are taking place on a near daily basis.

“They talk about using artillery on a junction full of civilians as if it’s normal,” one military source told Haaretz of a meeting they attended with leaders of the IDF’s Southern Command. “An entire conversation about whether it’s right or wrong to use artillery, without even asking why that weapon was needed in the first place. What concerns everyone is whether it’ll hurt our legitimacy to keep operating in Gaza. The moral aspect is practically nonexistent. No one stops to ask why dozens of civilians looking for food are being killed every day.”

Markers of the callousness in the IDF’s operations within Gaza continue to elicit shock after more than a year of brutality. One source who spoke to Haaretz indicated that the militarized aid operation in his region of Gaza has a name: Operation Salted Fish.

“Salted Fish” is a reference to an Israeli children’s game similar to red light, green light.

“You know it’s not right. You feel it’s not right — that the commanders here are taking the law into their own hands,” one soldier said. “But Gaza is a parallel universe. You move on quickly. The truth is, most people don’t even stop to think about it.”

Nikki McCann Ramírez is a Politics Reporter at Rolling Stone, where she covers breaking political news, far-right media, and misinformation.

30 June 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Prof. Richard Falk

23 Jun 2025 – The Gaza Peoples Tribunal at the end of its first public assembly in Sarajevo issued a Declaration that expresses our commitment to peace and justice for the Palestine people in their struggle to realize their basic rights, above all their inalienable right to self-determination.

We are inviting likeminded friends to read and endorse the Sarajevo Declaration and to share the link with others who might join our solidarity initiative at this critical time.

Here is the link to the change.org where you find the text of the Declaration and endorser information:

[https://chng.it/nf5gKSCmG8]

Prof. Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network, Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global Law, Faculty of Law, at Queen Mary University London, Research Associate the Orfalea Center of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Fellow of the Tellus Institute.

30 June 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Salim Lamrani 

24 Jun 2025 – Suffocated by an economic siege for more than six decades, Cuba is facing an extremely serious situation. China, a strategic partner and long-standing ally of the island, is in a position to provide more robust support to help it face current challenges.

An ancient relationship based on solidarity

Relations between Cuba and China are excellent. As early as 1960, Havana was the first American capital to recognize the People’s Republic of China, establishing diplomatic ties despite pressure from the United States. Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro championed the integration of People’s China into the United Nations, a goal achieved in 1971.

Ties between the two countries are now solid, both politically and economically. Beijing and Havana share a common vision of a multipolar international order based on respect for the law, sovereignty, and non-interference. Cuba has always supported the one-China principle, while Beijing has consistently opposed the unilateral sanctions imposed on the island since 1960, denouncing their illegal and inhumane nature.

In the economic sphere, China is Cuba’s leading trading partner, accounting for more than 20% of its trade. The island imports numerous Chinese goods: clothing, household appliances, technological equipment, and industrial machinery. China has also invested in the Mariel Special Development Zone, as well as in telecommunications and infrastructure. In the medical sector, Cuba has established partnerships in biotechnology, a field in which it is a pioneer.

After several years of stagnation, trade rebounded in 2024: Chinese exports to Cuba increased by 45%, reaching $75 million, while Cuban exports to China grew by 80%, reaching $30 million. These figures are encouraging, although still below 2017 levels. In terms of tourism, Air China launched a direct flight between Beijing and Havana in 2024, leading to a 50% increase in Chinese tourist arrivals.

The Cuban energy crisis: a humanitarian emergency

One of the most serious problems Cuba currently faces is the energy crisis. Unable to modernize its thermoelectric plants due to U.S. sanctions that prevent the purchase of spare parts, the island suffers from prolonged and frequent blackouts that severely affect the population’s quality of life.

Cuba is committed to the development of renewable energy. Currently, some fifty solar parks are under construction, and another hundred are planned for construction by 2028. But this is still insufficient: 150 would be needed immediately to meet current demand.

China, a leading technological power, has the material and financial resources to support Cuba in this transition. It offers competitive prices, short deadlines, and advantageous loans without political conditions, unlike institutions like the IMF. It is therefore well positioned to play a central role in resolving this energy crisis.

With a population of 9 million, Cuba is equivalent, on a Chinese scale, to a city like Xi’an, barely the tenth most populated in the country. For Beijing, providing aid to Cuba would be a modest effort. But for the island, such support would be vital.

Furthermore, due to its unjustified inclusion on the US list of countries that support terrorism, nearly 100 international banks have ceased all cooperation with Cuba. The island urgently needs financing. China could, in a forceful gesture, grant it a substantial zero-interest loan for 50 years to guarantee the basic needs of its population.

Cuba and the BRICS: a partner with high moral value

Cuba is, above all, a moral force. For 65 years, it has resisted US pressure without ever renouncing its principles. This courage gives it immense prestige, especially in the Global South. Its membership in the BRICS embodies the values this group defends: sovereignty, equity, reciprocity, and solidarity.

Cuba is also a medical powerhouse. It has eight doctors per thousand inhabitants, almost three times more than France. Since the 1960s, it has exported its medical services to more than 50 countries. The Henry Reeve Brigade, made up of doctors specializing in emergency situations, has intervened in Haiti, in Africa during the Ebola epidemic, and in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, several hundred Cuban health professionals work in Italy.

The island trains thousands of foreign doctors through the Latin American School of Medicine, with nearly 5,000 graduates per year. Its high-level biotechnology sector has developed innovative drugs: Cimavax for lung cancer, treatments for diabetes, and several vaccines against COVID-19.

A call to China’s historical responsibility

Today, Cuba deserves support. The island has always shown solidarity with the peoples fighting for their emancipation. It’s time for it, in turn, to receive active, concrete, and lasting solidarity.

A great revolution, like the Chinese Revolution, has the capacity and legitimacy to provide such aid. It would not only be an act of friendship, but also a gesture of historical justice.

30 June 2025

Source: transcend.org

By teleSUR 

NATO leaders pledge to nearly triple defense spending by 2035, revealing imperialist intentions that threaten global peace and exacerbate geopolitical tensions.

25 Jun 2025 – The recent NATO summit in The Hague starkly revealed the alliance’s commitment to intensify its militarization, with member states agreeing to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035,more than double current targets.

Far from being a mere defensive measure, this surge in military investment signals a clear intent to project imperialist power, deepen global interventionism, and escalate geopolitical tensions, particularly against Russia and other sovereign nations.

Under the guise of collective defense, NATO leaders agreed to allocate at least 3.5% of GDP annually to core military capabilities,forces, infrastructure, and warfighting readiness,while dedicating an additional 1.5% to critical infrastructure protection, cyber warfare, and defense industry innovation. This massive reallocation of resources prioritizes war preparation over urgent social needs worldwide, highlighting the alliance’s role as an instrument of Western imperialism.

The summit’s rhetoric centered on the so-called “long-term threat posed by Russia,” using this narrative to justify the militarization drive. NATO’s continued support for Ukraine, including direct contributions to its defense industry counted toward member states’ military budgets, further entangles the alliance in a proxy conflict that fuels instability rather than peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presence at the summit underscores NATO’s deepening military involvement, which risks prolonging the conflict and escalating tensions with Russia.

NATO’s commitment to removing trade barriers and accelerating defense industrial cooperation reveals the alliance’s prioritization of a burgeoning military-industrial complex. This consolidation of the war economy not only fuels global arms races but also entrenches economic interests that profit from conflict and militarization.

Looking ahead, NATO plans to convene in Türkiye in 2026 and Albania thereafter, continuing the trajectory of militarization and interventionism. These summits will likely reinforce the alliance’s aggressive posture amid shifting geopolitical landscapes.

NATO’s militarization represents a direct threat to global peace and sovereignty. The alliance’s expansionist policies and increased military budgets serve imperialist ambitions that undermine diplomatic solutions and exacerbate global inequalities.

The prioritization of military spending over social welfare and development starkly contrasts with the urgent needs of peoples worldwide.

30 June 2025

Source: transcend.org

By The Cradle News Desk

Over 500 Palestinians have been killed at GHF aid sites that are now set to receive US funding, on top of tens of billions in military support sent to Israel.

25 Jun 2025 – The US government approved a $30 million grant to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on 20 June under a “priority directive” from the White House and the State Department.

According to a document reviewed by Reuters, an initial $7 million had already been disbursed at the time. This is the first publicly known financial contribution by Washington to the GHF, which until now had received only diplomatic backing.

Two officials cited in the report said the US may approve additional continuous monthly grants of $30 million to the group.

GHF, launched in late May, is a joint US–Israeli initiative that relies on private US military and logistics contractors to deliver and distribute aid across Gaza. Its activities have been closely linked to the killing of hundreds of Palestinians attempting to reach food and water.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 516 people have been killed near GHF aid points in the past month, with footage from the sites showing crowds being dispersed under live fire.

Medical teams have treated dozens of gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. The UN has warned that the “weaponization of food” at these sites may constitute a war crime.

One GHF contractor, writing anonymously in Zeteo, described the operation as “pure chaos,” confirming the presence of Israeli tanks and sniper units near the aid compounds.

He said unarmed aid-seekers were fired upon, pushed, or expelled from the sites, and described the distribution model as an “aid trap.”

Most GHF distribution centers are located in southern Gaza or along Israeli-controlled corridors. According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, this forces displaced Palestinians to move under fire toward tightly controlled zones where they risk being killed while waiting for food.

On 11 June, Israeli artillery shelled aid-seekers near the Netzarim Corridor, killing 25 people. In similar incidents documented by +972 Magazine, survivors recalled being shot at or crushed in stampedes while trying to reach flour or canned goods.

Despite repeated calls for an independent investigation, US officials have blocked all related resolutions at the UN Security Council (UNSC).

By June 2025, Washington’s total US aid to Israel’s war effort is estimated to exceed $35 billion, which includes over $22 billion in direct military funding, alongside arms deals and regional deployments approved since October 2023.

30 June 2025

Source: transcend.org