Commissioner General of the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says the newly established aid distribution sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the Gaza Strip have become “death traps” for starving civilians in the blockaded territory.  

Philippe Lazzarini made the remarks in a post on his X account on Sunday, after the Israeli regime carried out two deadly attacks on the aid distribution centers in Gaza earlier in the day, killing dozens of Palestinians.

Lazzarini further condemned the aid delivery and distribution model introduced by the Israeli regime and the US, saying, “This humiliating system has forced thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that’s all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment” by the Israeli military.

He also noted that aid deliveries and distribution must be at scale and safe, emphasizing that this can only be done through the United Nations, including UNRWA.

The UNRWA chief further called on Israel to lift the siege on Gaza and allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid in the besieged enclave, stressing that this is the only way to avert mass starvation, including among 1 million children.

“With competing narratives and disinformation campaigns in full gear, international media must be allowed into Gaza to independently report on the ongoing atrocities, including this morning’s heinous crime,” Lazzarini said.

Early on Sunday morning, Israeli forces opened fire on a GHF site in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing at least 40 people and injuring 150 others. 

Soon after, a Palestinian was reported killed in a shooting at the GHF’s distribution point, in Gaza City, south of the so-called Netzarim Corridor.

The US-backed aid sites began operations in the Gaza Strip last Monday. Early the next morning, as thousands of Palestinians lined up at the aid site, Israeli forces opened fire, killing three Palestinians and injuring dozens.

The GHF said it opened a second site on Wednesday, the same day that Israeli forces again opened fire on aid seekers at one of its sites west of Rafah, this time killing at least six Palestinians.

Gaza's Government Media Office said in a statement on Sunday that in less than a week, the Israeli regime has killed 50 people and wounded hundreds at GHF sites.

Separately on Sunday, the Gaza Ministry of Health said the GHF aid distribution centers have become "Israeli death traps," adding that they are a new mechanism for the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.

In a statement published on Telegram, the ministry stated that everyone who arrived at hospitals following Sunday's attack on Palestinians at an aid distribution site in Rafah sustained one gunshot wound to the head or chest, stressing that this confirms the Israeli "insistence on brutally killing civilians".

Munir al-Barsh, Director General of the Health Ministry in Gaza, condemned “the international silence regarding the massacres being committed against the starving residents of the Gaza Strip," adding that severe shortages of medical supplies in the territory are producing "dire conditions" at hospitals.  

He went on to say that 3000 trucks carrying badly needed medical supplies are currently stalled at the border, accusing Israel of "deliberately spreading infectious diseases and epidemics” by the blockade.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has escalated dramatically since March 18, when the Israeli regime violated its ceasefire agreement with the resistance group Hamas.

According to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza suffers from phase 5 famine, and nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition.

Press TV’s website

Chile has announced the withdrawal of three military attachés serving at the Latin American country's embassy in Tel Aviv, citing the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Chilean Foreign Ministry said that the decision, which had been coordinated with the Defense Ministry, was conveyed to Israeli authorities.

It added that the withdrawal of Chilean military attachés from Tel Aviv is due to "the extremely serious humanitarian situation currently experienced by the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip."

It also cited "the disproportionate and indiscriminate military operation by the Israeli army," as well as "constant obstacles to allowing aid" into the besieged Palestinian territory.

Palestine hails Chile’s 'courageous' decision

The Palestinian Presidency praised Chile’s "significant and courageous" decision, saying it reflects global condemnation of ongoing Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

It further called for serious international measures aimed at compelling the occupying entity to cease its bloody onslaught on Gaza and violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds.

"Such actions must also ensure compliance with international legitimacy resolutions and international law, which unequivocally prohibit genocide and the killing of Palestinians in the occupied territory, incursions into ... [their] cities .., land theft..., and assaults on Islamic and Christian holy sites," it noted.

Chile's move marks the latest escalation in relations between Santiago and Tel Aviv.

The Latin American country has joined South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the regime's brutal aggression on Gaza. 

Israel waged its genocide in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 54,084 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 123,308 others, in the besieged territory. 

In addition to targeting Gaza's civilian infrastructure, Israel has been deliberately blocking the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged territory and using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.

Spain vows to speak out against Israel's war on Gaza

In another development on Wednesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his country will keep raising its voice against Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.

“One year after recognizing the State of Palestine, the pain in Gaza is unbearable. Spain will continue to raise its voice—louder than ever—to put an end to the massacre the world is witnessing today," he wrote in an X post.

Press TV’s website

Buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoon in the north of the Gaza Strip, on January 7, 2025. (Reuters photo)

More than five dozen Palestinians have been killed in the latest Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip as the regime presses ahead with its brutal military campaign across the besieged Palestinian region.

Palestinian Ministry of Health said Thursday that 67 bodies and 184 injured people had arrived at Gaza hospitals in the past 24 hours.

Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency said new Israeli strikes and artillery attacks had killed at least 44 people since early hours of the morning.

“Forty-four people have been killed in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip,” civil defense official Mohammad al-Mughayyir was quoting as saying .

He said that the death toll includes 23 people in a strike on a home in the center of the besieged Palestinian territory.

“Twenty-three people were killed, others injured and several (are) missing following an Israeli strike on the Qreinawi family’s home east of al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.”

A footage from al-Bureij showed Palestinians searching through the rubble of a destroyed building.

Mughayyir also reported “two people killed and several injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire this morning near the American aid center in the Morag axis, southern Gaza Strip.”

Meanwhile, the Gaza Journalists Syndicate said that Palestinian journalist Moataz Raja was “assassinated” by the Israeli army while covering its war on Gaza.

The syndicate said that an Israeli strike targeted Raja's vehicle on al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City, killing him instantly.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 221 journalists in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said two Palestinians died while storming a warehouse for food in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. 

Gaza’s Government Media Office said Israeli forces have killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded 62 others in two days, after they rushed to get aid from a distribution center under a US and Israeli mechanism.

Analysts, activists, and aid agencies have described the US-Israeli plan for aid relief in Gaza as a "mockery" of humanitarian law.

International aid agencies have already warned that Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, including the US-backed proposal, will only add to the suffering in the devastated Palestinian territory.

Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.

“We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing settlement in the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel,” Smotrich said on X, using the Israeli terms for the occupied West Bank. 

Israeli minister of military affairs Israel Katz said the expansion plan “changes the face of the region and shapes the future of settlement for years to come.”

In a statement on Telegram, the right-wing Likud party of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move a “once-in-a-generation decision”, saying the initiative had been led by Smotrich and Katz.

The party published a map showing the 22 sites spread across the territory.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement expansion in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital.

Hamas condemnation

Hamas condemned the move as “further confirmation that the criminal Zionist occupation continues to impose facts on the ground by accelerating steps to Judaize Palestinian land within a clear annexation project".

“This is a blatant defiance of the international will and a grave violation of international law and United Nations resolutions,” the Palestinian group said in a statement.

“We call on the international community to take practical measures to confront the policies of annexation and settlement expansion, which constitute a war crime,” the Gaza-based movement noted.

For its part, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement denounced it as part of a colonial scheme to completely annex the West Bank, displace the Palestinian residents, and fulfill Talmudic dreams by imposing an apartheid regime and committing ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.

The movement also pointed to the international community's inability to stop the carnage in Gaza and even deliver humanitarian aid.

“These actions represent a sharp slap in the face to anyone who is still committed to the reconciliation process or international pressure," it said.

"The only effective option to confront these plans is resistance, especially armed resistance, because defending the land, rights, and sanctities is a legitimate and necessary right for the Palestinian people."

Press TV’s website

The Yemeni armed forces carried out another anti-Israel operation, targeting the regime’s Ben Gurion Airport with a hypersonic missile on Thursday.

The Yemeni armed forces have carried out another anti-Israel operation, targeting the regime’s Ben Gurion Airport with a hypersonic missile in response to the ongoing aggression against Palestinians in Gaza.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesperson for Yemen’s military, on Thursday reaffirmed that Yemen will continue to fulfill its religious, moral, and humanitarian duty toward the people of Palestine until the Israeli aggression ends and the siege of Gaza is lifted.

He also pledged that Yemen’s Armed Forces will respond to any Israeli attacks on the country with retaliatory operations, including the continued ban on the regime's air traffic to and from Ben Gurion Airport.

Yemen has imposed a strategic blockade on Israel’s vital air and sea routes to obstruct the delivery of military supplies to the regime over its genocidal war on Gaza.

Saree added that the Yemeni Armed Forces will continue to conduct their retaliatory operations against the Zionist entity deep inside the occupied Palestinian territories at an escalating pace.

He emphasized that Yemeni forces will not abandon their retaliatory operations in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip until the ongoing aggression ends and the tight blockade is completely lifted.

As the genocidal war on Gaza escalated, the Yemenis enforced a strategic blockade on essential maritime routes, intending to obstruct the delivery of military supplies to Israel and urge the international community to take action regarding the ongoing humanitarian emergency in Gaza.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have declared they will not stop their assaults unless Israel ceases its ground and aerial offensives in Gaza.

Press TV’s website

The Philosophy of Hajj from the Perspective of Imam Ali (a.s.)

 Imam Ali (a.s.) says: See that Allah, the Exalted, tested people from the time of Adam (a.s.) until the end of the world with stones that neither benefit nor harm, nor see nor hear, and made those stones a house with His sanctity and made it a place for people to gather. Then He placed it in the most rocky places and the most barren parts of the earth and the narrowest valleys, among rough mountains and hot sands and shallow springs and distant settlements, where no camel, horse, cow or sheep would fatten. Then Allah commanded Adam and his children to turn towards it. So, the Sacred House became their destination and their landing place. People turn to it with all their might from distant plateaus and plains, from deep valleys and steep ravines, and from the scattered islands of the seas, to shake their shoulders from their humiliation and filth, and to walk around it with disheveled hair and dusty bodies, saying, "There is no god but Allah." They cast aside their personal garments and put on the clothes of Ihram instead, changing their beautiful appearance by not straightening their hair. This is a great test, a severe trial, a clear trial, and an effective purification and cleansing that God Almighty has made a cause of His mercy and reaching His Paradise.

If God, the Exalted, had willed, He would have placed His Sacred House and His Noble Shrines amidst gardens and streams and flat lands, full of trees and fruits, whose houses are connected to each other and whose settlements are close to each other, amidst wheat fields and orchards and fields full of plants and plains full of water, amidst orchards and orchards full of pleasure and well-developed roads, and then, in proportion as the test and trial were easier, the reward and punishment would have been less. If the foundation of the Kaaba and the stones used in its construction had been of green emeralds and red rubies and with light and brightness, it would have reduced the penetration of doubt and hesitation in the breasts [of those who see the outward] and would have removed the efforts of Satan from the hearts and removed the turbulence of doubt and temptation from the people. But God tests His servants with various hardships, enslaves them with various struggles, and tests them with various afflictions, in order to remove arrogance and self-importance from their hearts, instill humility and modesty in their souls, open the doors of His grace and mercy to them, and make the means of His forgiveness easily available to them.

The wedding anniversary of these two lights of the world is a great event that, in the words of Imam Khomeini (may Allah have mercy on him), has illuminated the world by spreading the light of this family.

The brother of a Gaza doctor who lost nine of his children in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Khan Yunis says Israeli drones had a clear view of the household and “knew they were children” before the attack happened.

“Hamdi Al-Najjar had dropped his wife off at the hospital and returned home, where his children were playing in the yard. The Israeli drones could clearly see them and knew they were children,” Ali Al-Najjar told Press TV’s correspondent in Gaza.

Recalling the moments before the tragedy, Ali said his brother was preparing a simple meal for the children, who had gathered on the ground floor of their home.

“Just before they could eat, we heard an explosion in their area. I immediately called my brother, but couldn’t reach him. When we arrived at the scene, warplanes had struck them with two missiles,” he said. 

Ali described how his sister-in-law, Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, was on duty at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Friday, treating children wounded in Israeli airstrikes, when the bodies of her own children began arriving—seven of them, one after another.

The family lost nine of their ten children that day, as the Israeli airstrike leveled their home. The bodies of two of the children have yet to be recovered.

“This is the unimaginable reality faced by Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar,” Ali said. “The first strike didn’t explode. As their father rushed to get the children out, the second missile struck, flattening the building and burning the children and their father.”

“When we arrived at the scene,” he said, “we found seven charred, tiny bodies, barely intact.”

Hamdi, himself a physician, was critically wounded and remains in intensive care.

“The oldest child, Gerya, was just 12. The youngest, Sidor, born during this genocide, hadn’t yet reached six months,” Ali said.

“The Israeli occupation assassinated my brother’s children, burning them” before the world's eyes, he said.

He also urged the international community to help evacuate his brother and his surviving 11-year-old son for lifesaving treatment abroad.

Press TV’s website

Imam Muhammad Taqi al-Jawad (AS) the Ninth Immaculate Holy Imam

Name: Muhammad bin Ali.

Titles: At-Taqi, Al-Jawad.

Cognomen: Abu Ja'fer.

Father: Imam Ali Reza(AS).

Mother: Sabika (also known as Khaizarun).

Birth: 10th Rajab 195 A.H. Madina.

Martyrdom: 29th Dhulqa'da 220 A.H. Baghdad. Buried in Kadhmain.

Imam al-Jawad (AS) was born on 10th day of the month of Rajab, in the year 195 A.H. in Madina - the city of his grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.), under the care of his father, Imam Ali bin Musa al-Reza (AS) who was qualified with the leadership (Imamate) and its qualifications, a lofty status, the position of leadership in the ummah and in the sciences of Islamic Shari'a and its laws.

The Imam (AS) was born in a period full of events and political situations, conflicts, and the tension of events of the Abbasid caliphate between Amin and Ma'moon, the two sons of Harun Rashid.

Those political events and the situations of the conflict which was going on between the two brothers, the Abbasid caliphs, never ended without reflecting their effects on the life of Imam al-Reza (AS) attracted the attention of the Muslims -in the city of his grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) - including religious scholars, jurisprudents, governors, and common people. Thus, the political view of the caliph, Ma'mun, was directed towards him and, therefore, summoned him to the capital of his rulership (Merv) in the year 200 A.H. and appointed him as heir so that the caliphate would be transferred to him after Ma'mun's death.

The Imam Reza (AS.) was forced to leave Madina and move towards the city of 'Merv' (in Khurasan - Iran) to accept Ma'mun's invitation after many refusals and abstentions. Before moving to merv, he took with him, his son, Imam Muhammad al-Jawad (AS), then, he (AS) started out from Madina towards Mecca in order to pay a visit to the Sacred House (Ka'ba) and, also, to say farewell to it.

Imam al-Reza (AS) performed the hajj (pilgrimage) with his son, al-Jawad, who was only four years at that time.

Indeed, the young Imam expressed his adherence and love for his father by his insistence to stay under the care of the holy embrace. It was difficult for him to return home (Madinah), alone, and depart from his father, who wrote, in his farewell letter to the Sacred House, that he would not return.

The moments of farewell ended and the hour of departure approached; the young Imam al-Jawad(AS) returned home (to Madinah), bearing the yearnings of love, the adherence of a son for his father; his father moved towards the city of Merv while his heart departed to Madina, following the procession of the beloved al-Jawad.

The Grand Mosque is a very sacred place and prayer in this place has great value.

Imam Sadiq (a.s.) quoted his venerable fathers as saying:

Prayer in the Grand Mosque is equal to one hundred thousand prayers

 Prayer in the Grand Mosque is equal to one hundred thousand prayers (in other places).

Furu’ al-Kafi, vol. 4, p. 527