Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza, officials say, as some aid restrictions eased
Deir Al-Balah (Gaza Strip), Jul 28 (AP): Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians in multiple locations across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said, a day after Israel eased aid restrictions in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory.
The dead included a newborn who was delivered in a complex surgery after his mother, who was seven months pregnant, was killed in a strike, according to the Nasser Hospital.
Israel announced Sunday that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day until further notice to allow for the improved flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where concern over hunger has grown, and designate secure routes for aid delivery.
Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. The Israeli military had no immediate comment about the latest strikes, which occurred outside the time frame for the pause Israel declared would be held between 10 am and 8 pm.
Aid agencies have welcomed the new aid measures, which also included allowing airdrops into Gaza, but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory.
Images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies. US President Donald Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza “terrible.”
Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine to pressure Hamas to free hostages.
Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new US-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers also have encountered a similar breakdown in law and order surrounding their aid deliveries.
Most of Gaza's population now relies on aid. Accessing food has become a challenge that some Palestinians have risked their lives for.
The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians who it said were killed Monday by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The pregnant woman and her child were killed along with 11 others after their house was struck in the Muwasi area, west of the southern city of Khan Younis, according to a hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Another strike hit a two-story house in the western Japanese neighbourhood of Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, said the Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties. At least five others were killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza, according to local hospitals.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on most of the strikes. It said it was not aware of one strike in Gaza City during the pause that health officials said killed one person.
In its October 7, 2023, attack, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. It still holds 50, more than half Israel believes to be dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between fighters and civilians, but the ministry says over half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
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HC questions Delhi govt over failure to regulate sale of old vehicles, refers to Red Fort blast
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court questioned the city government on Wednesday over its failure to regulate the sale and transfer of used vehicles, while pointing out that in a recent bomb blast near the Red Fort, a second-hand car was used, making the issue more significant.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the Delhi government to file a detailed response on the issue of regulating authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
"A car changes four hands but the original owner has not changed. Therefore, what happens? That man (the original owner) goes to the slaughterhouse? What is this? How are you permitting this? You will take a call when two-three more bomb blasts take place?" the bench asked the Delhi government's counsel.
The bomb blast near the iconic Mughal-era monument was carried out using a second-hand car, making the issue even more significant, it said.
The court listed the matter for further hearing in January 2026.
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The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) plea filed by an organisation, Towards Happy Earth Foundation, highlighting the challenges in the implementation of rules 55A to 55H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, introduced in December 2022 to regulate authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
While the rules were intended to bring accountability to the second-hand vehicle market, the petitioner's counsel argued that they have failed in practice due to regulatory gaps and procedural hurdles.
The plea said there is a major gap in the amended framework, that is, the absence of any statutory mechanism for reporting dealer-to-dealer transfers.
"In reality, most used vehicles pass through multiple dealers before reaching the final buyer, but the rules recognise only the first transfer to the initial authorised dealer.
"As a result, the chain of custody breaks after the first step, defeating the very purpose of accountability," the petition said.
It added that because of these gaps, only a very small percentage of dealers across India have been able to obtain authorised dealer registration and in Delhi, not a single dealer has got it.
Consequently, lakhs of vehicles continue to circulate without any record of who is actually in possession of those, it said.
The plea said only a small fraction of India's estimated 30,000 to 40,000 used-vehicle dealers are registered under the authorised-dealer framework.
The petition also pointed out that the 11-year-old vehicle used in the November 10 bomb blast near the Red Fort was sold several times but was still registered in its original owner's name.
The blast near the Red Fort had claimed 15 lives.
