Gaza Crisis
Live Reporting
McDonald’s sales fall globally for first time in more than 3 years
McDonald’s has reported a surprise drop in sales worldwide, its first decline in 13 quarters, as deal-seeking consumers shy away from higher-priced menu items including Big Macs, Reuters reports.
Persistent inflation has forced lower-income consumers to shift to more affordable food options at home. That has prompted fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and Taco Bell to lean on value meals to spark customer traffic.
CEO Chris Kempczinski said there is a lot more deal-thinking from consumers who have become “very discriminating”. “Consumer sentiment in most of our major markets remains low,” he said.
Global comparable sales fell one per cent in the second quarter, compared with the analysts’ average estimate of a 0.5pc increase. Overall revenue rose 1pc.
Israel’s Netanyahu, visiting site of Golan rocket fire, vows ‘severe’ response
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has visited the site of a deadly attack in the annexed Golan Heights, vowed Israel would deliver a “severe response” to the rocket fire that killed 12 children, AFP reports.
“Like all Israeli citizens, and I must say like many around the world, we were deeply shaken by this horrific killing,” Netanyahu said at the site of the attack, according to a statement issued by his office.
“These children are our children … The State of Israel will not, and cannot, let this pass. Our response will come and it will be severe.”
Blinken urges preventing escalation of Lebanon tensions
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, has emphasised the importance of preventing escalation of the conflict, Reuters quotes the US State Department as saying.
They discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to allow citizens on both sides of the border to return home, and ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held there.
Germany called on all parties to the Middle East conflict, in particular Iran, to prevent an escalation.
Number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza increases
At least 39,363 people have been killed and 90,923 others wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, according to the Health Ministry of the besieged and bombarded territory.
At least 39 Palestinians were killed in the past day alone, with 93 injured, it statement said.
Israeli artillery shelling leaves a man dead, injured others
Israeli artillery shelling killed a Palestinian and wounded many others.
The shelling targeted the Abu Hamid roundabout in the southern city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces' devastating toll on education
The Israeli aggression in Gaza since October 7 resulted in the loss of 10,000 students and 400 teachers, the Palestinian Ministry of Education says.
Media reported that Israel forces specifically targeted multiple schools in Gaza.
The United Nation stated that more than 76 percent schools in Gaza need “full reconstruction or major rehabilitation” in order to be functional.
Quad nations call for an immediate ceasefire, release of captives
The Quad ministers stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire and the release of captives being held following the war in Gaza.
Following a meeting of the Quad nations in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, the foreign ministers of US, Japan, Australia, and India issued a joint statement appealing for the ceasefire.
“We affirm the imperative of securing the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and emphasize that the deal to release hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza,” the statement said.
The ministers expressed their resolve to a “sovereign, viable and independent Palestinian state” as part of a two-state solution.
They also noted: “Any unilateral actions that undermine the prospect of a two-state solution, including Israeli expansion of settlements and violent extremism on all sides, must end."
“We underscore the need to prevent the conflict from escalating and spilling over in the region.”
Erdogan says Turkey might enter Israel to help Palestinians
ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey might enter Israel as it had done in the past in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, though he did not spell out what sort of intervention he was suggesting.
Erdogan, who has been a fierce critic of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, started discussing that war during a speech praising his country's defence industry.
Erdogan emerges as the moral voice of humanity, says Turkish minister
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan described his President Erdogan as the ‘voice of humanity’s conscience."
Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), he said, “Our President has become the voice of humanity’s conscience.”
“Those who seek to silence this just voice, especially international Zionist circles including Israel, are in a state of great panic. History has ended the same way for all genocidal perpetrators and their supporters.”
Fidan’s Israeli counterpart criticized Erdogan on X, prompting Fidan to turn up on the social medial to defend Erdogan.
Erdogan has issued a statement saying his country could intervene in Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israeli forces battle Palestinian fighters in southern Gaza
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli troops backed by air strikes battled groups of Palestinian fighters around Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, as they continued a week-long operation they said was meant to clear Islamist Hamas group.
A week after ordering civilians to evacuate the area, tanks pushed into the towns of Al-Karara, Al-Zanna, and Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, where medics said at least 34 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes.
Israel cabinet authorizes government to respond to Hezbollah rocket strike
MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's security cabinet on Sunday authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to decide on the "manner and timing" of a response to a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers and children, and which Israel and the United States blamed on Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams on Saturday, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since Palestinian group Hamas' Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza. That conflict has spread to several fronts and risks spilling into a wider regional conflict.
Beirut airport cancels flights amid fears of Israeli attack
(Reuters) – Some flights at Beirut airport have been cancelled or delayed, with Lebanon's Middle East Airlines (MEA) saying disruptions to its schedule were related to insurance risks, as tensions escalate between Israel and armed political group Hezbollah.
A rocket strike that killed 12 teenagers and children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday has added to concerns that Israel and the Iran-backed group could engage in a full-scale war.
Palestinians heed Israeli army's evacuation call
Following new evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army, Palestinians have started to leave the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), about 86 percent of the Gaza Strip is currently under the evacuation orders.
Israeli attacks killed 66 Palestinians in 24 hours
In two main southern cities of Gaza-- Rafah and Khan Younis-- tanks forged ahead intensifying a war between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters.
Media reported that at least 66 Palestinians lost their lives in ruthless attacks carried out by Israeli forces in the past 24 hours.
