Australia accuses Iran of directing antisemitic attacks, says Iran’s ambassador will be expelled
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(LONDON) — Australian officials on Tuesday said they would expel Iran’s ambassador after accusing Tehran of directing antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne last year.
Australia’s intelligence agency, ASIO, said it determined Iran was behind attacks on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney on Oct. 20 and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on Dec. 6, according to government officials.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters during a press conference in Canberra on Tuesday, according to an official transcript.
ASIO in a statement said intelligence officers had “uncovered and unpicked” links between the attacks and commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, accusing the Iranian military of using a “complex web of proxies” to hide its involvement in the attacks in Australia.
Australia’s legislators will seek to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization, Albanese said. Iranian diplomatic staff in Australia weren’t involved in directing the attacks, Director-General of Security Mike Burgess said.
“ASIO now assesses the Iranian Government directed at least two and likely more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia,” Burgess said in a statement.
Operations at the Australian embassy in Tehran were suspended, Albanese said, adding that Australian diplomats left the country.
Australian Foreign Minister Peggy Wong said the alleged acts of aggression by Iran “have crossed a line.”
“This is the first time in the post-war period that Australia has expelled an ambassador,” Wong said. “And we have made this decision because Iran’s actions are completely unacceptable.”
(WASHINGTON) — An analysis compiled by USAID officials examining more than 150 reported incidents involving the theft or loss of U.S.-funded humanitarian aid in the war-torn Gaza Strip says it failed to find any evidence that Hamas — the militant rulers of the Palestinian enclave — engaged in widespread diversion of assistance, according to a presentation reviewed by ABC News.
The findings of the report appear to undercut the Trump administration’s repeated claims that Hamas has regularly interfered with aid distribution in the past — assertions it has used to justify its support for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and for measures undertaken by Israel to limit the flow of assistance to neighboring Gaza through other pathways.
The GHF — with Israel’s approval and despite rejection from the United Nations — took over most of the aid distribution system in Gaza on May 27, after an 11-week Israeli blockade on all supplies from entering the strip. Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid provided by the U.N. — formerly the main distributor — and others to fund its militant activity — claims which Hamas denies.
Israel has allowed a limited amount of supplies into Gaza since lifting the blockade and, according to an Israeli security official, is “coordinating future airdrops of aid” by foreign countries “that are expected to take place in the coming days.” This comes after a coalition of more than 100 organizations warned this week that “mass starvation” is spreading in Gaza with “supplies now totally depleted.”
USAID officials behind the presentation say they analyzed alleged incidents of fraud, abuse and waste reported between October 2023, when the ongoing Israel-Hamas war began, and last May. It was compiled before the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — once the world’s largest single donor of humanitarian aid — officially ceased independent operations on July 1. The Trump administration canceled more than 80% of the agency’s programs, while the remainder were absorbed by the U.S. Department of State.
USAID officials say their findings indicate that in the majority of cases involving the loss of aid, the perpetrator could not be definitively identified.
The Israel Defense Forces denied the report in a statement to ABC News, saying “not only does the report ignore clear and explicit evidence that Hamas exploits humanitarian aid to sustain its fighting capabilities, it goes so far as to criticize the IDF for routing decisions made specifically to protect humanitarian staff and shipments.”
The IDF added that when it “directs aid deliveries along specific routes, it is based on the operational reality and intelligence assessments, aimed at safeguarding both the aid and the humanitarian actors — precisely the issue the report claims is not being addressed.”
The State Department is also pushing back forcefully on the analysis.
A State Department spokesperson called it “astonishing” that “the media is busy debating whether the masterminds of Oct. 7 are somehow too principled to loot.”
“There is endless video evidence of Hamas looting, not to mention members of the aid-industrial complex who have admitted that looting exists by reporting it as ‘self-distribution,’ in a poor attempt at an aid corruption coverup,” the spokesperson said. “Available intelligence confirms what is reflected in open-source information: that a significant portion of non-GHF aid trucks have been diverted, looted, stolen, or ‘self-distributed.'”
Despite this, the Trump administration — a staunch ally of Israel — has provided no evidence of Hamas carrying out widespread aid diversion to date.
The IDF said it is “making tremendous efforts to enable the safe distribution of humanitarian aid under complex operational conditions.”
The ongoing Gaza war erupted after Hamas led a surprise terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people there and taking 251 others hostage, according to figures from the Israeli government. Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 59,000 people in Gaza, according to data released by the strip’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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(LONDON) — Russia and Ukraine exchanged large waves of attack drones overnight into Sunday as the two combatants maneuvered ahead of Friday’s planned summit in Alaska between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 100 drones into the country overnight, of which 70 were shot down or otherwise suppressed. Thirty drones impacted across 12 locations, it said in a statement posted to Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops shot down at least 126 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Temporary restrictions on flights were introduced at airports in the southwest of the country in Vladikavkaz, Grozny, Saratov and Kaluga, Russia’s federal air agency Rosaviatsiya said, during the attacks.
In Saratov, regional Gov. Roman Busargin said one person was killed and several injured by a drone that fell near a residential building. An industrial facility was also damaged, Busargin said.
The Ukrainian General Staff later confirmed the attack on Saratov, saying in a statement that it targeted an oil refinery there. “Saratov oil refinery is one of the key facilities of the Russian Federation’s fuel infrastructure involved in providing oil products to the occupation troops,” the General Staff said. “Its annual processing capacity is up to 7 million tons of oil.”
“The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to systematically take measures aimed at reducing the military and economic potential of the enemy in order to force it to stop the armed aggression against our state,” it added. “Every affected object on the territory of the Russian Federation involved in securing its criminal war against Ukraine brings us closer to just peace.”
Ukraine appears to have been ramping up its drone strikes in recent days. So far in August, Russia’s Defense Ministry has reported downing 1,117 Ukrainian drones — an average of around 117 per day, marking a notable increase on July’s daily average of 97 drones downed.
For Ukrainian defenders, August has thus far been quieter than July. Kyiv has reported facing 749 drones and 11 missiles so far this month, an average of approximately 75 drones and one missile each day.
July saw Russia set a new record number of aerial attacks, launching a total of 6,443 drones and missiles into Ukraine across the month, with a daily average of around 201 drones and six missiles per day.
While long-range strikes and grinding frontline combat continues, both Kyiv and Moscow are also maneuvering on the diplomatic front.
Since Trump announced that he would meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian officials have gone on a diplomatic offensive to bolster the Western coalition in support of its peace demands.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have insisted that any negotiations must include Ukraine. Kyiv will also not officially cede any territory, accept limitations on its armed forces, or jettison its ambitions to join NATO and the European Union, Zelenskyy has said.
Putin, though, is demanding that Ukraine cede several regions — not all of which are controlled by Russian troops — in the south and east of the country, accept curbs on the size and sophistication of its military and be permanently excluded from NATO.
Russia’s demands, Zelenskyy has said, constitute an attempt to “partition Ukraine.”
Speaking from the White House on Friday, Trump suggested a settlement could include “some swapping of territories.” Zelenskyy swiftly rejected the proposal, saying Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”
“Our positions were clear: a reliable, lasting peace is only possible with Ukraine at the negotiating table, with full respect for our sovereignty and without recognizing the occupation,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s influential chief of staff, said in a Saturday statement after taking part in talks with Vice President JD Vance in the U.K.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among the European leaders to sign a joint statement expressing their support for Kyiv in any peace negotiations.
“We welcome President Trump’s work to stop the killing in Ukraine, end the Russian Federation’s war of aggression and achieve just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine,” the statement read.
“We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed,” it added.
“Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,” the joint statement said. “The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”
Palestinians, including children, who are struggling to access food due to Israel’s blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by the charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on July 30, 2025.(Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said last week that famine was determined in parts of Gaza for the first time.
The IPC report projected that famine would expand in the region by the end of September and more than 100,000 children under age 5 were at risk of death from acute malnutrition through June 2026.
In a statement, the Israeli prime minister’s office called the IPC’s determination of famine “an outright lie” and “a modern blood libel.”
Humanitarian experts and doctors described the report as unsurprising — a situation they have warned about for months — but “appalling” nonetheless.
“The situation itself is appalling,” Scott Paul, director of peace and security for the non-governmental organization Oxfam America, told ABC News. “I think if anyone is surprised by this news, then they haven’t been paying attention to the repeated warnings of local communities, Palestinian organizations, international organizations and other states and humanitarian donors.”
Aid organizations have said the next steps after such a report are securing an immediate, and permanent, ceasefire and opening border crossings to allow unhindered access of humanitarian aid and medical supplies.
While some experts told ABC News it’s not too late to increase aid and ready-to-eat therapeutic food for cases of malnutrition, others are less optimistic that the report will result in meaningful change.
“What will be done will be nothing,” Dr. John Kahler, a pediatrician and co-founder of MedGlobal, who has been on multiple medical missions to Gaza, told ABC News. “There’s plenty of money and plenty of resources available. It’s 100% access. And so, this [famine determination] won’t do a thing to move that needle.”
He added, “I’m in a difficult position with organizations at large, because they think the production of yet another document has some dramatic meaning. We knew this.”
To determine if a famine is happening, three thresholds have to be met: 20% of households must be facing an extreme food shortage, 30% of children must be acutely malnourished and either two adults or four children must be dying every day per 10,000 people, according to the IPC.
A termination is separate from a declaration. The IPC itself doesn’t issue official declarations of famine, but its findings can inform governments and bodies such as the U.N. to make a famine declaration.
Humanitarian experts have said there is no legal mechanism that a government body or the U.N. would have to go through to formally declare a famine.
“Governments or international organizations might have their own sort of processes internally to go into famine mode, but I don’t think that anyone should be holding their breath for a piece of paper that says ‘famine declaration’ on the top, because that likely won’t come,” Paul, of Oxfam America, said.
He noted that the U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator already addressed the famine determination during a press conference with reporters on Friday and acknowledged it in the wake of the IPC classification.
“This isn’t the penultimate step. This is it. We have arrived at famine,” Paul said.
Kahler agreed, adding that the IPC report should not be taken as a warning — rather that the warning should have occurred months ago with previous reports.
“The health system’s collapsed, the educational system’s collapsed, the public health system’s collapsed,” he said. “I’m not sure what else to warn people about.”
Paul said normally what would follow would be an immediate “all hands-on deck” effort from the U.S. government and others to influence the Israeli government to secure a ceasefire and increase the flow of aid, which he said should have been done with prior warnings of emergency levels of food insecurity famine warnings.
Since May, the U.S. has participated in providing aid to Gaza through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which set up designated aid distribution sites rather than delivering aid throughout the strip. Palestinians and aid organizations reported incidents of people being shot at while trying to retrieve aid as well as general chaos at the sites, which continues to be an ongoing issue.
The Israel Defense Forces has previously said it only fires “warning shots” toward people who are allegedly “advancing while posing a threat to the troops.” The Israeli government has also previously claimed that Hamas shoots people waiting in food lines and films the events for propaganda videos. Hamas has denied these claims.
Israeli officials have argued there are hundreds of truckloads of aid sitting at the border for the U.N. and its partners to distribute. The U.N., however, said it can’t deliver the aid safely.
“One of the things that is not well understood is how complex it is for the United Nations to do our work here in the Gaza Strip,” Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for UNICEF who is currently in Gaza, told ABC News. “I think what is not well understood is the challenges that we face on a daily basis that impede our work. It’s like a game of ‘Snakes and Ladders.’ We take one step forward and then we have to take two steps backwards because there are constantly hurdles in front of us that we have to overcome, and many of these hurdles do not need to be there.”
These threats include poor road conditions, lack of route alternatives, poor telecommunications, large crowds of desperate people and unpredictable supply lines, according to the U.N.
Paul noted that a prior IPC report, issued at the end of July, found that a “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza.
“It was less than a few weeks ago that the same technical body on hunger issued a very clear warning [on] famine, which is about as close as they can come to an official confirmation without doing it,” he said. “The situation will get worse, and famine will continue to spread as long as all routes for humanitarian assistance … is not immediately opened up.”
