Virtually absent from most present-day Western diets, seaweed and aquatic plants were once a staple food for ancient Europeans, an analysis of molecules preserved in fossilized dental plaque has found.

Evidence for this hitherto hidden taste for the nutrient-rich plants and algae was hard to detect in the archaeological record, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Previously when researchers uncovered evidence of seaweed, they explained its presence as a fuel, food wrapping or fertilizer.

Prior research had suggested that the introduction of farming, starting from around 8,000 years ago, prompted ancient humans to largely stop eating seaweed. In Europe, by the 18th century, seaweed was regarded as a famine food or only suitable for animal feed.

“It is very exciting to be able to show definitively that seaweeds and other local freshwater plants were eaten across a long period in our European past,” said study author Karen Hardy, a professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Glasgow, in a statement.

A ‘dietary link with the sea’

Hardy and a team of archaeologists from the University of Glasgow and the University of York in the United Kingdom examined the teeth of 74 early humans unearthed at 28 archaeological sites across Europe, including the far north of Scotland, southern Spain and Lithuania.

The oldest sites examined in the study in Spain and Lithuania dated back to more than 8,000 years ago, while the most recent were around 2,000 years old.

The researchers were able to detect identifiable chemical markers in dental calculus — the bacterial gunk and food debris that builds up on teeth over time — in 37 samples belonging to 33 individuals. And of those, 26 samples revealed that seaweed or aquatic plants had been on the menu.

“Dental plaque …is very common and once it develops it can only be removed by scraping. This is what dentists do as part of the cleaning process, today,” Hardy explained via email.

“But in the past, it simply accumulated, particularly in the small gap between the tooth and the gum.  It is common on most archaeological skeletal material throughout the past,” Hardy added. “It acts as a trap for material that came into and passed through the mouth. Since it is found in the mouth, all the material found within it, unequivocally linked to ingestion.”

Seaweed, freshwater algae and aquatic plants have “distinct, unusual and complex organic chemistry” that allowed for the preservation and detection of “highly resilient biomarkers” from three types of organic compounds — lipids, amino acids and alkylpyrroles, according to the study.

“It is the particular combination of biomarkers which allow us to identify seaweed and aquatic plants,” said study coauthor Stephen Buckley, a research fellow in the department of archaeology at the University of York, via email.

“Other plants do have their own distinctive biomarkers, but they tend to survive less well in archaeological contexts compared to algae (e.g. seaweed, a macroalgae), for example, so we can say seaweed and aquatic plants were ingested and therefore consumed, but we don’t necessarily get a full picture of ALL foods consumed, which can depend on prevailing environmental conditions.”

An analysis of the samples showed that ancient people ate, or at least chewed, red, green and brown seaweed and a variety of freshwater aquatic plants, such as species of pondweed and vegetation from the same genus as the water lily.

“This strongly suggests that the nutritional benefits of seaweed were sufficiently well understood by these ancient populations that they maintained their dietary link with the sea,” Buckley said.

Of the remains studied, those found in chambered cairns or tombs in Orkney, an archipelago of islands off the coast of Scotland, also revealed biomolecular evidence of the consumption of seaweed, including a brassica, most likely sea kale.

And it wasn’t just coastal communities that ate seaweed, the study noted. At La Corona, a site in southeast Spain occupied from 6059 BC to 5849 BC, seaweed made up part of the diet even though it is 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) from the coast.

Buckley added that it wasn’t possible to be sure whether the seaweed would have cooked or eaten raw.

However, he said it’s reasonable that seaweed would have been a staple food given its nutritional benefits and the ease of obtaining it from the seashore.

Dubbed a “superfood,” around 145 species of seaweed are eaten today, mainly in Asia, and they are known to have many health benefits.

The scientists said they hoped that their research would highlight the potential for including more seaweeds and freshwater plants in present-day diets.

The 20-year-old was attending a demonstration organized by climate group Fossil Free London outside the Intercontinental Hotel, which is hosting the Energy Intelligence Forum, an annual summit that brings together chief executives from oil and gas companies such as TotalEnergies, Shell and Aramco.

Thunberg and other protestors blocked entrances at the hotel, trying to prevent delegates from entering.

Thunberg said in a statement released by Fossil Free London before her arrest, “we have no choice but to disrupt” because “our world is being swept away by greenwashing and lies.”

She added: “The fossil fuel industry has actively distracted and delayed. They have created loopholes to allow their business to go on at the expense of the planet. We are choking from their fumes.”

Greenpeace, which also attended the protest, said in a statement that hundreds of demonstrators, including Thunberg, “faced a heavy police presence as they gathered in front of the luxury Park Lane hotel to protest against the influence of the fossil fuel industry on UK and global climate politics.”

The organization said that protestors had blocked all the entrances to the hotel from 8 a.m. local time while two climbers abseiled from the top of the building, unfurling a 30-meter (98-foot) long banner reading “Make Big Oil Pay.”

At a press conference earlier in the day, Thunberg called out “spineless politicians” for meeting with oil industry lobbyists, according to Greenpeace’s statement.

Thunberg is no stranger to police interactions over climate protests. In January, she was detained by police at a coal mine protest in January and in July she was fined by a Swedish court for disobeying police after participating in a June protest, which blocked oil tankers in part of Malmö harbor, Sweden.

Tuesday’s protest marks the first of three days of action aimed at shutting down the conference, Greenpeace said

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have for the first time detected tiny quartz crystals containing silica — a common mineral on Earth — within the atmosphere of a blazing hot exoplanet.

It’s likely that the nanoparticles of silica, which on Earth appears in beach sands and is used to produce glass, swirl from the clouds of the exoplanet, known as WASP-17b, according to the researchers.

First discovered in 2009, WASP-17b is a gas giant planet located 1,300 light-years from Earth. It has a volume more than seven times that of Jupiter, making it one of the largest exoplanets known to astronomers.

The researchers detected the the quartz nanoparticles in high-altitude clouds using Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, according to new research published Monday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“We were thrilled,” said lead study author David Grant, a researcher at the University of Bristol, in a statement. “We knew from Hubble observations that there must be aerosols — tiny particles making up clouds or haze — in WASP-17 b’s atmosphere, but we didn’t expect them to be made of quartz.”

Minerals rich in silicon and oxygen, called silicates, are plentiful on Earth, the moon and other rocky bodies in the solar system. Silicates are also incredibly common in the Milky Way galaxy. But so far, the silicate grains detected in exoplanet atmospheres have been magnesium-based, not quartz, which is made of pure silica.

“We fully expected to see magnesium silicates,” said study coauthor Hannah Wakeford, senior lecturer in astrophysics at University of Bristol, in a statement.
“But what we’re seeing instead are likely the building blocks of those, the tiny ‘seed’ particles needed to form the larger silicate grains we detect in cooler exoplanets and brown dwarfs.”

The finding could enable researchers to understand the materials used to form planetary environments much different from what we know on Earth.

What the quartz crystals reveal about WASP-17b

Wasp-17b takes 3.7 Earth days to complete one orbit around its star. Astronomers focused their observations on the exoplanet as it crossed in front of its star and starlight filtered through its atmosphere.

After 10 hours of observation time, the team discovered a signature suggesting the presence of quartz nanoparticles.

The quartz crystals are likely hexagonal in shape, like the much larger geodes we know on Earth, but each one is only one-millionth of a centimeter — so small that 10,000 of the grains could fit side by side across a human hair, according to the research. And the particles originate in the atmosphere.

“WASP-17 b is extremely hot — around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius) — and the pressure where the quartz crystals form high in the atmosphere is only about one-thousandth of what we experience on Earth’s surface,” Grant said. “In these conditions, solid crystals can form directly from gas, without going through a liquid phase first.”

The planet is tidally locked to its star, meaning one side always faces the star and experiences searing temperatures, while the permanent “night” side of the planet is cooler. While the clouds can drift around the planet, they likely vaporize on the hot day side, which could send the quartz particles swirling.

“The winds could be moving these tiny glassy particles around at thousands of miles per hour,” Grant said.

Webb’s sensitive detections are allowing researchers to have a better understanding of the atmospheres, environmental conditions and weather on planets outside of our solar system.

Hot gas giants, also called Hot Jupiters, like WASP-17b are largely composed of hydrogen and helium, along with some water vapor and carbon dioxide. Detecting silica in the planet’s atmosphere helps scientists to have a broader sense of WASP-17b’s composition.

“If we only consider the oxygen that is in these gases, and neglect to include all of the oxygen locked up in minerals like quartz, we will significantly underestimate the total abundance,” Wakeford said. “These beautiful silica crystals tell us about the inventory of different materials and how they all come together to shape the environment of this planet.”

Palestinian officials say hundreds were killed by a massive blast at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday, as humanitarian concerns mount over Israel’s deprivation of food, fuel and electricity to the enclave’s population.

Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was sheltering thousands of displaced people when it was bombed Tuesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement. Many victims are still under the rubble, it added.

Palestinian officials blamed ongoing Israeli airstrikes for the lethal incident. But the Israel Defense Forces has “categorically” denied any involvement in the hospital attack, blaming instead a “failed rocket launch” by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, a rival Islamist militant group in Gaza.

Gaza has been under siege by Israel for more than a week, in response to the deadly incursion by Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the coastal enclave, home to 2.2 million people. Hospitals meanwhile are struggling to tend to the wounded across the territory, operating with shortages of electricity and water.

Vital humanitarian aid is meanwhile piling up at Gaza’s shuttered border, despite diplomatic efforts to open a corridor from Egypt. The United Nations and other officials have said they need assurance of safe passage for any potential aid convoys.

Amid growing international pressure to address the crisis, US President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday, an extraordinary wartime visit that follows intense efforts by Secretary of State Antony Blinken across the Middle East.

Biden was also due to attend a summit scheduled in Amman, the capital of Jordan, with several Arab leaders. However, the summit was canceled in the wake of the hospital blast.

Instead of the planned meeting, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would travel back to Ramallah for an urgent meeting of the Palestinian leadership.

The Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the center of Gaza City was sheltering thousands of people who had been forcibly evacuated, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Hamas, which controls the enclave, said more than 500 people were killed by the bombing. The Palestinian Health Ministry earlier said preliminary estimates indicate that between 200 to 300 people died in the attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the “barbaric terrorists in Gaza” for “attacking” the hospital on Tuesday.

“Whoever brutally murdered our children is also murdering their children,” he added.

As Israeli and Gazan officials blame the other for the hospital tragedy, protests have sprung up in a number of Middle Eastern cities including Amman, where protesters attempted to storm the US embassy.

Hospitals under siege

More than a week of Israeli bombardment has killed at least 3,000 people, including 1,032 girls and 940 boys, and wounded 12,500 in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Tuesday. Casualties in Gaza over the past 10 days have now surpassed the number of those killed during the 51-day Gaza-Israel conflict in 2014.

While the IDF has said it does not target hospitals, the UN and Doctors Without Borders say Israeli airstrikes have struck medical facilities, including hospitals and ambulances.

On Tuesday, Israeli warplanes hit two densely populated refugee camps and an UNRWA school housing displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 18 people and injured scores, Palestinian officials said.

The IDF said that high-level Hamas commander Ayman Nofal was killed in the airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

In the occupied West Bank at least 61 people have been killed, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Tuesday. At least 20 humanitarian workers from the UN, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent have been killed in Gaza, the UN said.

Meanwhile, health services within Gaza are on the brink and food and water supplies are running low. Twenty out of 23 hospitals were offering partial services because fuel reserves are “almost totally depleted,” the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) warned on Tuesday.

UN agencies have warned that shops are less than a week away from running out of available food stocks and that that Gaza’s last seawater desalination plant had shut down, bringing the risk of further deaths, dehydration and waterborne diseases.

The Palestinian Interior Ministry said Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 49 people in strikes on the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.

Closed crossing

Urgent calls for help are growing on both sides of the crossing as aid amasses on the Egyptian side of the border.

Blinken on Tuesday said the the United States and Israel “have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza.”

“Until now, there is no safe passage that has been granted” as they do not “have any authorization or clear, secure routes for those convoys to be able to enter safely and without any possibility of their being targeted,” he said.

He added that the crossing was bombed four times in the past few days.

Beyond the border crossing, moving aid to those in need is extremely complex in Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes have repeatedly hit UN facilities in the past week.

“The last thing you would want to see is creating distribution points where people receive that aid are not safe.”

On Tuesday, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the only things that should be entering Gaza “are hundreds of tons of explosives from the Air Force, not an ounce of humanitarian aid” until Hamas releases hostages, he wrote on Telegram.

On the Gaza side, large numbers of evacuees have gathered by the crossing, part of the mass displacement that has seen at least 1 million people flee their homes in the past week alone, according to UNRWA.

One family of five Palestinian-Americans, all US citizens, drove to Rafah on Monday after hearing the borders would be opened but to no avail, said Haifa Kaoud, whose husband Hesham is among the five stuck in Gaza.

Satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies show four 30-foot (9-meter) craters blocking the roadway at the border crossing closest to the Egyptian gate, along with concrete slabs.

Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to ease the conflict. On Monday, the UN Security Council rejected a Russian resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire after it failed to get enough votes.

Several countries including the US, the United Kingdom and France voted against it because the draft did not condemn Hamas for the October 7 attack, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said killed at least 1,400 people with scores taken hostage.

This includes French-Israeli woman, Mia Schem, who was shown in the first hostage video released by Hamas. Her mother, Keren Scharf Schem implored world leaders “to bring my baby back home” when speaking to reporters Tuesday.

Fears of regional conflict

Regional leaders raised concerns of fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah in the north, and Syria, as strikes at the border become a flashpoint for wider conflict.

The IDF said on Tuesday shots were fired towards several locations on the security fence between Israel and Lebanon.

At the same time, Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, warned if the “atrocities” against Gaza persist, “Muslims and resistance forces could lose patience,” and no-one would be able to prevent their actions.

After Hamas’ incursion on October 7, militants fired shots from Lebanon that were intercepted by Israel, leading to a deadly exchange of fire.

On Friday evening local time an Israeli strike killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah who was also from south Lebanon. The assault wounded at least six other reporters.

And on Tuesday, Israeli strikes killed at least four people in Alma al-Shaab, in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross said.

Two Hezbollah fighters were killed in confrontations on Tuesday, the militant group said. It is unclear whether they are part of the death toll reported by the Red Cross.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to meet in Beijing this week in a visit expected to underscore their shared vision for a new international order no longer dominated by the United States and its democratic allies.

This meeting between the world’s two most powerful autocrats comes as geopolitical fault lines harden globally – first following Russia’s grinding invasion of Ukraine, launched just three weeks after the leaders’ last meeting in the Chinese capital in 2022 – and now as Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas threatens to spiral into a broader conflict that could shatter stability in the Middle East.

Both Beijing and Moscow have criticized Israel’s actions and called for a ceasefire, in the latest showing of the two powers’ efforts to step up their alternative leadership to that of the US, which affirms Israel’s on-going right to retaliate.

The meeting between the two men comes as it was confirmed US President Joe Biden would travel to Israel on Wednesday. Biden is expected to give a high-profile show of support for Israel as it attempts to eliminate Hamas, while the US presses for ways to ease humanitarian suffering in Gaza and warns other regional players about becoming further engaged in the conflict.

Xi and Putin are expected to discuss the situation in Gaza during their meeting this week after Putin arrived Tuesday morning as a guest of honor at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing – an exceptionally rare foreign trip for the diplomatically isolated leader.

Heads of state, representatives and delegations from more than 140 countries are expected to attend China’s landmark, two-day diplomatic event beginning Tuesday, which marks 10 years since the start of Xi’s global infrastructure funding drive, and presents the Chinese leader with an opportunity to project Beijing’s growing global ambitions.

Push for peace?

The timing of the Beijing hosted forum, coming as Israel signals it may launch a ground invasion of the Hamas-governed Gaza strip, presents Putin with opportunity to shift the global spotlight away from his war in Ukraine, analysts say.

Moscow is expected to table a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, without naming Hamas, with its UN envoy on Friday comparing the day-after-day shelling of Hamas-controlled Gaza by Israel to the brutal siege of Leningrad during World War II.

At the other end of the historical spectrum, US President Joe Biden this weekend described Hamas’ attack as the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

China has said it will send its envoy to the Middle East to encourage talks and condemned “all acts that harm civilians,” but it has not explicitly targeted that condemnation at Hamas, nor named the group in its statements.

During a flurry of diplomatic calls in recent days, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Israel’s actions have “gone beyond the scope of self-defense.”

Both countries’ statements stand in contrast to that of the US, which has made clear its staunch support for Israel – and signaled it does not feel this is the appropriate moment for a ceasefire.

The conflict will likely feature in Xi and Putin’s upcoming meeting, according to the Kremlin. Russia’s war in Ukraine is also likely to be discussed by the two leaders.

In that conflict, too, China has tried to position itself as a potential mediator.

But when its comes China’s interest in pushing the Russian leader to end his invasion, Xi may be cautious not to take any step that could damage relations.

That’s especially as he is likely watching a potential shift in global positions on the conflict, amid signs of changing attitudes at least in some parts of Europe – and an upcoming election in the United States next year could trigger a significant shift in the level of US support for Ukraine.

“So far we don’t see any sign that China is keen to use its upper-hand (to put pressure on Russia),” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“Chinese policymakers don’t want to see even the slightest level of distrust between Beijing and Moscow.”

A rare trip

Putin, who has seldom left the bloc of former Soviet nations since launching his war, is shunned by the West and wanted by an international court for alleged war crimes. Experts say he is also unwilling to travel anywhere he feels his personal security can’t be absolutely assured. He made his first known trip of the year outside of Russian-controlled territory last week, with a visit to Kyrgyzstan.

But despite Putin’s changing circumstances since his last time in Beijing, the two leaders have become increasingly aligned in presenting an alternative world view to the one offered by the West – as they seek to bring more countries alongside their efforts to shift a global balance of power they feel is stacked against them.

In an interview with China’s state broadcaster ahead of the event, Putin lavished praise on Xi, calling the Chinese president “steady, calm, pragmatic and reliable – a true world leader,” and hailing his “unique approach of dealing with other countries” that has shown no imposition or coercion, but rather provided others with opportunities.

The two leaders, who frequently refer to their close friendship, have met 40 times in the past decade, including twice since the start of the war in Ukraine. During their previous meeting in Beijing, Xi and Putin released a 5,000-word joint statement declaring a partnership with “no limits” and underscoring their deep alignment against the West.

Attending the forum will be a significant opportunity for Putin to “achieve international exposure … and show that Russia still has a strong friend in China,” said Li in Singapore.

“And for China, having an important international player like Putin to join the BRI summit is also politically important,” he added. Otherwise, the forum – the crowning event of Xi’s diplomatic year – is largely expected to include leaders from less-influential developing and middle income nations.

‘No limits’ no more?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put the growing China-Russia relationship to the test like no other event in recent history, placing Beijing under heavy scrutiny from Western nations for its close ties to its northern neighbor and raising questions about whether Xi had advance knowledge of Putin’s plan.

Beijing has since claimed neutrality in the conflict and called for peace, in recent months ramping up efforts to be seen as a potential peace broker, as concerns about its close ties with Russia further strained its relations with Europe and the United States.

But the world’s second largest economy has also become a key lifeline for a sanction-ridden Russia, which is now dependent on it for goods and energy purchases, and the two countries have deepened their interactions across a range of areas since the start of the war.

Last year, Russia and China saw record trade, which continued to grow in 2023. They’ve expanded security cooperation through more joint military drills and robust official dialogue, experts say, and continued to deepen diplomatic ties – including those of Putin and Xi, who earlier this year chose a state visit to Moscow as the symbolically significant first foreign trip of his third term as China’s President.

“China tries rhetorically and symbolically to put a certain distance between itself and Russia when it comes to talking to Western audiences,” said Alex Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center think tank in Berlin.

“(But) even if it’s officially not dubbed a ‘no limits partnership,’ (the China-Russia relationship) has become, in real terms, more solid, robust, and deep,” he said.

The short video clip shows Mia Schem lying on a bed, her right arm being bandaged by someone out of the frame. A long, fresh scar is clearly visible.

Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli woman, is being held hostage by the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The video released by Hamas on Monday is the first footage of any of the dozens of people held in the enclave.

Speaking into the camera, Schem, who looks pale, but is sitting up straight with her head held high, says she was injured and taken to Gaza, then pleads to be returned to her family.

As she speaks, loud rumbling can be heard in the background.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, Schem’s mother urged the government and world leaders to bring her daughter back home.

Holding a picture of her daughter, Keren Scharf Schem said: “I am begging the world to bring my baby back home, she only went to a festival party to have some fun and now she is in Gaza and she is not the only one.”

Scharf Schem said she did not know if her daughter was dead or alive until Monday and that all she knew is that she might have been kidnapped.

“I saw she is alive, I saw that she was… I heard before rumors that she was shot in the shoulder or in the leg so I can see she was shot in her shoulder, I see she had an operation, she looks very terrified, she looks like she is in big pain, and I can see that she says what they tell her to say,” she told reporters, urging everyone to “stop this terror” and bring her daughter back home along with other hostages.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it had informed Schem’s family about her kidnapping last week and are keeping in touch with them at this time.

‘We’re waiting for you, we love you’

It is still unclear how many hostages are held in Gaza. A spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video statement on Monday the number was at least between 200-250.

The spokesperson, Abu Obaida, said the Al-Qassam Brigades held about 200 hostages, while the rest was held by other “militant formations” in Gaza, adding that they cannot determine the exact number of hostages in the strip at this stage due to constant Israeli bombardment.

The IDF has been relentlessly pounding Gaza with airstrikes and artillery following the deadly Hamas terror attack. Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Monday that more than 2,800 people have been killed in Gaza.

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military said at least 199 people were being held hostage in Gaza. The IDF said it was using “all intelligence and operational means to return the abductees” and that “Hamas is trying to present itself as a humanitarian organization while acting as a hideous terrorist organization responsible for killing and kidnapping infants, women, children and the elderly.”

Abu Obaida added that the Al-Qassam Brigades will be releasing hostages holding foreign citizenship when “the opportunity arises on the ground,” and said Al-Qassam is “committed” to protecting them.

Schem was kidnapped from the Nova festival near the Gaza Strip after Hamas fighters launched a terror attack last Saturday that so far killed at least 1,400 people.

At least 260 people were found dead is the site of the festival, according to the IDF.

Scharf Schem said her daughter had messaged a friend who was also at the festival at 7:17 a.m. on Saturday morning saying, “They are shooting at us please come save us.”

Calling her daughter the “heart of the family” Scharf Schem described Mia as a caring sibling and “her best friend.”

A gunman suspected of killing two Swedish nationals in a terrorist attack in Brussels has died after being shot by police, bringing an end to an overnight manhunt.

The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office confirmed Tuesday that the suspect, whose identity is yet to be confirmed, has been killed.

Public broadcaster RTBF reported earlier that the suspect was killed during a police operation Tuesday morning in the Cage aux Ours district in the Brussels municipality of Schaerbeek, northeast of of the capital. He was carrying a weapon, RTBF reported.

The suspected gunman’s deadly attack Monday night came as Belgium hosted Sweden in a Euro 2024 qualifier soccer game at the King Baudouin Stadium 3 miles (5 kilometers) from downtown Brussels, forcing the match to be abandoned at half-time.

The stadium was later evacuated and fans were told to return home immediately, according to the National Crisis Center.

In a video posted on social media, a man identifying himself as the gunman claimed “to be inspired by the Islamic State,” a spokesperson for Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said, adding “the Swedish nationality of the victims was mentioned as a probable motivation for the act.”

“At this stage, there are no indications of a potential link with the Israeli-Palestinian situation. On the basis of both the facts and the claim, security measures have been taken as a matter of urgency to protect Swedish fans as much as possible,” spokesperson Eric Van Duyse said during a news conference.

The deadly shooting follows a spate of Quran-burning protests in Sweden and Denmark that has caused angry demonstrations in Muslim-majority countries, heightened security fears and left both Scandinavian nations questioning whether they need to review their liberal laws on freedom of speech.

A witness to the attack told Reuters that he heard a first gun shot, saw a couple running away and saw a white car accelerate past.

“That’s when I saw the assailant enter the building, who shot twice towards the man,” he said. “The man fell to the ground. I saw him fall because I was just nearby, I could see everything that was happening inside. I stayed there. I was frozen, I couldn’t move. I’m still shivering because of what happened. And then the man came back and shot another bullet, and he came out.”

Belgian authorities condemned the attack.

“Horrified by the terrorist attack that claimed two victims in the heart of Brussels,” Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “All necessary means must be mobilized to combat radicalism. Our thoughts go out to the victims, their families, and our police forces.”

Police were on the streets of Brussels to ensure safety, the city’s mayor Philippe Close posted on X.

In a post Tuesday on X, Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo offered his “deepest condolences to the relatives of this cowardly attack.”

After the suspected gunman was killed, the Belgian prime minister said on X that “our priority goes to the families of the victims to make sure they get the appropriate support.”

“We are now making sure the Swedish soccer fans can travel back home safely,” he added.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed his appreciation for the “international solidarity for Sweden” in a post on X on Tuesday.

He added: “While we mourn the victims, my government is working closely with relevant agencies and international partners. Together we stand united against terrorism.”

The country’s Crisis Center also posted to X asking people not to share images or videos of the incident “out of respect” for the victims.

The bodies of at least 52 people have been recovered from the Congo River after their boat capsized late last week, a provincial minister said on Monday, warning that the death toll could rise further with many still missing.

The boat was carrying over 300 people when it overturned near the town of Mbandaka in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo during the night on Friday. Over the weekend 30 were confirmed to have drowned with 167 missing.

Didier Mbula, provincial health minister for Equateur Province, told Reuters the number of dead had since risen.

“We have recorded 52 bodies that were pulled out. The search teams are still in the field, working. This is still a provisional toll, and it may increase further,” he said by phone.

Deadly boat accidents are frequent on Congo’s rivers and lakes, where vessels are frequently loaded well beyond their capacity. The country has few tarred roads across its vast, forested territory, and river travel is common.

On Monday, Transport Minister Marc Ekila said the boat that capsized should not have been navigating at night, was overloaded, and had not properly identified its owners or the number of passengers on board.

In a statement, he promised to implement rules to improve the safety of river transport and “minimize the recurring tragedies.”

Vital humanitarian aid is piling up at the shuttered Gaza border, despite diplomatic efforts to open a corridor with Egypt, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that water is running out for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the bombarded territory.

Gaza has been under siege by Israel for more than a week, in response to the deadly incursion by Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the coastal enclave, home to 2.2 million people.

Some are gathering at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza hoping to leave, as critical supplies like fuel, food and water run short, leaving hospitals on the brink of collapse and families facing dehydration and starvation.

Human rights groups have said Israel’s complete blockade on essential goods entering Gaza is in violation of international law. Amnesty International warned the “collective punishment” of civilians for Hamas’ incursion amounts to a war crime.

Israeli shelling has crushed the medical system in Gaza, with the Palestinian Ministry of Health urging people on Tuesday to donate blood amid severe drug and equipment shortages.

Amid growing international pressure to address the humanitarian crisis, United States President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday, an extraordinary wartime visit that follows intense efforts by Secretary of State Antony Blinken across the Middle East – including a seven-hour negotiation session with top Israeli officials.

On Tuesday, Blinken announced that the US and Israel “have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza.”

However, it is unclear if any progress was made on the opening of the Rafah crossing, the only entry point to Gaza not controlled by Israel.

Satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies show four 30-foot (9-meter) craters still blocking the roadway at the border crossing closest to the Egyptian gate; the cement slabs blocking the entrance are also visible in the photos.

Water warnings

Urgent calls for help are growing on both sides of the border.

On the Egyptian side, United Nations teams are waiting at the Rafah crossing, hoping they will be given the green light to enter Gaza and open a humanitarian corridor.

In a social media post Monday, WHO warned that Gaza faces an “imminent” public health crisis, with water running out and the lives of more than 3,500 patients in 35 hospitals at immediate risk.

There are about 84,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with many delivering every day, Harris said. “Babies don’t care about bombs, they come when they come.”

UN humanitarian envoy Martin Griffiths is expected to travel to Cairo on Tuesday to aid diplomatic efforts, according to a release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. His trip will include a visit to Israel.

A convoy of trucks carrying aid supplies was traveling through Egypt toward the crossing early Tuesday, according to state-affiliated media outlet Al-Qahera News. Much of the aid already arrived days ago, sent by multiple countries and international organizations.

On the Gaza side, large numbers of evacuees have gathered by the crossing, part of the mass displacement that has seen at least 1 million people flee their homes in the past week alone, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

One family of five Palestinian-Americans, all US citizens, drove to Rafah on Monday after hearing the borders would be opened, said Haifa Kaoud, whose husband Hesham is among the five stuck in Gaza.

“They drove down to Rafah on Monday and waited for hours, but it never opened,” she said, adding: “They don’t have much electricity or internet access, so they depend on us for information.”

The family had been visiting relatives in Gaza when the war broke out; now, their loved ones in the US are desperately trying to find ways to bring them home.

“The water is not clean and even though they still have food, they make sure not to eat too much so there’s enough for everyone,” Haifa said. “One of the brothers also takes heart medication and they’re concerned about that lasting too.”

UNRWA said Tuesday that Gaza’s last seawater desalination plant had shut down, bringing the risk of further deaths, dehydration and waterborne diseases.

The UN agency added that one line of water was opened for three hours in southern Gaza on Monday, serving just half the 100,000 population of Khan Younis.

Rising death toll

On Monday, the UN Security Council rejected a Russian resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire because it did not get the minimum number of votes needed. Several countries including the US, the United Kingdom and France voted against it because the draft did not condemn Hamas for the October 7 attack, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said left at least 1,400 people killed and scores taken hostage.

Over a week of Israeli bombardment has killed more than 2,800 people, including hundreds of children, and wounded more than 11,000 in Gaza, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday, according to the official Palestinian press agency, WAFA.

In the occupied West Bank at least 61 people have been killed, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

Casualties in Gaza over the past 10 days have now surpassed the number of those killed during the 51-day Gaza-Israel conflict in 2014.

‘No safe shelters’

Some Palestinians who fled to southern Gaza, after the IDF told them to leave northern regions, were killed by Israeli strikes at evacuation sites, according to health workers and civilians.

Mahmoud Shalabi, the senior programme director for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), said Israeli attacks were concentrated in southern Gaza overnight on Monday.

In one instance, a doctor working inside Al-Aqsa Hospital told Shalabi 80 Palestinians were killed, including 60 who were internally displaced people from Gaza City.

The doctor was working in the largest hospital in central Gaza, located south of Wadi Gaza, where the Israeli military encouraged civilians to flee for safety ahead of an anticipated ground assault.

“Many internally displaced people have died last night in those alleged safe areas,” Shalabi said on Monday. “When the Israelis are talking about safe shelters, there are no safe shelters.”

Zaqout said 40 bodies had been received at al Nasser hospital, while 60 victims of air strikes in Rafah had been received at al Najar hospital. Another ten bodies had arrived at the European hospital.

He said the bodies included some who rescue crews were able to extract from underneath the rubble of houses.

“Remember these houses were hosting families who fled the north of Gaza…and took shelter with family members or people who they know,” he said, adding there were 150 people in one house.

The Palestinian Interior Ministry said Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 49 people in strikes on the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, also pushed back against accusations of ethnic cleansing by a UN official who focuses on Palestinian rights. Erdan called the claims “utterly false,” accusing UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese of antisemitism.

In a statement Saturday, Albanese accused Israel of carrying out “mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians under the fog of war,” pointing to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians previously expelled or forced to flee their homes during conflicts in 1948 and 1967.

Under Israeli bombardment for days, Jason Shawa couldn’t sleep in his home south of Gaza City, so he decided to go to his window to light up a cigarette. There, the Palestinian-American heard shouting, and the sound of panicked cries from the street below.

Opposite the 55-year-old English-Arabic translator, people were fleeing a 10-story building, hauling mattresses, pillows and suitcases. Acting instinctively, and knowing an impending airstrike was likely, he woke his two young daughters, Zeinab, 9, and Malak, 6, from their beds in the basement, a makeshift bomb shelter.

Shawa and his wife grabbed the family’s “emergency bag,” a common item in a Gazan household, containing important documents such as passports and identification cards, but also old pictures of nostalgic value that were never digitized. The family rushed from their home, the daughters barefoot, to an empty hotel nearby, staying until dawn.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing south through the battered streets of Gaza after the Israeli military told them to leave northern areas of the densely populated strip, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is targeting Hamas militants after a brutal terrorist attack and ensuing rockets killed more than 1,400 Israelis and saw around 200 taken hostage.

Born in Seattle to an American mother and Palestinian father, Shawa is one of an estimated 500-600 Palestinian-Americans in Gaza. They were told by the US embassy that routes out of the Gaza Strip had been narrowed down to one: A passage through the southern Rafah crossing, into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. But that remains closed, by the Egyptians.

Right now, he is worried about the chaos that might ensue at the crossing and is grappling with putting his children in further danger. He would also be leaving behind family and friends that he has known for decades.

For others in the United States whose loved ones are in Gaza, the wait for news of when and how they will find a way out is becoming increasingly desperate.

Elshorafa, an American-Palestinian, escaped Kuwait with her family during the Gulf War in 1990, and lives in Camarillo, California. If she manages to get out of Gaza, her brothers, sisters and mother, will be left behind.

“You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Alshurafa said. “She wants to leave so she can be with her daughter and survive. But if she leaves, she doesn’t know what’s going to happen to her family, and the fate of her family. It’s an impossible situation to be in.”

Trapped with no way out

Even if Shawa decided to leave Gaza, he can’t right now.

US officials have been engaged in discussions for days to try to secure a humanitarian corridor that would allow Americans and other civilians to safely leave Gaza ahead of an expected Israeli military incursion. Thus far, Egypt has not allowed the Rafah crossing to open.

“We anticipate that the situation at the Rafah crossing will remain fluid and unpredictable,” the US State Department advised US citizens. “If you assess it to be safe, you may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing – there may be very little notice if the crossing opens, and it may only open for a limited time.”

Added to that, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 people in Rafah early Tuesday morning, according to a statement by the Palestinian Ministry of Interior. “When we see Hamas targets moving we will take care of it,” the IDF said in a briefing on Tuesday, responding to the Rafah bombing.

In another attack, at least five people were killed and 15 others were injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a multi-story house in Rafah, the Palestinian interior ministry said Monday.

“The US embassy sends standard security warnings and instructions, and I’ve seen statements by the US department of state,” said Shawa. “All of them talk about an opening of the border crossing with Egypt. But they all make sure to say in their statements that the information about this opening is derived from media sources, not official sources.”

The US embassy in Jerusalem put out a security alert Monday that said the Rafah crossing would open at 9 a.m. local time, “according to media reports.”

“I can’t go another day with this torture and false hope,” said Lena Beseiso, 57, of Salt Lake City.

Beseiso – who had not been to Gaza in 12 years – traveled there in late March to visit and spend time with her husband, daughters, niece, and grandson. She too is frustrated by the lack of options given by the US government after repeatedly calling the US embassy emergency lines to seek help.

A statement on the US State Department’s website said that: “The military conflict between Israel and Hamas is ongoing, making identifying departure options for U.S. citizens complex. We are working on potential options for departure from Gaza for U.S. citizens.”

The State Department has long warned Americans against travel to Gaza “due to terrorism, civil unrest, and armed conflict.”

A deteriorating nightmare

Shawa and his family are now in a second home of theirs, a two-bedroom apartment. After getting calls from terrified friends and neighbors, Shawa has now taken in more than 50 people in total, including nearly 20 children and some elderly.

“She (referring to a distant relative) has some kind of dementia or Alzheimer’s. We are not sure,” Shawa said. “These things aren’t easily diagnosed in Gaza, so you can imagine how disconcerting this whole thing is for her, waking up in the night at night and just finding 20, 30 people sleeping on the floor next to her.”

They have limited essential supplies, such as medicine and dry food, but couldn’t take any water because it was too heavy, so bought 500 liters to ration it between all the families. Between them they have five beds and five mattresses, so some adults sleep in the cars parked outside at night.

Shawa’s daughter Zainab celebrated her ninth birthday on Sunday. For a makeshift cake, the families managed to find a prepackaged donut amongst their belongings, and a candle to stick in the middle of it.

When Alshurafa had last spoken to his mother, she was worried about food and water supplies, and is running low on her heart medication.

Despite the dire situation the Palestinian-Americans face, they at least have some hope of being able to leave Gaza soon – a remote prospect for those without alternative passports.

“I get a platform as a US citizen,” said Alshurafa. “I’m lucky in the sense that we have hope and a chance of the border opening up for us, but the rest of the 2.3 million, they have nowhere to go. No borders are opening up for them.”