deliveries

A week into the ceasefire, Israel has continued to seal Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt despite repeated international calls to allow in large-scale aid deliveries. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks killed and wounded several Palestinians in northern Gaza.

For several days, the United Nations has warned that there has been little progress in aid deliveries into Gaza and that assistance must enter at scale through all border crossings to meet urgent humanitarian needs. Under the deal to end Israel’s genocide, which has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in two years, Israel was to allow for a surge in aid deliveries.

The UN said on Friday that aid convoys were struggling to reach famine-hit areas of northern Gaza due to bombed-out roads and the continued closure of other key routes – Zikim and Beit Hanoon (called Erez in Israel) – into the enclave’s north.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it has brought an average of 560 tonnes of food per day into Gaza since the ceasefire began last week, but the amount is still below what is needed. The UN agency said it has enough food to feed all of Gaza for three months.

UN humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher said this week that thousands of aid vehicles would have to enter weekly to tackle widespread malnutrition, displacement, and a collapse of infrastructure.

“We’re still below what we need, but we’re getting there … The ceasefire has opened a narrow window of opportunity, and WFP is moving very quickly and swiftly to scale up food assistance,” WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told a news briefing in Geneva.

But the WFP said it had not begun distributions in Gaza City, pointing to the continued closure of Zikim and Beit Hanoon, with Israeli forces remaining in the north of the enclave where the humanitarian crisis is most acute.

As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, which calls for their gradual withdrawal, Israeli forces remain in approximately 53 percent of Gaza.

“Access to Gaza City and northern Gaza is extremely challenging,” Etefa said, adding that the movement of convoys of wheat flour and ready-to-eat food parcels from the south of the territory was being hampered by broken or blocked roads.

“It is very important to have these openings in the north; this is where the famine took hold. To turn the tide on this famine … it is very important to get these openings.”

Global medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initial MSF, said many relief agencies had not fully returned to the north, where hospitals are barely functioning, leaving many still unable to access regular care.

More Palestinians killed

As calls for much-needed aid continue, Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza have also gone on unabated.

Gaza’s civil defence said its teams are carrying out rescue operations after an Israeli artillery strike hit a small bus carrying a displaced family who were heading to inspect their homes east of Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

The attack caused “several deaths and injuries”, the agency said. One injured boy was rescued, while the fate of the others remains unknown “due to the danger at the site” as attempts to reach the area continue.

Separately, three Palestinians were injured, with varying severity, after Israeli forces opened fire towards them in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the Wafa news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Hamas insisted it was committed to returning the remains of Israeli captives still unaccounted for under Gaza’s ruins. The group’s armed wing said it has handed over all the bodies it was able to recover, adding that returning more remains would require allowing heavy machinery and excavation equipment into Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardment.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said there is “a clear disconnect” from what the Israeli government is demanding from an area that has been “reduced to rubble”.

With heavy equipment and machinery being blocked by the Israeli military, Israel is creating “a challenge for the residents of Gaza who are experienced and have the expertise to search and to dig out bodies from under the rubble,” Mahmoud said.

He noted that it is not just the bodies of deceased Israeli captives under the rubble, it is the “thousands of Palestinian bodies buried and missing and trapped under tonnes and tonnes of rubble and debris”.

Authorities in Gaza have also been struggling to identify dozens of bodies of slain Palestinians that were returned by Israel earlier this week. Only six out of 120 bodies have been formally identified so far, according to the Health Ministry.

The ministry said the bodies exhibit signs of torture, including hanging and rope marks, bound hands and feet, and gunfire at close range.

The bodies showed “conclusive evidence of field executions and brutal torture”, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.

Hamas disarmament

The next phases of the truce are expected to address the disarmament of Hamas, possible amnesty for its leaders who lay down their weapons, and the question of who will govern Gaza after the war.

Hamas politburo member Mohammad Nazzal said the group intends to maintain security control in Gaza during an interim period, adding that he could not commit to disarmament.

He told the Reuters news agency Hamas was prepared for a ceasefire lasting up to five years to allow for the reconstruction of Gaza, provided Palestinians are offered “horizons and hope” towards statehood.

Asked whether Hamas would give up its weapons, Nazzal replied, “I can’t answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you’re talking about – what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?”

He added that any discussion about weapons would not concern Hamas alone but also other armed Palestinian factions, and would require a collective Palestinian position in the next round of negotiations.

With Tesla’s (TSLA 1.32%) core electric vehicle business struggling this year, analysts and investors were anxious to get a glance at how EV deliveries would trend in the third quarter. The company delivered big time, reporting close to 497,100 deliveries, smashing Wall Street estimates of of 447,600. However, Tesla’s stock dipped immediately following the news, as the strong beat was not enough to excite Wall Street. What gives?

Expiration of the EV tax credit

Tesla’s third-quarter deliveries of nearly 497,100 blew out estimates and rose 7% year over year. That’s a sharp reversal from the first two quarters of 2025, when the company reported deliveries that fell 12% year over year compared to the first half of 2024.

Image source: Tesla.

But analysts clearly knew the quarter was going to be strong because President Trump’s big legislative spending bill passed by Congress earlier this year eliminated the $7,500 EV tax credit on Sept. 30, the last day of the third quarter. It became evident that consumers would likely rush to purchase Teslas before the cost of the vehicles increased.

According to Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, Tesla saw a 35% year-over-year increase in its U.S. sales in the third quarter, which he attributes to the rush before the EV tax credit expiration. “Investors should largely throw out the positive number,” Munster said, noting that the “the future will be autonomy.”

Still, other analysts were more optimistic. Morgan Stanley analyst said that Q3 deliveries came in at the top end of hedge fund estimates ranging from 450,000 to 500,000 deliveries. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the quarter a “massive bounceback” and said he is still high on the company’s autonomous vehicles and humanoid robotics businesses, which Ives and Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt think could catapult Tesla to a $2 trillion to $3 trillion market cap by 2026 or 2027.

Ultimately, I’m guessing the disappointing share action could be attributed to Tesla stock’s recent run-up. The stock is up close to 60% over the past six months.

Current state of the bull-bear debate

Tesla is still one of if not the most hotly debated stocks on Wall Street, with the bulls confident that it is the most innovative AI company in the world and the bears pointing to its staggering valuation of nearly 250 times forward earnings. As of this writing, Tesla trades at nearly $440 per share. The lowest Wall Street price target is an astounding $19 per share, while the high is $600 per share, which shows just how split the Street is on the name.

But one thing I think both the bulls and bears agree on is that the future of Tesla is going to come down to its autonomous driving business, for which Tesla is in the early stages of building out an autonomous ride-hailing fleet, and the humanoid robots business. If these businesses are as successful as analysts like Ives believe, than the stock can keep moving higher. But hiccups or a more competitive market than people think could send it tumbling.

Tesla has begun to launch pilot autonomous driving programs in select cities, while humanoid robots are still in prototype stage. The advantage of Tesla’s robotaxi business is that the vehicles can reportedly be built at a fraction of the cost of rival WayMo, which is also operating in several cities. However, it remains to be seen whether the technology can truly be perfected and deemed safe enough to be fully commercialized.

The simple reason I choose to avoid Tesla is that I think the market has assumed too much success in businesses that the public still knows far too little about. If Tesla is successful and jumps to $600 per share, that’s 40% upside, but if robotaxis and humanoid robots don’t work out as well as hoped, who knows that the stock is worth. As stocks get larger and surpass a $1 trillion market cap, maintaining the growth to hold such a high valuation becomes more difficult. The risk-reward proposition is not attractive to me.

Tesla (TSLA 3.94%) shares fell more than 4% last Thursday as investors digested disappointing Tesla vehicle registration data in Europe ahead of the company’s third-quarter deliveries update expected in early October. The electric vehicle maker sells premium battery-electric cars and energy storage products globally, with meaningful exposure to the European market.

The market’s question now is simple: Does the regional weakness point to a poor quarter, or is it mostly noise inside a broader and still-uncertain recovery?

Image source: Getty Images.

The latest Europe read was weak

News out Thursday showed Tesla’s European Union registrations fell about 37% year over year in August to roughly 8,200 vehicles, marking a second straight month in which the China-based BYD outsold Tesla in the bloc. Including the broader European region (the U.K., Norway, and other EFTA countries), Tesla still led in absolute units for August, but registrations were down about 22% year over year, underscoring persistent pressure in the region.

This softness in Europe follows a tough second quarter for the electric car maker. In Q2, Tesla delivered just over 384,000 vehicles — down 13% from about 444,000 in the year-ago period.

It is also worth recalling the company’s tone on the latest earnings call. CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that the near term may not be smooth, noting that things could get “rough” before they get better over the next few quarters. While that comment doesn’t guarantee weak third-quarter deliveries, it frames Tesla’s headlines about European deliveries within management’s own caution about the path back to growth.

Setting expectations for Q3

With only days left in the period when the August Europe data hit the tape, the right way to think about Q3 is probably through a conservative range, not a single-point guess. Start with what we know: Tesla delivered about 384,000 vehicles in the second quarter, it delivered roughly 463,000 in last year’s third quarter, and outside Europe there are mixed but not universally negative signals. Some trackers have flagged improving weekly registrations in parts of Europe late in September, and several outlooks have pointed to steadier demand in China and the U.S., even as Europe stays choppy. Still, Europe’s August decline argues for caution.

A reasonable, conservative estimate for Q3 deliveries is 430,000 to 455,000. The low end assumes Europe remains a drag through quarter-end and that China/U.S. improvement only partly offsets it. The high end assumes late-September sequential gains in key markets and typical quarter-end logistics help. That range sits close to widely cited expectations near the mid-440,000s and acknowledges both the seasonal lift from Q2 and the regional weakness that surfaced this week. For reference, landing near 445,000 would be down modestly year over year versus the roughly 463,000 delivered in last year’s third quarter.

Of course, in the end, no one knows where deliveries will come from. Further, note that this is a conservative estimate. There’s always a chance that deliveries could come in above this range (or even below).

Meanwhile, the stock’s valuation doesn’t help the bull case. At a market value well above $1 trillion and with a price-to-earnings ratio of 252 as of this writing, the stock embeds high expectations well beyond one quarter’s deliveries. Such a high valuation leaves less cushion if third-quarter deliveries disappoint, or if commentary points to rough demand trends going into year-end.

Of course, there are some significant positives for investors to consider, too. Energy storage deployments remain a bright spot. Furthermore, a recent Model Y refresh, advancements in self-driving technology, and a planned upcoming vehicle launch could all contribute to increased demand in the second half of the year. But given this fresh data on Tesla registrations in the E.U., it’s fair to say that risk sits a bit higher heading into next week’s update.

The bigger story, anyway, will be a forward-looking one. Investors should look for any insight management provides on how quickly it thinks deliveries can reaccelerate. Because sales are going to need to pick up sharply at some point in order for Tesla’s fundamentals to live up to its stock price.

Food delivery app DoorDash is setting its sights on a new destination to test out flying drone deliveries: San Francisco.

The tech company leased a warehouse in the Mission District last month that will serve as a research and development space to advance its autonomous delivery technology, a June letter sent to San Francisco Zoning Administrator Corey Teague shows.

“This project reflects a broader commitment to reinvesting in San Francisco’s innovation economy and creating pathways for local employment in emerging technologies,” the letter said.

The 34,325-square-foot building at 1960 Folsom St. is roughly two miles away from DoorDash’s headquarters. About 200 people are expected to be employed at the site.

DoorDash confirmed on Wednesday that the company will use the facility to test autonomous delivery technology and support research and development for its robotics and automation arm. The company didn’t immediately answer questions about whether California residents will soon be able to get food delivery via a drone.

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on DoorDash’s drone delivery plans.

Most of the testing would happen inside the warehouse but some of it will also occur outdoors during normal business hours in a gated area. The property includes a big outdoor area with surface parking, the letter said.

DoorDash has been piloting drone deliveries in other states including Texas, Virginia and North Carolina as well as Australia. DoorDash has partnered with aviation companies Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Flytrek, an Israeli drone delivery company.

Drone delivery companies have also teamed up with other businesses, including Amazon and Walmart.

The expansion of drone delivery highlights how automation and robotics, powered by artificial intelligence, could reshape the future of work. Companies have been experimenting with drone delivery as a way to get food to customers’ doorsteps within minutes.

DoorDash and Flytrek launched drone delivery in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, in June. The drones delivered from restaurants such as Papa Johns and The Brass Tap and could carry up to 6.6 pounds, according to a news release about the partnership.

In the letter sent to Teague, a San Francisco attorney writes she’s reaching out on behalf of a “leading technology company focused on last-mile delivery solutions” to confirm their client is permitted to use the site as “research and development (R&D) space for autonomous delivery technologies.”

Even though the attorney doesn’t name DoorDash in the letter, the building’s lease has been linked to the company.

“The test flights outdoors are anticipated to be up to approximately 150 feet above ground. No more than two drones would be operated at the same time, and no individual flight would exceed 30 minutes in duration,” the letter said.

DoorDash has also been expanding other types of delivery, including a partnership with Coco Robotics in which boxy robots with wheels deliver food throughout Los Angeles and Chicago.

While San Francisco is a leading hub for technology and innovation, city officials have also encountered safety concerns from residents concerned about running into robots as they take up space on sidewalks. In 2017, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to restrict delivery robots.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Transportation in August proposed a new rule that would make it easier for companies to fly drones over longer distances. A DoorDash spokesperson said the company is encouraged by the steps taken “towards making drone delivery a scalable, safe, and reliable option for more communities across the country.”

As of December 2024, roughly 42 million people used DoorDash monthly, according to the company’s full-year financial results.

Moscow is closely monitoring the West’s supply of weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin’s spokesperson says shortly after United States President Donald Trump announced the resumption of arms deliveries to Kyiv.

Dmitry Peskov also noted on Wednesday that a new phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was not currently planned but could quickly be arranged, according to Russian news reports.

The comments from the Kremlin came two days after the US president showed growing impatience with Russia over its war in Ukraine.

In his sharpest rebuke of Moscow so far, Trump announced on Monday that Putin had until early September, 50 days, to accept a peace deal or his country would face steep US sanctions.

Trump said they would be secondary tariffs targeting Russia’s trading partners in a bid to isolate it from the global economy.

Russia’s approach, in the meantime, is to “keep calm and carry on” in the face of Trump’s threats, experts said. There’s no certainty the pressure will push Putin towards ending the war.

On the campaign trail before November’s presidential election, Trump boasted that he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office.

However, after at least six phone conversations between Trump and Putin as well as several meetings between US officials and officials from Russia and Ukraine, no ceasefire has been reached.

“My conversations with him are very pleasant, and then the missiles go off at night,” Trump said of his frustration with Putin.

The US leader added that he would supply more weapons to Ukraine with European allies buying “billions and billions” of dollars of US military equipment to be transferred to Kyiv.

Patriot air defence systems are included in the plan, which Ukraine needs to defend itself against Russian missile and drone attacks.

Trump, however, has said Ukraine should not target Moscow after he reportedly asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if Kyiv could strike the Russian capital if he provided long-range weaponry.

Trump made the comments after The Financial Times on Tuesday reported that Trump had encouraged Zelenskyy to step up strikes deep inside Russian territory during their phone call on July 4.

The report, which quoted two unnamed people familiar with the discussion, said Trump had also asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether he could hit Moscow and St Petersburg if supplied with weapons with enough range.

In response to a question on Tuesday about whether Zelenskyy should target Moscow, Trump told reporters at the White House that he should not.

Overnight, the Russian military launched 400 drones and one ballistic missile, targeting cities across Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia.

The strikes injured at least 15 people and damaged energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday.

Power was down for 80,000 families in Kryvyi Rih and other parts of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine’s private energy company DTEK said on Telegram.

The Ukrainian air force stated it had successfully shot down most of the drones but 12 targets were hit by 57 drones and the missile.

In recent weeks, Moscow has increased its aerial bombardments against Ukraine with daily record numbers of drones and missiles being fired.

“Russia does not change its strategy, and to effectively counter this terror, we need a systemic strengthening of defences: more air defences, more interceptor [missiles], more determination to make Russia feel our response,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Wednesday.

After starting his second presidential term in January, Trump sought to portray Washington’s support for Ukraine as a drain on US resources.

Despite Trump’s more critical stance against Moscow this week, some American politicians continue to express concerns about his approach, warning that Putin could use the 50-day tariff deadline to capture more Ukrainian territory.

In a report that has yet to be independently verified, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that its army seized the settlement of Novokhatske in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

US envoy Keith Kellogg will travel to Kyiv early next week, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The United States is once again delivering military supplies to Ukraine and will also be sending its special envoy, Keith Kellogg, to Kyiv next week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

In his nightly address on Friday evening, Ukraine’s leader said that US aid shipments had been restored, following the Pentagon’s decision to briefly halt the delivery of certain weapons to Kyiv.

“We have received political signals at the highest level – good signals – including from the United States, from our European friends,” he said.

Zelenskyy added that his country was working with its allies “on new supplies, increased weapons production in Ukraine and better support for our army”.

“Next week, we will continue working with the US side on a military level, including between our military and General Kellogg,” he said.

At the start of July, the Trump administration paused shipments of weapons to Ukraine, including air defence missiles, over fears that its own stockpiles were dwindling.

The halt coincided with a spike in Russia’s aerial bombardment of Ukraine, with Moscow’s military firing 728 drones and 13 missiles against it on Wednesday, the largest daily total in more than three years of war.

The US military aid pause also came as Ukraine suffered its highest number of monthly civilian casualties in the entire war. In June, 232 people were killed and 1,343 injured, according to the human rights mission in Ukraine.

After announcing earlier this week that the US would resume shipments to Kyiv, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his country was sending weapons to NATO, which could then be sent on to Ukraine by its member states.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Friday that European nations could give some of their military supplies to Kyiv and order replacements from the US.

“It’s a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a [US] factory and get it there,” Rubio said during a visit to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, on the front line, the Russian military struck Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa on Friday morning, injuring at least eight people, according to Ukrainian local officials.

Overnight Russian attacks on eastern Ukraine also injured nine and forced the evacuation of a maternity centre in Kharkiv, President Zelenskyy said.

Drone attacks, shelling

Meanwhile, Russian officials noted that Ukrainian drone and shelling attacks had killed three people in the Russian regions of Belgorod, Lipetsk and Tula on Friday.

The Ukrainian military said on Telegram that it had targeted a Russian fighter aircraft plant in the Moscow region and a missile production facility in the Tula region on Friday.

Both drone attacks caused explosions and fires, Ukraine added.

The US’s decision to resume aid deliveries to Ukraine comes as Trump has signalled a growing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Amid an apparent thaw in relations, Rubio met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Malaysia on Friday. “We are talking, and that is a start,” Rubio said.

Lavrov later travelled to North Korea to hold talks. Pyongyang has been an important backer of Moscow, sending thousands of troops to Russia to help it in its war against Ukraine.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday the U.S. will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after ordering a pause in critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv.

The comments by Trump appeared to be an abrupt change in posture after the Pentagon announced last week that it would hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that stockpiles have declined too much.

“We have to,” Trump said. ”They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily.”

The pause had come at a difficult moment for Ukraine, which has faced increasing — and more complex — air barrages from Russia during the more than three-year-long war. Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least 11 civilians and injured more than 80 others, including seven children, officials said Monday.

The U.S. turnaround on weapons for Ukraine

The move last week to abruptly pause shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds and weaponry took Ukrainian officials and other allies by surprise.

The Pentagon affirmed late Monday that at Trump’s direction, it would resume weapons shipments to Ukraine “to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.” Still, spokesman Sean Parnell added that its framework for Trump to evaluate military shipments worldwide continues as part of “America First” defense priorities.

Trump, speaking at the start of a dinner he was hosting for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, vented his growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has struggled to find a resolution to the war in Ukraine but maintains he’s determined to quickly conclude a conflict that he had promised as candidate to end of Day One of his second term.

He has threatened, but held off on, imposing new sanctions against Russia’s oil industry to try to prod Putin into peace talks.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said last week that Trump has given him the go-ahead to push forward with a bill he’s co-sponsoring that calls, in part, for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil. The move would have huge ramifications for China and India, two economic behemoths that buy Russian oil.

“I’m not happy with President Putin at all,” Trump said Monday.

Russia’s transport minister is found dead

Separately, Russia’s transport minister was found dead in what authorities said was an apparent suicide — news that broke hours after the Kremlin announced he had been dismissed by Putin.

The firing of Roman Starovoit followed a weekend of travel chaos — airports grounded hundreds of flights due to the threat of drone attacks from Ukraine. Russian officials did not give a reason for his dismissal.

Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at airports in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but Russian commentators said the air traffic disruptions have become customary amid frequent Ukrainian drone raids and were unlikely to have triggered his dismissal.

Starovoit, 53, served as Russia’s transport minister since May 2024. Russian media have reported that his dismissal could have been linked to an investigation into the embezzlement of state funds allocated for building fortifications in the Kursk region, where he served as governor before being appointed transportation minister.

The alleged embezzlement has been cited as one of the reasons for deficiencies in Russia’s defensive lines that failed to stem a surprise Ukrainian incursion in the region launched in August 2024.

Russia fired more than 100 drones at civilian areas of Ukraine overnight, authorities said.

Russia recently has intensified its airstrikes on civilian areas. In the past week, Russia launched some 1,270 drones, 39 missiles and almost 1,000 powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

Russia’s bigger army also is trying hard to break through at some points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620 miles) front line, where Ukrainian forces are severely stretched.

Ukraine calls for more military aid

The strain of keeping Russia’s invasion at bay, the lack of progress in direct peace talks and last week’s halt of some promised U.S. weapons shipments have compelled Ukraine to seek more military help from the U.S. and Europe.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the pause in weapons to Ukraine came as part of a “standard review of all weapons and all aid” that the U.S. “is providing all countries and all regions around the world. Not just Ukraine.”

Leavitt said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the global review to ensure that “everything that’s going out the door aligns with America’s interests.”

Zelensky says Ukraine has signed deals with European allies and a leading U.S. defense company to step up drone production, ensuring Kyiv receives “hundreds of thousands” more this year.

“Air defense is the main thing for protecting life,” Zelensky wrote Monday on Telegram.

That includes developing and manufacturing interceptor drones that can stop Russia’s long-range Shahed drones, he said.

Extensive use of drones also has helped Ukraine compensate for its troop shortages on the front line.

One person was killed in the southern city of Odesa, another person was killed and 71 were injured in northeastern Kharkiv, and falling drone debris caused damage in two districts of Kyiv, the capital, during nighttime drone attacks, Ukrainian authorities said.

Russian short-range drones also killed two people and injured two others in the northern Sumy region, officials said. Sumy is one of the places where Russia has concentrated large numbers of troops.

Also, nine people were injured and seven killed in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, regional head Vadym Filashkin said.

More Russian long-range drone strikes Monday targeted military mobilization centers for the third time in five days, in an apparent attempt to disrupt recruitment, Ukraine’s Army Ground Forces command said.

Regional officials in Kharkiv and southern Zaporizhzhia said at least 17 people were injured.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that its troops shot down 91 Ukrainian drones in 13 Russian regions overnight, as well as over the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Novikov and Madhani write for the Associated Press. AP writer Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

A SHOPPING fan has claimed to have discovered the Shein “secret of the century.” 

So if you are fed up with long delivery times when you order clothes from the online retailer, then fear not, you’ve come to the right place.

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Natalie Southern, a fashionista from the UK, has found a very simple way that will enable Shein shoppers to get their affordable hauls delivered to their doors in less than a week.

Posting on social media, the fashion fan revealed her “life hack for the girlies” as she got candid on Shein’s Quickship feature.

Stunned by her findings after browsing Shein’s website, she said: “Please tell me I’m not the only one who’s just realised this on Shein – Quickship.”

Natalie then added: “Who knew that if you wanted your goods from Shein, there was a section where you can order from Quickship, where your goods come in a number of days rather than a number of weeks.”

Following this, the content creator simply confirmed: “I didn’t.” 

Thanks to Shein Quickship, shoppers will see items be delivered to their door in as little as three to five working days.

Shoppers will find a variety of items available under Quickship, including epic clearance deals, with clothes that have been reduced by up to 70%. 

Quickship comes at no extra cost to Shein shoppers – but of course, standard shipping fees apply – and there are thousands of great buys to browse and choose from. 

So if you’ve got an event coming up soon and don’t have time to wait for a new frock, you’ll need to check this out – and fast.

Natalie’s TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @nat_albarudi_southern, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 157,900 views.

It’s also amassed 2,926 likes, 188 comments, 596 shares and 4,947 shares. 

Social media users were stunned by the little-known Shein feature and many eagerly raced to the comments to express this. 

One person said: “Thank you for this video! God send.” 

I will be using that from now on as I order off Shein all the time

TikTok user

Another added: “Literally about to make an order!! Thank you, I had no clue this was a thing.”

A third commented: “Wish I knew this 15mins ago.” 

Meanwhile, one Shein shopper wrote: “I’ll be shopping even more now! I never knew this!” 

At the same time, another Shein lover beamed: “I will be using that from now on as I order off Shein all the time.”

However, one user claimed: “Just had a look. Items are so much dearer.”

But to this, Natalie wrote back and confirmed: “But still cheaper than high street shops and I have to be honest, Shein’s options are so much better than what I have on my local high street.”

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An NGO backed by Israel and the United States has announced that it is set to start distributing aid in besieged Gaza, despite its chief walking out, citing concerns over its independence.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said in a statement on Monday that it is set to launch direct aid delivery in the battered enclave, hours after its executive director, Jake Wood, announced his resignation.

GHF, which has been tapped to distribute food, medicine and other vital supplies that have been blocked by the Israeli military for two months, said that it aims to deliver aid to 1 million Palestinians in the territory by the end of the week.

The NGO said it then plans to “scale rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead”.

Israel said last week it would allow “minimal” aid deliveries into Gaza, where aid agencies warn of widespread famine and multiple deaths from starvation, but reports suggest that the few supplies that have entered the enclave have reached Gaza’s starving population of 2.3 million.

The United Nations and other aid agencies have refused to work with GHF, warning that the conditions under which it will work, including requiring Palestinians to gather at centralised aid points, will put people at risk and undermine other aid efforts.

Wood announced his resignation on Sunday, citing concerns over GHF’s independence.

The organisation could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon,” he said in a statement, and called for Israel to allow the entry of more aid.

The GHF board, in a statement, said it was “disappointed” by the resignation but remained committed to expanding aid efforts across the Strip.

A spokesperson for the US State Department also said it remained supportive of the NGO.

Wood’s departure follows growing criticism of GHF’s operational structure and independence.

The NGO, which claims it has been based in Geneva since February, emerged from “private meetings of like-minded officials, military officers and business people with close ties to the Israeli government”, according to The New York Times.

The UN and major humanitarian organisations have raised concerns that the GHF’s operations could undermine existing relief efforts, as well as restrict food access to limited areas of Gaza, which would force civilians to walk long distances to access aid and cross Israeli military lines.

There is also a worry that the GHF’s distribution plans, which the US and Israel say are designed to prevent Hamas from controlling aid, could be used to advance an Israeli objective of depopulating northern Gaza by concentrating aid in the south.

‘Weapon of war’

The controversy over the GHF unfolds against a backdrop of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, 1.95 million people – 93 percent of Gaza’s population – are facing acute levels of food insecurity, or not having enough to eat.

Aid agencies have described the crisis as a man-made famine, and have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.

Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at the University of Otago in New Zealand, told Al Jazeera that Wood’s resignation reflected the lack of support from established humanitarian bodies for GHF.

“It’s no secret that major aid donors had not been convinced by this proposal, which is essentially a start-up,” he said.

Patman also noted that many humanitarian actors argue that there is “no need for a new humanitarian organisation”, stressing that the international community should instead focus on lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

Aid agencies have continued to criticise Israel after it announced it had sent a small convoy of trucks carrying vital supplies into Gaza.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, confirmed on Friday that 107 trucks had entered the enclave the previous day, loaded with flour, medicine and equipment.

However, aid agencies and others have condemned Israel’s policy to allow only minimal volumes of aid into Gaza, which the Israeli military has been blockading for close to three months.

They insist that the supplies are nowhere near enough for the millions trapped in the territory, and add that even the small amounts making it in are not making it to people due to Israeli attacks and looting.

The shipments follow Israel’s announcement on Sunday that it would permit “minimal” humanitarian aid into the territory for the first time since implementing a total blockade in early March.

Amid warnings of mounting famine and humanitarian disaster, Israel said that the decision to allow aid into Gaza was driven by diplomatic concerns.

Global outrage has been rising as the 11-week siege has progressed, leaving Gaza’s 2.1 million people on the brink of starvation, with medicine and fuel supplies exhausted.

The United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has branded the aid deliveries “a drop in the ocean” and warned that far greater access is required to address the escalating crisis.

The UN estimates that at least 500 trucks of aid are needed daily. Since Monday’s announcement, only 300 trucks have made it in, including Thursday’s convoy, according to COGAT.

Attacks and looting

Aid agencies also state that even the aid that is being allowed into Gaza is not reaching people.

“Significant challenges in loading and dispatching goods remain due to insecurity, the risk of looting, delays in coordination approvals and inappropriate routes being provided by Israeli forces that are not viable for the movement of cargo,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Hamas officials said on Friday that Israeli air strikes had killed at least six Palestinians guarding aid trucks against looters.

An umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups said that just 119 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday, and that distribution has been hampered by looting, including by armed groups of men.

“They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger,” the network said in a statement.

The UN’s World Food Programme said on Friday that 15 of its trucks were looted in southern Gaza while en route to WFP-supported bakeries.

‘Most people living off food scraps’

Inside Gaza, the situation continues to deteriorate.

Dr Ahmed al-Farrah of Nasser Hospital told Al Jazeera that the health system is overwhelmed.

“Most people now live off food scraps of what they had in stock,” he said. “I predict there will be many victims because of food insecurity.”

Palestinian Health Ministry officials said on Thursday that at least 29 children and elderly people have died in recent days from starvation-related causes, with thousands more at risk.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s  spokesperson said aid is being distributed via UN mechanisms, but stressed the amount reaching Gaza “is not enough”.

The leaders of Britain, France and Canada warned Israel on Monday their countries would take action, including possible sanctions, if Israel did not lift aid restrictions.

“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law,” a joint statement released by the British government said.

“We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions,” it added.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused the trio of being “on the wrong side of history” and “supporting “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.