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At least 36 killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid in Gaza, hospital says

At least 36 killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid in Gaza, hospital says

Japan Today19-07-2025
Mourners react next to a body during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an early morning Israeli strike, according to medics, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
At least 36 people were killed by Israeli fire while they were on their way to an aid distribution site in Gaza at dawn on Saturday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots at suspects who approached its troops after they did not heed calls to stop, about a kilometer away from an aid distribution site that was not active at the time.
Gaza resident Mohammed al-Khalidi said he was in the group approaching the site and heard no warnings before the firing began.
"We thought they came out to organize us so we can get aid, suddenly (I) saw the jeeps coming from one side, and the tanks from the other and started shooting at us," he said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed group which runs the aid site, said there were no incidents or fatalities there on Saturday and that it has repeatedly warned people not to travel to its distribution points in the dark.
"The reported IDF (Israel Defense Forces) activity resulting in fatalities occurred hours before our sites opened and our understanding is most of the casualties occurred several kilometers away from the nearest GHF site," it said.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident.
GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation.
The U.N. has called the GHF's model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, which GHF denies.
On Tuesday, the U.N. rights office in Geneva said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks in the vicinity of aid sites and food convoys in Gaza - the majority of them close to GHF distribution points.
Most of those deaths were caused by gunfire that locals have blamed on the Israeli military. The military has acknowledged that civilians were harmed, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions with "lessons learned".
At least 50 more people were killed in other Israeli attacks across Gaza on Saturday, health officials said, including one strike that killed the head of the Hamas-run police force in Nuseirat in central Gaza and 11 of his family members.
The Israeli military said that it had struck militants' weapon depots and sniping posts in a few locations in the enclave.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed around 58,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis, leaving much of the territory in ruins.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a U.S.-proposed 60-day ceasefire and a hostage deal mediated by Egypt and Qatar, though there has been no sign of any imminent breakthrough.
At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are believed to still be alive. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was kidnapped from his kibbutz home and is held by Hamas, urged Israel's leaders to make a deal with the militant group.
"An entire people wants to bring all 50 hostages home and end the war," Zangauker said in a statement outside Israel's defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.
"My Matan is alone in the tunnels," she said, "He has no more time."
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
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Food Airdropped into Gaza as Starvation Deaths Rise
Food Airdropped into Gaza as Starvation Deaths Rise

Yomiuri Shimbun

time11 hours ago

  • Yomiuri Shimbun

Food Airdropped into Gaza as Starvation Deaths Rise

JERUSALEM – Airdrops of food have resumed in Gaza, said Israel and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, as deaths from starvation in the besieged enclave spread. Pallets of flour, sugar and canned food were dropped, the Israeli military said. The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, which has been involved in previous airdrops, said, 'We will ensure essential aid reaches those most in need, whether through land, air or sea.' A growing group of governments has volunteered to join airdrop missions into Gaza immediately to relieve the deepening crisis, but aid agencies have described the approach as an inadequate response and an Israeli attempt to whitewash a policy of deliberate starvation. The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday called that a 'false claim.' 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Roughly a thousand people seeking help have been shot to death, allegedly by Israeli forces, near distribution sites. With conditions worsening, foreign officials say, they need to resort to airdrops, a costly and inefficient means of delivery. 'Jordan is ready to help the people in Gaza by any means, whether it's land convoys or airdrops or anything,' said a Jordanian official, who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. 'People are hungry.' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the country was 'working urgently with the Jordanian authorities to get British aid onto planes and into Gaza.' 'The images of starvation and desperation in Gaza are utterly horrifying,' Starmer wrote Friday in the Mirror newspaper. 'News that Israel will allow countries to airdrop aid into Gaza has come far too late – but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route.' Starmer discussed airdrops in phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the British government said. 'The three leaders talked about the situation in Gaza, which they agreed is appalling,' the government said in a statement. 'The Prime Minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to air drop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance.' Macron said Thursday that France would recognize a Palestinian state. On Monday, more than two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israel's restrictions on aid shipments and the killings of Palestinians trying to reach food. Germany and Spain are considering joining the effort, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. The foreign ministry of France, which has participated in previous airdrops, did not respond to requests for comment. 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Nearly 600 trucks were sent into Gaza in the past week, the Israeli military said Saturday, or about 85 per day. Humanitarian and military analysts say airdrops should be used only as a last resort, in areas that are otherwise inaccessible. It's unclear what type of aircraft will be used. A C-130 plane can carry about 14 tons of aid; some trucks can carry more than 25. Jordan has coordinated hundreds of airdrop missions since the start of the war in October 2023 using its own planes as well as ones from the United Arab Emirates and France, but missions have been criticized for dropping food in the ocean and crushing people to death. In one instance, a pallet crashed through a roof and killed five. Critics say airdrops could cause more chaos, injuries or death, and it's not clear why dropping food from a plane makes it less likely to be stolen by Hamas. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinians, said streamlining truck distribution would be far more efficient. 'Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation,' he wrote on X. 'They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke. A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege.' Right-wing politicians in Israel have long criticized U.N. agencies for allegedly aiding Palestinian militants. Calls within Israel to dismantle U.N.-led aid distribution in Gaza have grown during the war. U.N. officials and Western diplomats routinely dispute the allegations. A bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development has found no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of U.S.-funded humanitarian supplies, Reuters reported Friday. Hamas-led fighters attacked communities and a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 more back to Gaza as hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign that has flattened much of the enclave, displaced nearly the entire population and killed more than 59,700 people. After Israel's barring of nearly all food and medical supplies into Gaza in early March, some delivery resumed in late May. Most has been through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group created by former CIA officials and headquartered in Delaware. Israel has allowed the foundation to move aid into Gaza more easily than U.N. agencies. Much of the aid is dried food that requires water and fuel to cook. Both are in short supply after Israel targeted water infrastructure in Gaza. The foundation was initially supposed to vet recipients to prevent aid from falling into the hands of Hamas, according to its early plans, but in practice, it has left packets of food in open fields for civilians to pick up. Distribution sites have frequently seen stampedes as the parents of starving children fight for food. Israeli soldiers have shot into the crowds with guns, witnesses say. Israeli military officials say they are reviewing incidents of alleged shooting and acknowledge that its soldiers fire 'warning shots' at approaching crowds. The foundation has delivered 90 million meals in the past two months – less than a meal per day per person. The foundation, backed by Israel and the Trump administration, and U.N. agencies in recent weeks have accused each other of being responsible for the starvation crisis. The foundation and Israeli officials say the U.N. has left aid sitting at the Gaza border, and whatever convoys it dispatches are mobbed by civilians as soon as they enter Gaza. The foundation, whose convoys are escorted by armed mercenaries, said this week it had said it would deliver the U.N. food packages free of charge, but the offer hasn't been accepted. The World Food Program on Friday released a list of obstacles to its work, including the difficulty of getting spare parts into Gaza for its trucks and the dearth of drivers approved by Israel to carry food into the enclave. The U.N. agency had requested permission for 138 aid convoys to collect cargo from the holding area, it said, but Israel approved only 76. After the trucks were loaded, the agency said, convoys waited up to 46 hours for permission to travel along a few approved routes. 'Each delay to aid convoys entering Gaza means more starving people gathering along known routes hoping to intercept trucks transporting food assistance,' the agency said in a statement. 'When aid trucks are held at checkpoints or rerouted multiple times, WFP teams and crowding civilians are exposed to significant risk: active hostilities, drone surveillance, sniper fire, and bombardments.'

Israel announces measure to allow more aid delivery into Gaza
Israel announces measure to allow more aid delivery into Gaza

NHK

timea day ago

  • NHK

Israel announces measure to allow more aid delivery into Gaza

Israel's military says it will work to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, announcing a limited pause in its activity to allow more aid to reach the area. Fighting continues in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas. Local health authorities said 133 people, including 87 children, have died due to famine and malnutrition since the conflict began in October 2023. The military said on Sunday that "a local tactical pause of military activity" will take place daily from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. starting on Sunday, mainly in coastal areas where many residents live as evacuees. The military said designated secure routes will also be in place to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organization convoys delivering and distributing supplies. The military said it carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid that included packages containing flour, sugar and canned foods. It said it also connected a power line from Israel to a desalination plant. The international community has been calling for the lifting of restrictions on the delivery of goods, but the Israeli military has expressed the view that there is no starvation in Gaza. The military says the United Nations, among others, is responsible for delivering supplies to residents.

Israel Announces Humanitarian Pause in Parts of Gaza
Israel Announces Humanitarian Pause in Parts of Gaza

Yomiuri Shimbun

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  • Yomiuri Shimbun

Israel Announces Humanitarian Pause in Parts of Gaza

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