44 killed in Israel attacks in Gaza, after food warehouse looted
GAZA CITY: At least 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, rescuers said, a day after a World Food Programme warehouse in the center of the territory was looted by desperate Palestinians.
After a more than two-month blockade, aid has finally begun to trickle back into Gaza, but the humanitarian situation remains dire after 18 months of devastating war. Food security experts say starvation is looming for one in five people.
The Israeli military has also recently stepped up its offensive in the territory in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war.
Gaza civil defense official Mohammad Al-Mughayyir told AFP '44 people have been killed in Israeli raids,' including 23 in a strike on home in Al-Bureij.
'Two people were killed and several injured by Israeli forces' gunfire this morning near the American aid center in the Morag axis, southern Gaza Strip,' he added.
Smoke billows in the background during an Israeli strike, as pictured from the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on Thursday. (AFP)
The center, run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), is part of a new system for distributing aid that Israel says is meant to keep supplies out of the hands of Hamas, but which has drawn criticism from the United Nations and the European Union.
'What is happening to us is degrading. The crowding is humiliating us,' said Gazan Sobhi Areef, who visited a GHF center on Thursday.
'We go there and risk our lives just to get a bag of flour to feed our children.'
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported deaths in Al-Bureij and near the aid center.
Separately, it said in a statement that its forces had struck 'dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip' over the past day.
In a telephone call Thursday with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel's 'systematic starvation tactics have crossed all moral and legal boundaries.'
An injured child cries while receiving medical care at the Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, following an Israeli strike, on Thursday. (AFP)
On Wednesday, thousands of desperate Palestinians stormed a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in central Gaza, with Israel and the UN trading blame over the deepening hunger crisis.
AFP footage showed crowds of Palestinians breaking into the WFP facility in Deir Al-Balah and taking bags of emergency food supplies as gunshots rang out.
'Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP's Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,' the UN agency said in a statement.
The issue of aid has come sharply into focus amid starvation fears and intense criticism of the GHF, which has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the Security Council that aid was entering Gaza by truck — under limited authorization by Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing — and accused the UN of 'trying to block' GHF's work through 'threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate.'
The UN has said it is doing its utmost to facilitate distribution of the limited assistance allowed by Israel's authorities
The world body said 47 people were wounded Tuesday when crowds of Palestinians rushed a GHF site. A Palestinian medical source reported at least one death.
GHF, however, alleged in a statement that there had been 'several inaccuracies' circulating about its operations, adding 'there are many parties who wish to see GHF fail.'
But 60-year-old Abu Fawzi Faroukh, who visited a GHF center Thursday, said the situation there was 'so chaotic.'
'The young men are the ones who have received aid first, yesterday and today, because they are young and can carry loads, but the old people and women cannot enter due to the crowding,' he told AFP.
Negotiations on a ceasefire, meanwhile, have continued, with US envoy Steve Witkoff expressing optimism and saying he expected to propose a plan soon.
But Gazans remained pessimistic.
'Six hundred days have passed and nothing has changed. Death continues, and Israeli bombing does not stop,' said Bassam Daloul, 40.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel ended the ceasefire on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
16 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza
JERUSALEM: Sixteen Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza on Friday, according to local health authorities, as a US- and Israeli-backed group said it had handed out aid in the enclave after earlier saying that its distribution sites were closed. Health authorities said strikes had killed people in Gaza's Jabalia, Tuffah, and Khan Younis areas. Witnesses and medics said that Israeli planes and tanks had intensified strikes on Jabalia and nearby Beit Hanoun since the early hours. The Israeli military issued an evacuation order for residents of parts of Gaza City on Friday ahead of an attack, as it presses an intensified campaign in the battered Palestinian territory. 'This is a final and urgent warning ahead of an impending strike,' army spokesman Avichay Adraee said. The army 'will strike all areas from which rockets are launched.' The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said by email it had delivered aid on Friday, despite earlier announcing on its official Facebook page that its distribution sites were closed until further notice and that people should stay away from the sites 'for their safety' after a series of deadly shootings. The GHF opened two sites in southern Gaza on Thursday after closing all of its centers the previous day in the wake of shootings in the vicinity of its operations. It has so far operated four distribution centers. The organization bypasses traditional relief agencies and has been criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the UN, for alleged lack of neutrality, which it denies. Palestinians collecting aid from GHF sites said there was no clear distribution system, describing the process as disorganized and chaotic. Footage released this week by the organization has shown similar scenes at one of its sites. GHF halted distributions on Wednesday and said it was pressing Israeli forces to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its operations after dozens of Palestinians were shot dead near the Rafah site over three consecutive days. The Israeli military said on Sunday and Monday that its soldiers had fired warning shots. On Tuesday, it said, forces also fired warning shots before firing toward Palestinians that it said were advancing toward troops. GHF has said that aid was safely handed out from its sites without any incident.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Syrian leader makes first visit to cradle of country's uprising
DAMASCUS: Syrian Arab Republic's interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Friday visited the southern city of Daraa, the cradle of the country's uprising, for the first time since ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad almost six months ago. State news agency SANA published footage showing a cheering crowd greeting Sharaa, who was seen waving and shaking hands with people during the visit, which came on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha. Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab visited Daraa's historic Omari mosque during the trip, the presidency said in a statement, releasing images of the visit showing the leader among the crowd. SANA also said he met with local civil and military officials, as well as a delegation from the Christian minority. Provincial governor Anwar Al-Zoabi said in a statement that the visit was 'an important milestone in the course of national recovery.' In 2011, young boys who had scrawled graffiti against Assad were detained in Daraa, sparking nationwide protests. After the war erupted following the brutal repression of protests, rebels seized control of Daraa and hung on until 2018, when the city returned to Assad under a deal mediated by Russia that allowed former fighters to keep their light weapons. On December 6, as Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) led a lightning offensive on Damascus from the country's northwest, a coalition of armed groups from Daraa province was formed to help oust Assad, who was toppled two days later. The province was plagued by unrest in recent years.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Grandmother files war crimes case in Paris over Gaza killings
PARIS: The grandmother of two children with French nationality killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza has filed a legal complaint in Paris, accusing Israel of 'genocide' and 'murder,' her lawyer said on Friday. Jacqueline Rivault filed her complaint with the 'crimes against humanity' section of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said. Rivault hopes the fact that her daughter's children, aged six and nine, were French citizens means the country's judiciary will decide it has jurisdiction to designate a magistrate to investigate the allegations. Rights groups, lawyers, and some Israeli historians have described the Gaza war as 'genocide.' Jacqueline Rivault filed her complaint with the 'crimes against humanity' section of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said. The complaint states that 'two F16 missiles fired by the Israeli army' killed Janna, six, and Abderrahim Abudaher, nine, in northern Gaza on October 24, 2023. They and their family had sought refuge in another home 'between Faluja and Beit Lahia' after leaving their own two days earlier due to heavy bombardment, the 48-page document stated. One missile entered 'through the roof and the second directly into the room where the family was,' it said. Abderrahim was killed instantly, while his sister Janna died shortly after being taken to the hospital. The complaint argues the 'genocide' allegation is based on the air strike being part of a larger Israeli project to 'eliminate the Palestinian population and submit it to living conditions of a nature to entail the destruction of their group.' Though formally against unnamed parties, the complaint explicitly targets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government, and the military. The children's brother Omar was severely wounded but still lives in Gaza with their mother, identified as Yasmine Z., the complaint said. A French court in 2019 convicted Yasmine Z. in absentia of having funded a 'terrorist' group by distributing money in Gaza to members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry there, figures the UB deems reliable. No court has so far ruled that the ongoing conflict is a genocide. But in rulings in January, March, and May 2024, the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest judicial organ, told Israel to do everything possible to 'prevent' acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
