LIVE: Israel kills 13 in attacks since dawn as five starve to death in Gaza
At least 44 Palestinians were killed across the enclave on Wednesday, including 18 aid seekers. The number of people who have died from starvation and malnutrition rose to 193, with five new confirmed hunger-related deaths in the past 24 hours.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
Israeli forces kill 21 aid seekers as Gaza starvation death toll rises
Agencies Gaza Israeli attacks have killed at least 39 people, including 21 seeking humanitarian aid and 11 who starved to death, over 24 hours in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities said. Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Saturday that the total number of malnutrition deaths has reached 212, including 98 children, since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths have occurred in recent weeks as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on aid supplies entering Gaza after partially lifting a total blockade in late May. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, told Al Jazeera that famine continues to pose a serious risk 'especially among children and the elderly'. 'Malnutrition among children leads to decreased immunity and may lead to death,' he said. On Friday, the World Food Programme (WFP) called on Israel to allow the delivery of at least 100 aid trucks per day to Gaza, noting that only 60 of its aid truck drivers have been vetted and approved by the Israeli military to date. The 100 trucks per day the organisation called for is a fraction of the 600 per day other United Nations agencies and Gaza authorities have said are needed to meet the basic needs of Gaza residents. 'Since July 27, 266 WFP trucks arriving at crossing points were turned back, 31 percent of which had initially been approved,' the agency's latest report said. 'Convoy movements are frequently hampered by last-minute changes by Israeli authorities, and heavy insecurity due to military activities along convoy routes.' In its latest statement on Saturday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, noted that it has not been allowed to bring any humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food and medicine, for more than five months, depriving hungry and ailing Palestinians of what they need to survive. UNRWA has been calling on Israel to lift its siege on Gaza, saying the ongoing airdrops of humanitarian aid from several countries 'are very expensive and ineffective' at reaching those urgently in need. The warnings come as Israeli forces continued to escalate their attacks across the territory. Six people were killed by Israeli soldiers while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Two other Palestinians were also killed and transported to the Nasser Medical Complex from a GHF aid distribution site in the southern part of the territory. One woman was killed and another person was wounded in an Israeli air strike targeting an apartment in Khan Younis in the south. According to the Gaza Health Ministry's latest count, at least 39 people have been killed in 24 hours. Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 61,369 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 152,850. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive. As the death toll continues to soar, international condemnation of Israel's conduct in the war is growing, with several countries raising alarm over Israel's plans to seize Gaza City in an operation that could forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to concentration zones in southern Gaza. A rare emergency UN Security Council meeting has been scheduled on Sunday to address the plan approved by Israel's security cabinet this week. In Gaza City, residents were defiant, promising not to leave in the event of a new Israeli ground offensive. Umm Imran told Al Jazeera that there was nowhere safe in Gaza. 'They say go south, go to al-Mawasi, but there is nowhere safe any more – north, south, east or west. No one and nowhere is safe. We will stay here.' Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said residents were unable to sleep on Friday night after the announcement by Israel. 'People are wondering what's going to happen to them, what's going to be left of Gaza if Israel moves on with its approved plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City,' he said. The Israeli plan has also been condemned by the foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In a joint statement on Saturday, the diplomats warned that Israel's plan will 'aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians'. 'Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.' Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also urged Muslim nations to work in unison to oppose Israel's plan. Speaking at a joint news conference in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fidan said members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had been called to an emergency meeting to tackle the crisis.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Israeli forces kill 21 aid seekers as Gaza starvation death toll rises
Israeli attacks have killed at least 39 people, including 21 seeking humanitarian aid and 11 who starved to death, over 24 hours in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say. Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Saturday that the total number of malnutrition deaths has reached 212, including 98 children, since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths have occurred in recent weeks as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on aid supplies entering Gaza after partially lifting a total blockade in late May. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, told Al Jazeera that famine continues to pose a serious risk 'especially among children and the elderly'. 'Malnutrition among children leads to decreased immunity and may lead to death,' he said. On Friday, the World Food Programme (WFP) called on Israel to allow the delivery of at least 100 aid trucks per day to Gaza, noting that only 60 of its aid truck drivers have been vetted and approved by the Israeli military to date. The 100 trucks per day the organisation called for is a fraction of the 600 per day other United Nations agencies and Gaza authorities have said are needed to meet the basic needs of Gaza residents. 'Since July 27, 266 WFP trucks arriving at crossing points were turned back, 31 percent of which had initially been approved,' the agency's latest report said. 'Convoy movements are frequently hampered by last-minute changes by Israeli authorities, and heavy insecurity due to military activities along convoy routes.' In its latest statement on Saturday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, noted that it has not been allowed to bring any humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food and medicine, for more than five months, depriving hungry and ailing Palestinians of what they need to survive. UNRWA has been calling on Israel to lift its siege on Gaza, saying the ongoing airdrops of humanitarian aid from several countries 'are very expensive and ineffective' at reaching those urgently in need. The warnings come as Israeli forces continued to escalate their attacks across the territory. Six people were killed by Israeli soldiers while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Two other Palestinians were also killed and transported to the Nasser Medical Complex from a GHF aid distribution site in the southern part of the territory. One woman was killed and another person was wounded in an Israeli air strike targeting an apartment in Khan Younis in the south. According to the Gaza Health Ministry's latest count, at least 39 people have been killed in 24 hours. Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 61,369 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 152,850. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive. 'No one and nowhere is safe' As the death toll continues to soar, international condemnation of Israel's conduct in the war is growing, with several countries raising alarm over Israel's plans to seize Gaza City in an operation that could forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to concentration zones in southern Gaza. A rare emergency UN Security Council meeting has been scheduled on Sunday to address the plan approved by Israel's security cabinet this week. In Gaza City, residents were defiant, promising not to leave in the event of a new Israeli ground offensive. Umm Imran told Al Jazeera that there was nowhere safe in Gaza. 'They say go south, go to al-Mawasi, but there is nowhere safe any more – north, south, east or west. No one and nowhere is safe. We will stay here.' Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said residents were unable to sleep on Friday night after the announcement by Israel. 'People are wondering what's going to happen to them, what's going to be left of Gaza if Israel moves on with its approved plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City,' he said. The Israeli plan has also been condemned by the foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In a joint statement on Saturday, the diplomats warned that Israel's plan will 'aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians'. 'Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.' Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also urged Muslim nations to work in unison to oppose Israel's plan. Speaking at a joint news conference in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fidan said members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had been called to an emergency meeting to tackle the crisis.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
In my Gaza maternity ward, life and death coexist, but so does hope
It is 2am in the obstetrics and gynaecology emergency department of Assahaba Medical Complex in Gaza City. Through the open windows, I can hear the never-ending hum of drones in the sky above, but aside from that, it is quiet. A breeze flows through the empty hall, granting relief from the heat, and a soft blue glow emanates from the few lights that are on. I am six months into a yearlong internship and 12 hours into a 16-hour shift. I am so tired that I could fall asleep here at the admissions desk, but in the calm, a rare sense of peace envelopes me. It is soon shattered by a woman crying in pain. She is bleeding and gripped by cramps. We examine her and tell her that she has lost her unborn baby – the child she has dreamed of meeting. The woman was newly married, but just a month after her wedding, her husband was killed in an air raid. The child she was carrying – a 10-week-old embryo – was their first and will be their last. Her face is pale, as though her blood has frozen with the shock. There is anguish, denial, and screams. Her screams draw the attention of others, who gather around her as she falls to the ground. We revive her, only to return her to her suffering. But now she is silent – there are no cries, no expression. Having lost her husband, she now endures the pain of losing what she hoped would be a living memory of him. Life insists on arriving It is my sixth night shift in obstetrics and gynaecology. I am supposed to rotate through other departments – spending two months in each – but I have already decided to become a gynaecologist during this rotation. Being in this ward brings joy to my life – it is where life begins, and it teaches me that hope is present regardless of the terrible things we are enduring. Giving birth in a war zone – amid bombing, hunger, and fear – means life and death coexist. Sometimes, I still struggle to understand how life insists on arriving in this place surrounded by death. It amazes me that mothers continue to bring children into a world in which survival feels uncertain. If the bombings don't take us, hunger might. But what surprises me most is the resilience and patience of my people. They believe their children will live on to carry an important message: That no matter how many you have killed, Gaza responds by refusing to be erased. Childbirth is far from easy. It is physically and emotionally exhausting, and mothers in Gaza endure excruciating pain without access to basic pain relief. Since March, the hospital has seen a severe shortage of basic supplies, including pain relief medication and anaesthetics. When they cry out as I stitch their tear wounds without anaesthesia, I feel helpless, but I try to distract them by telling them how beautiful their babies are and reassuring them that they have gotten through the hardest part. With constant hunger here, many pregnant women are fatigued and do not gain enough weight during pregnancy. When the time comes to deliver, they are exhausted even before they begin to push. As a result, their labour can be prolonged, which means more pain for the mother. If a baby's heartbeat slows, she might need an emergency Cesarean section. Practicing medicine here is far from ideal. Hospitals are overwhelmed, and resources are severely limited. We're constantly battling shortages of medical supplies. On every night shift, I work with one gynaecologist, three nurses and three midwives. I usually deal with the easier tasks, such as assessing conditions, suturing small tear wounds, and assisting with normal deliveries. A gynaecologist takes the more complicated cases, and a surgeon performs the elective and emergency Caesarean sections. The surgeon always reminds us to minimise the consumption of gauze and sutures as much as possible, and to save them for the next patient who may arrive in desperate need. I try to discard and replace gauze only after it is completely saturated with blood. Power outages make things even more difficult. The electricity cuts out several times a day, plunging the delivery room into darkness. In those moments, we have no choice but to switch on our phone flashlights to guide our hands. During a recent shift, the electricity went out for nearly 10 minutes after a baby was born. The mother's placenta hadn't been delivered yet, so we used our phone lights to help her. Many of the best medical professionals in Gaza have been killed, like Dr Basel Mahdi and his brother, Dr Raed Mahdi, both gynaecologists. They were killed while on duty at Mahdi Maternity Hospital in November 2023. Countless others have fled Gaza. Most of the time, the doctors around me are too overworked to offer guidance or teach me the practical skills I had hoped to learn, though they try their best. Still, some moments pierce through the exhaustion and remind me why I chose this path in the first place. These encounters stay with me longer than any lecture or textbook could. At dawn, a new baby During one shift, a pregnant woman came in for a routine check-up, accompanied by her five-year-old daughter, whose smile lit up the room. She had come to learn the baby's gender. As I prepared the ultrasound, I turned and playfully asked the little girl, 'Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?' Without hesitation, she said, 'A boy.' Surprised by her certainty, I gently asked why. Before she could respond, her mother quietly explained. 'She doesn't want a girl. She's afraid she'll lose her – like she lost her older sister, who was killed in this latest attack.' Another day, a woman in her tenth week of pregnancy came to the obstetrics clinic after being told by a doctor that her baby's heart was not beating. As I performed an ultrasound to check the fetus, to my surprise and relief, I detected a heartbeat. The woman cried with joy. On that day, I witnessed life where it was thought to have been lost. Tragedy touches every part of our lives in Gaza. It is woven into our most intimate moments, even around the joy of expecting a new life. Safety is a luxury we've never known. At 6am, as dawn breaks on the morning of my shift, we welcome a new baby born to a mother from the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, an area surrounded by Israeli soldiers and tanks. As the first rays of sunlight pierce the delivery room, the mother cries happy tears, her face flushed as she hugs her baby girl. Having endured a night filled with fear, missiles, and snipers, the mother and her family managed to reach the hospital safely. In this moment, they celebrate and find a reason to hope again.
