Israeli forces kill 62 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn, medics say
The death toll includes 38 Palestinians seeking aid at distribution sites operated by the controversial United States and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The deaths are the latest killings reported near GHF-operated sites, despite Israel's announcement last week that it would begin implementing 'tactical pauses' in fighting in some areas to allow Palestinians greater access to humanitarian aid.
Israel announced the start of the daily pauses in military operations on July 27. However, 105 Palestinians were killed while seeking food on Wednesday and Thursday alone, the United Nations Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said on Friday.
As of Friday, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid, according to the human rights office.
Another 169 Palestinians, including 93 children, have died of starvation or malnutrition since the start of Israel's war in October 2023, according to figures from Gaza's Ministry of Health.
Palestinians in the enclave have reported numerous cases of Israeli soldiers and American security contractors hired by the GHF deliberately firing on aid seekers in the vicinity of the distribution sites.
Facing growing international condemnation over the conditions in Gaza, Israel has in recent days allowed airdrops of aid into the enclave by countries including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Spain, Germany and France.
But humanitarian groups, including the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, have warned that the airdrops are insufficient and called on Israel to facilitate the free flow of assistance via land.
Gaza's Government Media Office said that just 36 aid trucks entered the enclave on Saturday, far short of the 600 trucks it said were needed to meet the humanitarian needs of the population.
In Khan Younis, a Palestine Red Crescent Society staffer was killed and three others wounded by an Israeli attack on its headquarters, according to the aid group.
'One Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) staff member was killed and three others injured after Israeli forces targeted the Society's headquarters in Khan Younis, igniting a fire on the building's first floor,' the PRCS said in a post on X on Saturday.
Reporting from central Gaza's Deir el-Balah earlier on Saturday, Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary said that Palestinians have not seen any improvement in their situation despite the recent deliveries of aid.
'In the markets, you barely find food. Whatever is available is very, very expensive, and Palestinians are still forced to risk their lives to get whatever they can get,' Khoudary said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, on Saturday said Gaza was experiencing a famine that had been 'largely shaped' by the attempts to replace the UN-led aid system with the 'politically motivated' GHF.
'Sidelining & weakening UNRWA has nothing to do with claims of aid diversion to armed groups. It is a deliberate measure to collectively pressure & punish Palestinians for living in Gaza,' Lazzarini said in a post on X.
UNICEF has warned that malnutrition in Gaza has exceeded the threshold for famine, with 320,000 young children among those at risk of acute malnutrition.
'We are at a crossroads, and the choices made now will determine whether tens of thousands of children live or die,' Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, said in a statement on Friday after a recent visit to Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel forces shoot Palestinian boy in eye at aid site amid Gaza starvation
A Palestinian teenager, shot in the eye by Israeli forces while desperately seeking food for his family near a United States and Israeli-backed GHF site in Gaza, is unlikely to regain sight in his left eye, doctors treating him have said, as the population of the besieged and bombarded enclave suffers from forced starvation. Fifteen-year-old Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Israeli soldiers kept shooting at him even after he was struck by a bullet, making him think 'this was the end' and 'death was near'. Relaying the harrowing chain of events from a hospital bed with a white bandage covering one eye, Abu Jazar said he went to the site around 2am (23:00 GMT). 'It was my first time going to the distribution point,' he said. 'I went there because my siblings and I had no food. We couldn't find anything to eat.' He says he moved forward with the crowd until he reached al-Muntazah Park in the Gaza City environs about five hours later. 'We were running when they began shooting at us. I was with three others; three of them were hit. As soon as we started running, they opened fire. Then I felt something like electricity shoot through my body. I collapsed to the ground. I felt as though I had been electrocuted … I didn't know where I was, I just blacked out. When I woke up, I asked people 'Where am I?'' Others near Abu Jazar told him he had been shot in the head. 'They were still firing. I got scared and started reciting prayers.' A doctor at the hospital held a phone light near the boy's wounded eye and asked him if he could see any light. He could not. The doctor diagnosed a perforating eye injury caused by a gunshot wound. Abu Jazar underwent surgery and said, 'I hope my eyesight will return, God willing.' Hospitals receive bodies of more aid seekers Gaza's Health Ministry reports that 119 bodies, including 15 recovered from under the rubble of destroyed buildings or other places, and 866 wounded Palestinians have arrived at the enclave's hospitals over the past 24 hours. At least 65 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid, and 511 more were wounded. Israeli forces have routinely fired on Palestinians trying to get food at GHF-run distribution sites in Gaza, and the United Nations reported this week that more than 1,300 aid seekers have been killed since the group began operating in May. In the meantime, the UN office in Geneva has warned that one million women and girls in Gaza are now starving, as the territory's humanitarian crisis grows more dire. In a post on X, the UN said: 'This horrific situation is unacceptable and must end.' Gaza's famine and malnutrition crisis has been worsening by the day, with at least 175 people, including 93 children, now confirmed dead from the man-made starvation of Israel's punishing blockade, according to the territory's Health Ministry. More than 6,000 Palestinian children are being treated for malnutrition resulting from the blockade, according to the Global Nutrition Cluster, which includes the UN health and food agencies.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Israeli forces kill 62 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn, medics say
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Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
One in three Palestinians in Gaza going days without food, says UNICEF
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