Gaza accuses Israel of smuggling oxycodone in aid flour bags
In a statement, Gaza's government media office said prescription painkiller Oxycodone was found by Palestinians inside flour bags they received from US-run aid distribution points in Gaza.
'It is possible that these pills were deliberately ground or dissolved inside the flour itself, which constitutes a direct assault on public health,' it warned.
The media office held Israel fully responsible for this "heinous crime" aimed at spreading addiction and destroying the Palestinian social fabric from within.
'This is a part of the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinians,' it said, calling Israel's use of drugs a "soft weapon in a dirty war against civilians.'
Read: Israeli strikes kill 37 in Gaza within 24-hours
Gaza's Anti-Drug Committee has urged residents to inspect food aid and report any foreign substances, warning that some items from what it described as 'death traps called US-Israeli aid centres' may be contaminated.
Israel had crafted a plan to establish four aid distribution points in southern and central Gaza, which Israeli media say aims to evacuate Palestinians from northern Gaza into the south.
The Israeli mechanism was opposed by the international community and the UN, which came as an alternative attempt by Israel to bypass the aid distribution through UN channels.
Dr Khalil Mazen Abu Nada and pharmacist Omar Hamad elaborated on the findings, raising concerns over the potential misuse of the drug.
The most despicable form of genocide has recently come to light with the spread of a drug called Oxycodone among the population. Israel has reportedly been smuggling it in through bags of flour provided as aid.
As a pharmacist, let me explain what this drug is: it belongs to the… — Omar Hamad | عُـمَـرْ 𓂆 (@OmarHamadD) June 26, 2025
What is Oxycodone?
Oxycodone is typically prescribed for managing severe pain in cancer patients or post-surgical recovery. It is highly addictive and poses serious health risks if misused or consumed unknowingly.
'Weaponisation of food'
Meanwhile, the United Nations this week condemned Israel for what it called the 'weaponisation of food' in Gaza, labelling the practice a war crime. It also called on Israeli forces to 'stop shooting at people trying to get food'.
According to UN figures, over 410 Palestinians have been killed and at least 3,000 wounded while attempting to access or collect humanitarian aid since the beginning of the Israeli siege.
'Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food,' the UN human rights office said in briefing notes on Tuesday.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed body, began distributing food in Gaza on 26 May after Israel halted all official aid entry for over two months. The UN warned in May that '100 percent of the population' in Gaza is 'at risk of famine'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
8 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Palestinians say director of key Gaza hospital killed in Israel strike
GAZA CITY: Palestinian officials and witnesses said on Wednesday that an Israeli strike killed the director of the Indonesian Hospital, a key clinic in the north of war-ravaged Gaza. Doctor Marwan Al-Sultan was killed in his apartment in Gaza City along with his wife, daughters and son-in-law, a relative who said he found them, Ahmed al-Sultan, told AFP. Gaza's civil defence agency said seven people were killed in the strike early Wednesday afternoon, including Sultan, his wife and at least three of his children. The doctor's body was taken to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where mourners gathered around it, AFP journalists reported. 'His face was unrecognisable, we could barely identify him,' the director of that facility, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, told AFP. Surviving daughter Lubna Sultan paid tribute too her father at the hospital. 'His whole life was devoted to medicine and the struggle to treat patients,' she told AFP. Gaza rescuers say at least 10 killed in Israel strikes 'There is no justification for targeting him and his martyrdom.' The killing drew condemnation from Hamas and the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, where Israeli forces are battling to crush the Palestinian group. 'We strongly condemn this heinous crime against our medical personnel, and we ask Allah to grant him and his family mercy, after a long journey of service,' the ministry said. The Israeli army told AFP: 'The claim that as a result of the strike uninvolved civilians were harmed is being reviewed.' It said it 'struck a key terrorist from the Hamas terrorist organization in the area of Gaza City' on Wednesday. The Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, the group that runs the hospital, called the killing of the doctor and his family 'a flagrant violation of humanitarian principles and a grave act of injustice', saying those responsible 'must be held accountable'. An Israeli military operation targeted the Indonesian Hospital in mid-May, when the Gaza health ministry said the facility's electricity generators were deliberately destroyed.
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business Recorder
Over 14m people could die from US foreign aid cuts
PARIS: More than 14 million of the world's most vulnerable people, a third of them small children, could die by 2030 because of the Trump administration's dismantling of US foreign aid, research projected on Tuesday. The study in the prestigious Lancet journal was published as world and business leaders gather for a United Nations conference in Spain this week hoping to bolster the reeling aid sector. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) had provided over 40 percent of global humanitarian funding until Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. Two weeks later, Trump's then-close advisor — and world's richest man — Elon Musk boasted of having put the agency 'through the woodchipper'. The funding cuts 'risk abruptly halting — and even reversing — two decades of progress in health among vulnerable populations', warned study co-author Davide Rasella, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). 'For many low- and middle-income countries, the resulting shock would be comparable in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict,' he said in a statement. Looking back over data from 133 nations, the international team of researchers estimated that USAID funding had prevented 91.8 million deaths in developing countries between 2001 and 2021. That is more than the estimated number of deaths during World War II, history's deadliest conflict. The researchers also used modelling to project how funding being slashed by 83 percent — the figure announced by the US government earlier this year — could affect death rates. The cuts could lead to more than 14 million avoidable deaths by 2030, the projections found. That number included over 4.5 million children under the age of five — or around 700,000 child deaths a year. For comparison, around 10 million soldiers are estimated to have been killed during World War I. Programmes supported by USAID were linked to a 15-percent decrease in deaths from all causes, the researchers determined. For children under five, the drop in deaths was twice as steep, at 32 percent. USAID funding was found to be particularly effective at staving off preventable deaths from disease. There were 65 percent fewer deaths from HIV/AIDS in countries receiving a high level of support compared to those with little or no USAID funding, the study found. Deaths from malaria and neglected tropical diseases were similarly cut in half. Study co-author Francisco Saute of Mozambique's Manhica Health Research Centre said he had seen on the ground how USAID helped fight diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. 'Cutting this funding now not only puts lives at risk — it also undermines critical infrastructure that has taken decades to build,' he stressed. A recently updated tracker run by disease modeller Brooke Nichols at Boston University estimates that nearly 108,000 adults and more than 224,000 children have already died as a result of the US aid cuts. That works out to 88 deaths every hour, according to the tracker. After USAID was gutted, several other major donors, including France, Germany and the UK, followed suit in announcing plans to slash their foreign aid budgets. These aid reductions, particularly in the European Union, could lead to 'even more additional deaths in the coming years,' study co-author Caterina Monti of ISGlobal said.
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business Recorder
Red Cross ‘deeply alarmed' by intensifying hostilities in Gaza
GENEVA: The Red Cross said it was deeply worried Tuesday as Israel's military expanded its operations in Gaza, warning that the Palestinian territory's few remaining functional medical facilities were already overwhelmed. 'The International Committee of the Red Cross is deeply alarmed by the intensifying hostilities in Gaza City and Jabaliya, which have reportedly caused dozens of deaths and injuries among civilians over the past 36 hours,' the ICRC said in a statement. The increased operations came after days of mounting calls for a ceasefire, with US President Donald Trump among those urging Israel to strike a new deal to halt the war and bring home the hostages still held in Gaza. Israel's campaign to destroy the Palestinian group Hamas has raged on unabated, however, with Gaza's civil defence agency reporting Israeli forces killed at least 20 people on Tuesday. Hamas says open to talks as Israel keeps up Gaza strikes 'The intensification of hostilities comes as Gaza's already-decimated healthcare system struggles to absorb a relentless surge in critical cases,' the ICRC said. 'Nearly all public hospitals in Gaza are shut down or gutted by months of hostilities and restrictions on the entry of critical medicine, supplies and equipment.' It said the medical facilities that continue to function – including the Red Cross Field Hospital – were overwhelmed and running 'dangerously low' on essential supplies, including fuel, and even body bags. 'This severely compromises their ability to treat the wounded or ensure dignified management of the dead,' the Geneva-based ICRC said. Furthermore, it said widespread evacuation orders were pushing Gazans into an ever-shrinking space and create panic among civilians, and hamper the ability of first responders to reach those in need. 'The ICRC urgently reiterates its call for the protection of medical personnel and medical facilities in Gaza,' the organisation said, adding that they should not be deprived of resources. And it insisted that evacuated civilians should have satisfactory conditions of shelter, hygiene, health, safety and food. 'Many people in Gaza right now are injured, sick, or have disabilities. They are often unable to comply with evacuation orders. Constant care must be taken to spare them,' the ICRC said.
