UN reports mounting toll among aid seekers as US envoy due in Gaza
GAZA CITY : Israeli forces have killed hundreds of hungry Palestinians waiting for aid outside US-backed food distribution points, the UN's rights office said Friday, as a special envoy from Washington was due to inspect the sites.
The visit by President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff also coincided with a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) that accused Israeli forces of presiding over 'regular bloodbaths' around the US-backed centres, which have become magnets for criticism since their inception in late May.
The UN's rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 people had been killed seeking aid in Gaza since May 27 – 105 of them in the past two days.
'Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,' the office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near the US-backed food sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys.
'These victims, the majority of whom appear to be young men and boys, are not just numbers,' the office said.
'Each person killed or injured had been desperately struggling for survival, not only for themselves but also for their families and dependants.'
Gaza's civil defence agency said 11 people were killed by Israeli fire and air strikes on Friday, including two who were waiting near an aid distribution site run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
GHF largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages of food and other essentials.
'Beyond imagination'
In its report on the GHF centres on Friday, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of illegally using starvation as a weapon of war.
'Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,' said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.
'US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.'
Responding to the report, the military said GHF worked independently but that Israeli soldiers operated 'in proximity to the new distribution areas in order to enable the orderly delivery of food'.
It accused Hamas of trying to prevent food distribution and said that it was conducting a review of the reported deaths, adding it worked to 'minimise, as much as possible, any friction between the civilian population' and its forces.
After arriving in Israel on Thursday, Witkoff held talks with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to resolve the almost 22-month-old war, feed desperate civilians and free the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militants.
Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and free the captives but is under international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and threatened many more with famine.
Following his discussions with Witkoff, Netanyahu met foreign minister Johann Wadephul of Germany, another staunch Israeli ally, who nonetheless delivered a blunt message.
'The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination,' Wadephul told reporters after the meeting, urging the government 'to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality'.
'I have the impression that this has been understood today,' he added.
Hostage video
On Thursday, the armed wing of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad released a video showing German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, 21, watching recent news footage of the crisis in Gaza and pleading with the Israeli government to secure his release.
'Even the strongest person has a breaking point,' his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel.
'Rom is an example of all the hostages. They must all be brought home now.'
On Friday, Wadephul also met relatives of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. According to the German foreign office, among the 49 hostages still held, a 'single-digit' number are German-Israeli dual nationals
'Germany continues to do everything in our power to achieve the release of the hostages,' Wadephul said, expressing outrage at the video release.
This 'horrible' footage reveals 'once again the utter depravity of the kidnappers', he said.
The Hamas-led Oct 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 people seized, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli military.
The Israeli offensive, nearing its 23rd month, has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry.
This week UN aid agencies said deaths from starvation had begun.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
5 hours ago
- New Straits Times
India presses for global 'code of conduct' over pilot poaching
NEW DELHI: India wants countries to agree a new code of conduct on hiring each other's airline staff after raising concerns that its fast-growing aviation system is being stifled by the poaching of Indian pilots and cabin crew without adequate notice. India, one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets, is wrestling with a shortage of experienced pilots, denting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aspiration of developing a job-creating global aviation hub. The recent fatal crash of an Air India jetliner has sparked tighter scrutiny of the sector. But foreign airlines are repeatedly hiring skilled staff from Indian airlines, "adversely impacting India's ability to develop its civil aviation sector in an orderly manner," India said in an August 1 working paper submitted to the UN's aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organisation. "Airlines from other (countries) tend to recruit experienced pilots, engineers, technicians, and cabin crew from Indian carriers, preventing India's civil aviation sector from achieving planned and orderly growth," India wrote in the paper, without identifying any foreign airline by name. "This practice creates a vicious cycle where Indian carriers are forced to continuously recruit and train replacement personnel by diverting resources from expansion activities and operational improvements." The paper was released on the ICAO website ahead of its triennial assembly. It has not previously been reported. India's Civil Aviation Ministry was not immediately available for comment. India's government said in April the country would need 30,000 pilots over the next 15–20 years, up from the current 6,000–7,000, as airlines collectively had more than 1,700 aircraft on order. India's domestic aviation sector is led by IndiGo and Air India, while all major international airlines from Emirates to British Airways to Lufthansa operate regular flights. In 2023, Air India exchanged barbs with Akasa Air over the poaching of pilots domestically. The working paper asks for the creation of a code of conduct on the movement of skilled aviation workers among ICAO's member countries. It doesn't specify how the code of conduct would work. "These challenges cause economic losses that affect Indian carriers' ability to compete in international markets ... and achieve its ambitious target of 300 million domestic passengers by 2030," the paper said. ICAO, which seeks to use consensus to set standards on everything from runways to seat belts, was created after the United States invited more than 50 allies to agree in 1944 to a common air navigation system.
New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Israel aims to control Gaza but not govern it: Netanyahu
WASHINGTON: Israel intends to take full control of Gaza but does not want to keep or govern it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of a security cabinet meeting on Thursday. "We intend to," Netanyahu replied, when asked in a televised Fox News interview if Israel will take control of "all of Gaza." Fox News said the interview occurred just before Netanyahu was to attend a security cabinet meeting on Gaza war plans. Netanyahu is expected to seek approval at the meeting for an expansion of military operations, including in densely populated areas where hostages are believed to be held, according to Israeli media. Asked by Fox News if Israel would control the entire 26-mile Gaza Strip "as it was 20 years ago," Netanyahu replied: "Well, we don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it."
New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- New Straits Times
UK outsourcing Gaza spy missions to US firm amid RAF shortfall
LONDON: The UK military has used US contractors to conduct spy flights over Gaza for Israel due to a shortage of British aircraft, The Times reported on Thursday. The UK government acknowledged this year that it conducts such flights over the war-ravaged Palestinian territory but insisted they were "solely in support of hostage rescue." The spy flights appear increasingly at odds with the UK government's growing public frustration with Israel over the war in Gaza, and increasing international demands for a ceasefire. Last week, Britain announced it would formally recognise a Palestinian state if steps including a ceasefire were not taken by mid-September. It has said the flights are part of its response to the Oct 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that set off the war. Out of 251 hostages captured during the attacks, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The Royal Air Force (RAF) had been using its Shadow R1 reconnaissance aircraft to film over Gaza aiding the search for the hostages, but turned to a US firm after the planes were reassigned or needed maintenance, according to The Times. The Nevada-based company being used is a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation, one of the world's largest military contractors, the newspaper said. It is likely to be seen as further evidence that Britain's military has been pared back too drastically over recent decades, primarily due to budget pressures. Relying on private sector contractors, which use an RAF base in Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, can have pitfalls. The flight path of a US-operated sortie last month over the largely destroyed Gazan city of Khan Yunis became public following what The Times called a "schoolboy" error. It said the plane's transponder had not been fully turned off, which meant it could be identified on flight-tracking websites and platforms as flying over southern Gaza. The UK defence ministry declined to comment, citing the need to protect operational security around intelligence matters. It reiterated Britain conducts surveillance flights over Gaza to help Israel locate hostages and only passes on intelligence related to that. In March, armed forces secretary Luke Pollard told MPs "these flights are solely in support of hostage rescue."
