Rate of Gaza children suffering acute malnutrition rate nearly triples, survey shows
GENEVA, June 5 (Reuters) - The rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since a ceasefire earlier this year when aid flowed more freely, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and released by the U.N. on Thursday.
The report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave is under intense scrutiny because of deadly shootings close to the operations of a new U.S.-backed system.
After the two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it - something the militant group denies.
Around 5.8% out of nearly 50,000 children under five who were screened in the second half of May were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, an analysis by a group of U.N. and other aid agencies known as the nutrition cluster showed.
This was up from 4.7% in early May and nearly three times the rate in February during a pause in fighting in the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas, the analysis said. It did not specify the exact rate in February, nor say how many children were screened.
The analysis also reported an increase in severe acute malnutrition cases among children -- a life-threatening condition that compromises the immune system.
It said centres to support medical complications from severe cases in north Gaza and Rafah in the south of the enclave have been forced to close, leaving children without access to lifesaving treatment.
It did not give a reason for the closures but many medical centres have run out of supplies, been damaged in the war or attacked by Israel, which accuses Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hamas denies using them in this way.
A Palestinian minister reported 29 starvation-related deaths among the children and elderly in just a few days last month.
Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that doctors in the Gaza Strip were donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid.
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Belfast Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Israel says its military has retrieved body of Thai hostage from Gaza
The country's prime minister's office said on Saturday that the body of Thai citizen Nattapong Pinta was returned to Israel in a special military operation. The announcement comes as Israel continues its military offensive across the strip, killing at least 95 people in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza's health ministry. Mr Pinta was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity near the start of the war, said the Israeli government. This comes two days after the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages were retrieved. Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza, of whom Israel says more than half are dead. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday that Mr Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area. He had come to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture. The army said he was taken into Gaza by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that it said had also abducted and killed Shiri Bibas and her two small children. It is also the same group that took the two Israeli-American hostages, Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved by the army on Thursday. Israel said it found Mr Pinta's body based on information received from the hostage taskforce and military intelligence. A statement from the hostage forum, which supports the hostages, said it stands with Mr Pinta's family and shares in their grief. It called on the country's decision makers to bring home the remaining hostages and give those who have died a proper burial. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas militants. Many of the Thai agricultural workers lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, and Hamas militants overran those places first. A total of 46 Thais have been killed during the conflict, according to Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before Mr Pinta's body was retrieved, three Thai hostages remained in captivity and two were confirmed dead. The fate of Mr Pinta was uncertain until Saturday, according to the hostage forum. The retrieval of Mr Pinta's body comes as Israel continues its military campaign across Gaza. Hospital officials said they received the bodies of nearly two dozen people on Saturday. Four strikes hit the Muwasi area in southern Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, one strike hit a flat, killing seven people including a mother and five children. Their bodies were taken to Shifa hospital. Israel said on Saturday that it is responding to Hamas's 'barbaric attacks' and is dismantling its capabilities. It said it follows international law and takes all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. They are still holding 55 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages from Gaza and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The offensive has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly two million Palestinians.
Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Dawn French is criticised for her 'smug dismissal' of Israeli Hamas victims by woman who lost TWO relatives to terror gunmen
Actress Dawn French has been criticised by a woman who lost two of her relatives to Hamas terrorists after she published a video on social media in which she criticised Israel 's continued war in Gaza. The Vicar of Dibley star, 67, posted to X discussing her thoughts on the 'nuanced' situation, in which she dismissed reasons cited by some Israelis for the continued conflict with a simple 'no'. French appeared to criticise supporters of Israel's actions amid the ongoing war against Hamas in which almost 55,000 Gazans, many of them women and children, have been killed. Now Heidi Bachram, who lost two of her husband's cousin's immediate family after Hamas militants invaded their kibbutz on October 7, has accused French of appearing to 'minimise or dismiss the severity and horror inflicted that terrible day.' It comes as the Israel Defence Forces was again accused of killing people at an aid centre in Gaza on Saturday, and the Israeli government confirmed the body of a hostage taken on October 7 has been recovered. During the 40-second video posted earlier this week, French said: 'Complicated, no, but nuanced. But [the] bottom line is no.' Describing reasons some Israelis give for continuing the war against the backdrop of much of the population being at risk of starvation due to an ongoing aid blockade by the predominantly Jewish nation, the British comedian said: 'Yeah, but you know they did a bad thing to us... and we want that land... and we have history… Those people aren't really even people, are they?' While agreeing that the October 7 attacks were 'a bad thing', French followed each reason with the word 'no', implying Israel should halt its renewed offensive. While the video has received widespread support from those against Israeli actions, Ms Bachram was amongst several prominent figures to rail against her statement and accused her of a 'smug dismissal' of Israeli victims. In an emotional statement on X, Ms Bachram wrote: 'My husband's cousin Tsachi Idan was at home asleep when the terrorists invaded his kibbutz. The family hid in the safe room but there was no lock so he held it shut. 'The terrorists forced, at gunpoint, a local teenager to try to lure them out. When that did not work they fired at head height at the door. 'Tsachi's eldest daughter Ma'ayan was helping her father protect the family. The bullet hit her in the head and she died instantly. 'We know every detail of this horror because Hamas were live streaming and recording. 'They then held the family inside their home for five hours and it became their base of operations while they murdered and kidnapped dozens of civilians on the kibbutz. 'They marched Tsachi to Gaza covered in his child's blood. There he was held hostage for many months until at some point he was killed. His body was returned in February.' She added: 'To describe this so glibly adds to a deep well of pain.' Jewish Actress and playwright Tracy-Ann Oberman also said she was 'saddened' by the post. 'This mocking voice 'bad thing' of October 7 that Dawn (who I revere by the way) appears to be mocking involved the most horrific terrorist attack involving rape, sexual violence, burning alive child, mutilation and the taking of civilian hostages. 'Why would Dawn seem to deny that which has affected so many of us personally in the most painful way possible. 'I can mourn the horrors of the war in Gaza whilst also remembering the horrors of what started it. Is this how most of our industry feels now – Oct 7 was a 'little thing'? NO!' Reacting to those who accused her of diminishing the horrors of October 7, French posted on X and said: 'I do not say 'a little thing' . In NO WAY do I support the atrocities of Oct 7th. 'Of course not. Appalling. Horrific. But starving innocent children is not the answer. NO is the answer to ALL of it Tracy.' It comes as the Hamas-led health ministry said at least 95 Palestinians have been killed over the past 24 hours. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces have killed at least six people in a shooting incident near a US-backed aid distribution centre in the territory's south. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), 'six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout' in southern Gaza's Rafah area. Gazans have massed at Al-Alam almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid at a centre about one kilometre (0.6 miles) away, operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Actress and playwright Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was 'saddened' by the post Samir Abu Hadid, who was witnessed the shooting, said thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout. 'As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,' Abu Hadid said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident, the latest deadly fire near the Al-Alam aid point. The GHF began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month blockade on the Gaza Strip. The United Nations, which has refused to cooperate with the GHF over neutrality concerns, has warned that Gaza's entire population of more than two million people was at risk of starvation. In the territory's north early Saturday, Bassal said seven people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a house near Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also said today that the IDF had recovered the body of a Thai hostage taken on October 7. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified. Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza. Israel's military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week. Israel has been waging a military campaign in Gaza since Hamas' incursion on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. At least 20 of the remaining 55 hostages still held by Hamas are thought to be alive. According to official Hamas figures, at least 54,772 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Friday for residents of parts of Gaza City ahead of an attack that 'will strike all areas from which rockets are launched'. Israel has recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas amid growing international calls for a negotiated ceasefire.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Body of Thai hostage recovered from Gaza, Israel says
Israel has retrieved the body of a Thai national taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack in October 2023, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the body of Nattapong Pinta was retrieved during a special operation in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on Friday. The 35-year-old was working as an agricultural labourer in southern Israel when he was kidnapped. Mr Nattapong is likely to have been killed during his first months of captivity, an Israeli military official said. Before the operation, it was not known whether he was dead or comes after the Israeli army recovered the bodies of two Israeli Americans in Gaza earlier this week. Mr Nattapong was the married father of a young son, the military official said. He had been working at Kibbutz Nir Oz to support his family in Thailand when he was captured by a militant group called the Mujahideen Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the mission to recover his body was launched following information from the interrogation of a "captured terrorist".After reports of his recovery on Saturday, the BBC tried to reach out to Mr Nattapong's wife. She did not answer the call but texted back with a picture of her son Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group said the recovery comes after "20 terrible and agonising months of devastating uncertainty".The group urged the Israeli government to reach an agreement with Hamas to free the remaining Nattapong is believed to be the last remaining Thai national abducted during the 7 October 2023 attack. Five Thai hostages were released during a ceasefire earlier this year - all of them Israeli army retrieved the bodies of an elderly couple, Judy and Gadi Haggai, in the Gazan city of Khan Younis on couple were killed at the same kibbutz and their bodies were also held by the Mujahideen Brigades, according to the launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack almost 20 months ago, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken 54 of those captured during the attack remain in captivity, including 31 the Israeli military says are least 54,677 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory's health ministry. Additional reporting by Thanyarat Doksone
