Israel's military says airdrops of aid will begin in Gaza as hunger grows

The Age

6 days ago

Deadly Israeli gunfire was reported twice close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north. In the first incident, at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks were killed, said staff at Shifa hospital, where bodies were taken. Israel's military said it fired warning shots to distance a crowd 'in response to an immediate threat.'
A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from aid trucks, but as they got close, they realised it was Israel's tanks. That's when the army started firing, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle was among those killed.
'We went because there is no food ... and nothing was distributed,' he said.
On Saturday evening, Israeli forces killed at least 11 people and wounded 120 others when they fired towards crowds who tried to get food from an entering UN convoy, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital, told the AP.
'We are expecting the numbers to surge in the next few hours,' he said. There was no immediate military comment.
AP video showed a group of weary Palestinian men carrying a body along with sacks of flour. They said he was hit by a truck but had no details. 'You die to fetch some food for your children,' said one man, Fayez Abu Riyala, thin and sweating.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, Israeli forces shot dead at least nine people trying to get aid entering through the Morag corridor, according to the hospital's morgue records. There was no immediate military comment.
Elsewhere, those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City and at least eight, including four children, in the crowded tent camp of Muwasi in Khan Younis, hospitals said.
Turning to airdrops, with a warning
The airdrops were requested by neighbouring Jordan, and a Jordanian official said they mainly will drop food and milk formula. The United Arab Emirates said airdrops would start 'immediately.' Britain said it plans to work with partners to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance.
But the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned that airdrops are 'expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians' and won't reverse the increasing starvation or prevent aid diversion.
While Israel's army has said it allows aid into the enclave with no limit on the trucks that can enter, the UN says it is hampered by military restrictions on its movements and criminal looting. The Hamas-run police had provided security for aid delivery, but it has been unable to operate after being targeted by airstrikes.
Israel on Saturday said over 250 trucks carrying aid from the UN and other organisations entered Gaza this week. About 600 trucks entered per day during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March.
Israel faces growing international pressure. More than two dozen Western-aligned countries and over 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticising Israel's blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out.
More than 1000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near the new aid sites run by the GHF, an American contractor, the UN human rights office says.
The charities and rights groups said their own staff struggled to get enough food.
Inside Gaza, children with no preexisting conditions have begun to starve to death.
'We only want enough food to end our hunger,' said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City as he tried to feed his family of six.
Meanwhile, an activist boat trying to reach Gaza with aid, the Handala, livestreamed video showing Israeli forces boarding around midnight. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Stalled ceasefire talks
Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday his government was considering 'alternative options' to talks. A Hamas official, however, said negotiations were expected to resume next week and called the delegations' recall a pressure tactic.
Egypt and Qatar, which mediate alongside the United States, said talks would resume but did not say when.
'Our loved ones do not have time for another round of negotiations, and they will not survive another partial deal,' said Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, one of 50 still in Gaza from Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Mor spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv.
More than 59,700 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.