‘We are being slaughtered': Gazans risk their lives on desperate journeys for food
Palestinians
in
Gaza
, Hind Al-Nawajha takes a dangerous, miles-long journey every day to try to get some food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive.
Accompanied by her sister, Mazouza, the mother of four ducked down and hid behind a pile of rubble on the roadside as gunshots echoed nearby.
'You either come back carrying [food] for your children and they will be happy, or you come back in a shroud, or you go back upset [without food] and your children will cry,' said the 38-year-old, a resident of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
'This is life, we are being slaughtered, we can't do it any more.'
READ MORE
In the past two days,
dozens of Palestinians have been killed
by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the
United Nations
(UN) and international relief agencies, Gaza-based medics said.
On Thursday, medics said at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the
US
- and
Israeli
-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the central Gaza Strip, the latest in near-daily reports of people being killed while seeking food.
Palestinian children gather at a hot meal distribution point in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images
The Israeli military said there were several attempts by 'suspects' to approach its forces in the Netzarim area in the central Gaza Strip in a manner that endangered them. It said forces fired warning shots to prevent suspects from approaching them and it was currently unaware of injuries in the incident.
In an email, GHF criticised Gazan health officials, accusing them of regularly releasing inaccurate information. It said Palestinians do not access the nearby GHF site via the Netzarim corridor, but it did not address questions about whether it was aware that such an incident had occurred.
Thirty-nine people were killed, meanwhile, in separate Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. One of those strikes killed at least 19 people, including women and children, in a tent in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they added.
[
Gaza's last hospitals battle to save patients amid severe depletion of life-saving medical items
Opens in new window
]
Another strike killed at least 14 people and damaged several houses in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave, medics said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on those attacks.
In recent days, the Israeli military said its forces had opened fire and used warning shots to disperse people who it said posed a threat when approaching areas where troops were operating. It said it was reviewing reports of civilian casualties.
Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through the GHF, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
A plume of smoke billows in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip after an Israeli air strike on Thursday. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images
The Gaza health ministry says hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach GHF sites since late May.
The UN rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, an allegation Hamas denies.
The GHF said in a statement on Wednesday that it had distributed three million meals across three of its aid sites without incident.
The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
[
I showed my friends in Israel this photo of a starving baby in Gaza and asked them if they knew
Opens in new window
]
Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis.
The Norwegian Refugee Council warned on Thursday that more than one million people were without adequate shelter, saying equipment such as tents and tarpaulins had been blocked by Israel from entering since March 1st.
Nawajha returned empty-handed on Wednesday from her journey to find food, flopping down exhausted on the dusty ground outside the tent in Gaza City where she has been sheltering with her family for the past 20 days.
They say they try to force their way into the distribution site when trucks carrying aid arrive, but are often outmuscled by men, who sometimes fight over sacks of flour coming off UN trucks.
'[When] there is no food, as you can see, children start crying and getting angry,' said Nawajha. 'When we are for three, four kilometres or more on our legs ... Oh my ... our feet are bruised and our shoes are torn off.' – Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
43 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Journalists protest over press death toll in Gaza amid accusations of Israeli ‘media blackout' strategy
Journalists across the world have been holding vigils and protests in solidarity with colleagues killed covering the Israel-Gaza war amid calls for an investigation into the deliberate targeting of reporters by the Israeli military . The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) estimates that at least 190 journalists and media workers have been killed since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023. Other groups put the death toll higher still, with UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric saying on Monday that 242 journalists have been killed. ' Israel 's media blackout strategy, designed to conceal the crimes committed by its army ... in the besieged and starving Palestinian enclave, must be stopped immediately,' said Thibaut Bruttin, the director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which defends journalists and press freedom worldwide. READ MORE RSF has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court and called for the European Union to suspend its trade agreement with Israel. Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif (28) was among six journalists killed in a targeted Israeli air strike last Sunday. The CPJ warned in advance that his life was in danger. Israel's military claimed Mr al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas military cell, though it did not provide convincing evidence to support the allegation which was previously rejected by the journalist before his death. A journalist holds a picture of Palestinian journalist and Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif who was killed by Israel's military in what it described as a targeted strike. Photograph: EPA On July 20th, Mr al-Sharif broke down in tears when a woman collapsed from hunger as he reported on widespread starvation in Gaza City. Israel, which says it controls about 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip , is aiming to take full control of Gaza City, relocating its one million residents further south. CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said Shaif's reporting of significant developments made his journalism particularly vital. 'It is no coincidence that the smears against al-Sharif – who has reported night and day for Al Jazeera since the start of the war – surfaced every time he reported on a big development,' said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah. 'Israel is murdering the messengers.' In addition to Gaza, Israeli forces have been accused of targeted and killing journalists in neighbouring Lebanon. International lawyers say deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime, regardless of any affiliation, unless the individual is directly participating in hostilities. Members of the media gathered on O'Connell Street, Dublin, to express outrage at Israel's ongoing targeting and killing of journalists. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni On Monday, Irish journalists held an emergency protest by the Spire in Dublin. On Wednesday, UK-based journalists held a vigil at Downing Street, while others were organised in cities including Istanbul, Barcelona, Damascus and Tel Aviv. 'They are burying journalists to bury the truth,' read one sign in Tel Aviv. 'You only target journalists when the truth is your enemy,' read another. The Israeli military said it 'takes all operationally feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians, including journalists. The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists as such ... The IDF directs its strikes only towards military targets and military operatives.' It claimed that 'terrorists' have disguised themselves as journalists. Israel bars foreign reporters from Gaza, apart from rare and controlled trips with the Israeli military. A recent petition , organised by the Freedom to Report group and signed by hundreds of international journalists, said it is vital to 'acknowledge the extraordinary work of Palestinian journalists inside Gaza'. 'Despite unimaginable danger, loss, and now starvation, they continue to document the war with extraordinary courage and professionalism,' the petition states. It said that not allowing international journalists into Gaza 'is the very playbook of authoritarianism: control the narrative, silence independent voices and sever the link between reality and public understanding.'
Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Irish Times
Far-right Israeli minister taunts jailed Palestinian leader during prison visit
The Palestinian Authority has reacted angrily after footage was released of Israel 's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, appearing to threaten prominent Palestinian Marwan Barghouti during a visit to his prison cell. 'You will not defeat us, whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders our children and women – we will wipe him out,' Mr Ben-Gvir appears to tell Mr Barghouti. 'You need to know this, it's been like this throughout history.' Mr Barghouti (66) has been incarcerated since 2002 when he was sentenced by Israel to five life sentences plus 40 years after a court convicted him of planning attacks in the occupied West Bank that led to the deaths of five civilians during the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising. The Palestinian Authority said the comments amounted to 'state terrorism.' READ MORE 'We condemn the raid by extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on the cell of commander Marwan Barghouti, directly threatening him. This is an unprecedented provocation and organised state terrorism,' a statement by the Palestinian foreign ministry read. Israeli media reported that Ben Gvir was visiting Tel Aviv's Gannot prison with Prisons Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi "to closely monitor the worsening of the imprisoned terrorists' conditions" — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee deputy chair Hussein al-Sheikh also criticised Mr Ben-Gvir's remarks. 'Ben-Gvir's threat against leader Marwan Barghouti in his cell is the peak of the psychological, moral and physical terror used against prisoners, and a grave violation of international and humanitarian treaties and conventions,' he wrote on X. But Mr Ben-Gvir, who has imposed numerous restrictions on Palestinian prisoners since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, rejected the Palestinian condemnation, saying he would repeat his statements 'again and again without apologising'. He referred to Mr Barghouti as an 'arch-terrorist' and called for his name to be erased, citing a Hebrew curse used for enemies of the Jews. The short video clip marked the first image of Mr Barghouti seen in public in over a decade. He was placed in solitary confinement at the start of the Gaza war . Relatives of Mr Barghouti said they were 'shocked by the changes in Marwan's facial features, from the fatigue and hunger he is in'. His wife, Fadwa, said she didn't recognise him. At the time of his arrest Mr Barghouti was the leader of the Tanzim militia, linked to the Fatah party led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Despite his imprisonment, Mr Barghouti has consistently topped opinion polls asking Palestinians who they would vote for in a presidential election, ahead of current Mr Abbas and leaders of Hamas. Although he is a senior member of Fatah, his support cuts across party lines. Palestinians have long sought his release, including through hostage deals, but Israel has so far rejected this. Hamas wants him set free as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel to end the Gaza war.
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sunday World
Appeal lodged in Lebanon over leniency of sentences in killing of Private Seán Rooney
Pte Rooney was killed while serving in Lebanon when a convoy of Irish troops serving with a UN peacekeeping force was ambushed and fired upon. Prosecutors in Lebanon have formally lodged an appeal against the sentences handed down to those indicted for the murder of Private Seán Rooney. Tánaiste Simon Harris, who wrote to the Lebanese government last month to express the 'disappointment' of the Irish government and the Rooney family in the leniency of the sentences, has said a new military chief prosecutor has been appointed in Lebanon and will take over the case. Pte Rooney (24), from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed while serving in Lebanon when a convoy of Irish troops serving with a UN peacekeeping force was ambushed and fired upon on December 14, 2022. The shooting, near the town of Al-Aqbiya in the south of Lebanon, a stronghold of militant group Hezbollah, resulted in the death of Pte Rooney while Trooper Shane Kearney (22) was badly wounded. Private Sean Rooney was killed while serving with a UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (Defence Forces/PA) News in 90 Seconds - August 13th A military tribunal in Beirut convicted one main defendant, Mohammad Ayyad, for the murder of Pte Rooney and has sentenced him to death, but he is still currently at large. A number of other men received lesser sentences in relation to the incident. An appeal against the sentences was lodged this afternoon with the military Cassation Court, with Mr Harris saying the Lebanese authorities have 'committed to taking urgent steps to ensure the individual convicted of the murder of Private Rooney is taken into custody'. Mr Harris said he met with Pte Rooney's mother, Natasha, who had criticised Mr Harris's engagement with the family on the matter, this afternoon and informed her of the developments in the aftermath of talks with the Lebanese Justice and Defence Ministers. He welcomed the confirmation that an appeal has been formally lodged against the sentences handed down for the murder of Pte Rooney and the attacks on Shane Kearney, Corporal Joshua Phelan and Trooper Nathan Bryan in the same incident, which he described as 'simply not acceptable and very disappointing'. 'I have this afternoon spoken with Seán's mother, Natasha, who I was pleased also to meet last week,' he added. 'I informed her of today's developments and have committed to following up directly with the Lebanese Government in relation to the appeal itself. 'In my calls with my Lebanese counterparts, I made it clear that the sentences handed down in this case are simply not acceptable and are very disappointing. 'They have caused great upset and insult to the Rooney family and everything must be done to ensure justice is served for Seán and his colleagues who were injured.'
