Amnesty says Israel deliberately starving Gaza's Palestinians
Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation in the 22-month-old war.
In a report citing testimonies of displaced Palestinians and medical staff who treated malnourished children, Amnesty said that 'Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.'
The group accused Israel of 'systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life'.
'It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented, over the past 22 months, to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction – which is part and parcel of Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,' Amnesty said.
The report is based on interviews conducted in recent weeks with 19 displaced Gazans sheltering in three makeshift camps as well two medical staff in two hospitals in Gaza City.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military and foreign ministry did not immediately comment on Amnesty's findings.
Russia bans Amnesty International as 'undesirable' organization
In a report issued last week, the Israeli defence ministry's COGAT, a body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, rejected claims of widespread malnutrition in Gaza and disputed figures shared by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
In April, Amnesty accused Israel of committing a 'live-streamed genocide' against Palestinians by forcibly displacing Gazans and creating a humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged territory, claims that Israel dismissed at the time as 'blatant lies'.
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Business Recorder
7 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Amnesty says Israel deliberately starving Gaza's Palestinians
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Rights group Amnesty International on Monday accused Israel of enacting a 'deliberate policy' of starvation in Gaza, as the United Nations and aid groups warn of famine in the Palestinian territory. Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation in the 22-month-old war. In a report citing testimonies of displaced Palestinians and medical staff who treated malnourished children, Amnesty said that 'Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.' The group accused Israel of 'systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life'. 'It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented, over the past 22 months, to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction – which is part and parcel of Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,' Amnesty said. The report is based on interviews conducted in recent weeks with 19 displaced Gazans sheltering in three makeshift camps as well two medical staff in two hospitals in Gaza City. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military and foreign ministry did not immediately comment on Amnesty's findings. Russia bans Amnesty International as 'undesirable' organization In a report issued last week, the Israeli defence ministry's COGAT, a body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, rejected claims of widespread malnutrition in Gaza and disputed figures shared by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. In April, Amnesty accused Israel of committing a 'live-streamed genocide' against Palestinians by forcibly displacing Gazans and creating a humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged territory, claims that Israel dismissed at the time as 'blatant lies'.
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Express Tribune
54 killed in fresh Israeli air and hunger strikes
A malnourished Palestinian child gets a check up at a medical point run by a local NGO affiliated with the primary health care of the Palestinian health ministry in al-Mawasi, in the southern Gaza Strip district of Khan Yunis, on August 13, 2025. — AFP At least 54 Palestinians, including 22 aid seekers, have been killed and 831 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in 24 hours, according to the enclave's Health Ministry. Four bodies were also recovered from the rubble of previous Israeli attacks, the ministry said on Telegram. In a latest update, a source at al-Ahli Arab Hospital told Al Jazeera that Israeli military fighter jets have bombed a home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing at least eight people, quoting Gaza's Health Ministry. [Anadolu] The ministry has also recorded four more hunger-related deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the total count of hunger-related deaths to 239, including 106 children. The total number of aid seekers killed since May 27, when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism through the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has reached 1,881, with more than 13,863 injured, the statement said. Read: Weaponised aid Natasha Davies, a nursing activity manager with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), told Al Jazeera there is aid sitting all around the boundary between Israel and Gaza that is not being allowed in. 'We've had a couple of trucks in [to Gaza], but really, it's just a drop in the ocean … We run primarily a trauma surgical hospital, so every single patient has a wound of some sort that needs fixing with supplies that we are intermittently receiving,' Davies said by videolink from Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis. 'It's just a humanitarian catastrophe. There are these GHF sites, which are slaughter masquerading as aid, which create mass casualty incidents, which create more injuries for us to treat with limited resources,' she said. 'The aid drops, which are not only ineffective but dangerous, just create chaos. They … cause more injuries. It's just a never-ending cycle of trauma and injuries for the Palestinian people, which could easily be changed if Israel would facilitate the movement of our trucks inside. We have roads. We have trucks. Everything is ready,' she said. Palestinians scramble to collect aid supplies from trucks in Khan Younis [Reuters] The aid blockade has led to a devastating reality; in the past few weeks, people literally started to faint in the streets, medical staff collapsed while operating on patients, and blood donors were deemed unfit to donate blood due to malnutrition. The claim by Israel and the Israeli military that there is no limit to humanitarian aid is absolutely baseless and largely contradicted on the ground. For five months, the delivery of life-saving supplies has been deliberately strangled by the Israeli military. The result has left warehouses empty, hospitals without medicine, and families without any food. The UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has said that temperatures reached above 40°C in Gaza, 'making an already desperate situation far worse.' In a post on X, UNRWA said: 'Bombardments and forced displacement continue. With limited electricity and fuel, there is no relief from the extreme heat." Temperatures in #Gaza are soaring above 40°C, making an already desperate situation far worse. With very limited water available, dehydration is increasing. Bombardments and forced displacement continue. With limited electricity and fuel, there is no relief from the extreme… — UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 14, 2025 New Israeli settlement plan would cut off West Bank from East Jerusalem Al Jazeera correspondent Hamdah Salhut says Israeli plans to greenlight the construction of more than 3,000 homes in the E1 area settlement of the occupied West Bank are in line with its goal of blocking the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has announced his intention to approve the construction of thousands of housing units in the E1 area, which connects Jerusalem with the existing illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, located several kilometres to the east. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich walks to visit the Damascus Gate to Jerusalem's Old City, as Israelis mark Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem on May 26, 2025. — Reuters 'The main problem here, with this E1 plan, is that it would completely cut off the occupied West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem, essentially… destroying all territorial continuity that would [be needed for] a future Palestinian state,' said Salhut. 'What this government has said is that they want to do everything in their power to block the establishment of a Palestinian state.' Smotrich himself has said the expansion of the E1 settlement 'buries the idea of a Palestinian state'. Palestinians in Gaza City have spoken of their fears of further displacement, following an Israeli forced evacuation order to areas further south, ahead of a proposed occupation of the city. One woman, Walaa Sobh, said she had already been displaced during the war from the northern city of Beit Lahiya to Gaza City, and was unable to move again. Relatives and loved ones of Palestinians who lost their lives after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd arrived at an aid distribution point to mourn, at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City [Anadolu] 'We're afraid to move anywhere else, because we have nowhere to go, no income – and I am a widow,' she told Al Jazeera. 'If they want to force us out, then at least find us a place, give us tents, especially for the widows, the children, and the sick. You're not only displacing one or two people, you're displacing millions who have nowhere to stay.' Another woman, Umm Sajed Hamdan, said she would refuse to follow the order. 'I am a mother of five and the wife of a detainee. I cannot escape with my children from one place to another,' she said. 'I would rather face death here in Gaza City than go to al-Mawasi.' Even, Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the so-called 'Greater Israel vision', terming them an extension of Israel's 'arrogant' approach that fuels crises, violates state sovereignty and breaches international law, Al Jazeera reported. In a statement, the ministry warned the comments risk sparking more violence and chaos in the region, and stressed they would not undermine the legitimate rights of Arab nations and peoples. It called for global unity to confront such 'provocations' and reaffirmed its support for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace. Statement | Qatar expresses condemnation and denunciation of the so-called 'Vision of Greater Israel'#MOFAQatar — Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) August 13, 2025 UN urges 'unimpeded humanitarian access' in Gaza The United Nations has urged 'unimpeded humanitarian access' across Gaza amid Israel's blockade of aid in the famine-stricken territory. In a post on X, it said: 'Palestinians are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of horrific proportions. Children in Gaza are dying from starvation and bombardments.' Palestinians are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of horrific proportions. Children in Gaza are dying from starvation and bombardments. We need unimpeded humanitarian access across Gaza. Now. 📸: @UNRWA — United Nations (@UN) August 14, 2025 Read More: Pakistan seeks Chapter VII action against Israel Israel's war in Gaza The war, now in its 21st month, has killed more than 61,776 Palestinians and wounded 154,906, according to Gazan health authorities. Most of the victims are reported to be women and children. Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its conduct in Gaza.
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Express Tribune
Aid queues turn deadly as 73 killed in Gaza in one day
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians from Irheem family, who were killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, in Gaza City August 11, 2025. REUTERS At least 73 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in the past 24 hours, medics said, while two more — including a six-year-old child — died from starvation caused by Israel's blockade in the enclave. Those killed on Tuesday included 19 aid seekers, as the European Union and 26 countries, including Canada, France and the United Kingdom, condemned the 'unimaginable levels' of suffering in Gaza and called for urgent action to halt and reverse the unfolding famine in the war-torn territory, Al Jazeera reported. Survivors of the latest attacks on aid seekers, which took place near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, described horrific scenes. 'There was gunfire all around; we didn't know what was happening. People were dying in front of us, bullets flying between our legs, and we couldn't do anything,' said a man who gave his name as Sayyid. 'We got here to get a bite to eat, but we can barely make it. We're exhausted, we're dying… a piece of bread can now cost your life.' Another survivor, Mohammed Abu Nahl, described crawling on his stomach 'with bullets flying all around' as the wounded and dead lay all around him. 'The dead were lying beneath us, and we were pulling them out,' he said. 'I came here just to feed my children. I have no money to buy food. If I had food and water, I wouldn't come here. What should I do? Steal? Loot? 'We call on all countries to stand with us, to stop the war, and to end our suffering.' The Nasser Medical Complex, meanwhile, announced the deaths of six-year-old Jamal Fadi al-Najjar and 30-year-old Wissam Abu Mohsen from malnutrition. The killings at Zikim take the death toll of aid seekers to more than 1,838 since late May, when the notorious United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its operations in Gaza. A mourner reacts during the funeral of Palestinians from Irheem family, who were killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, in Gaza City, August 11, 2025. REUTERS The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a post on X: 'The Israeli Army continues to silence voices reporting atrocities from Gaza.' The Israeli Army continues to silence voices reporting atrocities from #Gaza. I am horrified by the killing of another 5 journalists in #Gaza city. Since the war began, more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been reported killed in total impunity. Israel is also… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 11, 2025 'Israel is also blocking access of international journalists to report independently since the war began nearly two years ago. Journalists must be protected and international media must get into Gaza to support the heroic work of their Palestinian colleagues. This is the only way to counter disinformation and prevent doubts about the scale of atrocities committed in Gaza. Read: Gaza civil defence carries out 45 operations in a day 'Daily patterns' in shootings at GHF sites An American paediatrician who volunteered in the Gaza Strip says the injuries inflicted on Palestinian aid seekers at sites run by the GHF suggest that Israeli forces deliberately shot men and boys by targeting and maiming specific body parts on specific days. Ahmed Yousaf made the comments to Al Jazeera from the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Tuesday, hours after returning from Gaza, where he had spent two and a half weeks working at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Deir el-Balah and al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The doctor said he witnessed 'mass casualty incidents' from Israeli shootings at the food distribution points run by the United States-backed GHF on an almost daily basis. The boys and young men came in with very specific injuries, 'almost like a daily pattern', he said. 'Meaning on a given day, say Monday, we'd get 40, 60 patients coming in at a given time, and they would all be shot in the legs, or in the pelvic area, or the groin on a given day, just kind of a similar pattern. And the next day, we would see upper body, chest, thoracic pattern, and then there were days we saw only head wounds, upper neck bullet wounds. And what it felt like, at least for me, the position that I went with, was that somebody behind the gun that day was going to choose the way they were either going to maim or decide to kill people,' he said. 'It was age indiscriminate.' Yousaf's comments are the latest by medical staff in Gaza that accuse Israeli forces and US contractors of targeted and indiscriminate violence at the GHF sites. Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said last week that the GHF-run food distributions in famine-stricken Gaza have become sites of 'orchestrated killing and dehumanisation', while Human Rights Watch said the shootings amount to serious violations of international law and war crimes. At least 1,838 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, and another 13,409 have been wounded since the GHF began its operations in late May, official figures show. Yousaf, the US paediatrician, said the victims at the sites were mainly boys and young men, as they are often the ones taking the risk to try to get food for their families, 'given the dynamic of the risk associated with trying to carry a 5-pound [2.3kg] bag of flour, maybe kilometres, sometimes'. 'The people would tell us they were sometimes at the site, or around the area, or they were trying to leave… and they were shot indiscriminately; it was like they were being sprayed. It seemed quite obvious to them and to us, from a pattern-recognition perspective, in terms of who came to the ER [emergency room], that on a given day, whoever was deciding on the trigger was choosing a very specific pattern of fire,' he said. Read More: UN says over 1,300 Palestinians killed seeking aid in Gaza since May The doctor went on to describe all of Gaza as a 'death trap'. 'It is a cage in which people are being marked for death. It almost feels like there is a quota for the number of people that need to be killed on a given day,' Yousaf said. On the days that Palestinians stayed away from the GHF sites, because Israel allowed in more aid trucks, there would be more intense air attacks, he said. 'The last four days that we were there, when there was a bit more aid access via food trucks that were allowed in, the risk profile changed and them going to the food distribution sites wasn't nearly worth the risk because there was some food elsewhere, we saw a significant uptick in bomb blasts on the streets, homes, vehicles. So the pattern of the MCIs – the mass casualty incidents – changed from bullet wounds, mostly boys and young men, to just indiscriminate bombings. We saw women and children, the elderly, on the days the bombs came in,' he told Al Jazeera. The doctor described the Israeli atrocities in Gaza as a 'genocide'. Palestinians shop in an open-air market among the ruins of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes during the conflict, amid a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, November 30, 2023. REUTERS One clear aspect of this, he said, was Israel's refusal to let him and his colleagues take in medical supplies or baby formula. 'When we were screened by the [Israeli military] at the border, the vast majority of us had things confiscated from our bags. Things like food and multivitamins and antibiotics and medical supplies, like stethoscopes, everything you can imagine, that we wished we could have to treat the people on the ground in Gaza,' he said. 'And this resulted in a situation in which, when those patients came in, in different stages of dying, screaming in pain for their mothers… we knew that in any other environment, we could have done something for them, but in the environment of Gaza, in the death trap that is Gaza completely, we were unable to give them the aid that they deserve, to provide the human dignity and humanity that they deserve.' People around the world have mourned and paid tribute to the journalists, including Anas al-Sharif, who was well known for his reporting from northern Gaza [AFP] AFP New Zealand Prime Minister slams Netanyahu New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon says Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu has 'lost the plot' as his country weighs up whether to recognise a Palestinian state. New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks in parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on November 12, 2024 [File: via AP] 'I think what's happening in Gaza is utterly appalling. I think Netanyahu has gone way too far. I think he has lost the plot,' the PM told reporters. He called Israeli attacks overnight on Gaza 'utterly, utterly unacceptable' and said the forceful displacement of people and the annexation of Gaza would be a breach of international law. 'We have called these things out consistently … and he's just not listening,' the leader added. Luxon said earlier this week that New Zealand was considering whether to recognise a Palestinian state. Close ally Australia on Monday joined Canada, the UK and France in announcing it would do so at a UN conference in September. Also Read: Australia to recognise Palestinian state Palestinians take the bodies of loved ones killed in Israeli attacks to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza, on Tuesday [Anadolu] Israel's war in Gaza The war, now in its 21st month, has killed more than 61,599 Palestinians and wounded 154,088, according to Gazan health authorities. Most of the victims are reported to be women and children. Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its conduct in Gaza.
