Israeli attacks kill more than 30 people in Gaza, including 3 near aid site
Local health authorities said on Thursday that Israeli air attacks killed at least 15 people in two separate attacks in Gaza City, including nine people who were killed at a school housing displaced families in the city's Sheikh Radwan suburb. A separate strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.
Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that nine people were killed and wounded in a drone attack on Deir el-Balah's market street, sending Wednesday's death toll from Israeli attacks above 30.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that three people were killed and others injured by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian aid near a distribution point at the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, the latest in a series of killings at aid distribution points set up by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
According to Gaza's Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to get food from the sites since the GHF began operations on May 27.
It said the attacks on those seeking aid have also caused 4,066 injuries, and that 39 civilians remained missing following the attacks.
According to British charity Save the Children, more than half of the casualties in the attacks near distribution hubs were children. Of the 19 deadly incidents reported, the organisation found that children were among the casualties in 10 of them.
'No-one wants to get aid from these distribution points and who can blame them – it's a death sentence. People are terrified of being killed,' said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.
The GHF has been criticised by the United Nations and international humanitarian organisations, which say it is inadequate to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza's population.
The GHF took over aid operations in May, following mounting criticism against Israel's months-long total blockade on aid getting into the Strip. That had pushed most of the population to the brink of starvation. Since then, a trickle of aid has been allowed in, but the disastrous humanitarian situation has barely improved.
On Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the Israeli government to reimpose its total blockade.
'The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace,' he said, adding that 'what is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to 'humanitarian' aid, but a complete stop.'
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned that families across Gaza are at risk of dying of thirst amid the collapse of water supply systems. UNRWA noted that only 40 percent of drinking water production facilities are still operating, and that 'Gaza is on the edge of a man-made drought.
'Extracting water from wells stopped due to fuel shortages, others located in dangerous areas that are difficult to access, pipelines are broken and leaking, and water tankers that often do not arrive,' the agency said.
Diplomacy, one more time?
As Israel continues its assault on Gaza, Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, reached out to the warring parties in a bid to hold new ceasefire talks, but no exact time was set for a new round, according to Hamas sources.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition with far-right parties, insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, release all captives, relinquish any role and lay down its weapons to end the war.
Hamas, in turn, has stated it would release the captives if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws all its troops from Gaza. While it has conceded it would no longer govern Gaza, Hamas has refused to discuss disarmament.
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Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Gaza doctor describes ‘daily patterns' in Israeli 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 Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) suggest that Israeli forces there shot the men and boys deliberately, 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. On Tuesday alone, at least 19 aid seekers were killed at GHF sites in Gaza, while many more were wounded, according to medics and witnesses. 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. Israel and the GHF deny the killings. 'All of Gaza is a death trap' 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 making the decision behind the trigger was choosing a very specific pattern of fire,' he said. 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, elderly, on the days the bombs come in,' he told Al Jazeera. The doctor described the Israeli atrocities in Gaza as a 'genocide'. 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.'
Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Gaza is a death trap, a cage in which people are being marked for death'
An American paediatrician who volunteered in the Gaza Strip says the injuries inflicted on Palestinian aid seekers at sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) suggest that Israeli forces there shot the men and boys deliberately, 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. On Tuesday alone, at least 19 aid seekers were killed at GHF sites in Gaza, while many more were wounded, according to medics and witnesses. 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. Israel and the GHF deny the killings. 'All of Gaza is a death trap' 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 making the decision behind the trigger was choosing a very specific pattern of fire,' he said. 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, elderly, on the days the bombs come in,' he told Al Jazeera. The doctor described the Israeli atrocities in Gaza as a 'genocide'. 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.'
Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Gaza malnutrition death toll rises as Israeli attacks kill at least 71
A six-year-old Palestinian boy and a 30-year-old man have died from malnutrition resulting from Israeli-induced starvation of the besieged enclave, the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza has said, as hunger-related deaths climb and deadly Israeli bombardment continues across the territory. The deaths of Wissam Abu Mohsen and young Jamal Fadi al-Najjar on Tuesday came shortly after Gaza's Health Ministry said five more people had died of famine within 24 hours, bringing the total number of starvation-related fatalities since the start of Israel's war to 227, including more than 100 children. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged Israel to allow it to stock medical supplies in Gaza before the military proceeds with its plan to seize Gaza City, a move that has drawn international condemnation. 'We want to stock up, and we all hear about 'more humanitarian supplies are allowed in', well it's not happening yet, or it's happening at a way too low a pace,' said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories. Separately, Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan and 23 of their European allies said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached 'unimaginable levels'. 'Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,' the foreign ministers of the countries said in a joint statement published by Britain. 'We call on the government of Israel to provide authorisation for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating.' Israel attacks 'safe zones', rescue workers At least 71 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Tuesday, hospital sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera, including 16 people desperately seeking aid for their families. Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Israeli forces struck multiple areas, including al-Mawasi, designated by Israel as a 'safe zone'. 'A family of five have been killed in their makeshift shelter there earlier this morning. There have also been concentrated attacks on Gaza City, where residential homes have been targeted,' she said. 'A family of four, the al-Nadeem family, has been targeted and a young girl has been rescued, but there are many people trapped under the rubble.' Rescue operations have also come under fire. Palestinian Civil Defence said one of its members, Abdul Rahman Maher Abu Latifa, was killed in an Israeli strike on his tent in al-Mawasi. Both his parents were also killed. The service said 137 of its members have been killed since the war began. Other strikes killed three members of the al-Hasari family in Gaza City, while one member of the al-Salmi family also died. Twenty more people remain trapped under rubble. Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed the aftermath of an Israeli attack on central Gaza City, with a stream of blood running down the street as people carried a wounded man to a vehicle. Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said Israeli bombardment of Gaza City has intensified for three consecutive days, using 'all types of weapons … bombs, drones and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction to civilian homes'. Israel 'blocking' food items Israel is also blocking the entry of more than 430 food items into Gaza, despite allowing some aid trucks through last month under international pressure, Gaza's Government Media Office said on Tuesday. In a statement, it said banned items include 'frozen meat of all kinds, frozen fish, cheese, dairy products, frozen vegetables, and fruits', along with 'hundreds of other items needed by the starving and sick'. It added that Israel had directly targeted food sources, by not just preventing aid, but deliberately bombing 44 food banks, killing dozens of workers in them, and targeting '57 food distribution centres with bombardment'. Earlier, the Office accused Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the military body reporting on aid deliveries into the enclave, of 'a pathetic attempt to cover up an internationally documented crime, the systematic starvation of the population of the Gaza Strip'. This comes a day after Israel targeted and killed a team of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City – an attack that has sparked protests in countries across the world. Israel is also facing condemnation for its plans to seize of Gaza City and forcibly displace nearly one million Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not given a clear timetable for this, saying on Sunday that it would happen 'fairly quickly'. Palestine's Foreign Ministry has blamed the international community for inaction over 'the genocide of our people' in Gaza, urging global powers to uphold their moral, legal and political obligations. 'Despite the international consensus … on the need to implement international humanitarian law and human rights, the occupying power [Israel] continues to expand its aggression and deepen its use of starvation, thirst, and denial of medical treatment as weapons in the war,' it said in a statement on X. Gaza's Health Ministry reported that Israel's war has killed 61,599 Palestinians and wounded 154,088 since October 7, 2023. Since May 27, when Israel and the United States introduced the new GHF food distribution system in Gaza, 1,838 Palestinians seeking aid have been killed and more than 13,409 wounded, the ministry said.
