UN body says Israeli forces have killed over 1,000 aid-seekers in Gaza since May, as hunger worsens
Desperation is mounting in the territory of more than 2 million, which experts say
is at risk of famine
because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to
chaos and violence around aid deliveries
.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid — without providing evidence of widespread diversion — and blames U.N. agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in. The military says it has only fired warning shots near aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, rejected what it said were 'false and exaggerated statistics' from the United Nations.
Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation. During hunger crises, people often die from a combination of malnutrition, illness and deprivation.
Israel eased a 2 1/2 month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the long-standing U.N.-run system and the newly created GHF. Aid groups say it's not nearly enough.
'I do it for my children'
Dozens of Palestinians lined up on Tuesday outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City, hoping for a bowl of watery tomato soup. The lucky ones got small chunks of eggplant. As supplies ran out, people holding pots pushed and shoved to get to the front.
Nadia Mdoukh, a pregnant woman who was displaced from her home and lives in a tent with her husband and three children, said that she worries about being shoved or trampled on, and about heat stroke as daytime temperatures hover above 90 F (32 C).
'I do it for my children,' she said. 'This is famine — there is no bread or flour.'
The U.N. World Food Program says Gaza's hunger crisis has reached 'new and astonishing levels of desperation.' Ross Smith, the agency's director for emergencies, told reporters Monday that nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza's population isn't eating for multiple days in a row.
MedGlobal, a charity working in Gaza, said that five children as young as three months had died from starvation in the past three days.
'This is a deliberate and human-made disaster,' said Joseph Belliveau, its executive director. 'Those children died because there is not enough food in Gaza and not enough medicines, including IV fluids and therapeutic formula, to revive them.'
The charity said that food is in such short supply that its own staff suffer dizziness and headaches.
Aid delivery model criticized
Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the U.N. human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around U.N. convoys or aid sites.
Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the U.N. rights office, says its figures come from 'multiple reliable sources on the ground,' including medics, humanitarian and human rights organizations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office's strict methodology.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces regularly fire toward crowds of thousands of people heading to the GHF sites. The military says it has only fired warning shots, and GHF says its armed contractors have only fired into the air on a few occasions to try to prevent stampedes.
A joint statement from
28 Western-aligned countries
on Monday condemned the 'the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians.'
'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' read the statement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, France and other countries friendly to Israel. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.'
Israel and the United States rejected the statement, blaming Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting Israeli terms for a ceasefire and the release of hostages abducted in the militant-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the fighting.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will keep fighting until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.
Strikes on tents sheltering the displaced
Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people across Gaza on Tuesday, according to local health officials.
One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up seaside Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to
Shifa Hospital
, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said that it wasn't aware of such a strike by its forces.
The dead included three women and three children, hospital director Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said.
An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
'A bag of flour covered in blood and death,' said Mohammed Issam, who was in the crowd and said some people were run over by trucks in the chaos. 'How long will this humiliation continue?'
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas, because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
Israel renewed its offensive in March with a surprise bombardment after
ending an earlier ceasefire
. Talks on another truce have dragged on for weeks despite
pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump
.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack, and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
More than 59,000 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 U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
___
Samy Magdy reported from Cairo, and Tia Goldenberg from Jerusalem. Jamey Keaten contributed to this report from Geneva.
___
Follow AP's war coverage at
https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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