logo
UN food agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on a crowd seeking aid in Gaza

UN food agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on a crowd seeking aid in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory's Health Ministry said was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war.
The World Food Program in a statement Sunday condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the incident. The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat,' but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians.
The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd.
The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance, as the war that has roiled the region shows no signs of ending. Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it's not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt.
As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Israel has meanwhile widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza.
WFP condemns violence at food distribution points
In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Health Ministry, witnesses and a U.N. official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area.
The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy 'came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' backs up those claims. The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives.'
'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,' it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. 'Shootings near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions must stop immediately.'
Sunday's incident comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished, and seeking that aid has become perilous. A U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested some aid delivery from traditional providers like the U.N. has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire. The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, had said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the WFP's claims. Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified.
Violence rages on in Gaza
Gaza health officials said Monday at least 13 people, including two women and five children, were killed in Israeli strikes since the previous night.
At least two people were killed Monday morning when crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks were shot at in the area of Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza city where the dead were taken. He said Israeli forces had opened fire.
An Israeli strike overnight hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, killing at least five people, according to the Health Ministry. The dead include two parents, two of their children and a relative, it said.
Other strikes hit tents in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis and a residential building in Gaza City, according to health officials.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the various strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates from populated areas.
Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel again struck rebels in Yemen
The fighting in Gaza has triggered conflicts elsewhere in region, including between Israel and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have fired missiles and drones at Israel in what they say is in solidarity with Palestinians.
The Israeli military said it struck the Hodeidah port in Yemen on Monday morning, saying that the Houthis were rebuilding the port infrastructure. Israel said the Houthis used the port to receive weapons from Iran and launch missiles towards Israel. The Israeli military said it targeted the parts of the port used by the Houthis and accused the Houthis of using civilian infrastructure for militant purposes.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the targets included areas of the port that Israel had destroyed in previous strikes. 'The Houthis will pay heavy prices for launching missiles towards the state of Israel,' Katz said. Israel last struck Hodeidah port two weeks ago.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem.
___
Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

No meals, fainting nurses, dwindling baby formula: Starvation haunts Gaza hospitals
No meals, fainting nurses, dwindling baby formula: Starvation haunts Gaza hospitals

Boston Globe

time40 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

No meals, fainting nurses, dwindling baby formula: Starvation haunts Gaza hospitals

After months of warnings, international agencies, experts and doctors say starvation is now sweeping across Gaza amid restrictions on aid imposed by Israel for months. At least 56 Palestinians died this month of starvation in the territory, nearly half of the total of such deaths since the war began 22 months ago, according to data released Saturday by the Gaza Health Ministry. As starvation rises, medical institutions and staff, already struggling to treat war wounds and illness, are now grappling with rising cases of malnourishment. Advertisement Weak and dizzy, medics are passing out in the wards, where colleagues revive them with saline and glucose drips. Persistently short of basic tools such as antibiotics and painkillers, doctors are also running out of the special intravenous drips used to feed depleted patients. In all four hospitals, the doctors described how they are increasingly unable to save malnourished babies and are instead forced to simply manage their decline. The babies are too weak to be flooded with nutrients, which could overload their system and cause them to suffer 'refeeding syndrome,' which could kill them. Advertisement In some cases, the fluids that the doctors can safely give to the babies are not enough to prevent them from dying. 'I have seen ones that are imminently about to pass away,' said Dr. Ambereen Sleemi, an American surgeon who has been volunteering since early July at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. The babies were brought to the hospital 'starving and malnourished,' Sleemi said in a phone interview Friday, 'and they haven't been able to get them back from the brink.' Dr. Nick Maynard, a British surgeon who volunteered at the same hospital until Wednesday, described the shock of seeing a skeletal infant who looked only days old, but was in fact 7 months. 'The expression 'skin and bones' doesn't do it justice,' Maynard said in a phone interview Friday. 'I saw the severity of malnutrition that I would not have thought possible in a civilized world. This is man-made starvation being used as a weapon of war and it will lead to many more deaths unless food and aid is let in immediately.' Asked for comment, COGAT, the Israeli military department that oversees aid to Gaza, said it 'continues to work in coordination with international actors to allow and facilitate the continued entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, in accordance with international law.' Late on Saturday night, the Israeli military began to drop airborne aid over northern Gaza, and said it would pause its military activity for several hours a day in key areas to make it easier to deliver aid by land. One-third of Palestinians in Gaza are forced to go without food for days in a row, the World Food Program said recently. Of the young children and pregnant women treated at clinics run by Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, roughly one-fourth are suffering from malnutrition, the medical aid group said last week. Advertisement Doctors say that many other people have likely died from different conditions and injuries that could have been cured or healed if the victims had not been so weakened by malnourishment. Starvation is causing more mothers to suffer miscarriages or give birth prematurely, to malnourished babies with weakened immune systems and medical abnormalities. 'The result is a rise in infections, dehydration and even immune collapse in infants,' said Dr. Hani al-Faleet, a pediatric consultant at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza. 'The immediate cause of death in some of these cases is simple: The baby doesn't get enough to eat, and neither does the mother.' Starvation has risen sharply since Israel's total blockade on food aid to Gaza between early March and late May, doctors and rights groups say. While Israel has since allowed food in, it introduced a new method of distribution that is flawed and dangerous, making it almost impossible for Palestinians to find food safely or affordably. Before March, food handouts were mainly distributed under a U.N.-led system from hundreds of points close to where people lived. Now, they are supplied from a handful of sites run by Israeli-backed private American contractors that, for most Palestinians in Gaza, can be reached only by walking for miles through Israeli military lines. Israeli soldiers have killed hundreds of people walking these routes, turning the daily search for food into a deadly trap. Advertisement Some food is still available from shops in Palestinian-run areas, but only at astronomic prices that are unaffordable to the largely unemployed civilian population. A kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of flour costs up to $30, and a kilogram of tomatoes costs roughly $30; meat and rice are largely unavailable on the open market. That has forced many Palestinians to routinely choose between two often fatal options: risk death by starvation, or risk death by gunfire to reach food aid sites that are likely to have run out of supplies by the time many arrive. Israel publicly says the new aid system is necessary to prevent Hamas from stealing the aid. But Israeli military officials have acknowledged to The New York Times that they have no proof that Hamas has systematically stolen food supplied by the United Nations, the main provider of aid to Gaza during most of the war. Israel says that its soldiers have fired 'warning shots' to quell unrest along the roads leading to the aid sites. Maynard and Sleemi described injuries that indicated soldiers had systematically fired at people's torsos. Israel also blames the United Nations for failing to deliver enough food to alleviate the situation. Israel said Saturday that it had destroyed up to 100 truckloads of food in recent months because aid groups could not distribute the food before it passed its use-by date. U.N. officials say that Israeli restrictions have made it difficult to send convoys through an active war zone. The food shortages add another challenge to an already very difficult environment for doctors. 'Some staff members have collapsed in operating rooms. Others have fainted in emergency wards because they have not received any proper food,' said Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. 'The burden on them is immense.' Advertisement Salam Barghouth, a 3-month-old baby girl treated for malnutrition last week at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, is among the youngest Palestinians failed by the new aid distribution system. Her mother, Hanin Barghouth, 22, is too weak to walk to the new distribution sites. Her father, Akram Barghouth, 27, has never managed to reach the sites before the aid runs out, Hanin Barghouth said. Like most Palestinians, the parents are jobless, rely on donations from relatives and friends and said they survive mostly on falafel balls that cost roughly 10 times their prewar price. As a result, Barghouth regularly skips meals and says she has lost 29 pounds, a fifth of her body weight, since the start of the war. She cannot produce enough breast milk to feed Salam, who was born April 21, after Israel started the blockade. At Salam's birth, according to al-Faleet, her doctor, she weighed roughly 6.6 pounds. Three months later, she weighs only 8.8 -- at least 3 pounds underweight, the doctor said. 'I'm breastfeeding her as much as I can, and when I can't, I give her formula -- but that's only when I have it,' Barghouth said. She is reaching the end of a container of formula that she said cost roughly $120, approximately 2 1/2 times the amount it costs outside Gaza. 'She came into the world during a war,' Barghouth added, 'and I'm fighting every day to keep her alive in it.' While Salam Barghouth can still access medical support in central Gaza, other starving children farther to the north are struggling to find it because aid groups have found it harder to bring supplies to them. Advertisement One of them is Yazan Abu al-Foul, 2, a child living with his family in a damaged building beside a beach in Gaza City. His ribs, spine and hip bones jut from his body. An aunt, Riwaa Abu al-Foul, said Yazan's family cannot find enough food to feed him and hospital staff in his area have told them that they cannot provide him with inpatient care. 'They told us there is a shortage of materials and equipment,' Abu al-Foul said in a phone interview Saturday. Doctors at hospitals in northern, central and southern Gaza described similar hardships in interviews Friday and Saturday. 'There are no nutritional supplements, no vitamins, no premature infant formula, no amino acid intravenous solutions -- nothing,' Abu Salmiya said. 'Their bodies need these basics, and without them they will die.' This article originally appeared in

Israeli strikes kill 63 in Gaza despite ‘pauses', as hunger crisis deepens
Israeli strikes kill 63 in Gaza despite ‘pauses', as hunger crisis deepens

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Israeli strikes kill 63 in Gaza despite ‘pauses', as hunger crisis deepens

Israeli forces have killed at least 63 people across Gaza, hours after the military announced it would begin 'pausing' attacks for 10 hours daily in some areas to allow humanitarian aid to pass through. On Sunday, the Israeli army said it would temporarily halt military activity each day from 10am to 8pm (07:00-17:00 GMT) in parts of central and northern Gaza, including al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City. It also pledged to open designated aid corridors for food and medical convoys between 6am and 11pm. But hours into the first day of the 'humanitarian pauses', Israeli air raids resumed. 'There was an air strike on Gaza City, and this is one of the areas that was designated as a safe area, and where the Israeli forces are going to halt their military operations,' Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary reported from Deir el-Balah. 'According to Palestinians in that area, a bakery was targeted.' The bombardment comes as global outcry grows over the worsening humanitarian disaster in Gaza inflicted by Israel. Famine deaths rise Gaza's Ministry of Health reported that six more Palestinians, including two children, died from hunger-related causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the number of starvation deaths to 133 since October 2023. Among the dead was five-month-old Zainab Abu Haleeb, who succumbed to malnutrition at Nasser Hospital. 'Three months inside the hospital, and this is what I get in return, that she is dead,' said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, as the child's father cradled her small body wrapped in a white World Food Programme (WFP) said on Sunday that one in three Gaza residents has gone days without eating, and nearly 500,000 people are suffering from 'famine-like conditions'. The World Health Organization also warned last week that more than 20 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished. Falestine Ahmed, a mother in Gaza, told Al Jazeera she lost one-third of her body weight. 'I used to weigh 57kg [126 pounds], now I weigh 42kg [93 pounds], and both my son and I have been diagnosed with severe malnutrition,' she said. 'We barely have any food at home, and even when it's available, it's far too expensive for us to afford.' Israel has authorised new corridors for aid, while the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have airdropped supplies into the territory. However, deliveries have been fraught with danger and are far too few. Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud reported that one aid drop injured nearly a dozen people. 'Eleven people were reported with injuries as one of these pallets fell directly on tents in that displacement site near al-Rasheed Road.' Despite the mounting evidence of extreme hunger, Israel continues to deny that famine exists in Gaza. The Israeli military insists it is working to improve humanitarian access. But scenes of desperation contradict official claims. 'I've come all this way, risking my life for my children. They haven't eaten for a week,' said Smoud Wahdan, a mother searching for flour, speaking to Al Jazeera. 'At the very least, I've been looking for a piece of bread for my children.' Another displaced mother, Tahani, said that her cancer-stricken child was among those suffering. 'I came to get flour, to look for food to feed my children. I wish God's followers would wake up and see all these people. They are dying.' Aid groups overwhelmed Liz Allcock, the head of protection for Medical Aid for Palestinians, told Al Jazeera that she has never seen Gaza in such a state. 'The scale of starvation and the number of people you see walking around who are literally skin and bones [is shocking]… Money really has no value here when there is nothing to buy,' she said. 'All of Gazan society – no matter who they are – is suffering from critical food shortages,' she added, warning that one-quarter of the population is at risk of acute malnutrition. The United Nations says aid deliveries can only succeed if Israel approves the rapid movement of convoys through its checkpoints. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher noted that while some restrictions appeared to have eased, the scale of the crisis required far more action. 'This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis,' he said. Diplomatic pressure builds French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that he discussed the Gaza situation with his Turkish and Egyptian counterparts and plans to co-host a conference in New York City next week focused on securing a two-state solution. 'We cannot accept that people, including large numbers of children, die of hunger,' he said. Macron confirmed that France would soon recognise Palestinian statehood, joining more than 140 UN member states. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an interview that Israel's blockade of aid amounts to a violation of 'humanity and morality'. 'Quite clearly, it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March,' he told ABC News. However, he added that Australia was not ready to recognise Palestinian statehood 'imminently'. In the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that ceasefire talks led by President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, are making 'a lot of progress'. 'We're optimistic and hopeful that any day now, we will have a ceasefire agreement,' Rubio told Fox News, suggesting that half of the remaining Israeli captives may be released soon. Gaza's Health Ministry said that 88 Palestinians were killed and 374 wounded in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours alone. Since Israel's war on Gaza began in October, at least 59,821 Palestinians have been killed and more than 144,000 injured. Despite talk of pauses and diplomacy, the violence continues to the daily Crossword

Famine's toll on the children of Gaza: The world shouldn't look away
Famine's toll on the children of Gaza: The world shouldn't look away

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Famine's toll on the children of Gaza: The world shouldn't look away

These images are part of a series highlighting the suffering of children in Gaza, where a humanitarian disaster is escalating and civilians are starving. Palestinians gather to receive meals in Gaza, July 23, 2025. A weak and malnourished child is seen along with his mother at the Abdulaziz er-Rantisi Children's Hospital in Gaza City on July 24, 2025. Hidaya, a 31-year-old Palestinian mother, carries her 18-month-old son Mohammed al-Mutawaq, who is showing signs of malnutrition, inside their tent at the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 24, 2025. Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, an 18-month-old child, faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation worsens in Gaza City, Gaza, on July 21, 2025. Naeema, a 30-year-old Palestinian mother, carries her malnourished 2-year-old son Yazan as they stand in their damaged home in the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 23, 2025. A Palestinian boy waits for a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2025. A Palestinian girl suffers from malnutrition and is measured while receiving treatment at the Patient Friends Assn. Hospital in Gaza City on July 22, 2025. If it's in the news right now, the L.A. Times' Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store