Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir Al-Balah, where it believes hostages are
tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the
Gazan
city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be being held.
Gaza medics said at least three
Palestinians
were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and which came a day after the military ordered residents to leave, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants.
The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis.
In Khan Younis, earlier on Monday, an Israeli air strike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children, in a tent, medics said.
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There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Israel's military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing 'to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area'.
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them.
The military escalation comes as Gaza health officials warned of potential 'mass deaths' in the coming days due to mounting hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, according to the territory's health ministry.
Health officials said hospitals were running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations.
Health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day, and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion because of hunger.
At least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday as they waited for UN aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza to remove what it said was 'an immediate threat'.
It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it 'certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks'.
The new raid and escalating number of fatalities appeared to be complicating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with US backing.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday that the militant group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the enclave, and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks under way in Qatar.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough.
Unrwa, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said in a post on X on Monday, it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff as food prices have increased 40-fold.
'Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale,' it said.
Israel's military said on Sunday that it 'views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community'.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis. - Reuters
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RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Hunger affecting journalists' ability to work in Gaza
Journalists in Gaza have said that chronic food shortages are affecting their ability to cover Israel's war on Gaza. Palestinian text, photo and video journalists working for the international news agency AFP said desperate hunger and lack of clean water is making them ill and exhausted. Some have even had to cut back on their coverage of the war, now in its 22nd month, with one journalist saying "we have no energy left due to hunger". The United Nations in June condemned what it claimed was Israel's "weaponisation of food" in Gaza and called it a war crime, as aid agencies urge action and warnings about malnutrition multiply. Israel claims humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid. Witnesses and Gaza's civil defence agency, however, have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing on aid seekers, with the UN saying the military had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food since late May. 'We have no energy' Bashar Taleb, 35, is one of four AFP photographers in Gaza who were shortlisted for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize earlier this year. He lives in the bombed-out ruins of his home in Jabalia al-Nazla, in northern Gaza. "I've had to stop working multiple times just to search for food for my family and loved ones," he said. "I feel for the first time utterly defeated emotionally. "I've tried so much, knocked on many doors to save my family from starvation, constant displacement and persistent fear but so far to no avail." Another Pulitzer nominee, Omar al-Qattaa, 35, is staying in the remains of his wife's family's home after his own apartment was destroyed. "I'm exhausted from carrying heavy cameras on my shoulders and walking long distances," he said. "We can't even reach coverage sites because we have no energy left due to hunger and lack of food." Mr Qattaa relies on painkillers for a back complaint, but said basic medicines were not available in pharmacies, and the lack of vitamins and nutritious food have added to his difficulties. The constant headaches and dizziness he has suffered due to lack of food and water have also afflicted AFP contributor Khadr Al-Zanoun, 45, in Gaza City, who said he has even collapsed because of it. "Since the war began, I've lost about 30 kilos and become skeletal compared to how I looked before the war," he said. "I used to finish news reports and stories quickly. Now I barely manage to complete one report per day due to extreme physical and mental fatigue and near-delirium." Worse, though, was the effect on his family, he said. "They're barely hanging on," he added. 'Hunger has shaken my resolve' Eyad Baba, another photojournalist, was displaced from his home in Rafah, in the south, to a tent in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, where the Israeli military this week began ground operations for the first time. But he could not bear life in the sprawling camp, so he instead rented an apartment at an inflated price to try to at least provide his family some comfort. Mr Baba, 47, has worked non-stop for 14 months, away from his family and friends, documenting the bloody aftermath of bullets and bombs, and the grief that comes with it. Hardest to deal with, though, is the lack of food, he said. "I can no longer bear the hunger. Hunger has reached my children and has shaken my resolve," he added. "We've psychologically endured every kind of death during our press coverage. Fear and the sense of looming death accompany us wherever we work or live." Working as a journalist in Gaza is to work "under the barrel of a gun", he explained, but added: "The pain of hunger is sharper than the fear of bombing. "Hunger robs you of focus, of the ability to think amid the horrors of war." 'Living the catastrophe' The director of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, warned yesterday that Gaza was heading towards "alarming numbers of deaths" due to lack of food, revealing that 21 children had died from malnutrition and starvation in the last three days. AFP text journalist Ahlam Afana, 30, said an exhausting "cash crisis" - from exorbitant bank charges and sky-high prices for what food is available - was adding to the issue. Cash withdrawals carry fees of up to 45%, said Khadr Al-Zanoun, with high prices for fuel, where it is available, making getting around by car impossible, even if the streets were not blocked by rubble. "Prices are outrageous," said Ms Afana. "A kilo of flour sells for 100-150 shekels (€25-40), beyond our ability to buy even one kilo a day. "Rice is 100 shekels, sugar is over 300 shekels, pasta is 80 shekels, a litre of oil is 85-100 shekels, tomatoes 70-100 shekels. Even seasonal fruits now - grapes, figs - cost 100 shekels per kilo. "We can't afford them. I don't even remember how they taste." Ms Afana said she keeps working from a worn-out tent in intense heat that can reach more than 30C, but going days without food and only some water makes it a struggle. "I move slowly, unlike before," she said. "The danger isn't just the bombing. Hunger is slowly killing our bodies and threatening our ability to carry on. "Now, I'm not just reporting the news. I'm living the catastrophe and documenting it at the same time." 'I prefer death over this life' Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on 8 July that more than 200 journalists had been killed in Gaza since Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which sparked the war. Video journalist Youssef Hassouna, 48, said the loss of colleagues, friends and family had tested him as a human being "in every possible way". But despite "a heavy emptiness", he said he carries on. "Every frame I capture might be the last trace of a life buried beneath the earth," he added. "In this war, life as we know it has become impossible." Zuheir Abu Atileh, 60, worked at AFP's Gaza office, and shared the experience of his journalist colleagues, calling the situation "catastrophic". "I prefer death over this life," he said. "We have no strength left; we're exhausted and collapsing. Enough is enough."
Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Six-week-old boy dies of starvation in Gaza as food stocks run out
He was among 15 people to starve to death in the last 24 hours in Gaza, according to doctors who say a wave of hunger that has loomed over the enclave for months is now crashing down. Yousef's family could not find baby formula to feed him, said his uncle, Adham al-Safadi. 'You can't get milk anywhere, and if you do find any it's $100 for a tub,' he said, looking at his dead nephew. Three of the other Palestinians who died of hunger over the last day were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in airstrikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on Gaza in response to attacks on Israel by the Hamas group that killed 1,200 people and carried away 251 hostages in October 2023. Israel's military said it 'views transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza as of utmost importance' For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now also dying of hunger. Gaza has seen its food stocks run out since Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May with new measures it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups. At least 101 people are known to have died of hunger during the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, including 80 children, most of them in the last few weeks. Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, denies that it is responsible for shortages of food. Israel's military said it 'views the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza as a matter of utmost importance' and works to facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community. It has blamed the UN for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other militants. The fighters deny stealing it. More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres of a new, US-backed aid organisation. The UN has rejected this system as inherently unsafe and a violation of humanitarian neutrality principles needed to ensure distribution succeeds. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called the situation for the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave a 'horror show'. 'We are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles,' Mr Guterres told the UN Security Council. 'That system is being denied the conditions to function.' The Norwegian Refugee Council, which supported hundreds of thousands of Gazans in the first year of the war, said its aid stocks were now depleted and some of its own staff were starving. 'Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left,' said its director, Jan Egeland. 'Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyse our work,' he said. The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said yesterday that its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, were fainting on duty in Gaza due to hunger and exhaustion. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that images of civilians killed during the distribution of aid were 'unbearable' and urged Israel to deliver on pledges to improve the situation. Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents Yesterday, men and boys lugged sacks of flour past destroyed buildings and tarpaulins in Gaza City, grabbing what food they could from aid warehouses. 'We haven't eaten for five days,' said Mohammed Jundia. Israeli military statistics showed yesterday that an average of 146 trucks of aid per day had entered Gaza over the course of the war. The US has said a minimum of 600 trucks per day are needed to feed Gaza's population. 'Hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of casualties from gunfire. They can't provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms because of food and medicine shortages,' said Khalil al-Deqran, a spokesperson for the health ministry. Mr Deqran said 600,000 people were suffering from malnutrition, including at least 60,000 pregnant women. Symptoms include dehydration and anaemia, he said. Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents. The health ministry said yesterday that at least 72 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes in the previous 24 hours, including 16 people living in tents in Gaza City. The Israeli military said it was not aware of any incident or artillery in the area at that time.
Irish Examiner
8 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Government must stand firm on Israel's illegal occupation and genocide in Gaza Strip
There are moments in history when silence is complicity. There are moments when the scale of violence, suffering, brutality, and horror is so immense that our very humanity is questioned. What we are witnessing in Gaza today is one such horrific moment, a genocide that has resulted in the greatest humanitarian catastrophe witnessed since the Second World War. The haunting images emerging daily from Gaza remind us of stark horrors from the 20th century, horrors that once shocked the world into pledging 'never again'. However, here we are once more. Close to 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, including more than 17,000 innocent children. More than 139,000 have been wounded. Thousands of children have been left orphaned. Israel has made Gaza a graveyard for children, women, men, medical staff, humanitarian workers, and journalists. An entire population is being starved. Famine is occurring directly as a result of Israel's brutal, illegal, and cruel blocking of aid. The UN has described Gaza as the hungriest place on Earth, the only territory on Earth where the whole population is at risk of famine. Israel has obstructed aid to such a degree that only a drip feed gets into the starving and malnourished population. On May 19, the Israeli cabinet approved a decision to allow 'basic' food into Gaza. A drop in an ocean and the conditions imposed by the Israeli authorities continue to prevent the delivery of large-scale humanitarian aid. The near total collapse of Gaza's healthcare system is severely impacting pregnant women, new mothers, and newborns, depriving them of their rights to maternity healthcare Israel is weaponising water, continuing to destroy water facilities, and cutting electricity needed to pump water and power desalination plants. Each day, we get to a point of horror we thought unimaginable. Children bear the brunt of Israel's genocidal actions. Child malnutrition is surging, doubling since March. Just as Israel has ensured the almost collapse of the healthcare system, 90,000 women and children desperately need access to care for acute malnutrition. Some 10 children a day are losing one or both limbs. Israel is maiming a generation. Weaponising humanitarian aid The shameful Israeli and US-controlled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution point are putting a terrorised population at further risk. It is, it seems, just another way of killing Palestinians, with nearly 900 desperate and hungry Gazans killed trying to access aid. UN entities and humanitarian organisations, including ActionAid, have unanimously rejected the scheme. It violates core humanitarian principles and forces Palestinians into militarised zones to access life-saving assistance. The plan as outlined effectively weaponises humanitarian aid, turning it into a tool of oppression, further entrenching Israeli government control over Gaza, and continuing its long-term displacement and collective punishment of Palestinians there. Now, another dark and horrifying layer may be added to this devastating humanitarian crisis. The Israeli government has reportedly proposed setting up an internment camp in the Gaza Strip, a fenced-in zone under military control where thousands of Palestinians would be corralled under surveillance, stripped of freedom, and essentially imprisoned without trial or rights. This would effectively be a concentration camp, and it rightly has provoked widespread outrage with accusations of ethnic cleansing and violations of international law. Meanwhile in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the situation has reached a breaking point. Palestinian families are being displaced, denied access to essential services, and left unprotected. One year after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territory to be unlawful and ordered its unconditional and rapid withdrawal, Israeli authorities have escalated annexation, settlement expansion, land seizures, and violence, with devastating consequences for Palestinians. From January to June 2025, Israeli settlers carried out an average of four attacks per day, injuring 340 Palestinians, against 148 during the same period in 2024 — a rise of 130%. Over 90% of settler violence complaints are closed without indictment This is the backdrop for the crucial debates that just concluded on the Occupied Territories Bill by the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs and trade. The proposed bill would be a hugely important, but modest, step in accountability for egregious violations of international law, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It must include both goods and services. Those opposing the bill say it will violate US federal law, will damage our standing with the US, and will be bad for Irish business. All arguments that have been eloquently debunked in the committee debates. The overwhelming majority of companies here have no involvement at all in the illegal Israeli settlements, just as they're not doing business with Russian entities destroying Ukraine. Economic impact The bill is a modest pressure with no evidence to show that it will have a negative economic impact. Nor does it amount to a boycott of Israel, or a breach of US law, as it only relates to illegal settlements that Israel has taken from Palestinians. The argument that the bill would violate EU law also fell to pieces this week. In the context of a shamefully weak overall response by the EU to its review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, one measure it did put forward was the ability of states to legislate nationally to ban trade with illegal settlements. Regardless of the above, we must take a stand and hold onto humanity for dear life. Ireland must hold its nerve, even in the face of opposition from the US We have obligations under international law. Just like with apartheid South Africa, we must stand against apartheid Israel. Ireland is not isolated in its action. The emergency summit hosted last week by Colombia and South Africa under the Hague Group framework, which was aimed at co-ordinating multilateral legal, diplomatic, and economic measures to halt Israel's military offensive in Gaza, was hugely significant. Delegations from more than 30 countries, as well as UN officials such as special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, attended the summit. A suite of actions on holding Israel to account are now on the table. Ireland — please stay strong. To kill, starve, cage, and erase an entire population is genocide. This is so much more than politics. This is about international law. This is about humanity. Karol Balfe is CEO of ActionAid Ireland and supports the humanitarian response in Gaza through ActionAid Palestine and partners Read More Pope Leo renews call for immediate Gaza ceasefire
