UN says malnutrition in Gaza has doubled as Israeli strikes kill more than 90
Hunger has been rising among Gaza's more than two million Palestinians since Israel broke a ceasefire in March to resume the war and banned all food and other supplies from entering Gaza, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages.
It slightly eased the blockade in late May, allowing in a trickle of aid.
UNRWA, the main UN agency caring for Palestinians in Gaza, said it had screened nearly 16,000 children under age five at its clinics in June and found 10.2% of them were acutely malnourished.
By comparison, in March, 5.5% of the nearly 15,000 children it screened were malnourished.
– New airstrikes kill several families
One strike in the northern Shati refugee camp killed a 68-year-old Hamas member of the Palestinian legislature, as well as a man and a woman and their six children who were sheltering in the same building, according to officials from the heavily damaged Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
One of the deadliest strikes hit a house in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa district on Monday evening and killed 19 members of the family living inside, according to Shifa Hospital.
The dead included eight women and six children.
A strike on a tent housing displaced people in the same district killed a man and a woman and their two children.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.
Gaza's Health Ministry said in a daily report on Tuesday afternoon that the bodies of 93 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, along with 278 wounded.
It did not specify the total number of women and children among the dead.
The Hamas politician killed in a strike early on Tuesday, Mohammed Faraj al-Ghoul, was a member of the bloc of representatives from the group that won seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the last national elections, held in 2006.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians.
It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
But daily, it hits homes and shelters where people are living without warning or explanation of the target.
– Malnutrition grows
Unicef, which screens children separately from Unrwa, has also reported a marked increase in malnutrition cases.
It said this week its clinics had documented 5,870 cases of malnutrition among children in June, the fourth straight month of increases and more than double the around 2,000 cases it documented in February.
Experts have warned of famine since Israel tightened its long-running blockade in March.
Israel has allowed an average of 69 trucks a day carrying supplies, including food, since it eased the blockade in May, according to the latest figures from Cogat, the Israeli military agency in charge of co-ordinating aid.
That is far below the hundreds of trucks a day the UN says are needed to sustain Gaza's population.
On Tuesday, Cogat blamed the UN for failing to distribute aid, saying in a post on X that thousands of pallets of supplies were inside Gaza waiting to be picked up by UN trucks.
The UN says it has struggled to pick up and distribute aid because of Israeli military restrictions on its movements and the breakdown in law and order.
Israel has also let in food for distribution by an American contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
GHF says it has distributed food boxes with the equivalent of more than 70 million meals since late May at the four centres it runs in the Rafah area of southern Gaza and in central Gaza.
More than 840 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,600 others wounded in shootings as they walk for hours trying to reach the GHF centres, according to the Health Ministry.
Witnesses say Israeli forces open fire with barrages of live ammunition to control crowds on the roads to the GHF centres, which are located in military-controlled zones.
The military says it has fired warning shots at people it says have approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
GHF says no shootings have taken place in or immediately around its distribution sites.
– No breakthrough in ceasefire efforts
The latest attacks came after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two days of talks last week that ended with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release.
Israel has killed more than 58,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 139,000 others in its retaliation campaign since Hamas' October 7 2023, attack, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Just over half the dead are women and children, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its tally.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its attack 21 months ago, in which militants stormed into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
They abducted 251 others, and the militants are still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive.
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The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
20 Palestinians killed at Gaza aid distribution site, says Israeli-backed aid group
Twenty Palestinians were killed Wednesday, most of them trampled in a crowd at a food distribution site run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip, the group said, the first time it has reported deaths at its operations. They came as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 children, according to hospital officials. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting unrest in the crowd leading to a 'dangerous surge' though it provided no evidence to support the claim. Witnesses said GHF guards threw stun grenades and used pepper spray on people pressing to get into the site before it opened, causing a panic in the narrow, fenced-in entrance. It was the first time GHF has confirmed deaths at one of its food hubs. But since the sites began operating in late May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers while on roads heading to the sites, according to witnesses and health officials. GHF's four sites are all in military-controlled zones, and the Israeli military has said its troops have only fired warning shots to control crowds. Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and many are teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts. Stun grenades and pepper spray caused chaos, witnesses say GHF said it believed that 19 of the dead died from trampling at its food distribution center between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah and one was killed by a stabbing in the crowd. The Gaza Health Ministry said 17 people suffocated at the site and three others were shot. It was not clear if the shootings took place during the crush or earlier on the road to the center. The witnesses did not report shots fired at the center but said Israeli troops fired on the crowds as they headed to the location. Witnesses said that thousands of Palestinians arrived at the site early in the morning, and the Americans contractors guarding it did not open the gates. It was not clear if it was before the site's opening time or if it was not operating at all, since schedules often change. The crowd surged forward at the turnstiles in the fenced-in entranceway, said one survivor, Ahmed Abu Amra. 'The Americans were calling out on the loudspeakers, 'Go back, go back.' But no one could turn around because it was so crowded,' he said. 'Everyone was on top of each other. We tried to pull out the people who were underneath, but we couldn't. The Americans were throwing stun grenades at us.' Other witnesses said the contractors used pepper spray as well. The Health Ministry said tear gas was used, but GHF denied that and said its contractors deployed 'limited use of pepper spray.' It said they fired no shots at the crowd. 'Everyone suffocated from people crushing on top of each other,' said Omar al-Najjar, a Rafah resident, as he and other men carried an injured man on a stretcher. He said the chaos at the sites is forcing Palestinians to 'march towards death.' GHF said it believed elements in the crowd 'armed and affiliated with Hamas' fomented the unrest. It said that its contractors identified men with firearms in the crowd and confiscated one. Distribution at the GHF sites has often been chaotic. Boxes of food are left stacked on the ground inside the center and, once opened, crowds charge in to grab whatever they can, according to witnesses and videos released by GHF itself. In videos obtained recently by The Associated Press from an American contractor working with GHF, contractors are seen using tear gas and stun grenades to keep crowds back behind metal fences or to force them to disperse. Gunshots can also be heard. The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food since May. Of those, 674 were killed while en route to GHF food sites. The rest were reportedly killed while waiting for aid trucks entering Gaza. Across Gaza, strikes kill 41 as Israel opens a new military corridor Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City, including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it has struck more than 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities. Israel blames Hamas for the civilian deaths because the group often operates in residential areas. Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military announced the opening of a new corridor — the fourth — that bisects Khan Younis, where Israeli troops have seized land in what they said is a pressure tactic against Hamas. In the past, these narrow strips of land have been a serious hurdle during ceasefire negotiations, as Israel has said it wants to maintain military presence in them. Negotiations in the Qatari capital between Israel and Hamas are at a standstill, after 21 months of war, which began with the militants' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. That day, militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 people, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Fifty hostages are still being held, less than half of them believed to be alive. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its tally. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but is led by medical professionals. The United Nations and other international organizations consider its figures to be the most reliable count of war casualties. ___ This story has been updated to correct that the GHF site is between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, not in Khan Younis. It has also been updated to delete a reference to witnesses reporting tear gas was used. The Health Ministry reported that. ___ Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Frankel reported from Ramallah, West Bank.
The National
17 minutes ago
- The National
UK needs fundamental constitutional change, not merely ‘reform'
Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have at least three things in common. Each one of them tacitly (if not openly and enthusiastically) supports the Israeli government's ongoing ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank. Each one of them shuns support of the democratic right of the people of Scotland to exercise their sovereign right to self-determination via their elected parliament. Each one of them supports an archaic electoral system that sustains privilege and the self-serving influence (if not corrupt influence) of the wealthy British establishment while seeking to condemn (as 'illegal immigrants') those desperately seeking asylum (many doing so as a consequence of UK Government imperialistic decisions). READ MORE: John Swinney addresses Scottish absence at Israel 'collective action' conference This self-righteous political and moral hypocrisy is reflected in the slanted decision-making of our self-proclaimed 'impartial' broadcaster, the BBC. 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Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
UN says 875 Palestinians have been killed near Gaza aid sites
GENEVA, July 15 (Reuters) - The U.N. rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations. The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys. The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation. The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the U.N. of misinformation, which it denies. The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures. "The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations," Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva. The United Nations has called the GHF aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards. The GHF said on Tuesday it had delivered more than 75 million meals to Gaza Palestinians since the end of May, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs. The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimise friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the U.N. World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities"., opens new tab
