20 more Palestinians killed by Israel near aid points
Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that 20 people have been killed and more than 124 injured this morning while waiting for aid near the so-called Netzarim Corridor, south of Gaza City.
It is the latest in a number of shootings that have killed around 150 people and wounded hundreds since the rollout of a new food distribution system, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Israel and the US say the new system is designed to circumvent Hamas, but it has been rejected by the UN and major aid groups.
READ MORE: SNP urge Rachel Reeves to abandon disability cuts after winter fuel U-turn
Experts have meanwhile warned that Israel's blockade and its ongoing military campaign have put Gaza at risk of famine.
Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired toward crowds heading to the food centres since they opened last month.
In previous instances, the Israeli military has said it fired warning shots at people who approached its forces near the centres, which are in military zones off limits to independent media.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israeli and US supported private contractor running the sites, says there has been no violence in or around the centres themselves.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on homes in Jabalia al-Balad, also this morning, has killed nine Palestinians according to one of the organisation's sources at al-Shifa Hospital.
At least three Palestinians from the same family have also been killed in an Israeli attack on a tent housing displaced people near the city of Khan Younis according to a separate source.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Government can hit NHS waiting times targets despite scepticism, says Reeves
The Chancellor has insisted the Government can hit its NHS waiting times targets despite scepticism from some leaders. Speaking after her spending review, Rachel Reeves said the Government was confident it could hit pledges set down by the Prime Minister last year. Sir Keir Starmer said in December the NHS will carry out 92% of routine operations within 18 weeks by March 2029. However, in March this year, the NHS waiting list for hospital treatment in England rose for the first time in seven months. The Times has also reported that internal Department of Health modelling shows the NHS is on course to hit only about 80% by the end of the parliament, with officials suggesting anything above that is overly optimistic. Asked about the pledge on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Reeves told reporters: 'We've already delivered around three-and-a-half million additional appointments since we came to office last July. 'Waiting lists are already down by 200,000 so we are confident that we can meet our plan for change commitments because of the 3% annual increase in funding for the National Health Service. 'On top of that of course, we're investing in capital spending in the NHS, including in more scanners, but also investment in the NHS digital app to make it easier for patients to access information, to book services, to take some of the costs out of the bureaucracy, as well in running our health service.' Earlier, the 3% increase in real terms for the health service per year in the spending review was welcomed by health leaders but there were warnings it is not enough. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents all health organisations, said the NHS funding boost was welcome, 'given the precarious state of public finances and will help the NHS to cope with rising demand from an aging population, often with multiple or more complex physical and mental health conditions'. But he warned 'difficult decisions will still need to be made as this additional £29 billion won't be enough to cover the increasing cost of new treatments, with staff pay likely to account for a large proportion of it'. He added: 'So, on its own, this won't guarantee that waiting time targets are met.' Mr Taylor said NHS leaders will need continued backing from the Government to redesign services and balance budgets. 'That means getting political backing when some services are redesigned or cut, including moving hospital services into the community and closer to people's homes as part of the Government's three shifts,' he said. He added that the 'flat settlement' from the Chancellor 'continues to leave a major shortfall in capital funding, and it also fails to lift the ban on private investment that is required to boost NHS capital funding'. There is currently an almost £14 billion maintenance backlog bill to repair NHS hospitals and buildings. Mr Taylor said those issues needed to be addressed in the upcoming national infrastructure strategy and 10-year plan for the health service. Government documents accompanying the spending review show that, on average, from 2023-24 to 2028-29, the NHS in England will receive 3% real terms growth in day-to-day spending, equivalent to a £29 billion real terms increase in annual budgets. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) budget will increase by £2.3 billion in real terms by 2029-30, compared with 2023-24, 'representing a more than 20% real terms increase by the end of the spending review period', the documents said. Overall, the figures suggest DHSC spending will rise 2.8%, though this is less than the average 3.6% in recent years. Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of the King's Fund charity, said the 2.8% average increase in DHSC spending – or 3% for day-to-day NHS spending – 'will have been hard-fought for in the spending round negotiations, despite still being lower than the historical average the NHS has received over recent years'. She added: 'We know there are already trade-offs happening in the NHS due to tight finances. 'The Chancellor said she wants the public to have an NHS there when they need it. 'It is hard to see how all the things she mentions: faster ambulance times; more GP appointments; and adequate mental health services and more; can be met on this settlement alone. 'Particularly when large parts of this additional funding will be absorbed by existing rising costs, such as the higher cost of medicines, which are currently being negotiated, and covering staff pay deals.' According to spending review documents, the Government expects the NHS to deliver 2% productivity growth each year, 'unlocking £17 billion savings over three years' to reinvest back into the NHS to improve patient care. The Government will also invest up to £10 billion in NHS technology and digital transformation by 2028‑29, the documents showed. NHS England boss Sir Jim Mackey, speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, said the NHS has done 'really well relative to other parts of the public service'. He added: 'But we all know it's never enough because of the scale of advancement, all the ambition, all things we want to do, the day-to-day cost pressures we're trying to get on top of, etc. 'We're always going to be in a world where we want more money, but I think everyone's starting to accept and understand that we've got what the country can afford to give us. 'We really need to get better value for that money – it is broadly the equivalent of the GDP of Portugal, so it's a huge amount of money by any standards.' NHS England has already budgeted a 2.8% increase in pay for staff in 2025-26, but many leaders the King's Fund spoke to were worried about funding pay rises above this amount. After the spending review, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary, Professor Nicola Ranger, said staff will now decide whether the 3.6% pay rise offered by the Government is enough. She added: 'Against a backdrop of other cuts, nursing staff will see the NHS being protected but not transformed by today's spending plans. 'When the Government lays out its vision for the future of the NHS and its workforce, it must say how it intends to reverse collapsing student recruitment, boost retention and deliver urgent, structural reform to nursing pay.' Nuffield Trust senior policy analyst, Sally Gainsbury, said: 'Compared to the settlements for other departments – from policing to education – the NHS deal looks generous. 'But seen in the context of all the promises made by the Government to the British people – to drive down waiting lists, shift care closer to home, rapidly improve tech – and the commitments to meet staff pay demands and rising costs of new drugs, today's settlement soon melts away. 'With capital funding staying flat in real terms for the rest of the spending review period, it will be difficult for the NHS to invest in the technology and facility upgrades it needs to meet the Government's ambitious productivity targets.'
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Gaza: Dozens killed while seeking aid in Gaza, hospitals say
Dozens of Palestinians been killed while trying to access aid in Gaza, hospital officials hospitals said 25 people were killed overnight, near a convoy transporting flour and a food distribution site run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the area of the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli military zone in central Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire, and there are also reports of people being crushed by lorries and being shot by Palestinians. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots at suspects who approached six people were killed by Israeli gunfire near a GHF site in Rafah, in the south, Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports from GHF said more than 43,000 food parcels were handed out at its three distribution centres in Rafah and central Gaza "without incident" on there have been deadly incidents near the GHF's sites almost every day since its new aid system began operating on 26 May. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says a total of 223 people have been killed and 1,858 others injured while trying to reach areas designated for aid distribution over the past two GHF, which uses US private security contractors, aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to Gaza's 2.1 million UN and other aid groups are refusing to co-operate with the new system, saying it contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and also warn that Gaza's populace faces catastrophic levels of hunger after an almost three-month total Israeli blockade that was partially eased three weeks US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas. The UN says this is not a widespread issue, while Hamas denies doing Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Spending Review: How much did schools, transport and the NHS get?
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The overall annual increase for the Department of Health is 2.8%, which includes other areas like medicines regulation and pandemic preparedness, as well as the is worth pointing out that the health service needs real-term spending growth every year to cope with an increasing and ageing population alongside rising bills for medicines and new treatments. The long-term trend for annual UK health spending in recent decades has been around 3.5%.Aside from day-to-day funding there is also capital spending, which covers investment in buildings and equipment. The new allocation will be just 1% in real-terms per year. The big question is whether that will be enough to enable staff to deliver more operations and of Labour's pledges is to ensure more than 90% of patients in England start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. Currently it is less than 60%. Hitting that target is a big ask with all the other claims on spending. Transport upgrades won't come quickly "We are happy bunnies" is how someone from the Department for Transport reacted to the Spending investment in transport infrastructure is clearly central to Labour's plan for "national renewal", so a good chunk of the chancellor's speech was devoted to various upgrades. Some we already knew about, some we didn' include a new Liverpool to Manchester rail line, a freeze on the £3 cap on bus fares in England until March 2027 and more than £15.6bn on new trams, trains and buses outside of Conservatives say a lot of this is just rehashing of old announcements with little detail attached. The government says it will lay some meat on the bones of these plans next week in its so-called "infrastructure week".Apart from bus fares, which is a continuation of an existing policy, Reeves' plans are in keeping with the general theme of this Spending Review: ambitious but ultimately not materialising for quite some time - until the 2030s at the earliest. Seven ways the Spending Review affects youWhat has the chancellor has announced? The key pointsWatch: Where the money is being spent 'Game changer' for social housing You could almost hear the sigh of relief from social landlords when £39bn was announced for social and affordable housing. Many had warned that without significant funding and certainty, the government would never reach its target of building 1.5 million homes over this they've called Wednesday's announcement a "game changer". Guaranteeing how much social landlords will receive in rents over the next 10 years means that housing associations can plan how much they have to invest in charity Shelter called the investment a "watershed moment". The charity's head of policy, Charlie Trew, said the amount was 70% more than the previous government invested but it was still not enough to end homelessness for good. The charity called for a "clear target" for exactly how many social rent homes are planned. Police and border questions remain A 2.3% real terms yearly funding increase for policing in England and Wales is slightly better than senior officers had feared, but forces are already warning of "some ruthless prioritisation", arguing that most of the money will be "swallowed up" by police pay chancellor stressed that an increase of "more than £2bn" will mean government pledges on cutting crime and increasing police numbers can be immigration, there is more money for the Border Security Command, rising to £280m extra a year, with promises of new kit including an army of drones to improve surveillance. Reeves also promised that the use of hotels for asylum seekers would end by with overall Home Office spending being cut by 1.7% a year, there are knotted eyebrows at how this is all going to add up and be achieved while managing a sizeable squeeze to the department's budget. Prison money shows severity of crisis Just recently we were told that offenders recalled to prison would be let out earlier due to overcrowding. We know the government is planning on building three more prisons to deal with the capacity chancellor said £7bn would be spent on that building project - that's more than we were told earlier this month, when the figure stood at £ increase in funding indicates the severity and urgency of the problem. But building more prisons will take announced was £700m to reform the probation service - that cash will fund further recruitment on top of the 1,300 officers the government had already said it will employ this probation officers welcomed the investment but raised concerns about their "increasing workload" and when the new hires will be functional.
