
Israel-Hamas war: Gaza civil defence says Israeli attacks kill 26 near two aid centres
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People carry the bodies of victims who were killed by Israeli bombardment outside Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on July 16, 2025. Photo / AFP
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed 26 people and wounded more than 100 near two aid centres in the south of the Palestinian territory.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP that 22 were killed near a site southwest of Khan Yunis and four near another centre northwest of Rafah, blaming 'Israeli gunfire' for both.
One witness said he headed to the Al-Tina area of Khan Yunis before dawn with five of his relatives to try to get food when 'Israeli soldiers' started shooting.
'My relatives and I were unable to get anything,' Abdul Aziz Abed, 37, told AFP. 'Every day I go there and all we get is bullets and exhaustion instead of food.'
The Israeli military said it was 'looking into' the claims when contacted by AFP.

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NZ Herald
15 hours ago
- NZ Herald
‘We have no energy left' - AFP journalists explain what it's like covering and living through Gaza war
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 1000 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.' 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. 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 today 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 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 Afana. 'A kilo of flour sells for 100–150 shekels (US$30-45), 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.' 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 July 8 that more than 200 journalists had been killed in Gaza since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 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.' -Agence France-Presse


Scoop
15 hours ago
- Scoop
Gaza: UN Staff Now Fainting From Hunger, Exhaustion; WHO Worker Detained
22 July 2025 'Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians, among them UNRWA staff, are hungry … fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties,' said Juliette Touma, Director of Communications with the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA. Speaking from Amman, she stressed that seeking food 'has become as deadly as the bombardments'. The development comes as the UN human rights office, OHCHR, announced on Tuesday that more than 1,000 Palestinians have now been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food in the Strip since the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started operating on 27 May. 'As of 21 July, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food,' said OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan. '766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organizations' aid convoys.' Mr. Al-Kheetan noted that the finding came from 'multiple reliable sources on the ground, including medical teams, humanitarian and human rights organizations. It is still being verified 'in line with our strict methodology.' The foundation's hubs are supported by the US and Israeli authorities and started operating in southern Gaza on 27 May, bypassing the UN and other established non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Aid relief is not a job for mercenaries 'The so-called GHF distribution scheme is a sadistic death-trap,' UNRWA's Ms. Touma said. 'Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they're given a license to kill.' Quoting a statement by UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, Ms. Touma called the scheme a 'massive hunt of people in total impunity'. 'This cannot be our new norm. Humanitarian assistance is not the job of mercenaries,' she added. The UNRWA spokesperson insisted that the UN and its humanitarian partners have the expertise, experience and available resources to provide safe, dignified and at-scale assistance. 'We have proven it time and again during the last ceasefire,' she said. Living conditions in the Strip have reached a new low as prices for basic commodities have increased by around 4,000 per cent. For Gaza's inhabitants who have lost their homes and been displaced multiple times, they have no income and find themselves completely deprived of essentials. $200 for a bag of flour Ms. Touma highlighted the testimony of a colleague on the ground who had to walk for hours to buy a bag of lentils and some flour, paying almost $200 for it. On Monday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that a quarter of Gaza's population faces famine-like conditions. Almost 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and need treatment as soon as possible. Vital everyday items such as diapers are scarce and costly, at about $3 each. Mothers have resorted to using plastic bags instead while one father 'said that he had to cut one of his last shirts to give his daughter sanitary pads', Ms. Touma said. 'We at UNRWA have stocks of hygiene supplies, including diapers for babies and for adults waiting outside the gates of Gaza,' Ms. Touma stressed, insisting that the agency has 6,000 trucks loaded with food, medicines and hygiene supplies waiting in Egypt and in Jordan to be allowed into the enclave. Urgent ceasefire call She reiterated the UN's calls for 'a deal that would bring a ceasefire, that would release the hostages, that would bring in a standard flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza under the management of the United Nations, including UNRWA.' Humanitarian operations in the enclave are being pushed into an 'ever-shrinking space', said World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jašarević. Briefing journalists in Geneva, he condemned three attacks on Monday on a building housing WHO staff in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza as well as the 'mistreatment of those sheltering there and the destruction of its main warehouse'. 'Staff and their families, including children, were exposed to grave danger and traumatised after airstrikes caused a fire and significant damage,' Mr. Jašarević said, adding that Israeli military entered the premises, 'forcing women and children to evacuate on foot' towards the coastal shelter of Al Mawasi amid active conflict. Our interview with WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, has more details Screened at gunpoint The WHO spokesperson said that staff and family members were 'handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint'. Two staff and two family members were detained and while three were later released, one WHO employee remains in detention for reasons unknown to the organization. Mr. Jašarević called for the release of the detained staff member and insisted that 'no one should be held without charges and without due process.' The latest evacuation order for the area has impacted several WHO premises and compromised its presence on the ground, 'crippling efforts to sustain a collapsing health system,' Mr. Jašarević added, and 'pushing survival further out of reach for more than two million people'. The Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah on Monday also caused an explosion and fire inside WHO's main warehouse, which is located within the evacuation zone in the central Gazan city, 'part of a pattern of systematic destruction of health facilities', the agency's spokesperson said. According to Gaza's health authorities, since the start of the war in October 2023, some 1,500 health workers have been killed in the Strip. Some 94 per cent of all health facilities have been damaged and half of Gaza's hospitals are 'not functional at all', Mr. Jašarević said. 'The chance to prevent loss of lives and reverse immense damage to the health system slips further out of reach every day,' he stressed. Visa denials Spotlighting further challenges to the humanitarian operation in Gaza, the WHO spokesperson pointed to an increase in the denial of visas by Israeli authorities for emergency medical teams seeking to enter the Strip since the breakdown of the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on 18 March. He said that 58 international staff for the emergency medical teams, including surgeons and critical medical specialists, have been denied access. UNRWA's Ms. Touma highlighted the fact that ever since the agency's Commissioner-General was denied entry to Gaza in March 2024, he has not been allowed back into the Strip. He has also not received a visa from Israel to enter the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for more than a year. The UNRWA spokesperson also deplored the lack of access for international media to the enclave. 'It certainly is time, if not long overdue, for international media to go into Gaza precisely to look into the facts and to help with reporting first-hand information on the horrors that people in Gaza are living through,' she said. Rapid collapse of critical lifelines UN humanitarians continue to highlight the rapid collapse of critical lifelines in Gaza amid ongoing hostilities. Local authorities said more than a dozen children and adults died from hunger in the past 24 hours, UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday. 'Hospitals have admitted people in a state of severe exhaustion caused by a lack of food, and others are said to be collapsing in the streets,' it said. 'This is on top of continued reports of people being shot, killed or injured while simply trying to find food – food that is only being allowed into Gaza in quantities that are far too small.' Furthermore, in many cases where UN teams are permitted by Israel to collect supplies from closed compounds near border crossings, civilians approaching the trucks come under fire, despite repeated assurances that troops would not be present or engage. OCHA said 'this unacceptable pattern is the opposite of what facilitating humanitarian operations should look like,' underscoring that 'absolutely no one should have to risk their life to get food.'

RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Health Ministry issues first warning about vaping product
A man vaping Photo: AFP/ ANP MAG - Koen van Weel A public warning about a vaping product has been issued by the Ministry of Health for the first time this week. It issued a warning for Suntree Salts - Vanilla Cream 18mg nic (30ml) yesterday, saying it contained too much of a chemical associated with an inflammatory lung disease called 'popcorn lung'. The product - which has four times the allowable limit of the flavour compound diacetyl - is now being recalled. Under the regulatory framework of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990, pre-market testing or approval of vaping products is not required, with vaping product manufacturers and importers notifying the ministry about their products and providing information about how their products met safety standards. "When the product was first notified in 2024, information was incorrectly supplied by the notifier (Hoopers Vapour Limited). This information was correctly supplied in 2025, and non-compliance was picked up by the ministry at this time and the notifier informed of the non-compliance," the ministry said in a statement. It said Hoopers Vapour Limited, which imports the product for sale in New Zealand, had proactively taken steps to remove the product from the market and had withdrawn its product notification. "A consumer level recall is currently being undertaken by the notifier and the ministry is assisting with ensuring that these steps are being taken." "The ministry is concerned that the product has entered the market and has issued a public warning about the Suntree Vanilla Cream vaping substance. As this is an evolving situation the ministry will not comment on the potential for enforcement action." The ministry said it had previously prompted notifiers to withdraw products on the basis that they did not meet nicotine labelling claims or had tested above the legal nicotine limit. Twenty-four products prohibited for sale are listed on the ministry's website. The ministry said last year it focused product testing on nicotine concentration and tested 250 products out of the approximately 7000 products available for sale. It said it considered this "sufficiently robust to provide insight into product compliance". "Where non-compliant products are identified the ministry generally works with the notifier to ensure compliance. This may be through removing the product from the market or in some situations taking enforcement action." But advocacy group Vape Free Kids NZ has called for the frequency and scope of testing for vape products to be increased. Co-founder Charyl Robinson said the regular checking and testing undertaken by the ministry only covered around three percent of the overall number of vapes and e-liquids for sale. "It's entirely a game of chance to know if a dangerous product is being sold possibly to hundreds of people," she said. In the case of Suntree Salts - Vanilla Cream, she said that product had been on the market omore than 18 months before it was picked up. "The system relies on the tobacco and vaping industry to honestly declare their products are safe and provide their own testing data when they notify a product for sale." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.