Mass vaccination
Taking care of children in war-torn Gaza is a noble work performed by the team of a vaccination campaign involving multiple UN agencies, including the Israeli-boycotted UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees ('Third polio mass vaccination campaign begins in Gaza,' Feb.23, Gulf Today website).
According to the report, A third mass polio vaccination campaign began in Gaza on Saturday, AFP journalists reported, with the aim of delivering the first dose to nearly 600,000 children across the Palestinian territory. Scores of children under the age of 10 received the dose at a mosque in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, where a blistering Israeli military assault last year reduced many buildings to rubble.
The vulnerable people of Gaza have gone through the hell of their life. As Israel and Hamas are observing a ceasefire that has largely halted the fighting is the best time for humanitarian work. I hope the complete sense of peace will prevail between both the warring parties and allow Gaza people to return to their homes and live peacefully with their families.
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Khaleej Times
16 minutes ago
- Khaleej Times
27 killed in Israeli attacks on US-backed Gaza aid centre; agency to close temporarily
Aid centres in hunger-wracked Gaza will temporarily close on Wednesday, a controversial US-backed agency said, with the Israeli army warning roads leading to distribution stations "are considered combat zones". Twenty-seven people were killed in southern Gaza on Tuesday when Israeli troops opened fire near one of the centres operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Israel recently eased its blockade of the Palestinian enclave, but the UN has said the entire population remains at risk of famine. The UN Security Council will vote Wednesday on a resolution calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian access to Gaza, a measure expected to be vetoed by the United States. The GHF said its "distribution centres will be closed for renovation, reorganisation and efficiency improvement work" on Wednesday and would resume operations on Thursday. The Israeli army, which confirmed the temporary closure, warned against travelling "on roads leading to the distribution centres, which are considered combat zones". The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations a week ago but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. Following Tuesday's deadly incident near one of GHF's centres, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres decried the killing of Palestinians seeking food aid as "unacceptable". Israeli authorities and the GHF — which uses contracted US security — have denied allegations that the Israeli army shot at civilians rushing to pick up aid packages at GHF sites. The Israeli army has said the incident is under investigation. 'A trap' At a hospital in southern Gaza, the family of Reem al-Akhras, who was killed in the shooting at Rafah's Al-Alam roundabout near GHF's facility, were beside themselves with grief. "She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her," her son Zain Zidan said, his face streaked with tears. Akhras's husband, Mohamed Zidan, said "every day unarmed people" were being killed. "This is not humanitarian aid — it's a trap." The Israeli military maintains that its forces do not prevent Gazans from collecting aid. Army spokesperson Effie Defrin said the Israeli soldiers had fired towards suspects who "were approaching in a way that endangered" the troops, adding that the "incident is being investigated". UN human rights chief Volker Turk called such attacks against civilians "unconscionable" and said they "constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime". The International Committee of the Red Cross meanwhile said "Gazans face an "unprecedented scale and frequency of recent mass casualty incidents". Relief boat The United States said Tuesday that a US-backed relief effort in Gaza was succeeding in distributing meals but acknowledged the potential for improvement after the reports of shootings near the GHF centre. A boat organised by an international activist coalition was meanwhile sailing toward Gaza, aiming to deliver aid. The boat from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition departed Sicily Sunday carrying a dozen people, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg, along with fruit juices, milk, tinned food and protein bars. "Together, we can open a people's sea corridor to Gaza," the coalition said. But Israel's military said Tuesday it was ready to "protect" the country's maritime space. When asked about the Freedom Flotilla vessel, army spokesman Defrin said "for this case as well, we are prepared", declining to go into detail. Israel has stepped up its offensive in what it says is a renewed push to defeat the Palestinian group Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war. At least 4,240 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its attacks on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,510, mostly civilians. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Apart from the aid centre incident, the civil defence agency reported 19 killed on Tuesday. The army said three of its soldiers had been killed in northern Gaza, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed in the territory since the start of the war to 424.
The National
8 hours ago
- The National
UN Security Council to vote on Gaza aid draft
The 10 non-permanent members of the UN Security Council have called for a vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution demanding an 'immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties.' The resolution, drafted by Slovenia alongside Algeria and Guyana and seen by The National, reiterates the council's demand for the 'immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.' It also urges the 'immediate lifting of all restrictions' on humanitarian aid into Gaza, ensuring safe and large-scale distribution, including by the United Nations across the besieged enclave. Slovenia, as the co-ordinator of the non-permanent group, sent the resolution and requested a vote for Wednesday. A UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US is likely to veto the measure. For a resolution to pass, it requires at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes from any of the five permanent members – the US, Russia, China, Britain, or France. On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza as Israeli troops opened fire near a US-backed aid centre, with the military saying the incident was under investigation. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres decried the deaths of Palestinians seeking food aid as 'unacceptable'. 'We are witnessing unthinkable loss of life in Gaza (and) the secretary-general condemns the loss of lives and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid,' UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. 'It is unacceptable civilians are risking and in several instances losing their lives just trying to get food.'
The National
11 hours ago
- The National
Gaza's aid centre chaos laid bare in eyewitness footage
Satellite imagery, witness accounts and open source analysis reviewed by The National show a sharp shift in how the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is running its aid centres. What began on 27 May with fenced queues, intense screenings, and segregated entry and exit lanes seems to have devolved into near-total disorder in which crowds surge from every direction. There have been reports of live fire and tank fire at crowds almost every day since the sites have been up and running. At least 60 Palestinians have now been killed at or near the sites. The UN and every major humanitarian agency operating in Gaza have refused to work with the GHF, arguing that its structure and procedures breach long-standing humanitarian principles. Israel's army maintains that the centres are essential for getting relief into the territory, yet since the first one opened, the death toll has risen sharply. Palestinian health officials report more than 200 additional casualties, many with bullet wounds to the head or chest, overwhelming the ICRC field hospital and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Recent high-resolution satellite images confirm that the compounds were built with two main corridors to separate arrivals and departures. Other social media footage shows watchtowers overlooking each site, while makeshift utility poles carry floodlights around sand berms designed to contain crowds. Layout of one of the controversial US-Israeli aid distribution points in Rafah Queues to chaos On the day the site opened, Palestinians were channelled through narrow, fenced lanes and reportedly subjected to biometric screening. By the early hours of Sunday, June 1, those cordons and queues had vanished. Social media clips show people climbing over the sand berms and rushing at aid pallets from all directions, with no visible crowd management. In one video geolocated to the southern Rafah centre, a US security contractor mutters 'here they come' as the barrier appears to open and the mass surge begins. Shooting into crowds Footage from earlier that morning, just before sunrise, shows Palestinians taking cover on bare sand while floodlights from the aid site glare in the background. Five bursts of gunfire ring out in a 16-second clip, and a voice urges people to lie flat. As dawn breaks, further videos show at least nine bodies sprawled in the sand within minutes, the same utility-pole lighting visible behind them. 'People were shot at without warning; chaos broke out,' Ibrahim Abu Taima told The National, saying his cousin was killed and his nephew wounded. Spotlights at aid distribution centres visible near the site of the shooting on June 1 What we know About 60 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded during attempts to retrieve aid from Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites since 27 May. Satellite imagery and verified videos show the sites were originally set up with fenced lanes, sand berms and watchtowers to separate entrants and exits, yet by the early hours of 1 June, those entrances and exits were no longer in use. Footage captures multiple bursts of live fire directed towards civilians near to the collection points. Major aid organisations refuse to work with GHF because its procedures violate humanitarian standards, while the foundation itself has offered no public explanation. What we don't know It remains unclear is exactly why the crowd-control system was dismantled, who ordered or carried out the shootings and whether the use of live ammunition was proportionate to any threats from crowds. Precise timelines, independent hospital casualty logs and ballistic forensics are still needed to corroborate witness accounts and determine full accountability. 'It's an ambush,' says official 'This is not aid, it's an ambush,' said Ismail Al Thawabti, director of Gaza's Government Media Office. 'Israel and the US administration are orchestrating massacres under the pretence of humanitarian relief, killing civilians in cold blood without any deterrent.' Israel's military insists its troops 'did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the aid site', conceding only that shots were discharged 'about 1km away' before the site opened. The claim is hard to reconcile with bullet impacts and bodies filmed metres from the site. Sunday's killings were not isolated. On May 27, at the same Rafah centre, mobile phone footage captured at least 14 shots – seven single rounds followed by a burst – as crowds filed through fenced lanes. People ducked and scattered. Across those two days alone, conservative tallies point to more than 50 deaths and 220 injuries. GHF officials have not explained what happened and have declined repeated interview requests. The combined satellite evidence, front-line footage and witness testimony indicate an operational collapse by design or neglect in safeguarding civilians converging on the GHF hubs. The UN is calling for an independent inquiry and an immediate suspension of operations until safe, transparent procedures are restored.
