At least 20 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school
Medics said the dozens of casualties in the strike on the school, in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, included women and children.
Despite mounting international pressure that pushed Israel to lift a blockade on aid supplies in the face of warnings of looming famine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel would control the whole of Gaza.
At the weekend, Gaza rescuers were struggling to retrieve bodies from the rubble after a series of Israeli strikes.
In one home in Jabalia, in the north, seven people were killed and several others stuck under debris, according to a civil defence spokesman.
He said the civil defence does not have the necessary search equipment or heavy equipment to recover the dead and wounded.
Two more people, including a woman who was seven months pregnant, were killed in an attack targeting tents sheltering displaced people around Nuseirat in central Gaza, he said, adding that doctors were unable to save the unborn child.
Also included in the toll were the civil defence's director of operations Ashraf Abu Nar and his wife, the spokesman added.
Fatal strikes were also recorded around Deir el-Balah in the centre of the territory, Beit Lahia in the north and the main southern city of Khan Younis.
Gaza's civil defence agency said on Saturday that a couple's nine children were killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports.
Israel has in recent days partially eased a blockade that was imposed on 2 March and exacerbated widespread shortages of food and medicine in Gaza.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that coordinates civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said "107 trucks belonging to the UN and the international community carrying humanitarian aid ... were transferred" into Gaza yesterday.
But critics charge this is nowhere near enough, especially as many of the aid trucks end up being looted.
The World Food Programme has called on Israel "to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster", saying, "hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity."
It comes as the head of a controversial US-backed group preparing to move aid into Gaza announced his abrupt resignation, adding fresh uncertainty over the effort's future.
In a statement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, executive director Jake Wood explained that he felt compelled to leave after determining the organisation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to "humanitarian principles".
The foundation, which has been based in Geneva since February, has vowed to distribute some 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operation.
But the United Nations and traditional aid agencies have already said they will not cooperate with the group, amid accusations it is working with Israel.
Israel stepped up its military operations in Gaza in early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas' military and governing capabilities and bring back the remaining hostages who were seized in October 2023.
Israel has taken control of around 77% of the enclave either through its ground forces or evacuation orders and bombardments that keep residents away from their homes, Gaza's media office said.
The Israeli campaign has devastated Gaza and pushed nearly all of its two million residents from their homes.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The Hamas attack on Israeli communities on 7 October 2023 killed about 1,200 people, according to AFP tallies.
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Irish Examiner
9 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Dozens killed seeking aid in Gaza as Israel considers further military action
At least 38 Palestinians were killed overnight and into Wednesday in the Gaza Strip while seeking aid from United Nations convoys and sites run by an Israeli-backed American contractor, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots when crowds approached its forces. The latest deaths came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to announce further military action – and possibly plans for Israel to fully reoccupy Gaza. Trucks carrying humanitarian aid line up as they wait to enter the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip (Khaled Elfiqi/AP) Experts say Israel's ongoing military offensive and blockade are already pushing the territory of some two million Palestinians into famine. Another escalation of the nearly 22-month war could put the lives of countless Palestinians and around 20 living Israeli hostages at risk, and would draw fierce opposition both internationally and within Israel. Mr Netanyahu's far-right coalition allies have long called for the war to be expanded, and for Israel to eventually take over Gaza, relocate much of its population and rebuild Jewish settlements there. US President Donald Trump, asked by a reporter on Tuesday whether he supported the reoccupation of Gaza, said he was not aware of the 'suggestion' but that 'it's going to be pretty much up to Israel'. At least 28 Palestinians were killed overnight and into Wednesday in the Morag Corridor, an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN convoys have been repeatedly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds in recent days, and where witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots as Palestinians advanced towards them, and that it was not aware of any casualties. Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, said another four people were killed in the Teina area, on a route leading to a site in southern Gaza run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American contractor. The Al-Awda Hospital said it received the bodies of six people killed near a GHF site in central Gaza. People inspect the damage at the Sheikh Radwan al-Taba UNRWA clinic following an Israeli army bombardment in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Another 12 people were killed in Israeli air strikes, according to the two hospitals. The GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because its militants are entrenched in heavily populated areas. Israel facilitated the establishment of four GHF sites in May after blocking the entry of all food, medicine and other goods for two-and-a-half months. Israeli and US officials said a new system was needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off humanitarian aid. The United Nations, which has delivered aid to hundreds of distribution points across Gaza throughout the war when conditions allow, has rejected the new system, saying it forces Palestinians to travel long distances and risk their lives for food, and that it allows Israel to control who gets aid, potentially using it to advance plans for further mass displacement. The UN human rights office said last week that some 1,400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since May, mostly near GHF sites but also along UN convoy routes where trucks have been overwhelmed by crowds. It says nearly all were killed by Israeli fire. Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) This week, a group of UN special rapporteurs and independent human rights experts called for the GHF to be disbanded, saying it is 'an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law'. The experts work with the UN but do not represent the world body. The GHF called their statement 'disgraceful', and urged the UN and other aid groups to work with it 'to maximise the amount of aid being securely delivered to the Palestinian people in Gaza'. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots when crowds threatened its forces, and the GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray and fired into the air on some occasions to prevent deadly crowding at its sites. Israel's blockade and military offensive have made it nearly impossible for anyone to safely deliver aid, and aid groups say recent Israeli measures to facilitate more assistance are far from sufficient. Hospitals recorded four more malnutrition-related deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 193 people, including 96 children, since the war began in October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Jordan said Israeli settlers blocked roads and hurled stones at a convoy of four trucks carrying aid bound for Gaza after they drove across the border into the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli far-right activists have repeatedly sought to halt aid from entering Gaza. Palestinians at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City mourn their relative who was killed while trying to reach aid trucks entering the northern Gaza Strip through the Zikim crossing with Israel (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Jordanian government spokesperson Mohammed al-Momani condemned the attack, which he said had shattered the windscreens of the trucks, according to the Jordanian state-run Petra News Agency. The Israeli military said security forces went to the scene to disperse the gathering and accompanied the trucks to their destination. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted another 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Of the 50 still held in Gaza, around 20 are believed to be alive. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. It is part of the now largely defunct Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source for the number of war casualties.
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sunday World
At least 40 more people killed by Israeli Army in Gaza, some while seeking aid
LATEST | Health authorities say at least 40 Palestinians killed on Monday Crowds beg for food distributed by a charity amid the ongoing Israeli blockade and attacks on Gaza. Photo: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. "Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe," said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari. He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital on Monday who had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Israeli fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials. At least 13 Palestinians were killed on Sunday while waiting for the arrival of UN aid trucks at the Zikim crossing on the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip, the officials added. At the hospital, some bodies were wrapped in thick patterned blankets because white shrouds, which hold special significance in Islamic burials, were in short supply due to continued Israeli border restrictions and the mounting number of daily deaths, Palestinians said. "We don't want war, we want peace, we want this misery to end. We are out on the streets, we all are hungry, we are all in bad shape, women are out there on the streets, we have nothing available for us to live a normal life like all human beings, there's no life," Thari told Reuters. There was no immediate comment by Israel on the incidents of shootings on Sunday and Monday. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, air drops, and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. DEATHS FROM HUNGER Meanwhile, five more people died of starvation or malnutrition over the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said on Monday. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from hunger to 180, including 93 children, since the war began. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said that during the past week, over 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organizations. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that more than 600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements -the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Crowds beg for food distributed by a charity amid the ongoing Israeli blockade and attacks on Gaza. Photo: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty. News in 90 Seconds - Monday, August 4th
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- RTÉ News
40 Gazans killed while seeking aid and from hunger, say health officials
At least 40 Palestinians have killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities have said, adding that another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. "Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe," said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari. He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital who had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Israeli fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials. At least 13 Palestinians were killed yesterday while waiting for the arrival of UN aid trucks at the Zikim crossing on the Israeli border with northern Gaza, the officials added. At the hospital, some bodies were wrapped in thick patterned blankets because white shrouds, which hold special significance in Islamic burials, were in short supply due to continued Israeli border restrictions and the mounting number of daily deaths, Palestinians said. "We don't want war, we want peace, we want this misery to end. We are out on the streets, we all are hungry, we are all in bad shape, women are out there on the streets, we have nothing available for us to live a normal life like all human beings, there's no life," Mr Thari told Reuters. There was no immediate comment by Israel on the incidents of shootings yesterday and today. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, air drops, and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. Meanwhile, five more people died of starvation or malnutrition over the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from hunger to 180, including 93 children, since the war began. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said that during the past week, over 23,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organisations. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said yesterday that more than 600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements-the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
