logo
Israeli fire kills 67 aid seekers in Gaza, medics say, as hunger worsens

Israeli fire kills 67 aid seekers in Gaza, medics say, as hunger worsens

The Star20-07-2025
CAIRO (Reuters): At least 67 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for U.N. aid trucks in northern Gaza on Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people.
The ministry said dozens of people were also wounded in the incident in northern Gaza. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed, including 36 on Saturday. Another six people were killed near another aid site in the south, it said.
Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza on Sunday to remove what it said was "an immediate threat".
It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it "certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks".
It did not immediately comment on the incident in the south.
The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said that shortly after entering Gaza, a WFP convoy of 25 trucks carrying food aid encountered "massive crowds of hungry civilians" who then came under gunfire.
"WFP reiterates that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable," it said in a statement.
In total, health authorities said 88 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across the enclave on Sunday.
DISPLACED GAZANS EVACUATE
After Israel's military dropped leaflets urging people to evacuate from neighbourhoods in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area.
Dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have been sheltering in the Deir al-Balah area.
Israel's military said it had not entered the districts subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing "to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area".
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is because they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Hostage families demanded an explanation from the army.
"Can anyone (promise) to us that this decision will not come at the cost of losing our loved ones?" the families said in a statement.
ACCELERATING STARVATION
Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation.
Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food and a collapse in aid deliveries.
"We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger," said the health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.
The United Nations also said on Sunday that civilians were starving and needed an urgent influx of aid.
Pope Leo called for an end to the "barbarity of war" as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza that killed three people on Thursday.
Gaza residents said it was becoming impossible to find essential food such as flour. The health ministry said at least 71 children had died of malnutrition during the war, and 60,000 others were suffering from symptoms of malnutrition.
Later on Sunday, it said 18 people have died of hunger in the past 24 hours.
Food prices have increased well beyond what most of the population of more than two million can afford.
Several people who spoke to Reuters via chat apps said they either had one meal or no meal in the past 24 hours.
"As a father, I wake up in the early morning to look for food, for even a loaf of bread for my five children, but all in vain," said Ziad, a nurse.
"People who didn't die of bombs will die of hunger. We want an end to this war now, a truce, even for two months," he told Reuters.
Others said they felt dizzy walking in the streets and that many fainted as they walked. Fathers leave tents to avoid questions by their children about what to eat.
UNRWA, the U.N. refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, demanded Israel allow more aid trucks into Gaza, saying it had enough food for the entire population for over three months which was not allowed in.
Israel's military said that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community".
TRUCE TALKS
Some Palestinians suggested the move on Deir al-Balah might be an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to make more concessions in long-running ceasefire negotiations.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Crispian Balmer Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Keith Weir; Editing by Crispian Balmer, Aidan Lewis and Helen Popper) - Reuters
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump says US will work with Thailand and Cambodia, adds both 'want to settle'
Trump says US will work with Thailand and Cambodia, adds both 'want to settle'

The Star

time27 minutes ago

  • The Star

Trump says US will work with Thailand and Cambodia, adds both 'want to settle'

A view of broken windows at a damaged hospital, caused by Cambodia's shelling in Sisaket province, as Cambodia and Thailand each said the other had launched artillery attacks across contested border areas early on Sunday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said the leaders of both countries had agreed to work on a ceasefire, Thailand, July 27, 2025. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he believed both Thailand and Cambodia wanted to settle their differences after he told the leaders of both countries that he would not conclude trade deals with them unless they ended their fighting. "I spoke to both of the prime ministers, and I think by the time I got off, I think they want to settle now," Trump told reporters at the start of a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnbery, Scotland. Trump said he believed Thai and Cambodian officials were due to meet in coming days. (Reporting by Andrew Gray; Writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Will Dunham)

Romanian deputy PM resigns after bribery case resurfaces
Romanian deputy PM resigns after bribery case resurfaces

The Star

timean hour ago

  • The Star

Romanian deputy PM resigns after bribery case resurfaces

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian deputy prime minister Dragos Anastasiu resigned on Sunday after an old corruption scandal in which he was involved as a witness resurfaced at a time when the one-month-old coalition government is trying to enforce cost-cutting reforms. Anastasiu had been tasked by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan with overseeing the reform of state-owned companies, part of broader efforts to reduce the largest budget deficit in the European Union and root out waste and inefficiency. Last week, an old corruption case revealed that one of Anastasiu's firms had been blackmailed by a tax authority inspector into paying bribes disguised as consultancy fees for eight years from 2009 or risk lengthy inspections. The company later denounced the inspector, who was convicted in 2023. Anastasiu and his business partner were never charged with a crime. Anastasiu said his company had paid all its taxes and the bribes were "for survival, not profit". "I encourage every entrepreneur to speak out and say under what conditions business has been done in Romania and no longer accept what we did while making mistakes," he told reporters on Sunday. The government, which will hike several taxes from August and is laying off staff and cutting bonuses, has already faced several street protests but has narrowly avoided a ratings downgrade from the lowest rung of investment grade. The European Union and NATO state has been rocked by political instability in the wake of a presidential election, which was cancelled in December and re-run in May, with market turmoil boosting borrowing costs and crashing the leu currency. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; editing by Giles Elgood)

Ukrainian drones target St Petersburg as Putin attends scaled-down Navy Day
Ukrainian drones target St Petersburg as Putin attends scaled-down Navy Day

The Star

time3 hours ago

  • The Star

Ukrainian drones target St Petersburg as Putin attends scaled-down Navy Day

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen onboard a Raptor patrol boat on Russia's Navy Day in Saint Petersburg, Russia, July 27, 2025. Sputnik/Alexei Danichev/Pool via REUTERS MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukrainian drones targeted St. Petersburg on Sunday, Russian authorities said, forcing the airport to close for five hours as Vladimir Putin marked Russia's Navy Day in the city, despite the earlier cancellation of its naval parade due to security concerns. St. Petersburg usually holds a large-scale, televised navy parade on Navy Day, which features a flotilla of warships and military vessels sailing down the Neva River and is attended by Putin. Last year, Russia suspected a Ukrainian plan to attack the city's parade, according to state television. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Sunday that this year's parade had been cancelled for security reasons, following first reports of its cancellation in early July. Putin arrived at the city's historic naval headquarters on Sunday by patrol speed boat, from where he followed drills involving more than 150 vessels and 15,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and Baltic and Caspian Seas. "Today we are marking this holiday in a working setting, we are inspecting the combat readiness of the fleet," Putin said in a video address. The Russian Defence Ministry said air defence units downed a total of 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones on Sunday, below a record 524 drones downed in attacks on May 7, ahead of Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9. Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region surrounding St. Petersburg, said that over ten drones were downed over the area, and falling debris injured a woman. At 0840 GMT on Sunday Drozdenko said that the attack was repelled. St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport was closed during the attack, with 57 flights delayed and 22 diverted to other airports, according to a statement. Pulkovo resumed operations later on Sunday. Russian blogger Alexander Yunashev, part of an official group of reporters travelling with Peskov, said Peskov had told him their flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg had been delayed by the drone attack for 2 hours on Sunday. (Additional reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store