Number of aid seekers killed by Israel in Gaza tops 1,000: UN
Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians as they were trying to access food in Gaza since the United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations at the end of May, according to the United Nations.
'As of July 21, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations' aid convoys,' UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told the AFP news agency on Tuesday, stating the victims had been 'killed by the Israeli military'.
On Tuesday alone, Israeli forces killed at least 43 Palestinians, including 10 aid seekers, in attacks across Gaza since dawn, a day after tanks pushed into southern and eastern parts of central Gaza's Deir el-Balah city for the first time.
Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and humanitarian blockade, which it only partially lifted in March, continues to plunge the Palestinian territory into an increasingly dire malnutrition crisis as at least 15 people, including four children, have died due to starvation and malnutrition in Gaza within 24 hours, the enclave's Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.
One was a child from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and another was a 40-day-old baby in the north, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. Over the past three days, 21 children have died from malnutrition and starvation, the team reported.
'These deaths were recorded at hospitals in Gaza, including al-Shifa in Gaza City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis … over the past 72 hours,' Mohammed Abu Salmiya, head of al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, told reporters on Tuesday.
This brings the total number of hunger-related deaths in the Gaza Strip to 101, including 80 children, since Israel launched its war on the enclave after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said more than one million children in Gaza are going hungry.
Rachel Cummings, Save the Children's humanitarian director, described the situation in Gaza as 'catastrophic'.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah, she said there has been no adequate food supplies in Gaza for a very long time.
The markets are empty, and the water sanitation situation is not adequate to meet the needs of 2 million people 'who are all on the brink of famine', Cummings said.
She said that in Deir el-Balah, she has seen 'hungry people, children carrying empty bowls, looking for food, looking for water'.
'We're seeing an increased number of children in our clinics and our nutrition centres who are malnourished. … We're also seeing an increase in the number of pregnant women and breastfeeding women who are also malnourished,' she said, adding: 'Everyone in Gaza is hungry now, and even in my team, I see visibly my team are thin, and also they cannot get food in the market.'
'Man-made' famine
Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has called the starvation in Gaza a 'man-made' famine.
'What we are seeing now in Gaza is the most horrific stage of Israel's starvation campaign,' Fakhri told Al Jazeera.
The UN rapporteur underlined that the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November for 'crimes against humanity and war crimes' committed during the Gaza war – allegations that are partly related to the use of starvation.
He said the arrest warrants 'create a legal obligation: Countries must act to stop starvation.' Medical personnel are also affected by Israel's starvation tactics as doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in Gaza are 'fainting due to hunger and exhaustion', UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said.
'Right now, I am seeing severe hunger and starvation amongst both my colleagues and my patients. … I see people that struggle to get through a day's work because they don't have the energy to do their normal duties,' said Deirdre Nunan, a Canadian orthopaedic surgeon, speaking from Nasser Hospital, where she is currently volunteering.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Death toll from starvation in Gaza rises to 115 as Israeli attacks continue
At least 62 people have been killed, including 19 who were seeking aid, in Israeli attacks across Gaza, hospital sources told Al Jazeera, and two people died from malnutrition amid growing international outrage over Israel's conduct in the war. Gaza's Health Ministry said on Thursday that at least 115 Palestinians have starved to death in the enclave since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths, which include many children, have been in recent weeks. Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza in March and has only allowed a trickle of aid into the territory since late May, triggering a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation. In a statement on Thursday, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that 'families are breaking down' amid the hunger crisis. 'Parents are too hungry to care for their children,' agency head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X. 'Those who reach UNRWA clinics don't have the energy, food or means to follow medical advice'. The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, added that Israel has been preventing it from verifying aid waiting at distribution centres. Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said the situation was deteriorating, with Palestinians clamouring for any aid they can find. 'Enforced starvation, enforced dehydration, and hunger are gripping the Gaza Strip, with more people reported with malnutrition and a severe, acute shortage of food supplies and other basic necessities,' he said. 'According to what we hear from health sources, people's immune systems are falling apart. They're unable to fight the many diseases that are spreading because their bodies are unable to fight,' he said. With dire conditions on the ground largely unchanged, international condemnation has continued to grow. On Thursday, more than 60 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) demanded an emergency meeting to push actions against Israel in a letter sent to European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Lynn Boylan, an Irish member of the European Parliament, accused EU leaders of a double standard when it comes to Palestinian lives. 'Clearly, Palestinian lives are not seen by the elite in the EU as equivalent to, for example, Ukrainian lives,' Boylan told Al Jazeera. 'There's a chilling effect, that if you dare to speak up against Israel, if you dare to call out the war crimes that you're witnessing, there is immediately a backlash and an attack,' she said. Outrage among European leaders has also soared in recent days, with 28 countries earlier this week condemning the aid blockade, while calling for an immediate end to the fighting. On Thursday, the United Kingdom's government announced Prime Minister Keir Starmer would hold a call with his German and French counterparts, to 'discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need'. Breakdown in talks As the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to spiral, negotiations to end the war again broke down, with US envoy Steve Witkoff announcing that his team was leaving negotiations in Qatar early. That came shortly after Israel announced it was withdrawing its delegation from the talks. In a statement, Witkoff accused Hamas of showing 'a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. 'We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,' Witkoff said, without elaborating. Hamas, which has repeatedly accused Israel of blocking a ceasefire agreement, said it was surprised by Witkoff's remarks. 'The movement affirms its keenness to continue negotiations and engage in them in a manner that helps overcome obstacles and leads to a permanent ceasefire agreement,' said Hamas in a statement released late on Thursday. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has continued to push for a deal, while simultaneously supporting the displacement of Palestinians from the enclave to nearby countries, in what would potentially constitute ethnic cleansing. France to recognise Palestine Late on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would officially recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September. Macron said the decision was 'in keeping with [France's] historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East'. The move will make France the largest and arguably most influential country in Europe to recognise a Palestinian state. The move was hailed by the deputy of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who said it showed France's 'commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination and the establishment of our independent state'. Israeli officials swiftly condemned the move, with Defence Minister Israel Katz calling it a 'disgrace and a surrender to terrorism'. 'We will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence, and undermine our historical right to the Land of Israel,' he said.
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
Hunger crisis deepens in Gaza as 10 more starvation deaths reported
At least 10 more Palestinians have starved to death in the besieged Gaza Strip, health officials say, as a wave of hunger crashes over the enclave. The latest starvation deaths bring the death toll from malnutrition since Israel's war began in October 2023 to 111, most of them in recent weeks. At least 100 other Palestinians, including 34 aid seekers, were killed in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours, Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year. It said it had been unable to deliver any food for nearly 80 days, between March and May, and that a resumption of food deliveries was still far below what is needed. In a statement, 111 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, said that 'mass starvation' was spreading even as tonnes of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza, where aid groups are blocked from accessing them. Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said that 'hunger has become as deadly as the bombs. Families are no longer asking for enough, they are asking for anything'. (Agencies)
Qatar Tribune
2 days ago
- Qatar Tribune
WHO warns of ‘surge' in malnutrition deaths in Gaza
dpa Geneva The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against a deadly hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, with the agency's chief stressing on Wednesday that famine was 'another killer' facing civilians, who report of horrifying conditions in the coastal area. 'The 2.1 million people trapped in the war zone that is Gaza are facing yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation,' Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. 'We are witnessing a daily surge in malnutrition-related death,' he added. 'Since July 17, severe acute malnutrition centres are full without sufficient supplies for emergency feeding,' the WHO chief said, adding that the agency had documented the deaths of 21 children under the age of 5 due to malnutrition this year so far. According to the World Food Programme, 'nearly one person in three is not eating for days' in Gaza. Aid groups demand access to Gaza More than 100 aid and human rights organisations issued a joint appeal on Wednesday calling for access to starving people in the Gaza Strip. 'Just outside Gaza, in warehouses — and even within Gaza itself — tonnes of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them,' the 109 groups, which include Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International and Save the Children, write. 'The Government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,' they say. 'The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime,' they warn. Israel has so far not commented on the appeal. Israel rejects accusations of famine The Times of Israel recently quoted a senior Israeli security official as saying that the military was not aware of 'famine' in Gaza. However, he conceded that measures were needed to stabilize the humanitarian situation in the sealed-off coastal enclave. An Israeli government spokesman admitted on Wednesday that there is indeed hunger in the Gaza Strip, but stressed that this was not Israel's fault. He accused the UN of failing to pick up up aid lorries that are already inside the Gaza Strip and taking them to the people. The UN has rejected such claims, noting that its aid organizations rarely receive permission for aid lorries to enter the strip. More than 1,600 lorries carrying UN aid were authorized to enter Gaza between mid-May to mid-July, which amounts to less than 30 lorries per day. Meanwhile, more than 600 to 650 trucks per day are needed to meet the civilian population's most basic needs, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). According to an Israeli government spokesman, more than 4,400 lorries carrying aid entered the Gaza Strip between July 19 and 22. Ten people died of hunger in the past 24 hours, according to the local health authority in Gaza, with a total of 111 Palestinians having died due to the lack of food so far. The United Nations has fixed guidelines to identify famine, which is only declared when at least 2% per 10,000 people 'die daily of starvation, disease and malnutrition;' when at least 20% of households 'face extreme food shortages'; and when at least 30% of children 'suffer from acute malnutrition.' The UN has cautioned that it is difficult to assess these criteria in the Gaza Strip in view of ongoing Israeli attacks and the displacement of the population.
