Israeli tanks kill 59 people in Gaza crowd trying to get food aid, medics say
In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said: "Earlier today, a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area.
"The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire after the crowd's approach. The details of the incident are under review. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops."
Medics said at least 14 other people were also killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes elsewhere in the densely populated enclave, taking Tuesday's overall death toll to at least 73.
The health ministry said 397 Palestinians, among those trying to get food aid, had been killed and more than 3,000 were wounded since late May.
The incident was the latest in nearly daily large-scale killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on the territory it had imposed for nearly three months.
Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is allowing into Gaza through a new US- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
"The incident in question did not occur at a GHF site, but rather near a UN World Food Programme location," the foundation said about the incident on Tuesday.
The UN rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel said it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, which Hamas denied.
Gaza authorities said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach GHF sites.
The GHF said in a press release on Monday it had distributed more than three million meals at its four distribution sites without incident. The Gaza war was triggered in October 2023 when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3-million and causing a hunger crisis. Since last week, Gaza Palestinians have kept an eye on the new air war between Israel and Iran, which has long been a major supporter of Hamas.
Gaza residents have circulated images of buildings in Israel wrecked by Iranian missiles, some saying they are happy to see Israelis experiencing a measure of the fear of airstrikes that they have endured for 20 months.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
eNCA
a day ago
- eNCA
'Famine', 'starvation': the challenges in defining Gaza's plight
The United Nations and NGOs are warning of an imminent famine in the Gaza Strip -- a designation based on strict criteria and scientific evidence. But the difficulty of getting to the most affected areas in the Palestinian territory, besieged by Israel, means there are huge challenges in gathering the required data. - What is a famine? - The internationally-agreed definition for famine is outlined by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative of 21 organisations and institutions including UN agencies and aid groups. The IPC definition has three elements. Firstly, at least 20 percent of households must have an extreme lack of food and face starvation or destitution. Second, acute malnutrition in children under five exceeds 30 percent. And third, there is an excess mortality threshold of two in 10,000 people dying per day. Once these criteria are met, governments and UN agencies can declare a famine. - What is the situation in Gaza? - Available indicators are alarming regarding the food situation in Gaza. "A large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving", according to the World Health Organization's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Food deliveries are "far below what is needed for the survival of the population", he said, calling it "man-made... mass starvation". Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Friday that a quarter of all young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at its clinics in Gaza last week were malnourished, blaming Israel's "deliberate use of starvation as a weapon". Almost a third of people in Gaza are "not eating for days" and malnutrition is surging, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said Friday. The head of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday said that 21 children had died across the Palestinian territory in the previous 72 hours "due to malnutrition and starvation". The very few foodstuffs in the markets are inaccessible, with a kilogramme (two pounds) of flour reaching the exorbitant price of $100, while the Gaza Strip's agricultural land has been ravaged by the war. According to NGOs, the 20 or so aid trucks that enter the territory each day -- vastly insufficient for more than two million hungry people -- are systematically looted. "It's become a technical point to explain that we're in acute food insecurity, IPC4, which affects almost the entire population. It doesn't resonate with people," said Amande Bazerolle, in charge of MSF's emergency response in Gaza. "Yet we're hurtling towards famine -- that's a certainty." - What are the challenges in gathering data? - NGOs and the WHO concede that gathering the evidence required for a famine declaration is extremely difficult. "Currently we are unable to conduct the surveys that would allow us to formally classify famine," said Bazerolle. She said it was "impossible" for them to screen children, take their measurements, or assess their weight-to-height ratio. Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East programme director for the NGO Action Against Hunger, said the "continuous displacements" of Gazans ordered by the Israeli military, along with restrictions on movement in the most affected regions; "complicate things enormously". Nabil Tabbal, incident manager at the WHO's emergency programme, said there were "challenges regarding data, regarding access to information". - Can famine still be avoided? - For France's foreign ministry, malnutrition and the "risk of famine" is the "result of the blockade imposed by Israel". The Israeli military denies it is blocking humanitarian aid entering Gaza. On Tuesday it claimed that 950 truckloads of aid were inside the Strip waiting for collection and distribution by international organisations. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer insisted there was "no famine caused by Israel. There is a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas." Hamas has consistently denied that. The New York Times on Saturday reported that, according to two senior Israeli military officials and two other Israelis involved, "the Israeli military never found proof" supporting the official Israeli allegation. NGOs have accused Israel of imposing drastic restrictions. More than 100 NGOs -- including MSF, Caritas, Save the Children, Amnesty International, Medecins du Monde, Christian Aid and Oxfam -- have urged Israel to open all land crossings and "restore the full flow of food" into Gaza. - What does a famine declaration tell us? - A fresh Gaza IPC assessment is due very soon. For some, the technical debates over a famine declaration seem futile given the urgency of the situation. "Any famine declaration... comes too late," explained Jean-Martin Bauer, the WFP's director of food security and nutrition analysis. In Somalia in 2011, when famine was formally declared, half of the total number of victims of the disaster had already died of starvation. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after a deadly attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023. The Israeli campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. By Célia Lebur
Eyewitness News
a day ago
- Eyewitness News
Britain 'taking forward' Gaza food airdrop plan: PM Starmer's office
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to get aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said. "The prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance," a statement said. In a phone conversation, Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza "which they agreed is appalling". "They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace," according to a readout released by Downing Street. "They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan.... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region. They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it," it added. The discussion comes a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience". Aid groups have warned of surging cases of starvation, particularly among children, in war-ravaged Gaza, which Israel placed under an aid blockade in March amid its ongoing war with Hamas. That blockade was partially eased two months later. The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Citizen
2 days ago
- The Citizen
Children starve in Gaza as EU powers push ceasefire talks
Doctors Without Borders and UN agencies report growing hunger, with one in five children suffering from malnutrition. Hidaya, a 31-year-old Palestinian mother, carries her sick 18-month-old son Mohammed al-Mutawaq, who is also displaying signs of malnutrition, inside their tent at the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 24, 2025. Picture: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP Aid groups warned of surging numbers of malnourished children in war-ravaged Gaza as a trio of European powers prepared to hold an 'emergency call' Friday on the deepening humanitarian crisis. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that a quarter of the young children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers it had screened at its clinics last week were malnourished, a day after the United Nations said one in five children in Gaza City were suffering from malnutrition. Push for ceasefire With fears of mass starvation growing, Britain, France and Germany were set to hold an emergency call to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and discuss steps towards Palestinian statehood. 'I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace,' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. The call comes after hopes of a new ceasefire in Gaza faded on Thursday when Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar. US envoy Steve Witkoff accused the Palestinian militant group of not 'acting in good faith'. France to recognise Palestinian state President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state in September, drawing a furious rebuke from Israel. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday welcomed the announcement, calling it a 'victory for the Palestinian cause'. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed a Palestinian state, calling it a security risk and a potential haven for 'terrorists'. ALSO READ: More than 100 NGOs warn 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza On Wednesday, a large majority in Israel's parliament passed a symbolic motion backing annexation of the occupied West Bank, the core of any future Palestinian state. 'Mass starvation' More than 100 aid and human rights groups warned this week that 'mass starvation' was spreading in Gaza. Israel has rejected accusations it is responsible for the deepening crisis, which the World Health Organization has called 'man-made'. Israel placed the Gaza Strip under an aid blockade in March, which it only partially eased two months later. The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, replacing the longstanding UN-led distribution system. Aid groups have refused to work with the GHF, accusing it of aiding Israeli military goals. The GHF system, in which Gazans have to travel long distances and join huge queues to reach one of four sites, has often proved deadly, with the UN saying that more than 750 Palestinian aid-seekers have been killed by Israeli forces near GHF centres since late May. An AFP photographer saw bloodied patients, wounded while attempting to get humanitarian aid, being treated on the floor of Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Thursday. Israel 'weaponising' food Israel has refused to return to the UN-led system, saying that it allowed Hamas to hijack aid for its own benefit. ALSO READ: Israeli strikes kill children collecting water in Gaza Accusing Israel of the 'weaponisation of food', MSF said that: 'Across screenings of children aged six months to five years old and pregnant and breastfeeding women, at MSF facilities last week, 25 per cent were malnourished.' It said malnutrition cases had quadrupled since May 18 at its Gaza City clinic and that the facility was enrolling 25 new malnourished patients every day. 'High risk of dying' On Thursday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that one in five children in Gaza City were malnourished. Agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said: 'Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need.' He also warned that 'UNRWA frontline health workers, are surviving on one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all'. Lazzarini said that the agency had 'the equivalent of 6,000 loaded trucks of food and medical supplies' ready to send into Gaza if Israel allowed 'unrestricted and uninterrupted' access to the territory. Death toll Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,587 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. NOW READ: Dirco calls for global action to stop Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza [VIDEO]
