Israel not yet fully implementing Gaza aid agreement, EU says
has taken some positive steps but is not yet fully implementing an agreement with the
European Union
to increase humanitarian aid supplies in
Gaza
, EU aid chief Hadja Lahbib said on Tuesday.
'We have (seen) some positive developments. It's true that we have trucks that are able to enter, but we don't know exactly how many. And what is clear is that the agreement is not fully implemented,' she told reporters before a meeting EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Meanwhile, one in ten children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza is malnourished, Unrwa said.
'Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March,' Unrwa's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.
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The UN rights office said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.
The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.
The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.
The GHF has repeatedly denied incidents have occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies. Reuters
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Irish Examiner
5 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
UN says malnutrition in Gaza has doubled as Israeli strikes kill more than 90
Malnutrition rates among children in the Gaza Strip have doubled since Israel imposed sharp restrictions on the entry of food in March, the UN has said. It comes as new Israeli strikes killed more than 90 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, according to health officials. Hunger has been rising among Gaza's more than two million Palestinians since Israel broke a ceasefire in March to resume the war and banned all food and other supplies from entering Gaza, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) It slightly eased the blockade in late May, allowing in a trickle of aid. UNRWA, the main UN agency caring for Palestinians in Gaza, said it had screened nearly 16,000 children under age five at its clinics in June and found 10.2% of them were acutely malnourished. By comparison, in March, 5.5% of the nearly 15,000 children it screened were malnourished. – New airstrikes kill several families One strike in the northern Shati refugee camp killed a 68-year-old Hamas member of the Palestinian legislature, as well as a man and a woman and their six children who were sheltering in the same building, according to officials from the heavily damaged Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. One of the deadliest strikes hit a house in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa district on Monday evening and killed 19 members of the family living inside, according to Shifa Hospital. The dead included eight women and six children. A strike on a tent housing displaced people in the same district killed a man and a woman and their two children. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes. Gaza's Health Ministry said in a daily report on Tuesday afternoon that the bodies of 93 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, along with 278 wounded. It did not specify the total number of women and children among the dead. Smoke and dust from an Israeli bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip rises over buildings near the Israel-Gaza border (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) The Hamas politician killed in a strike early on Tuesday, Mohammed Faraj al-Ghoul, was a member of the bloc of representatives from the group that won seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the last national elections, held in 2006. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. But daily, it hits homes and shelters where people are living without warning or explanation of the target. – Malnutrition grows Unicef, which screens children separately from Unrwa, has also reported a marked increase in malnutrition cases. It said this week its clinics had documented 5,870 cases of malnutrition among children in June, the fourth straight month of increases and more than double the around 2,000 cases it documented in February. Experts have warned of famine since Israel tightened its long-running blockade in March. Israel has allowed an average of 69 trucks a day carrying supplies, including food, since it eased the blockade in May, according to the latest figures from Cogat, the Israeli military agency in charge of co-ordinating aid. That is far below the hundreds of trucks a day the UN says are needed to sustain Gaza's population. On Tuesday, Cogat blamed the UN for failing to distribute aid, saying in a post on X that thousands of pallets of supplies were inside Gaza waiting to be picked up by UN trucks. Palestinians wait for donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) The UN says it has struggled to pick up and distribute aid because of Israeli military restrictions on its movements and the breakdown in law and order. Israel has also let in food for distribution by an American contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. GHF says it has distributed food boxes with the equivalent of more than 70 million meals since late May at the four centres it runs in the Rafah area of southern Gaza and in central Gaza. More than 840 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,600 others wounded in shootings as they walk for hours trying to reach the GHF centres, according to the Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli forces open fire with barrages of live ammunition to control crowds on the roads to the GHF centres, which are located in military-controlled zones. The military says it has fired warning shots at people it says have approached its forces in a suspicious manner. GHF says no shootings have taken place in or immediately around its distribution sites. – No breakthrough in ceasefire efforts The latest attacks came after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two days of talks last week that ended with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release. Israel has killed more than 58,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 139,000 others in its retaliation campaign since Hamas' October 7 2023, attack, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Just over half the dead are women and children, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its tally. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its attack 21 months ago, in which militants stormed into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, and the militants are still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive.
Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
Gaza: More than 700 killed by Israeli army while collecting water since war began, say authorities
More than 700 Palestinians , mainly children, have been killed by the Israeli army while trying to collect water since the war began 21 months ago, according to Gazan authorities. The Israeli army destroyed 720 wells and obstructed 12 million litres of fuel needed monthly to operate a minimum number of wells and sewage and waste collection plants, said the media office of the Gaza government, which is run by Hamas . On Monday, the director of the United Nations children's agency, Unicef, Catherine Russell, called for the Israeli army to 'urgently review the rules of engagement and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law' after seven children and four adults were killed on Sunday while waiting for water at a distribution hub. The Israeli military said there had been a 'technical error' with a strike targeting an Islamic Jihad 'terrorist' that caused the munition to fall dozens of metres from the target. The incident is under review, it said. READ MORE Ahmed – a Gazan who lives in Cyprus but speaks to his family daily – said: 'There is no water in the pipes, no electricity, no fuel. A litre of diesel costs 100 Israeli shekels (€25.60).' People depend on two types of tanker trucks: one delivers potable water and the other provides water for washing and cleaning. Some wells have solar panels or generators to purify water. But even this can remain saline, causing kidney damage, or polluted, resulting in stomach ailments. [ Gaza's last hospitals battle to save patients amid severe depletion of life-saving medical items Opens in new window ] Fortunately, he said his father and brother live in Gaza City in a 'repaired flat in a damaged building where there is a well for bathroom water'. Although he said 'nowhere is safe in Gaza', they, along with most other Gazans, have to fetch 'drinking water in 20-litre plastic jerry cans and pay for it'. He said these tanker trucks and Palestinians, largely children, gathering near them to get water, have been targeted by Israeli strikes. Some critics have called this Israel's 'water war'. [ 'Famine is spreading and people are dying': UN urges Israel to allow fuel into Gaza Opens in new window ] Shortly after Israel imposed its blockade on March 2nd, power supplies were cut to the main desalination plants, the chief source of drinking water for Gazans, and dozens of privately owned, unregulated, small-capacity brackish water desalination plants. Since then, the United Nations reported that Israeli attacks have destroyed 70 per cent of Gaza's desalination plants, pipelines and wells in a campaign dubbed the 'water war'. Gaza's coastal aquifer, the strip's sole natural source of water, has been polluted for decades by seawater, sewage and fertilisers.
The Journal
11 hours ago
- The Journal
Sinn Féin seeking centre of excellence for endometriosis care as women 'being failed'
WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS are being 'failed' and let down by the state, according to Sinn Féin, who are seeking that the government commit to providing a centre of excellence in order to improve care. Endometriosis is a chronic disease that sees tissue similar – but not the same as – the lining of the uterus grow in other places. It's usually found in the pelvic region, but can be found anywhere in the body. It is not a menstrual condition, but it's often triggered in girls when they begin to get periods, and it can cause intense pain that is debilitating in some cases and heavy bleeding during periods. The disease impacts an estimated one in ten women in Ireland, but the level of specialist care and assistance offered by the healthcare service here has often been criticised for being under resourced. The Journal Investigates last year revealed that more than 100 Irish women had to seek care in Romania due to long waiting lists and a lack of affordable alternatives here . Sinn Féin is now calling for the health minister to 'take this disease seriously'. Advertisement Sinn Féin's health spokesperson David Cullinane and Senator Maria McCormack have drafted legislation which seeks to establish a centre of excellence in order to meet the level of capacity needed to deal with the number of cases here. Government previously committed to providing two specialist hubs and additional staff to reduce barriers to care for effected women. According to McCormack, there is currently a significant staffing deficit at the centres. 'We have spoken to many women who have attended these new centres, but they are not getting the treatment that they need,' she told The Journal , adding that there are at least 15 vacancies at one centre. 'I [spoke to] one little girl who attended one of these centres, and she was told she didn't have endometriosis. Then they went abroad for treatment, and she had quite extensive endometriosis lesions,' she added. Cullinane said that if there was one centre of excellence for care, the proper and full resources would be made available for women attending the centres and seeking treatment. 'We want, basically, every woman to have the same opportunity that they have in other European countries to gold-standard treatment,' he said. 'Far, far too long, as we've set out in our motion [tonight], women have been failed.' The Waterford TD said that the provision of 'second-best treatment' is not the fault of those currently working within the healthcare sector, but health minister Jennifer Carroll McNeill and HSE management. Related Reads Health minister announces 'see-and-treat' gynaecology services and 'advanced' endometriosis centre 'I just felt like I don't matter': Women forced to travel to Romania for endometriosis treatment 'Shame and stigma' mean women with endometriosis suffer in silence over painful sex He said that hospital staff want to improve healthcare for women, but claimed that pre-approved posts to help with this have been cut as a result of a cap on employment and cost levels in the healthcare system. 'Now they have to go back and start from scratch again,' he said. 'We'll be raising all of these issues and the need for that centre of excellence as a starting point with the Minster for Health.' A national framework for the disease is currently being developed and nearing completion, Carroll McNeill said last month . It will identify how care for women will be delivered at primary care centres, local hospitals and specialist complexes. It will be published once it is approved by doctors' union the Irish Medical Organisation, she added. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
