US nurse's emotional plea for Trump's Middle East envoy to see Gaza crisis with his own eyes
In a video posted online, Elidalis Burgos said the war is hitting civilians the hardest as Israel's aid blockade is causing severe medical supply shortages in the besieged enclave.
'Come inside and take a look for yourself,' Ms Burgos said in a video shared on X. 'Don't believe what other people are saying, take a look with your own eyes.'
'Every person is affected. This is not just some people. This is the entire population in the Gaza Strip.'
Witkoff arrived in Israel on Thursday to discuss the next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza.
President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he expects food centres to be set up in order to feed more people in Gaza, where starvation has begun to take hold.
It is not the first time Burgos has spoken out. Earlier this month, she described to NBC news how the extreme malnutrition because of the Israeli blockade is affecting Palestinian 's chance of survival.
Referring to a patient, she said: 'This young boy is an example of a violent attack... he was also trying to get aid, he has gunshot wound to the head.'
'When there is no nutrition, we may keep them stable for a short time but they won't thrive, they won't get better without proper nutrition.
'If you survive the trauma, you may then die from starvation afterwards,' Burgos continued. 'This is not just one or two people, this is the entire population.'
A UN-backed security body said on Tuesday a 'worst-case scenario of famine' is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise.
Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments have 'dramatically worsened' the situation, including 'increasingly stringent blockades' by Israel, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said.
More than 60,000 Palestinians have died since the war erupted in October 2023, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Swinney welcomes bringing Gaza children to UK but ‘regrets' it wasn't sooner
First Minister John Swinney has criticised the UK Government for not acting sooner to bring children from Gaza to the UK for medical treatment. Mr Swinney welcomed reported plans that up to 300 children could be flown from Gaza to be treated on the NHS. But he said he regretted the action did not come sooner. The SNP leader said he had written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on July 9 urging such action to be taken. He said: 'We have been consistently clear that the suffering being inflicted on the people of Gaza is beyond any justification. 'People in Gaza are being bombed and left to starve by Israel on a massive scale. 'I wrote to the Prime Minister on 9 July to request support from the UK Government in meeting the call from Unicef to provide medical care for children from Gaza. 'If the UK Government is prepared to evacuate Palestinians for medical treatment it would be entirely welcome. 'My only regret is the UK Government has taken this long to act. 'I urge the UK Government to do everything in its power to move swiftly so that lives can be saved. And Scotland will play our part.' The evacuation plans are reportedly set to be announced within weeks. A parent or guardian will accompany each child, as well as siblings if necessary, and the Home Office will carry out biometric and security checks before travel, the Sunday Times reported. This will happen 'in parallel' with an initiative by Project Pure Hope, a group set up to bring sick and injured Gazan children to the UK privately for treatment. More than 50,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured in Gaza since October 2023, according to Unicef. Sir Keir said last week that the UK was 'urgently accelerating' efforts to bring children over for treatment. A UK Government spokesperson said: 'We are taking forward plans to evacuate more children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option for their care. 'We are working at pace to do so as quickly as possible, with further details to be set out in due course.'
BreakingNews.ie
3 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
33 more Palestinians killed by Israeli fire while seeking food aid in Gaza
At least 33 more Palestinians seeking food aid in Gaza have killed by Israeli fire, according to hospitals in the territory. Witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged towards aid sites on Sunday, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said a staff member was killed when Israeli forces shelled its office. Advertisement Israel's military said it was reviewing the Red Crescent's claim. The Red Cross called it an 'outrage' that so many first responders have been killed in the war. Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than two million, which experts warn faces 'a worst-case scenario of famine' because of Israel's blockade. Palestinians are carried after being wounded while trying to reach trucks carrying humanitarian aid (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and supplies have been limited since then. Two hospitals in southern and central Gaza reported receiving bodies from routes leading to the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites, including 11 killed in the Teina area while trying to reach a distribution point in Khan Younis. Advertisement Three Palestinian witnesses, including one travelling through Teina, told The Associated Press they saw soldiers open fire on the routes, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. Israel's military said it was not aware of casualties as a result of its gunfire near aid sites in the south. The United Nations says 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31 and hundreds of others have been killed along the routes of UN-led food convoys. The GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel's military has said it only fires warning shots. Both claim the death tolls have been exaggerated. Advertisement Palestinians grab sacks of flour from a humanitarian aid convoy (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) The GHF's media office said on Sunday that there was no gunfire 'near or at our sites'. Gaza's Health Ministry said six more Palestinian adults had died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, taking the toll among adults to 82 over the five weeks that such deaths have been counted. Malnutrition-related deaths are not included in the ministry's count of war casualties. Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began, the ministry added. Israel has taken steps in the past week to increase the flow of food into Gaza, saying 1,200 aid trucks have entered while hundreds of pallets have been airdropped, but the UN and relief groups say conditions have not improved. The UN has said 500 to 600 trucks a day are needed. Advertisement About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas militants in the 2023 attack that sparked the war and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The UN and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed the figures but has not provided its own account of casualties. Families demand the release of hostages from Hamas captivity (Ariel Schalit/AP) The latest casualties came the day after videos of hungry and suffering Israeli hostages — released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza — triggered outrage across the political spectrum after the hostages, speaking under duress, described grim conditions and an urgent lack of food. Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday urging Israel and the US to urgently pursue the hostages' release after suspending ceasefire talks. Advertisement 'In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,' Tami Braslavski, mother of one of the hostages, Rom Braslavski, said in a statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it had spoken with the Red Cross to seek help in providing the hostages with food and medical care. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Israeli forces kill at least 27 at food site while minister's al-Aqsa visit causes outrage
At least 27 people were killed by Israeli forces while trying to get food and six others died from starvation or malnutrition in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian officials said, amid a regional outcry over an Israeli minister's visit to Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site. Witnesses said Israeli forces fired on hungry crowds who were attempting to get food aid from a distribution site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the south of the territory, with some describing the fire as indiscriminate. 'I couldn't stop and help because of the bullets,' Yousef Abed told the Associated Press after seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground as Israeli forces opened fire. Sunday's killings were the latest in a string of deadly shootings targeting hungry people. At least 1,400 people have been killed while seeking aid since 27 May, most of whom were killed near GHF sites, while others were killed along the routes of aid convoys, the UN said on Friday. The GHF says it only uses pepper spray or fires warning shots to control crowds. In total, 119 people were killed in Gaza by Israeli shootings and strikes over the last 24 hours, including those seeking aid, the Gaza health ministry said. The Palestinian Red Crescent said the Israeli military targeted its headquarters in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Sunday, killing one staffer and wounding three more. Video taken by an employee showed the headquarters in flames after the strike, which had destroyed much of the building. A separate Israeli strike hit a school in Khan Younis that displaced people had been using as shelter, killing at least two people. Gaza's population is growing increasingly desperate as the territory sinks further into famine, which experts say is a product of Israel's continued blockade of aid. Israel has vehemently denied there is a starvation crisis in Gaza and announced expanded aid measures last week, but humanitarians say Israel is still severely restricting the entry of aid. Six people have died of starvation or malnutrition in the past 24 hours, health officials said, bringing the total number who have died from hunger to 175, 93 of whom were children. The pace of starvation deaths surged in July with more people dying from hunger than in the previous 20 months combined. Humanitarians say a far greater amount of aid needs to enter Gaza to help stabilise the starvation emergency. 'We need the sustainable entry of humanitarian aid to flood Gaza with aid for a relatively long period of time. Patients and hospitals need more food than usual to contribute to their recovery,' said Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the ICRC in Gaza. He said the emergency compounded Gaza's existing crises, which include a devastated healthcare system and the spread of disease. Faced with starvation and lack of humanitarian supplies, aid groups are struggling to help the population of Gaza. In total, at least 60,839 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel's current military operations, launched after the Hamas-led attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 which killed about 1,200 people. While Israeli strikes continued in Gaza, Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, led prayers at al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, provoking outrage among regional powers. Ben-Gvir was among a group of about 1,250 people who prayed at the compound on Sunday under the protection of the Israeli military. The compound, which Jews call the Temple Mount, is a highly revered site – the holiest in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. The site is under Jordanian custodianship; under a decades-old agreement, Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there. Jordan condemned the visit, which it described as 'an unacceptable provocation'. Its foreign ministry said it 'affirmed the kingdom's absolute rejection and strong condemnation of the continued unacceptable incursions by the extremist minister Ben-Gvir'. Ben-Gvir's visit was in honour of Tisha B'Av, when Jews mourn the destruction of two Jewish temples, and was the first time that an Israeli minister had publicly prayed at the site. The compound has been the scene of clashes in the past, with Israeli police raiding the mosque in 2023 after Palestinians occupied it in response to reports that Jews were planning a religious ceremony there. Ben-Gvir called for the annexation of Gaza and for Palestinians to leave the territory while at al-Aqsa on Sunday. He said in a post on X: 'A message must be sent: to ensure that we conquer all of the Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty …. This is the only way that we will return the hostages and win the war.' Benjamin Netanyahu put out a statement after the visit saying the policy governing the compound 'has not changed and will not change'. The controversy came as the Israeli public was reeling from the release of two videos over the weekend showing emaciated hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, which triggered protests on Saturday. The occupied West Bank was also gripped by demonstrations on Sunday, with thousands protesting against the war in Gaza and the detention of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Protesters carried photos of Palestinians killed or detained by Israel, as well as photos of starving children in Gaza. More than 10,800 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisoners. Rights groups have documented widespread torture of Palestinians by Israeli prison guards and soldiers, including sexual abuse, food deprivation and physical abuse.
