Israeli strikes kill 47 in Gaza as aid groups collect limited supplies
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 47 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday, including 25 in Gaza City and northern areas of the Strip.
At least 10 people, including nine members of the same family, were killed in an Israeli attack that hit an area housing displaced people in the al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Five people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Bakhit family home in the as-Saftawi area, in northwest Gaza, Wafa reported.
In Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside Al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the health ministry said.
Rescue workers had been trying to extinguish the fires for hours, it added.
Tanks are stationed outside the hospital, medics say, effectively blocking access to the facility.
The attacks come as aid groups collected humanitarian supplies carried by about 90 trucks that have entered Gaza since Israel began allowing limited goods in earlier this week, the United Nations said on Thursday.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Humanitarian agency OCHA, said the trucks that entered carried medicine, wheat flour and nutrition supplies.
Aid groups face significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting and coordination issues with Israeli authorities, Laerke added.
The Gaza Government Media Office said late on Wednesday that 87 aid trucks were allocated to international and local organisations to meet 'urgent humanitarian needs'.
Al Jazeera's Tarek Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the food trucks entered on Wednesday and 'successfully off-loaded' at designated UN distribution centres.
Since then, some bakeries have 'resumed operations', he said, citing Gaza's media office.
'This has been a significant logistical step forward,' Abu Azzoum said, but noted that the supplies were still a 'trickle' compared with the needs of the population in Gaza, where experts warn of a looming famine.
Due to security concerns, food aid has also not yet reached the northern part of Gaza, where thousands of civilians are also under siege, our correspondent said.
'The question here remains whether Israel would allow an unconditional flow of aid to the Gaza Strip,' he said, adding that the UN has been demanding at least 500 food trucks be allowed into the territory daily after more than 80 days of a complete blockade.
On Wednesday, the UN said it was trying to get the desperately needed aid as quickly as possible into the hands of Palestinians amid delays because of fears of looting and Israeli military restrictions and strikes.
Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies after weeks of near-total isolation, with Israel's blockade leading to critical food and medicine shortages, and fears of a widespread famine.
According to the UN, half a million people, or one in five people in the Gaza Strip, are facing starvation while the entire population continues to face a critical risk of famine.
Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as 'worrying and painful' and called for 'the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid'.
In recent days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel is days away from implementing a new aid system in Gaza that has come under heavy international criticism.
He said Israel later plans to create a 'sterile zone' there, free of Hamas, where the population, which has repeatedly evacuated and relocated throughout the war, would be moved and receive supplies.
Gaza's health ministry said at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18. At least 53,655 have been killed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Abdullah left Gaza for treatment in Turkiye, but it was too late
Istanbul, Turkiye – The fluorescent lights of Adana City Training and Research Hospital cast harsh shadows across Hamed Abu Zerka's gaunt face as he stands beside his six-month-old daughter's hospital bed. The 34-year-old's weathered hands tremble as he adjusts Habiba's blanket. Abdullah, his four-and-a-half-year-old son, died Thursday morning in this same room, his small body finally succumbing to the malnutrition that had been slowly consuming him for months as Israel laid siege to Gaza. The family became emblems of the Israel-imposed famine on Gaza's 2.1 million people when a video of Abdullah went viral weeks ago, the clearly malnourished child screaming in hunger, asking for food, as his mother wept helplessly. Their story captured international attention and prompted the medical evacuation that brought them to Turkiye, which seemed like salvation – but came too late for Abdullah. Basma Abu Zerka, 30, sits in the corner holding a small bundle of her son's clothes. She speaks little, crying silently. 'We lost our child. We're living through tremendous pain,' Hamed says, his voice raw. Hamed hollowly describes the pain of powerlessly watching his children waste away. His voice cracks as he recalls the final weeks in Gaza, when finding a single tomato became an impossible dream. 'There isn't even clean drinking water there. Bombs are falling; there's hunger and death everywhere.' 'Abdullah and Habiba needed urgent treatment,' Hamed continues, his eyes fixed on his daughter. 'Every day, they became smaller, weaker.' The evacuation to Turkiye came through a Foreign Ministry humanitarian programme, with Turkish officials working diplomatic channels to secure the family's passage. But the process took weeks – time that Abdullah's failing body couldn't afford. 'Turkish officials contacted us and were with us until we arrived here,' Hamed explains. 'We thank … everyone who contributed to helping us. But we arrived carrying children who were already ghosts of themselves.' The flight to Adana was the first time either child had left Gaza. Abdullah, barely conscious from malnutrition, likely had no awareness of the journey. Habiba, younger and slightly more resilient, cried weakly during takeoff. Medical battle against time At the Adana hospital, medical staff recognised the severity of the children's conditions. Abdullah arrived with severe complications stemming from prolonged malnutrition: organ dysfunction, immune system collapse, and developmental delays that spoke to months of inadequate nutrition. Dr Mehmet Yilmaz, the hospital's chief of paediatric intensive care, has treated numerous children evacuated from conflict zones, but the Abu Zerka siblings' conditions shocked even experienced medical staff. 'These children often arrive with damage that has been building for months,' he explains. For 10 days, medical teams worked around the clock to save Abdullah, administering specialised nutrition therapy, treating severe dehydration, and monitoring his vital organs as they struggled to function. But the boy's body, depleted by months of hunger, couldn't respond to treatment. 'He was so small,' recalls Nurse Ayse Demir, who cared for Abdullah during his final days. 'Even with all our equipment, all our medicine, we couldn't undo what months of starvation had done to his little body.' The United Nations estimates that over 90 percent of Gaza's population faces severe food insecurity, with children particularly vulnerable to malnutrition-related complications. Fighting for Habiba Six-month-old Habiba fights the same battle her brother fought and lost. Her tiny frame tells the same story of prolonged hunger – arms like twigs, ribs visible beneath translucent skin, eyes that seem too large for her face. Medical staff are cautiously optimistic about her recovery prospects, noting that her younger age may have protected her from some of the more severe complications. Her parents maintain a vigil that blends hope with mourning, sleeping in chairs beside her bed, eating hospital meals while remembering family dinners back home in Gaza. The couple doesn't know what will come next. Their return to Gaza is contingent on Habiba's recovery and the situation in their homeland. Meanwhile, they must process their loss far away from extended family, cultural rituals, and the familiarity that typically provides comfort during mourning. Abdullah was cremated in the Gulbahcesi neighbourhood cemetery in Adana, a quiet ceremony attended by locals who had never met the child but understood the universal language of parental loss. Imam Mehmet Tasci led prayers in Arabic while Turkish neighbours stood respectfully beside the grieving family. 'We buried our son in a foreign land,' Hamed says, his voice breaking completely. 'He should have grown up running through Gaza's streets, playing with neighbourhood children, learning prayers from his grandmother. Instead, his grave is thousands of kilometres from everyone who should have watched him grow.' Local mosque leaders and Turkish families in the neighbourhood have organised ongoing support for the Palestinian family, providing meals and emotional assistance during their extended hospital stay. The cost of survival 'People ask when we will go home,' Hamed explains. 'But how do you return to a place where you watched your children waste away? How do you go back to the rooms where your son cried for food you couldn't provide?' Turkiye has been one of the most active countries in providing medical evacuations for Gaza patients, with hundreds of Palestinians receiving treatment in Turkish hospitals since the conflict began. However, the World Health Organization reports that only a fraction of those needing medical evacuation from Gaza have been able to leave. Abdullah Abu Zerka lived for four and a half years, most of them in wartime. Today, his parents grieve his loss while fighting to save their remaining child. The piece was published in collaboration with Egab.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel starving Gaza: 263 dead from starvation, including 112 children
Starvation deaths are climbing daily in Gaza, as Israel's 22-month blockade and relentless attacks drive a man-made famine into homes and tents. As of August 17, the known number of people who have starved to death in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry there, reached at least 263 people, including 112 children. Why is there not enough food in Gaza? Between March and mid-May, Israel fully sealed Gaza's crossings, preventing food, water, and humanitarian aid from entering. The blockade created extreme shortages, pushing Gaza's already fragile population into severe hunger and dehydration. On August 14, more than 100 aid organisations, including prominent groups such as Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Amnesty International, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), condemned Israel's weaponisation of aid, saying it was obstructing life-saving assistance from entering Gaza. Vast quantities of relief supplies are stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt while Palestinians continue to starve. On Monday, rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of enacting a 'deliberate policy' of starvation in Gaza and of 'systematically destroying the health, wellbeing and social fabric of Palestinian life'. 'It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented, over the past 22 months, to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction – which is part and parcel of Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,' Amnesty said. Gaza has always been dependent on aid, given an Israeli blockade that has been imposed since 2007. Before October 7, 2023, about 500 aid trucks entered daily, nearly 15,000 a month. Since then, deliveries have fluctuated drastically, rarely reaching pre-war levels needed to sustain the territory's 2.3 million residents. When does malnutrition become deadly? The human body relies on glucose from food to survive. When food is scarce, it first burns fat to keep the heart beating, but prolonged hunger eventually causes organ failure, which can lead to death. Prolonged malnutrition also causes brain fog and difficulty thinking or speaking, affecting daily functioning. Children are most at risk because starvation quickly damages their growing bodies and organs. The first 1,000 days of a child's life, which include during pregnancy up to two years of age, are critical for a child's development. Malnutrition, especially during this time, can have devastating long-lasting effects that hinder cognitive development, physical development and, in some cases where nutrition treatments and therapies are not administered, can prove fatal. In Gaza, where food shortages have been severe for months, more and more images are emerging of children in the 'red' zone on MUAC tapes, which measure the circumference of the upper arm to assess malnutrition. A measurement below 11.5 cm signals severe acute malnutrition. These children require emergency treatment, and without it, they face a high risk of death. Other than the visible signs of extreme thinness, children suffering from severe malnutrition may show physical traits such as sunken, pale eyes, flaky skin, loss of hair, and a swollen belly caused by oedema – fluid buildup in the body due to severe protein deficiency. How is famine measured? Famine is the worst level of hunger, where people face severe food shortages, widespread malnutrition and high levels of death due to starvation. Assessing the situation in Gaza is difficult because access to the ground is severely restricted, and Israel has destroyed nearly all the health facilities. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), famine is when: At least 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages. Acute malnutrition affects more than 30 percent of the population. Death rate exceeds 2 deaths per 10,000 people per day.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Blocking US medical visas for Gaza kids 'will be devastating'
"Now it's impossible to medically evacuate them [Gaza children] to the United States.' Quotable Tareq Hailat of Palestine Children's Relief Fund talks about the US decision to halt visas for Palestinians from Gaza, including children in need of medical evacuation and care. Video Duration 01 minutes 30 seconds 01:30 Video Duration 01 minutes 24 seconds 01:24 Video Duration 01 minutes 19 seconds 01:19 Video Duration 01 minutes 33 seconds 01:33 Video Duration 00 minutes 41 seconds 00:41 Video Duration 01 minutes 08 seconds 01:08 Video Duration 02 minutes 03 seconds 02:03
