LIVE: Israel bombs Syria as latest strikes on Gaza kill at least 93
At least three people were killed and dozens wounded as Israel carried out a wave of attacks on Syria, including bombing the Defence Ministry and areas near the presidential palace in the capital Damascus.
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Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Death toll in Israel's war on Gaza surpasses 60,000
At least 60,034 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the war on Gaza erupted in October 2023, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health. The grim milestone was reached on Tuesday, with medical sources telling Al Jazeera that at least 62 Palestinians, including 19 aid seekers, have been killed since dawn, despite 'pauses' in fighting to deliver essential humanitarian aid. Local accounts indicate that Israel used booby-trapped robots, as well as tanks and drones, in what residents describe as one of the bloodiest nights in recent weeks, said Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. 'This is a sign of a possible imminent Israeli ground manoeuvre, although Israel has not yet confirmed the objectives of the attack,' he said. The latest attacks come as the 'worst-case scenario of famine' is unfolding in Gaza, according to a new report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring system. 'Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City,' it said in the report. 'Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including healthcare, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point,' the IPC document added. Food consumption has sharply deteriorated, with one in three individuals going without food for days at a time, it said. Malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, with more than 20,000 children being admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July. More than 3,000 of them are severely malnourished. The IPC alert comes against the backdrop of its latest analysis released in May, which projected that by September, the entire population of Gaza would face high levels of acute food shortages, with more than 500,000 people expected to be in a state of extreme food deprivation, starvation, and destitution, unless Israel lifts its blockade and stops its military campaign. Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and humanitarian blockade, which it lifted partially in March, continues to plunge the Palestinian territory into an increasingly dire malnutrition crisis as at least 147 people, including 88 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war, the Health Ministry said on Monday. Starvation is affecting all sectors of the population, with Sima Bahous, the executive director of UN Women, saying one million women and girls in Gaza face the 'unthinkable choice' of starving or risking their lives while searching for food. 'This horror must end,' Bahous said in a social media post, calling for unhindered access of humanitarian aid into the Strip, the release of captives and a permanent ceasefire. Babies particularly affected Medical staff at Gaza's hospitals are seeing babies severely malnourished 'without muscles and fat tissue, just the skin over the bone', the director of paediatrics and maternity at Nasser Hospital, Ahmed al-Farra, told Al Jazeera. The long-term consequences of malnutrition for babies, infants and children are severe as they are still developing their central nervous system during the first three years of their lives, said al-Farra. Babies who have been malnourished will not have the required folic acid, B1 complex and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for the composition of the central nervous system. Al-Farrah said malnutrition can affect cognitive development in the future, make it hard for a child to read and write, and lead to depression and anxiety. Tanya Haj Hassan, a doctor with the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), explains that serious health risks remain even after food becomes available again. 'The reality is the problem doesn't end when the food arrives … malnutrition impacts all aspects of the body's function,' Hassan told Al Jazeera. 'All of the cells in your body are altered by this. In the intestines, the cells die. That results in issues with absorption, with bacteria. Your pancreas struggles; absorbing fats is difficult. 'Your heart cells become weak and thinned. The connections are impacted, the heart rate slows. These children often die of heart failure, even when they're being refed,' she added. 'They also have life-threatening shifts in salts; these can also lead to fatal heart rhythms. They're more prone to sepsis and shock,' the doctor said, in reference to oral rehydration salt solutions, which are usually administered to people suffering from malnutrition. '[Patients can face] low blood pressure, skin lesions, hypothermia, fluid overload, infection, vitamin deficiencies that can affect vision and bone.'
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Baby dies from malnutrition as Trump warns of ‘real starvation' in Gaza
At least 14 Palestinians, including two children, have died from hunger and malnutrition in Gaza in 24 hours, according to health authorities, as United States President Donald Trump says there are signs of 'real starvation' in the besieged territory. The deaths pushed the number of those who have died from malnutrition since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023 to 147, including 88 children, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Monday. Most of the deaths have occurred in recent weeks as a hunger crisis has gripped the territory due to Israel's severe restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory in March, which was partially lifted in May. But only a trickle of aid has been allowed to enter since then despite warnings from the United Nations and aid organisations of mass starvation. Before a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, Trump said Israel 'has a lot of responsibility' for the situation in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had denied that on Sunday, saying, 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.' Asked by reporters whether he agreed with Netanyahu's remarks, Trump said, 'I don't know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.' Starmer, standing next to Trump, said, 'We've got to get that ceasefire' in Gaza and called it 'a desperate situation'. Trump said among the issues he would discuss with Starmer would be the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The comments come after the Israeli military said it would pause attacks in some parts of Gaza and authorised new corridors for humanitarian deliveries to increase the flow of badly needed aid. The decision was welcomed by the UN, but the organisation's humanitarian chief said the deliveries need to be scaled up. Baby formula shortage The warning was made as a medical source at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told Al Jazeera on Monday that an infant named Muhammad Ibrahim Adas died from malnutrition due to a shortage of baby formula. Gaza's Government Media Office said an extreme shortage of baby formula could cause tens of thousands of malnourished infants like Muhammad to slowly die. 'There are over 40,000 infants under one year old in Gaza currently at risk of slow death due to this brutal and suffocating blockade,' the office said on Monday, accusing Israel of blocking entry of the product for 150 days. 'We urgently demand the immediate and unconditional opening of all crossings and the swift entry of baby formula and humanitarian aid,' it continued. 'A drop in the ocean' As more aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday through the Karem Abu Salem crossing (Kerem Shalom in Hebrew) and the Zikim road in the north, 'devastated Palestinians jumped on these trucks and took whatever they had,' Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary said, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. 'When asked why they jumped on the trucks, the Palestinians said they did not have time to wait for the food. They said their children have been starving for days, and they do not have any other option than jumping on these trucks,' Khoudary said. 'This shows how desperate Palestinians are and how they were deprived of their basic necessities. Now we are expecting more trucks to enter today.' Israel's decision to allow more aid into Gaza has been welcomed by the UN, but officials warned that severe restrictions continued to block lifesaving deliveries. 'This is a welcome step in the right direction,' Tom Fletcher, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told Al Jazeera. 'But clearly, we need to get in vast amounts of aid at a much, much greater scale than we've been able to do so far.' Fletcher said deliveries overall have been just 'a drop in the ocean' of what is needed. 'We can't just simply turn up and drive through. That's what we should be allowed to do, that's what international law demands, but we're not yet at that point,' he said, citing ongoing security risks, closed crossings, visa rejections and customs delays. As the hunger crisis deepens, Israeli forces have continued to launch attacks across Gaza, killing at least 65 people on Monday, including 23 who were seeking aid, medical sources told Al Jazeera. More than 1,000 Palestinians seeking aid have been killed by Israeli forces near distribution sites run by the US- and Israeli-backed GHF, which launched operations in late May. The GHF has been heavily criticised by the UN and other humanitarian organisations for failing to provide enough aid and for the dire security situation at and around its aid distribution sites. Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum said: 'What Israel describes as 'humanitarian pauses' are, in fact, limited and seen as unilateral suspensions of military activities that usually last for a few hours and are confined to select areas,' Abu Azzoum said. 'These pauses, as we have seen, lack international oversight or any sort of coordination with humanitarian agencies,' he said. Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has conducted its offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the day Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel killed 1,139 people and resulted in more than 200 people being taken captive. The war has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for its war on the enclave.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
LIVE: Israel lets aid into Gaza, but UN says it's not enough to stop famine
UN says Israel has eased some restrictions in Gaza, allowing 100 truckloads of aid to be collected, but warns the amount is not enough to 'stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis'. Authorities in Gaza say six more Palestinians, including two children, have starved to death, bringing the total toll from hunger to 133 since Israel's war began.
