Latest news with #AbeerEtefa
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Gaza aid trucks rushed by desperate and hungry crowds, WFP says
Crowds of civilians have rushed aid trucks in Gaza, the World Food Programme has said, as hunger and desperation create chaotic scenes. The humanitarian organisation said it had brought 77 trucks loaded with flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday. "All trucks were stopped along the way, with food taken mainly by hungry people trying to feed their families," WFP said. Due to a "very high" chance convoys would not reach their warehouse, a decision was taken to let people take aid in the event of crowds, WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa told the BBC. Israel eased an 11-week aid blockade on 19 May, but the UN says the amount sent in the last week amounts to just over 10% of people's needs. The crowds on Saturday were civilians who had received word that food was coming, "the desperate ones who cannot wait to get to distribution points", Ms Etefa said. WFP had chosen aid delivery routes "that are closer to the populations and safer, and away from the gangs". Workers instructed people to take only one bag of flour each, but were not able to control who took what as intended. "After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, starving people will not let a food truck pass," the WFP added. A UN-backed assessment has said Gaza's entire population is at "critical risk" of famine, with Ms Efeta saying two million people are in "desperate need" of food. After the blockade partially lifted, WFP has been able to distribute trucks, but "not at the scale that we would like to and not at the quantities that should get there so that we can calm the situation and control the chaos", she said. Israel said it had imposed the blockade on Gaza to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The UN Palestinian relief agency chief said the 900 trucks sent in to Gaza over the past week were "just over 10% of the daily needs of people". "The aid that's being sent now makes a mockery to the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch," Philippe Lazzarini said on X. Israeli military agency Cogat has accused the UN of not distributing aid already inside Gaza, with Israel's foreign ministry saying hundreds of trucks are waiting. "More aid would actually get to the people if you would collect the aid waiting for you by the crossings," Cogat said to the UN on X on Friday. The UN humanitarian office's regional head, Jonathan Whittall, said the agency faced challenges in distributing aid because of escalating insecurity along routes, being given "inappropriate routes", "long delays" in receiving approvals to move, and "desperate crowds" along the way. Separately, a new US and Israel-backed organisation has also been distributing food at designated sites across Gaza. Israel set up the plan after accusing Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it distributed two million meals this week, which the BBC has not been able to independently verify. There were chaotic scenes at those distribution sites this week. The UN has refused to work with the operation, saying it contradicts humanitarian principles. Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes continue. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that over the past day, it had struck "dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip". Sixty people were killed in Israeli military operations over the past 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said. The statistics do not include the North Gaza Governorate, where the last hospital closed on Thursday after the Israeli military ordered its evacuation. Christos Georgalas, a Greek surgeon who until 21 May worked at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, told the BBC his patients were mainly children, usually with shrapnel injuries. "Children were the main victims in terms of trauma and malnutrition," he said on Friday. Malnutrition slows down the healing process and increases the risk of infections because wounds remain open longer, he explained. He and hospital staff eat only rice for lunch and dinner, which he said made them lucky compared to others. One of his colleagues told him he had lost 26 kilos (57 pounds) over recent months. Georgalas said a lot of doctors had not been paid for a year. Some live in tents, commuting without protection to work, or have to evacuate at short notice. "They are worried for their relatives and lives, they are starved, despite that they continue," he said. Since he left Gaza, his colleague told him the ICU had been "constantly full" and "overwhelmed", with doctors having to ration care because so many patients need intubation. Meanwhile, four Arab countries that had planned a landmark visit to the West Bank this weekend condemned Israel's decision to block the trip. The delegation that was planning to meet the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah included the foreign ministers of Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. An Israeli official said the intended meeting was meant to discuss promoting a Palestinian state, which the current Israeli government rejects. Saudi Arabia and France are co-hosting an international conference next month meant to resurrect the two-state solution as an answer to the Gaza war. Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 54,381 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,117 since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. How controversial US-Israeli backed Gaza aid plan turned to chaos Last hospital in North Gaza governorate evacuated after Israeli order
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Gaza aid trucks rushed by desperate and hungry crowds, WFP says
Crowds of civilians have rushed aid trucks in Gaza, the World Food Programme has said, as hunger and desperation create chaotic humanitarian organisation said it had brought 77 trucks loaded with flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday."All trucks were stopped along the way, with food taken mainly by hungry people trying to feed their families," WFP said. Due to a "very high" chance convoys would not reach their warehouse, a decision was taken to let people take aid in the event of crowds, WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa told the eased an 11-week aid blockade on 19 May, but the UN says the amount sent in the last week amounts to just over 10% of people's needs. The crowds on Saturday were civilians who had received word that food was coming, "the desperate ones who cannot wait to get to distribution points", Ms Etefa had chosen aid delivery routes "that are closer to the populations and safer, and away from the gangs".Workers instructed people to take only one bag of flour each, but were not able to control who took what as intended."After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, starving people will not let a food truck pass," the WFP added. A UN-backed assessment has said Gaza's entire population is at "critical risk" of famine, with Ms Efeta saying two million people are in "desperate need" of food. After the blockade partially lifted, WFP has been able to distribute trucks, but "not at the scale that we would like to and not at the quantities that should get there so that we can calm the situation and control the chaos", she said it had imposed the blockade on Gaza to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The UN Palestinian relief agency chief said the 900 trucks sent in to Gaza over the past week were "just over 10% of the daily needs of people"."The aid that's being sent now makes a mockery to the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch," Philippe Lazzarini said on military agency Cogat has accused the UN of not distributing aid already inside Gaza, with Israel's foreign ministry saying hundreds of trucks are waiting."More aid would actually get to the people if you would collect the aid waiting for you by the crossings," Cogat said to the UN on X on UN humanitarian office's regional head, Jonathan Whittall, said the agency faced challenges in distributing aid because of escalating insecurity along routes, being given "inappropriate routes", "long delays" in receiving approvals to move, and "desperate crowds" along the a new US and Israel-backed organisation has also been distributing food at designated sites across Gaza. Israel set up the plan after accusing Hamas of stealing aid, which the group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it distributed two million meals this week, which the BBC has not been able to independently were chaotic scenes at those distribution sites this week. The UN has refused to work with the operation, saying it contradicts humanitarian principles. Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes continue. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that over the past day, it had struck "dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip".Sixty people were killed in Israeli military operations over the past 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry statistics do not include the North Gaza Governorate, where the last hospital closed on Thursday after the Israeli military ordered its evacuation. Christos Georgalas, a Greek surgeon who until 21 May worked at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, told the BBC his patients were mainly children, usually with shrapnel injuries."Children were the main victims in terms of trauma and malnutrition," he said on slows down the healing process and increases the risk of infections because wounds remain open longer, he and hospital staff eat only rice for lunch and dinner, which he said made them lucky compared to others. One of his colleagues told him he had lost 26 kilos (57 pounds) over recent said a lot of doctors had not been paid for a year. Some live in tents, commuting without protection to work, or have to evacuate at short notice."They are worried for their relatives and lives, they are starved, despite that they continue," he he left Gaza, his colleague told him the ICU had been "constantly full" and "overwhelmed", with doctors having to ration care because so many patients need intubation. Meanwhile, four Arab countries that had planned a landmark visit to the West Bank this weekend condemned Israel's decision to block the trip. The delegation that was planning to meet the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah included the foreign ministers of Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. An Israeli official said the intended meeting was meant to discuss promoting a Palestinian state, which the current Israeli government Arabia and France are co-hosting an international conference next month meant to resurrect the two-state solution as an answer to the Gaza launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 54,381 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,117 since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
NBC News
08-05-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Israeli strikes kill at least 100 in Gaza as status of 3 living hostages remains 'uncertain'
Aid groups are warning of an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel's blockade on food and aid, which recently entered its third month, goes on. As a result, leading aid group World Central Kitchen said in a statement Wednesday that it has been forced to suspend operations and shutter its community kitchens, as it faced empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies. The statement added that it had served 133,000 meals per day and baked 80,000 loaves of bread over the past few weeks. Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP), told NBC News on Wednesday that a famine had 'not yet' been declared. But she said an analysis would be released next week by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which sets a scale the United Nations and governments use to assess hunger. The WFP warned last month that it had run out of its last remaining food stocks for hot meal kitchens in the Gaza Strip. More than 116,000 metric tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1 million people for up to four months, was waiting at aid corridors to be allowed into the enclave, it added. Palestinian health officials say the Israeli offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people and 250 taken were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
49 killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza over 24 hours as mediators scramble to restart ceasefire
At least 49 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to health officials, as Arab mediators scrambled to restart a ceasefire. An airstrike in a neighbourhood in western Gaza City early Saturday (April 26, 2025) morning flattened a three-story house, killing 10 people, according to a cameraman cooperating with The Associated Press. The number was confirmed by Gaza's Health Ministry, along with three more people who were killed in the Shati refugee camp along the city's shoreline. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strikes. The attacks come as Hamas said on Saturday that it sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to try and get the stalled ceasefire back on track. Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month and has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed, or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement President Donald Trump's proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which has been widely rejected internationally. Hamas has said it will only release the dozens of hostages it holds in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January. Hamas said on Saturday that the delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the group's vision to end the war, which includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and reconstruction. Earlier this week, other Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to discuss a proposal that would include a five-to-seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said. Egypt and Qatar are still developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief media. Meanwhile, Israel has continued its nearly two-month blockade on Gaza even as aid groups warn that supplies are dwindling. On Friday, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza had run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days. About 80% of Gaza's population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel's blockade, according to the UN. The WFP has been supporting 47 kitchens that distribute 644,000 hot meals a day, WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press. Israel's offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
New Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
49 killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza over 24 hours, as mediators scramble to restart ceasefire
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: At least 49 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to health officials, as Arab mediators scrambled to restart a ceasefire. An airstrike in a neighborhood in western Gaza City early Saturday morning, flattened a three-story house, killing 10 people, according to a cameraman cooperating with The Associated Press. The number was confirmed by Gaza's Health Ministry, along with three more people who were killed in the Shati refugee camp along the city's shoreline. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strikes. The attacks come as Hamas said on Saturday that it sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to try and get the stalled ceasefire back on track. Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month and has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed, or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement President Donald Trump's proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which has been widely rejected internationally. Hamas has said it will only release the dozens of hostages it holds in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January. Hamas said Saturday that the delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the group's vision to end the war, which includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and reconstruction. Earlier this week, other Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to discuss a proposal that would include a five-to-seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said. Egypt and Qatar are still developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. Meanwhile, Israel has continued its nearly two-month blockade on Gaza even as aid groups warn that supplies are dwindling. On Friday, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza had run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days. About 80% of Gaza's population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel's blockade, according to the U.N. The WFP has been supporting 47 kitchens that distribute 644,000 hot meals a day, WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press. Israel's offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
