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Arab News
01-05-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Children broken in mind and body by Israeli ‘abomination' in Gaza
GENEVA: Palestinian children in Gaza are being physically and mentally broken by two months of an Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid and incessant pounding by airstrikes, UN health chiefs said on Thursday. More than 1,000 children had lost limbs, thousands had severe spinal cord and head injuries from which they would never recover and many were psychologically damaged, World Health Organization emergencies chief Mike Ryan said. 'We have to ask ourselves, how much blood is enough to satisfy whatever the political objectives are?' he said. 'We are watching this unfold before our very eyes, and we're not doing anything about it. 'We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza. We are complicit. As a physician I am angry. It is an abomination.' Israel has interrupted or blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza since the war began in October 2023, and imposed a total blockade on March 2. Since then the UN has repeatedly warned of a humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine looming, and it said this week that acute malnutrition among Gaza's children was worsening. Meanwhile Israel continues to pound civilians in Gaza with daily airstrikes and artillery bombardments. Civil defense chiefs said at least 29 Palestinians were killed on Thursday. They included eight who died in an airstrike on the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Younis refugee camp, four killed in another strike on Al-Tuffah in Gaza City, and others who died in an attack on a tent sheltering displaced people near the central city of Deir Al-Balah. 'We came here and found all these houses destroyed, and children, women and young people all bombed to pieces,' survivor Ahmed Abu Zarqa said after a deadly strike in Khan Younis. 'This is no way to live. Enough, we're tired, enough. We don't know what to do with our lives any more. We'd rather die than live this kind of life.'
Observer
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Observer
29 dead in Gaza as Israel launches midnight strikes
Gaza's civil defence agency said on Thursday that Israeli bombardment killed at least 29 people since midnight in the war-ravaged territory, which has been under an Israeli aid blockade for nearly two months. Israel resumed its military campaign in the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce collapsed over disagreements between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, whose 2023 attack triggered the conflict. Civil defence official Mohammed al Mughayyir said the toll included eight people killed in an Israeli air strike on the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Yunis refugee camp in the territory's south. Four people were killed in an air strike east of Shaaf in Gaza City's Al Tuffah neighbourhood, he added. At least 12 others were killed in seven separate attacks across the Palestinian territory, including one that hit a tent sheltering displaced people near the central city of Deir Al Balah, according to the agency. 'We came here and found all these houses destroyed, and children, women and young people all bombed to pieces,' said Ahmed Abu Zarqa following a deadly strike in Khan Yunis. 'This is no way to live. Enough, we're tired, enough! 'We don't know what to do with our lives anymore. We'd rather die than live this kind of life.' Images showed residents digging through rubble in search of bodies, which were carried away on stretchers under blankets. At Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, rescuers rushed a screaming, wounded child out of an ambulance. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Thursday that at least 2,326 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,418. The attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to official figures. Palestinians abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel says its renewed military campaign aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives. Days before resuming its military campaign, Israel blocked all aid entering Gaza, with UN rights chief Volker Turk saying the territory was witnessing a 'humanitarian catastrophe'. 'Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza,' he said this week. A US official on Wednesday told the International Court of Justice there were 'serious concerns' about the impartiality of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. ICJ judges are holding a week of hearings to help them formulate an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations towards UN agencies delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Around 40 nations and organisations such as the League of Arab States are taking part in the hearings. — AFP
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli attacks kill dozens as UN demands lifting of ‘cruel' Gaza blockade
Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 29 people, Gaza's civil defence agency said, as the United Nations demanded that Israel lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory and allow humanitarian aid to enter. At least eight people were killed in an Israeli attack that hit the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, according to civil defence official Mohammed el-Mougher. Four others were killed in an air strike in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, east of Shaaf, and at least 17 more were killed in other assaults across the enclave on Thursday, including a strike on a tent housing displaced civilians near Deir el-Balah. Witnesses told the AFP news agency about a trail of devastation in Khan Younis. 'We came here and found all these houses destroyed, and children, women and young people all bombed to pieces,' said Ahmed Abu Zarqa. 'Enough, we're tired. We don't know what to do with our lives any more. We'd rather die than live this kind of life.' The bombardment comes amid dire warnings about the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory, which has been under a total Israeli blockade for two months. Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, said the conditions being imposed by Israel on Palestinians in Gaza are 'increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group'. He warned that starvation as a method of warfare could amount to a war crime. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a catastrophic level, with Palestinians teetering on the edge of mass starvation, according to Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum reporting from the ground.'Parents have literally started to skip meals and children are now eating spoiled food. Canned food has become a luxury,' he said. Aid-supported bakeries have shut down due to severe shortages, while the World Food Programme has reportedly run out of stock, leaving soup kitchens overwhelmed and barely operational. 'Locals are calling for safe, sustained humanitarian corridors, but say meaningful aid can only enter when Israel permits it,' he added. With the blockade now in its second month, many in Gaza feel they are not just enduring a humanitarian emergency but 'an engineered misery' that has unleashed famine on a devastating scale. Tom Fletcher, the UN's humanitarian chief, echoed those concerns on Thursday. 'Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip,' he said. 'Blocking aid kills. It inflicts cruel collective punishment.' He criticised an Israeli proposal for private distribution of aid in Gaza, calling it insufficient and not aligned with basic humanitarian principles. 'To the Israeli authorities, and those who can still reason with them, we say again: lift this brutal blockade. Let humanitarians save lives,' he said. UN agencies, including UNRWA, said more than 3,000 aid trucks are stuck at the Gaza border, unable to deliver essential supplies. Some one million children are said to be at risk. 'The siege must be lifted,' UNRWA said in a post on X. Israel's obligations to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are also the subject of a weeklong hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), following a request for an advisory opinion from the UN General Assembly last year. In the fourth day of hearings on Thursday, Qatar's ambassador to the Netherlands, Mutlaq al-Qahtani, told the court Israel has continued its 'genocidal war against the Palestinian people' and increased settlement efforts in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians in Gaza continue to face 'famine-like conditions' as Israel continues to block 'any delivery of life-saving aid', said Mutlaq al-Qahtani Israel has jeopardised the existence of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is the 'backbone' of humanitarian and development assistance in the occupied territory, added the Qatari diplomat.
Al Jazeera
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israeli attacks kill dozens as UN demands lifting of ‘cruel' Gaza blockade
Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 29 people, Gaza's civil defence agency said, as the United Nations demanded that Israel lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory and allow humanitarian aid to enter. At least eight people were killed in an Israeli attack that hit the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, according to civil defence official Mohammed el-Mougher. Four others were killed in an air strike in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, east of Shaaf, and at least 17 more were killed in other assaults across the enclave on Thursday, including a strike on a tent housing displaced civilians near Deir el-Balah. Witnesses told the AFP news agency about a trail of devastation in Khan Younis. 'We came here and found all these houses destroyed, and children, women and young people all bombed to pieces,' said Ahmed Abu Zarqa. 'Enough, we're tired. We don't know what to do with our lives any more. We'd rather die than live this kind of life.' The bombardment comes amid dire warnings about the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory, which has been under a total Israeli blockade for two months. Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, said the conditions being imposed by Israel on Palestinians in Gaza are 'increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group'. He warned that starvation as a method of warfare could amount to a war crime. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a catastrophic level, with Palestinians teetering on the edge of mass starvation, according to Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum reporting from the ground. 'Parents have literally started to skip meals and children are now eating spoiled food. Canned food has become a luxury,' he said. Aid-supported bakeries have shut down due to severe shortages, while the World Food Programme has reportedly run out of stock, leaving soup kitchens overwhelmed and barely operational. 'Locals are calling for safe, sustained humanitarian corridors, but say meaningful aid can only enter when Israel permits it,' he added. With the blockade now in its second month, many in Gaza feel they are not just enduring a humanitarian emergency but 'an engineered misery' that has unleashed famine on a devastating scale. Tom Fletcher, the UN's humanitarian chief, echoed those concerns on Thursday. 'Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip,' he said. 'Blocking aid kills. It inflicts cruel collective punishment.' He criticised an Israeli proposal for private distribution of aid in Gaza, calling it insufficient and not aligned with basic humanitarian principles. 'To the Israeli authorities, and those who can still reason with them, we say again: lift this brutal blockade. Let humanitarians save lives,' he said. UN agencies, including UNRWA, said more than 3,000 aid trucks are stuck at the Gaza border, unable to deliver essential supplies. Some one million children are said to be at risk. 'The siege must be lifted,' UNRWA said in a post on X. Israel's obligations to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are also the subject of a weeklong hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), following a request for an advisory opinion from the UN General Assembly last year. In the fourth day of hearings on Thursday, Qatar's ambassador to the Netherlands, Mutlaq al-Qahtani, told the court Israel has continued its 'genocidal war against the Palestinian people' and increased settlement efforts in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians in Gaza continue to face 'famine-like conditions' as Israel continues to block 'any delivery of life-saving aid', said Mutlaq al-Qahtani Israel has jeopardised the existence of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is the 'backbone' of humanitarian and development assistance in the occupied territory, added the Qatari diplomat.
Al-Ahram Weekly
01-05-2025
- Health
- Al-Ahram Weekly
At least 29 Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes: Gaza civil defence - Region
At least 29 people have been killed in Gaza since midnight Thursday by Israeli bombardment, according to the territory's civil defence agency, as the war-torn strip remains under an Israeli aid blockade for nearly two months. Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza on 18 March, ending a nearly two-month truce that had brought relative calm to the territory, which has been enduring Israel's genocidal war since October 2023. Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said Thursday's toll included eight people killed in an air strike on the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza. Four people were killed in an air strike east of Shaaf in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, he told AFP. At least 17 more were killed in other attacks across the Palestinian territory, including one that hit a tent sheltering displaced people near the central city of Deir el-Balah, the agency said. "We came here and found all these houses destroyed, and children, women and young people all bombed to pieces," said Ahmed Abu Zarqa after a deadly strike in Khan Younis. "This is no way to live. Enough, we're tired, enough! "We don't know what to do with our lives any more. We'd rather die than live this kind of life." AFP images showed residents digging through rubble in search of bodies, which were carried away on stretchers under blankets. At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, rescuers rushed a screaming wounded child out of an ambulance. Gaza's health ministry said on Thursday that at least 2,326 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on 18 March, bringing the total death toll since the war began on 7 October 2023 to 52,418—most of them women and children—with at least 118,091 others wounded. Days before resuming its genocidal assault, Israel blocked all aid entering Gaza, and UN rights chief Volker Turk said the territory was witnessing a "humanitarian catastrophe". "Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza," he said this week. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
