Latest news with #AhmadAlhendawi
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Health
- Qatar Tribune
Israeli attacks kill 62 in Gaza, including three near aid site
Agencies Gaza At least 62 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, medical sources told Al Jazeera, as Israel's national security minister called for a 'complete halt' of humanitarian aid supplies to the Palestinian territory. Local health authorities said on Thursday that Israeli air attacks killed at least 15 people in two separate attacks in Gaza City, including nine people who were killed at a school housing displaced families in the city's Sheikh Radwan suburb. A separate strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave. Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that nine people were killed and wounded in a drone attack on Deir el-Balah's market street. At least 62 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, medical sources said. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that three people were killed and others injured by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian aid near a distribution point at the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, the latest in a series of killings at aid distribution points set up by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). According to Gaza's Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to get food from the sites since the GHF began operations on May 27. It said the attacks on those seeking aid have also caused 4,066 injuries, and that 39 civilians remained missing following the attacks. According to British charity Save the Children, more than half of the casualties in the attacks near distribution hubs were children. Of the 19 deadly incidents reported, the organisation found that children were among the casualties in 10 of them. 'No-one wants to get aid from these distribution points and who can blame them – it's a death sentence. People are terrified of being killed,' said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. The GHF has been criticised by the United Nations and international humanitarian organisations, which say it is inadequate to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza's population. The GHF took over aid operations in May, following mounting criticism against Israel's months-long total blockade on aid getting into the Strip. That had pushed most of the population to the brink of starvation. On Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the Israeli government to reimpose its total blockade. 'The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace,' he said, adding that 'what is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to 'humanitarian' aid, but a complete stop.' Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned that families across Gaza are at risk of dying of thirst amid the collapse of water supply systems. UNRWA noted that only 40 percent of drinking water production facilities are still operating, and that 'Gaza is on the edge of a man-made drought. 'Extracting water from wells stopped due to fuel shortages, others located in dangerous areas that are difficult to access, pipelines are broken and leaking, and water tankers that often do not arrive,' the agency said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Israeli attacks kill more than 30 people in Gaza, including 3 near aid site
More than 30 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, medical sources told Al Jazeera, as Israel's national security minister called for a 'complete halt' of humanitarian aid supplies to the Palestinian territory. Local health authorities said on Thursday that Israeli air attacks killed at least 15 people in two separate attacks in Gaza City, including nine people who were killed at a school housing displaced families in the city's Sheikh Radwan suburb. A separate strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave. Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that nine people were killed and wounded in a drone attack on Deir el-Balah's market street, sending Wednesday's death toll from Israeli attacks above 30. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that three people were killed and others injured by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian aid near a distribution point at the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, the latest in a series of killings at aid distribution points set up by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). According to Gaza's Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to get food from the sites since the GHF began operations on May 27. It said the attacks on those seeking aid have also caused 4,066 injuries, and that 39 civilians remained missing following the attacks. According to British charity Save the Children, more than half of the casualties in the attacks near distribution hubs were children. Of the 19 deadly incidents reported, the organisation found that children were among the casualties in 10 of them. 'No-one wants to get aid from these distribution points and who can blame them – it's a death sentence. People are terrified of being killed,' said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern GHF has been criticised by the United Nations and international humanitarian organisations, which say it is inadequate to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza's population. The GHF took over aid operations in May, following mounting criticism against Israel's months-long total blockade on aid getting into the Strip. That had pushed most of the population to the brink of starvation. Since then, a trickle of aid has been allowed in, but the disastrous humanitarian situation has barely improved. On Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the Israeli government to reimpose its total blockade. 'The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace,' he said, adding that 'what is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to 'humanitarian' aid, but a complete stop.' Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned that families across Gaza are at risk of dying of thirst amid the collapse of water supply systems. UNRWA noted that only 40 percent of drinking water production facilities are still operating, and that 'Gaza is on the edge of a man-made drought. 'Extracting water from wells stopped due to fuel shortages, others located in dangerous areas that are difficult to access, pipelines are broken and leaking, and water tankers that often do not arrive,' the agency said. As Israel continues its assault on Gaza, Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, reached out to the warring parties in a bid to hold new ceasefire talks, but no exact time was set for a new round, according to Hamas sources. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition with far-right parties, insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, release all captives, relinquish any role and lay down its weapons to end the war. Hamas, in turn, has stated it would release the captives if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws all its troops from Gaza. While it has conceded it would no longer govern Gaza, Hamas has refused to discuss disarmament.
Scoop
13-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
In Gaza, Nearly Every Single Child Is At Risk Of Famine
More than 93% of the children in Gaza - about 930,000 children - are at critical risk of famine, said Save the Children, as new data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the leading international authority measuring hunger crises, reveals a spiraling hunger catastrophe [1]. The war in Gaza and Israeli authorities' total siege on the entry of aid and goods have pushed families to take unimaginable measures to survive, says Save the Children. Without urgent action to end the siege and to allow food and medicine into Gaza, one million children are at risk of starvation, disease and ultimately death. Save the Children staff members have received reports in recent days of families in northern Gaza resorting to desperate measures, including eating animal feed, expired flour and flour mixed with sand, out of desperation to survive. A 30-year-old father, living in northern Gaza with his pregnant wife and two-year-old child, said: "I don't know how to feed my family. There's no food. I have no choice but to eat things you would never imagine. It's unfair. She's weak (his daughter), constantly sick, and can't get up. She has diarrhoea. She's in pain from hunger. My wife is going to lose our unborn child. "It's desperate here - chaos. We don't know what awaits us. No one is living a dignified life. Why is this happening to us?" A 25-year-old mother of four in northern Gaza, whose children were receiving treatment for malnutrition at Save the Children's healthcare clinic during the brief pause in fighting, said: "We know what hunger feels like - we've tasted death. Our children are just waiting their turn to die." Nothing has been allowed to enter Gaza - no food, water, fuel, or medicine - since Israeli authorities imposed a total siege on 2 March 2025. Almost everyone in Gaza depends on humanitarian aid, but with supplies cut off, people have been pushed to desperate measures to survive, while trucks loaded with food sit rotting at the borders. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and community kitchens across the strip have run out of food and been forced to halt operations. Save the Children's Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, Ahmad Alhendawi, said: "This is a deliberate humanitarian catastrophe. Children are being starved by design, under Israeli authorities' total siege. We have the food, we have the aid and we know how to treat malnutrition in children - what we don't have is access. There is food, water, and medical aid ready to go, but it's being blocked at the border while families are forced to eat animal feed and leaves, taking unimaginable and dehumanising measures to survive. This is not a crisis of supply; it's a crisis of access. At any given moment in Gaza, a child, someone's whole world, could be killed by bombs and bullets, starvation and disease. The international community must act now to open the crossings and deliver life-saving aid. We cannot stand by while an entire population is starved in plain sight." Starvation as a method of warfare is strictly prohibited under international law and is codified as a war crime. The denial of humanitarian assistance is also a violation of International Humanitarian Law. Save the Children is running a primary healthcare centre in Deir Al-Balah providing essential services to children, mothers and families. The collapse of the pause on March 18 has made it extremely difficult for our staff to deliver nutrition services to children and families, despite the high levels of malnutrition among children under the age of five. During the month of April, we were only able to screen 574 children for acute malnutrition compared to more than 10,500 children in January during the pause. Of the children aged under two years who were screened in April, more than one in five were found to have moderate acute malnutrition or severe acute malnutrition, requiring urgent treatment. Notes: [1] The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) provides a common scale for classifying the severity and magnitude of food shortage and acute malnutrition. According to the IPC report released today (12 May), almost all (93%) of Gaza's 2.1 million people are already enduring "crisis levels" of hunger (IPC Phase 3) or worse. Among them, almost a quarter of a million people are facing catastrophic, "famine-like conditions", while nearly half the population is in a state of "emergency" hunger.
