Latest news with #AmjadShawa
The Guardian
6 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Who will help Gaza City? Inside the 30 May Guardian Weekly
Israel allowed a trickle of aid to enter Gaza last week while pinning its hopes of assuaging condemnation of the two-month-long blockade of the territory by this week permitting the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed logistics group, to begin rigidly controlled deliveries that are barely a drop in the ocean of what the population needs. While foreign journalists remain unable to report from Gaza, our correspondents Jason Burke, in Jerusalem, and Malek A Tantesh, who is based in Gaza, have written a powerful report on life in Gaza City for this week's cover story. Even as attacks continue, more and more civilians move into the city, pushed out from northern Gaza as Israel's new offensive intensifies. Life has been reduced to the very basics with, as the head of the Gaza NGOs Network, Amjad Shawa, put it, people 'living in rubbish dumps, cesspits. There are flies, mosquitoes. We have no water to deliver, no food, no tents or blankets or tarpaulins, nothing. People are very, very hungry but there is nothing to give them.' And Lorenzo Tondo, in collaboration with Tantesh, described one very individual story, recording how nine of the 10 children of a paediatrician at the Nasser hospital were killed by an Israeli airstrike. In another difficult week for the world, do take a moment to decompress with Poems to remember, my choice is highlighted below. Get the Guardian Weekly delivered to your home address Spotlight |'I knew I would die in jail' Daniel Boffey reports on how the right-hand man of Georgia's de facto ruler ended up on the run and what effect that had on the country's relationships with Russia and the west Science | Weight-loss drugs have additional gainsThe benefits of Ozempic and similar medications go beyond treating obesity, as science correspondents Hannah Devlin and Nicola Davis discover from talking to researchers Feature | A deadly Amazon questAn extract from the book Dom Phillips was working on when he and the Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were killed Opinion | Why Trump's jaw-jaw isn't working Because, argues Simon Tisdall, both Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu have calculated that a forever war is better for them personally than the reckoning peace would bring Culture | The soul queen of New Orleans At 84, Irma Thomas has a new album and a new generation of fans, but as she tells Garth Cartwright, her musical journey has not been easy Archie Bland's piece about the day his seven-week-old son stopped breathing, and the life he has lived in the two years since, stopped me in my tracks. A beautifully expressed reflection on parenting, disability and existence. Graham Snowdon, editor From a shark sketched by a skater on a frozen lake in Finland, to a father and daughter who cycled a 2,162km heart in France, to a runner whose epic route made him briefly, ahem, a member of the record-holders' club, Chris Broughton spoke to athletes who use GPS to create digital art, as well as fundraising, highlighting good causes and putting fun into their workouts. Clare Horton, assistant editor Audio | Your microbiome questions answered: part one Video | Toby Jones performs Portrait of a Romantic by ASJ Tessimond Gallery | Sichuan snacks and a Napa harvest: World Food Photography awards Interactive | What would Russia's peace deal demands really mean for Ukraine? – visualised We'd love to hear your thoughts on the magazine: for submissions to our letters page, please email For anything else, it's Facebook Instagram Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home address
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Eyewitnesses say first aid convoys have reached people in Gaza
The first aid deliveries have reached the population of the Gaza Strip after an almost three-month blockade by Israel, during which humanitarian organizations warned of acute levels of hunger. A total of 87 lorries carrying flour, food and medical supplies drove overnight into the coastal area's interior, said Jihad Islim, the vice president of the Association of Private Freight Forwarders in Gaza. They headed towards the locations of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, he added. A UN spokesman spoke of about 90 lorries and confirmed the contents of the deliveries. Some bakeries in these locations began baking bread with the received flour at dawn and distributing it to the residents, bakery owners and other eyewitnesses reported. Aid to Gaza still inadequate despite blockade easing However, local and international aid workers emphasized that the quantities that have arrived so far are just a drop in the ocean. According to previous UN information, around 500 lorry deliveries would be needed daily to ensure the supply for the approximately 2 million Palestinians in Gaza. Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, said that no aid has yet reached the north of Gaza, where the need is particularly dire. The lorries that have arrived so far represent only a fraction of the essential needs, he added. Israel lifted the nearly three-month blockade of humanitarian aid on Sunday, but some of the lorries allowed into the sealed-off coastal area afterwards stood for days within the Gaza Strip near the border crossing because the route proposed for them was too dangerous, according to the UN. Israel justified the blockade with the claim that the Palestinian militant organization Hamas would steal the aid supplies and sell them on the black market to finance its fighters and weapons. The UN counters that Israel has not provided any evidence for this. Palestinians report more than 50 killed in Gaza Strip At least 50 people have been killed and dozens injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since Wednesday night, the Hamas-controlled civil defence agency reported. The Israeli military issued a directive to residents in the north of the region to leave their homes, as its troops were operating with massive force in Beit Lahia, the Jabaliya refugee camp and other residential areas between the region's northern border and Gaza City. It said that terrorist organizations in the areas were developing "terrorist activities" in these areas. The message was broadcast in Arabic in text messages to mobile phones and via X. The Israeli military had issued similar messages to residents of neighbouring areas on Wednesday. The current conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and other Palestinian extremists invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostage. Israel responded with a massive attack, which has since killed more than 53,700 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The figures do not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties, but international organizations such as the UN consider them to be largely credible. Hamas health authority: 16,500 minors killed in Gaza war More than 16,500 minors have been killed since the war in Gaza erupted in October 2023, the authority also reported on Thursday. The authority put the number of babies killed at more than 900, and the number of children between the ages of 1 and 13 at more than 11,000. It also published a list of names, identity card numbers and birth dates to back up its figures. The details cannot currently be independently verified. According to UN figures, almost half the territory's residents are younger than 18. Israel previously reported around 20,000 militants were killed by its military campaign. This figure can also not be independently verified. Reports: Netanyahu government withdrawing all negotiators from Qatar The Israeli government is to withdraw its entire negotiating team from talks in Doha aimed at achieving a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Thursday. High-level members of the team had been recalled to Israel on Tuesday, with only members of the working-level team remaining in the Qatari capital, according to information from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The families of the hostages still held in Gaza expressed strong criticism of the move. Points of conflict between the parties include that Hamas is demanding the end to hostilities in exchange for releasing the remaining hostages. Israel will only agree to this if Hamas lays down its arms and its leadership leaves the Gaza Strip. Hamas has rejected these demands.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Eyewitnesses say first aid supplies have reached people in Gaza
The first aid deliveries have reached the population of the Gaza Strip after an almost three-month blockade by Israel, during which humanitarian organizations warned of acute levels of hunger. A total of 87 lorries carrying flour, food and medical supplies drove overnight into the coastal area's interior, said Jihad Islim, the vice president of the Association of Private Freight Forwarders in Gaza. They headed towards the locations of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, he added. A UN spokesman spoke of about 90 lorries and confirmed the contents of the deliveries. Some bakeries in these locations began baking bread with the received flour at dawn and distributing it to the residents, bakery owners and other eyewitnesses reported. However, local and international aid workers emphasized that the quantities that have arrived so far are just a drop in the ocean. According to previous UN information, around 500 lorry deliveries would be needed daily to ensure the supply for the approximately 2 million Palestinians in Gaza. Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, said that no aid has yet reached the north of Gaza, where the need is particularly dire. The lorries that have arrived so far represent only a fraction of the essential needs, he added. Israel lifted the nearly three-month blockade of humanitarian aid on Sunday, but some of the lorries allowed into the sealed-off coastal area afterwards stood for days within the Gaza Strip near the border crossing because the route proposed for them was too dangerous, according to the UN. Israel justified the blockade with the claim that the Palestinian militant organization Hamas would steal the aid supplies and sell them on the black market to finance its fighters and weapons. The UN counters that Israel has not provided any evidence for this.
Express Tribune
02-05-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Israeli strikes kill 22 Palestinians in Gaza as IDF attacks aid ship off Malta
Listen to article At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Friday, as the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory grows increasingly dire under Israel's ongoing blockade. Meanwhile, a ship belonging to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla—carrying 30 pro-Palestinian activists—was reportedly hit by drones in international waters off Malta. No injuries were reported, but the vessel caught fire and lost communication after its electrical systems were damaged. The Maltese government confirmed all 15 crew member and an additional 15 passenger on the vessel were safe, but they refused to board a tug vessel. Total 30 people were on the ship. The vessel was carrying humanitarian supplies bound for Gaza. However the ship cannot move because it is heavily damaged. Israeli officials have not commented on the attack. The flotilla group accused Israel or a close ally of carrying it out. The Gaza Health Ministry said eight members of a single family died in Bureij camp, while strikes in Khan Younis and Abasan al-Kabira killed multiple women and children. The mounting death toll follows weeks of unrelenting bombardment and a near-total ban on aid, now in its third month. Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations Network, said the besieged enclave has run out of food, medical supplies and nutritional supplements needed to treat vulnerable children. "We have no food supplies or supplementary materials or medications for these children," Shawa . "The cases will become more severe, and there is a serious concern we will see more fatalities in the coming days, the whole Strip is starving, and the majority of children are suffering from malnutrition,' he said. With health infrastructure devastated by months of conflict, he added, medical facilities are ill-equipped to cope. 'Hospitals are largely destroyed and out of service. They simply cannot handle the surge in patients without essential supplies,' he said. The Gaza Health Ministry said eight members of a single family died in Bureij camp, while strikes in Khan Younis and Abasan al-Kabira killed multiple women and children. The mounting death toll follows weeks of unrelenting bombardment and a near-total ban on aid, now in its third month. Israeli airstrikes on two separate houses in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of civilians, including women and children, with several others injured, according to local sources. Media reported that two Palestinians were killed and several others wounded when Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, located in the northwest of Gaza City. Yemeni rebels have claimed responsibility for a missile strike near Haifa, targeting an Israeli army base in the north of the country. The rebels' military spokesperson announced in a televised statement that they launched a ballistic missile aimed at the Ramat David Airbase, located southeast of Haifa. The Israeli military confirmed that hostile aircraft sirens were triggered in Haifa and surrounding areas at around 5:30am, but added that the missile, launched from Yemen, was intercepted before it could reach its target. Palestinian child was killed in an Israeli drone strike on the Qizan an-Najjar area in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, according to reports from Al Jazeera Arabic. The outlet also reported that another Palestinian died from wounds sustained in an earlier Israeli attack, which targeted tents housing displaced people in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis. Austria has called for an end to the ongoing aid blockade on Gaza, which has lasted for over 60 days. 'After two months of blockade, humanitarian aid for Gaza must be allowed to flow unhindered in accordance with international humanitarian law,' the Austrian Foreign Ministry stated in a post on X. The ministry also urged the release of all Israeli hostages still being held in the enclave. Israeli rights group B'Tselem has released disturbing footage of armed Israeli settlers raiding a Palestinian family's tent encampment near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. The masked settlers, arriving in vehicles with Israeli flags, rammed a car, stole sheep, vandalized property, and set tents on fire—all under the watch of guards from a nearby illegal settlement outpost. Despite calls for help, no police responded. 'Settler violence is state violence,' B'Tselem stated. Eight-year-old Rehab was playing on a swing in Gaza when an Israeli missile strike left her paralyzed from the waist down. Now confined to a wheelchair, she told Defense for Children International – Palestine: 'I used to walk to school and play with my siblings. Now I'm injured and sitting. I can't walk.' An Israeli soldier was killed and two others were injured during a military operation in the occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli military said on Thursday. In a statement, the army said the two injured soldiers sustained light wounds and were evacuated to hospital for treatment. Their families have been notified. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, the military added. However, Israeli media reported the incident may have been the result of a traffic accident.
Egypt Today
16-04-2025
- Health
- Egypt Today
1,652 Palestinians killed, 4,391 wounded since Israeli aggression resumed on Gaza
A protestor calling for the end to Israeli aggression on Gaza - file CAIRO - 16 April 2025: The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced Wedesday that the Palestinian death toll as a result of the Israeli aggression on Gaza has risen to 1,652 martyrs and 4,391 wounded, since the resumption of Israeli military operations on March 18th. Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network, said that the Gaza Strip has entered an advanced stage of famine. "We are beginning to witness thousands of children suffering from malnutrition," Shawa said, adding that these indicators will have serious repercussions. Shawa added to Al-Qahera TV News Channel that the Gaza Strip is also experiencing an environmental disaster, with the spread of many diseases, in addition to severe water shortage, amid repeated displacements and the lack of shelter and other facilities. He pointed out that statements by Israeli government ministers and the extreme right, confirm that the Israeli occupation is continuing its war of starvation against the Palestinian people. Shawa also warned that Israeli threats to continue preventing the entry of aid and imposing the so-called "aid militarization plan" are extremely dangerous, given the occupation army's control over the mechanism for receiving and distributing aid.
