Latest news with #Amjadal-Shawa
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Chaos erupts on first day of US-backed aid distribution in Gaza after weeks of hunger
Thousands of Palestinians overran a newly established aid site in southern Gaza on Tuesday that is part of a controversial new Israeli- and US-approved aid distribution mechanism that began on Tuesday after months of blockade. Videos from the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), showed large crowds storming the facilities, tearing down some of the fencing and appearing to climb over barriers designed to control the flow of the crowd. A diplomatic official called the chaos at the site 'a surprise to no one.' An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid has pushed the enclave's population of more than 2 million Palestinians towards famine and into a deepening humanitarian crisis, with the first resumption of humanitarian aid trickling into the besieged enclave last week. The GHF acknowledged the pandemonium, saying 'the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties.' A security source said American security contractors on the ground did not fire any shots and that operations would resume at the site on Wednesday. 'It's a big failure that we warned against,' said Amjad al-Shawa, director of Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network. 'If Israel believes that through this blockade and emboldening starvation, which violates humanitarian principles, that this distribution method would work, they are mistaken.' GHF said it has distributed about 8,000 food boxes totaling 462,000 meals in Gaza so far. They say the flow of meals will increase each day, with a goal of delivering food to 1.2 million – 60% of Gaza's population – by the end of the week. The GHF claimed it began operating on Monday, but photos from the organization showed only a handful of people carrying boxes of aid, with pallets of boxes sitting at an otherwise empty lot. GHF is readying three additional sites for the distribution of aid, two of which are in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza. All of the sites in the south are in an area that fell under a massive evacuation order one day earlier. There are no distribution sites in northern Gaza – a point of criticism from many aid experts. The UN has previously warned that the fact the initial sites were only in southern and central Gaza could be seen as encouraging Israel's publicly stated goal of forcing 'the entire Gazan population' out of northern Gaza, as Defense Minister Israel Katz put it earlier this month. 'This mechanism appears practically unfeasible, incompatible with humanitarian principles and will create serious insecurity risks, all while failing to meet Israel's obligations under international law,' the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs wrote earlier this month in a document obtained by CNN. The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel continues to deny it authorization to deliver food directly to families in Gaza, but they have thousands of trucks ready to enter the strip. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was ready, with other humanitarian organizations, 'to distribute meaningful quantities of aid the moment we are allowed to.' 'The amount of supplies that were permitted to enter the Gaza Strip has been so minimal that they have not even reached families outside of one small area,' UNRWA said in a statement. Israel and the US had declined to name the humanitarian organizations involved in the controversial new mechanism, but images from the GHF showed boxes labeled 'Rahma Worldwide,' a Michigan-based non-profit organization that says it provides 'aid and assistance to the most vulnerable communities in the world.' This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN
27-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Chaos erupts on first day of US-backed aid distribution in Gaza after weeks of hunger
Thousands of Palestinians overran a newly established aid site in southern Gaza on Tuesday that is part of a controversial new Israeli- and US-approved aid distribution mechanism that began on Tuesday after months of blockade. Videos from the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), showed large crowds storming the facilities, tearing down some of the fencing and appearing to climb over barriers designed to control the flow of the crowd. A diplomatic official called the chaos at the site 'a surprise to no one.' An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid has pushed the enclave's population of more than 2 million Palestinians towards famine and into a deepening humanitarian crisis, with the first resumption of humanitarian aid trickling into the besieged enclave last week. The GHF acknowledged the pandemonium, saying 'the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate. This was done in accordance with GHF protocol to avoid casualties.' A security source said American security contractors on the ground did not fire any shots and that operations would resume at the site on Wednesday. 'It's a big failure that we warned against,' said Amjad al-Shawa, director of Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network. 'If Israel believes that through this blockade and emboldening starvation, which violates humanitarian principles, that this distribution method would work, they are mistaken.' GHF said it has distributed about 8,000 food boxes totaling 462,000 meals in Gaza so far. They say the flow of meals will increase each day, with a goal of delivering food to 1.2 million – 60% of Gaza's population – by the end of the week. The GHF claimed it began operating on Monday, but photos from the organization showed only a handful of people carrying boxes of aid, with pallets of boxes sitting at an otherwise empty lot. GHF is readying three additional sites for the distribution of aid, two of which are in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza. All of the sites in the south are in an area that fell under a massive evacuation order one day earlier. There are no distribution sites in northern Gaza – a point of criticism from many aid experts. The UN has previously warned that the fact the initial sites were only in southern and central Gaza could be seen as encouraging Israel's publicly stated goal of forcing 'the entire Gazan population' out of northern Gaza, as Defense Minister Israel Katz put it earlier this month. 'This mechanism appears practically unfeasible, incompatible with humanitarian principles and will create serious insecurity risks, all while failing to meet Israel's obligations under international law,' the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs wrote earlier this month in a document obtained by CNN. The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel continues to deny it authorization to deliver food directly to families in Gaza, but they have thousands of trucks ready to enter the strip. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was ready, with other humanitarian organizations, 'to distribute meaningful quantities of aid the moment we are allowed to.' 'The amount of supplies that were permitted to enter the Gaza Strip has been so minimal that they have not even reached families outside of one small area,' UNRWA said in a statement. Israel and the US had declined to name the humanitarian organizations involved in the controversial new mechanism, but images from the GHF showed boxes labeled 'Rahma Worldwide,' a Michigan-based non-profit organization that says it provides 'aid and assistance to the most vulnerable communities in the world.' This is a developing story and will be updated.
Saba Yemen
25-05-2025
- General
- Saba Yemen
Civil Society Organizations: 130,000 Tons of Aid Blocked at Gaza's Borders
Gaza – Saba: Amjad al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network, stated on Sunday that only flour supplies—with no other food items—have entered Gaza in recent days through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south. In a press statement reported by Palestinian news agency Safa, al-Shawa revealed that over 130,000 tons of humanitarian relief materials remain stranded at Gaza's borders, blocked by Israeli occupation forces. Since March 2, no humanitarian aid had entered Gaza until a few dozen trucks were permitted in recent days. International officials and organizations have dismissed these limited shipments as "cosmetic measures" that fail to meet civilians' catastrophic needs. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Perth Now
22-05-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
Some bread and baby food reach Gazans as blockade eases
Flour and other food aid will start reaching some of Gaza's most vulnerable people after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week blockade, Palestinian officials say. Israel said it allowed 100 trucks also carrying baby food and medical equipment into the enclave on Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the restrictions under mounting international pressure. Israel imposed the blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters - a charge the group denies. The UN said a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people were at risk of famine. "Some bakeries will begin receiving flour to produce bread, and we expect the distribution of bread to begin later today," Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations Network in Gaza, told Reuters. He said just 90 trucks had got through. "During the ceasefire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing," he said. Bakeries backed the UN's World Food Programme would produce the bread and the agency's staff would hand it out - a more controlled system than previously when bakers sold it directly to the public at a low cost, he said. "The idea is to try and reach the most needy families, those who are desperate, as it is just the start," Shawa said. As the first aid arrived since the blockade, Israeli military strikes on Gaza killed at least 35 Palestinians across the enclave on Thursday, local health authorities said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reports. It has repeatedly said it seeks to avoid civilian casualties and targets militants. In Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside Al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the health ministry said. Rescue workers had been trying to extinguish the fires for hours, it said. Tanks are stationed outside the hospital, medics say, effectively blocking access to the facility. The Gaza healthcare system has been barely functioning, with most of the medical facilities out of order, because of repeated Israeli military strikes, raids and the ban on the entry of medical supplies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Israel would be open to a temporary ceasefire to enable the return of hostages taken by Hamas-led fighters. But if they were not returned, he said it would press ahead with a military campaign to gain total control of Gaza. "Netanyahu continues to stall and insist on pursuing the war," senior Hamas official Sami Ab Zuhri said in response to Netanyahu's comments. "There is no value to any agreement that doesn't stop the massacres in Gaza permanently." Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza. The campaign has since killed more than 53,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip, where aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
West Australian
22-05-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Some bread and baby food reach Gazans as blockade eases
Flour and other food aid will start reaching some of Gaza's most vulnerable people after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week blockade, Palestinian officials say. Israel said it allowed 100 trucks also carrying baby food and medical equipment into the enclave on Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the restrictions under mounting international pressure. Israel imposed the blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters - a charge the group denies. The UN said a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people were at risk of famine. "Some bakeries will begin receiving flour to produce bread, and we expect the distribution of bread to begin later today," Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations Network in Gaza, told Reuters. He said just 90 trucks had got through. "During the ceasefire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing," he said. Bakeries backed the UN's World Food Programme would produce the bread and the agency's staff would hand it out - a more controlled system than previously when bakers sold it directly to the public at a low cost, he said. "The idea is to try and reach the most needy families, those who are desperate, as it is just the start," Shawa said. As the first aid arrived since the blockade, Israeli military strikes on Gaza killed at least 35 Palestinians across the enclave on Thursday, local health authorities said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reports. It has repeatedly said it seeks to avoid civilian casualties and targets militants. In Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside Al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the health ministry said. Rescue workers had been trying to extinguish the fires for hours, it said. Tanks are stationed outside the hospital, medics say, effectively blocking access to the facility. The Gaza healthcare system has been barely functioning, with most of the medical facilities out of order, because of repeated Israeli military strikes, raids and the ban on the entry of medical supplies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Israel would be open to a temporary ceasefire to enable the return of hostages taken by Hamas-led fighters. But if they were not returned, he said it would press ahead with a military campaign to gain total control of Gaza. "Netanyahu continues to stall and insist on pursuing the war," senior Hamas official Sami Ab Zuhri said in response to Netanyahu's comments. "There is no value to any agreement that doesn't stop the massacres in Gaza permanently." Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza. The campaign has since killed more than 53,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip, where aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
