Latest news with #Deir Al-Balah
Arab News
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Food situation in Gaza ‘absolutely desperate,' charity warns
LONDON: Rachael Cummings, the humanitarian director for Save the Children, described the food situation in Gaza as 'absolutely desperate' and 'the worst it has ever been.' She spoke to Sky News from Deir Al-Balah on Tuesday, a city in central Gaza where Israeli forces launched a bombing campaign this week and where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. 'One of my colleagues said to me yesterday: 'We are all walking together towards death'. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza. 'There is no food for their children; it's absolutely desperate here,' she said during the video call. Markets in the territory are devoid of goods, she added, and people with cash are unable to find bread or vegetables to buy. 'My team have said to me: 'There's nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day'.' Cummings' remarks came as the UK, along with 24 other nations, issued a joint statement on Monday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticizing the US-Israeli model of aid distribution. In recent weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while attempting to obtain food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial organization supported by the US and Israel. 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' the joint statement said. The 25 countries also called for the 'immediate and unconditional release' of hostages captured by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks. Sources informed Reuters that Israel suspects some hostages taken by the armed group may be located near Deir Al-Balah. Meanwhile, several humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have also warned that some of their staff are starving due to low food and drinking water supplies in the territory. Since Sunday, 21 children have died in Gaza due to severe malnutrition and hunger-related complications, amid shortages of food and medical supplies. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy pledged £40 million ($54 million) for humanitarian assistance in Gaza on Tuesday. Charity staffer Liz Allcock, who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza, welcomed the announcement, but told Sky News: 'There have been (similar) statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed. In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can't get worse, it does. 'Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing and the militarization of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,' she said. 'And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we're trying to serve.'
ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Israel sends tanks into central Gaza's Deir Al-Balah for the first time
Israeli tanks have pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be held. Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and which came a day after the military ordered residents to leave, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants. The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis. Thousands of displaced people are living in Deir Al-Balah, including Medical Aid for Palestinian (MAP) staff. MAP's Interim CEO Steve Cutts said the latest forced displacement order is "yet another attack on humanitarian operations" and a "deliberate attempt to sever the last remaining threads of Gaza's health and aid system". He said that MAP had to suspend critical services provided to the Palestinian population, including a primary health clinic serving hundreds of civilians every day. "With Israel's systematic targeting of health and aid workers, no-one is safe," he said. "Not only are we prevented from carrying out our lifesaving work to support Palestinians, we are also unable to protect our own teams." In Khan Younis earlier on Monday, an Israeli air strike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children in a tent, medics said. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents. Israel's military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing "to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area". Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them. The military escalation comes as Gaza health officials warned of potential "mass deaths" in the coming days due to mounting hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, according to the territory's health ministry. Health officials said hospitals were running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations. Health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day, and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion because of hunger. At least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday as they waited for UN aid trucks to enter Gaza. Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza to remove what it said was "an immediate threat". It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it "certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks". The new raid and escalating number of fatalities appeared to be complicating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with US backing. A Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday that the militant group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the enclave, and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks underway in Qatar. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough. UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff as food prices have increased 40-fold. "Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale," it said in a post on social media site X. Israel's military said on Sunday that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community". The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis. Reuters/ABC
