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Observer
a day ago
- Politics
- Observer
Israel kills starving Gazans gathering to collect food
In Gaza, a humanitarian disaster is unfolding. Under a tight Israeli siege, thousands of Palestinians are starving and facing deadly violence when they try to collect food. Civilians are being killed not in combat but while lining up for flour, water, or aid. These scenes are tragic, shocking and plague a population stripped of basic survival — yet the global response remains slow and inadequate. One of the deadliest incidents occurred on February 29, 2024, now known as the 'Flour Massacre.' On that day, Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd in Gaza City waiting for flour from an aid convoy. According to Al Jazeera, citing UN experts, at least 112 people were killed and hundreds more injured. The UN and rights groups described it as a massacre — a stark warning of the lethal risks for any Gazan attempting to gather food. Sadly, similar attacks continued. On June 17, 2025, Israeli tanks fired on civilians near food trucks in Khan Yunis, killing at least 59 and injuring more than 200, according to Reuters. Just a week later, the UN confirmed that over 400 Palestinians had been killed recently while trying to reach aid distribution centres. Then, on June 30, Israeli air strikes claimed 95 more lives — including 39 people at a seaside café. These were not military locations, but public places where desperate civilians sought sustenance. Such incidents raise grave concerns about the deliberate targeting of vulnerable populations and may amount to war crimes under humanitarian law. These attacks have not been limited to Israeli forces alone. According to AP News, American private contractors guarding aid sites in Gaza have fired live bullets at Palestinians trying to collect food. This involvement by foreign actors intensifies the crisis and prompts urgent questions about international responsibility. International reaction and legal scrutiny have been growing — though yet to change the situation on the ground. UN Secretary‑General António Guterres has repeatedly expressed deep alarm, calling the hunger crisis one of the worst humanitarian disasters in decades. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk described the killings of aid‑seekers as 'unconscionable' and UN agencies warned that using starvation as a weapon of war is strictly prohibited. Human rights organisations have produced damning reports. Human Rights Watch documented at least eight strikes on aid convoys or facilities — despite coordination efforts to prevent such attacks. Amnesty International accused Israel of deliberately inflicting starvation on a civilian population — calling it a crime of genocide. Their findings state that Israeli authorities had full awareness of the harm caused yet persisted regardless. In a rare move towards accountability, legal action has been initiated. On May 20, 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The charges include war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the starvation campaign in Gaza. While this represents a major step in international justice, the violence has continued unabated. A Palestinian carries a sack of food items in Khan Younis. — Reuters Despite mounting evidence and global condemnation, major governments have largely failed to take meaningful action. The United States continues to provide military support and political cover to Israel. Critics warn this enables continued aggression and undermines international law. The muted response from many nations suggests that some lives — especially Palestinian lives — are treated as less valuable on the world stage. On the ground, the situation is dire. Gaza's healthcare system is on the verge of collapse due to shortages of medicine, clean water and electricity. Hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded civilians, many of whom were shot at aid queues. Children and elderly people are most at risk, suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and fear. The world must act now — decisively and collectively. A full and immediate ceasefire is needed to halt the bloodshed. Humanitarian aid must be granted safe and unrestricted access. Donor nations should insist on protection for civilians and accountability for violations. And individuals and organisations responsible for war crimes — including those using starvation as a weapon — must face justice, regardless of rank or nationality. If the world does not stand up today, the tragedies in Gaza will not only stain the current generation but also set a precedent that civilian suffering is acceptable in future conflicts. For Gaza's starving and bereaved families, indifference is not only cruel — it is complicity.
Sinar Daily
11-06-2025
- Sinar Daily
Palestinian journalist unfollow accounts celebrating life amid Gaza siege
'Forgive me, but I am unable to see your posts and your luxurious and empty lives at the same time." Prominent Palestinian journalist and activist Bisan Owda has announced she will unfollow social media users who continue to share celebratory or lifestyle content while Gaza continues to suffer under Israeli bombardment. - Photo: Instagram @wizard_bisan1 SHAH ALAM – Prominent Palestinian journalist and activist Bisan Owda has announced she will unfollow social media users who continue to share celebratory or lifestyle content while Gaza continues to suffer under Israeli bombardment. In an Instagram Story posted on Thursday, Owda, widely known by her online moniker Wizard Bisan said she would no longer engage with posts about food, holidays, clothing or leisure, regardless of the user's religion or nationality. 'Forgive me, but I am unable to see your posts and your luxurious and empty lives at the same time. 'We may live in different worlds, and this step may be late, but neither me nor my people are able to see your food and your lives and not curse you and hate you. 'So that we do not see you as insignificant and ignorant, I am going to unfollow you and not see your Honolulu life,' the caption read. She added that if she and her people survive the ongoing genocide, rebuild their lives and experience joy again, only then will she consider re-engaging with such content. "This is the least I can do for my family and my people," she wrote. Palestinians prepare to carry an injured person, pulled from the rubble of a home that was targeted in an Israeli strike in the Saftawi neighbourhood, west of Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on June 9, 2025. Photo by Bashar Taleb/AFP Owda has become one of the most recognised voices documenting the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. Since Oct 7, 2023, she has regularly reported from the ground, providing firsthand accounts of the destruction, displacement and death caused by Israel's military campaign. At just 20-something, Owda has amassed more than four million Instagram followers and continues to reach millions across platforms like TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). Her social media presence has grown significantly since the start of the war, often opening her videos with the haunting phrase, "I'm still alive." Her reporting has covered key atrocities, including the Al-Shifa ambulance strike, the Flour Massacre in February 2024 and mass displacements to Khan Younis. She herself has been displaced multiple times, including when her home and filming equipment in Gaza City's Rimal district were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. Media report, The New Arab reported, in recognition of her brave journalism, Owda was awarded an Emmy in Sep 2024 for her documentary "I'm Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive." The report, produced in collaboration with AJ+, won the award for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form at the 45th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, hosted by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).
Al Jazeera
13-04-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
How the sick and injured fled as Israel bombed Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital
Gaza City, Gaza – Yousef Abu Sakran was dozing next to his injured child and wife, Iman, in a tent ward at al-Ahli Arab Hospital when the sounds of people running and shouting woke him up. He stepped into the hospital courtyard well before dawn on Sunday to ask what was happening but found no clear answer, only vague news that the Israeli army had made calls to people living around the hospital, demanding the expulsion of everyone in the medical facility. The 29-year-old father reacted instantly. He scooped up his five-year-old son, Mohammad, and he and Iman ran towards the gate. Mohammad has severe injuries across his body, including third-degree burns on his back and legs, but Yousef had to keep running with him. 'I was carrying my son, whose body was burned, and running while he screamed,' Yousef said. 'His back was bleeding – his wounds were bleeding heavily – and he was screaming in agony. '[So many people's] injuries reopened from the sudden movement. I saw the family of a girl with spinal injuries trying to pull her bed, but it was stuck in the debris. 'Just seconds after we left the hospital, it was struck by two missiles that shook the entire place. I told my wife: 'Imagine if we had been a minute later. We'd be dead.'' Yousef and his wife were in the street with everyone else from the hospital. 'It was around 2am, and I had no idea where to take my injured son. He was in pain and bleeding. There were no clinics or hospitals, and the tent we live in is very far and completely unsuitable for his condition.' Mohammad had been injured in an Israeli air strike on a block of homes in Gaza's Shujayea neighbourhood, which killed more than 20 people and wounded dozens. An hour after the hospital was bombed, Yousef and his wife decided there was nothing they could do other than take Mohammad back to al-Ahli. 'The place was pitch-black, and it reeked of gunpowder and dust. I went to the surgery building at the far end of the hospital, where I found a nurse who took pity on Mohammad's condition, treated his wounds and admitted him.' Bombing a hospital like this, Yousef said, is a stain on humanity's conscience. 'They bomb our homes over our heads and then bomb hospitals while patients and the wounded are inside. Where are we supposed to go? 'Isn't all this grief and suffering enough?' Suhaib Hamed, 20, was asleep in another tent ward, right next to the hospital's emergency building, which was hit. Hamed was injured when he went to fetch flour for his starving family on February 29, 2024 – a day known as the 'Flour Massacre', during which Israel killed 109 Palestinians and wounded dozens while they waited for food aid. He was shot in the leg by Israeli tanks, damaging his bones and tissue to the point that he needed metal implants and has been in the orthopaedic department since then. 'My brother, who usually stays with me, wasn't there. I don't even know how I managed to stand on my injured leg, grab my crutches and flee,' Suhaib told Al Jazeera as he exited the surgery department after having the wounds to his leg cleaned and checked. 'I forgot my pain because of what I saw around me. Everyone was screaming in terror and fear, just trying to survive. It felt like the Day of Judgement.' Suhaib also managed to get out of the hospital minutes before two Israeli missiles landed. 'My leg couldn't handle it any more, and my wound reopened and started bleeding again.' He couldn't keep walking, so he stopped and called his brother, who came and supported him to their home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, a half-hour's walk for a healthy person on undamaged roads. The pain in his leg kept Suhaib up, but he was also worried about the hospital being forced to close. 'I've been staying in the hospital [for more than a year] because of my condition,' he said. Suhaib has a medical referral to travel outside Gaza for treatment but has been waiting to leave for a year. 'Isn't the closure and banning of our travel enough? They even target the hospital that was still treating us with the little that's available.' The Israeli strike on al-Ahli has exacerbated an already catastrophic situation for Gaza's healthcare system, which has been collapsing as Israeli bombardments and a blockade on medicines, medical supplies and fuel continues. In the panic that ensued because Israel did not give hospital staff even the bare minimum of time to evacuate patients, a child died due to lack of oxygen, Fadel Naeem, director of al-Ahli, told Al Jazeera. Israel destroyed the vital emergency, radiology, laboratory and central pharmacy departments, the doctor continued. 'We'll need weeks or months to resume operations,' he noted. 'This hospital is a hub for services and includes all essential facilities, including the only CT scan machine available. 'The fate of patients and the wounded is now unknown. We'll have to distribute them to other hospitals, but no hospital is equipped to provide full services.'
