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Kuwait Times
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
‘Deadly blockade' leaves Gaza aid work on verge of collapse
Zionist drones attack aid boat bound for Gaza GENEVA: Humanitarians have described horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and fights over water in Gaza, two months into Zionist full blockade on aid, with dire warnings that aid operations are on the brink of total collapse. The Norwegian Refugee Council's humanitarian access manager in Gaza, Gavin Kelleher, said 'thousands of people will die' if nothing is done, as other aid agencies called for urgent international action. 'The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse,' the International Committee of the Red Cross warned. 'Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate.' Zionist entity strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war. Since the start of the blockade, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming. The UN's World Food Program (WFP) said last week that it had sent out its 'last remaining food stocks' to kitchens, and the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel. 'Deadly' blockade 'Food stocks have now mainly run out,' Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva Friday via video link from Gaza City. 'Community kitchens have begun to shut down (and) more people are going hungry,' she said, pointing to reports of children and other very vulnerable people who have died from malnutrition and ... from the lack of food'. 'The blockade is deadly.' Water access was also 'becoming impossible', Cherevko warned. 'There's a water truck that has just arrived, and people are killing each other over water,' she said, describing a scene below her window. One friend described that the situation had deteriorated so much that there was no water to save 'people burning ... because of the explosions' while hospitals were running out of blood, even as mass casualties arrived. 'Gaza lies in ruins, Rubble fills the streets... Many nights, blood-curdling screams of the injured pierce the skies following the deafening sound of another explosion,' she added. The NRC's Kelleher meanwhile described an increase in 'needs-based looting across Gaza' and condemned what he said was a 'manufactured breakdown of civil order'. '(Zionist entity) is not only preventing food from entering Gaza but it has also engineered a situation in which Palestinians cannot grow their own food, they cannot fish for their own food and they continue to attack or deny access to the little left food stocks in Gaza,' he added. 'Abomination' Humanitarians also decried the mass displacement, with nearly the entire Gaza population being forced to shift multiple times before the brief ceasefire. Since the resumption of hostilities, Cherevko said more than 420,000 people have been forced to flee again, many 'with only the clothes on their backs' and were shot at as they tried to reach overcrowded shelters. Aid boat 'attacked' Meanwhile, a group of activists organizing an aid boat for Gaza said it was attacked on Friday by drones in international waters off Malta as it headed towards the Palestinian territory. The Maltese government and Cypriot rescuers said they had responded to a distress call from the vessel, while Malta said all crew members were safe and made no mention of an alleged attack. The activists said they suspected Zionists could be behind the attack, and Cyprus's rescue agency said it had been informed by the island's foreign ministry of a drone strike. The Zionist military did not provide an immediate response when contacted by AFP. 'At 00:23 Maltese time (2223 GMT Thursday), the Conscience, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship came under direct attack in international waters,' the group said in a statement. 'Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull. '(Zionist) ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters.' Asked whether the group believed Zionist entity was behind the attack, a spokesperson told AFP they 'suspected' that was the case. 'While we cannot confirm 100 percent, we suspect it's (Zionist entity),' Hay Sha Wiya said, calling the country 'the primary entity interested in keeping us and any aid out of Gaza'. Zionist entity is known for conducting covert operations beyond its borders, including several during the Gaza war that it only acknowledged later. The activists said the strike appeared to target the boat's generator. Following the distress call, the Malta Vessel Traffic Services body dispatched a tugboat and offered support. 'The tug arrived on scene and began firefighting operations. By 0128 hrs, the fire was reported under control,' the Maltese statement said. 'Desperately needed aid' A Cypriot-owned vessel also responded to the distress call. 'The Larnaca Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) has been informed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus that a vessel possibly transporting humanitarian aid to Gaza came under missile attack by a Zionist Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) while sailing within the Search and Rescue (SAR) Region of Malta,' the Cypriot rescue body said. It said a Cypriot-owned vessel in the area 'participated in firefighting operations'. The activists were on what they called a 'mission to challenge illegal and deadly siege of Gaza, and to deliver desperately needed, life-saving aid'. Zionist entity has since March 2 blocked all aid deliveries to Gaza, and resumed major military operations in the territory in mid-March, ending a two-month ceasefire. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that the humanitarian response in Gaza was on the 'verge of total collapse' after two months of aid being blocked. - AFP
New Straits Times
03-05-2025
- Health
- New Straits Times
Gaza aid work on verge of collapse
HUMANITARIANS on Friday described horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and fights over water in Gaza, two months into Israel's full blockade on aid, with dire warnings that aid operations are on the brink of collapse. The Norwegian Refugee Council's (NRC) humanitarian access manager in Gaza, Gavin Kelleher, said "thousands of people will die" if nothing is done, as other aid agencies called for urgent international action. "The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse," the International Committee of the Red Cross warned. "Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate." Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced fighting after 15 months of war. Since the start of the blockade, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming. The UN's World Food Programme said last week that it had sent out its "last remaining food stocks" to kitchens, and the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel. "Food stocks have now mainly run out," Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva on Friday via video link from Gaza City. "Community kitchens have begun to shut down (and) more people are going hungry," she said, pointing to reports of children and other very vulnerable people who have died from malnutrition and ... from the lack of food." "The blockade is deadly." Water access was also "becoming impossible", Cherevko warned. "There's a water truck that has just arrived, and people are killing each other over water," she said, describing a scene below her window. One friend said the situation had deteriorated so much that there was no water to save "people burning ... because of the explosions" while hospitals were running out of blood, even as mass casualties arrived. "Gaza lies in ruins. Rubble fills the streets... Many nights, blood-curdling screams of the injured pierce the skies following the deafening sound of another explosion," she added. The NRC's Kelleher meanwhile described an increase in "needs-based looting across Gaza" and condemned what he said was a "manufactured breakdown of civil order". "Israel is not only preventing food from entering Gaza but it has also engineered a situation in which Palestinians cannot grow their own food, they cannot fish for their own food and they continue to attack or deny access to the little left food stocks in Gaza," he added. Humanitarians also decried the mass displacement, with nearly the entire Gaza population being forced to shift multiple times before the brief ceasefire. Since the resumption of hostilities, Cherevko said more than 420,000 people have been forced to flee again, many "with only the clothes on their backs" and were shot at as they tried to reach overcrowded shelters. Pascal Hundt, the ICRC's deputy head of operations, said civilians were facing "an overwhelming daily struggle to survive" the hostilities, as well as repeated displacement and lack of humanitarian aid. The World Health Organisation's emergencies director Mike Ryan called the situation an "abomination". "We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza," he told reporters on Thursday. Cherevko slammed decision-makers who "have watched in silence the endless scenes of bloodied children, of severed limbs, of grieving parents move swiftly across their screens, month after month after month".
New Indian Express
03-05-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
Groups fear Israeli proposal for controlling aid in Gaza will forcibly displace people
The Israeli military agency in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, known as COGAT, did not respond to a request for comment and referred AP to the prime minister's office. The prime minister's office did not respond either. Since the beginning of March, Israel has cut off Gaza from all imports, leading to what is believed to be the most severe shortage of food, medicine and other supplies in nearly 19 months of war with Hamas. Israel says the goal of its blockade is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining 59 hostages taken during its October 2023 attack on Israel that launched the war. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to militants, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution. Alarm among aid groups One of Israel's core proposals is a more centralized system—made up of five food distribution hubs—that would give it greater oversight, aid groups say. Israel has proposed having all aid sent through a single crossing in southern Gaza and using the military or private security contractors to deliver it to these hubs, according to the documents shared with AP and aid workers familiar with the discussions. The distribution hubs would all be south of the Netzarim Corridor that isolates northern Gaza from the rest of the territory, the documents say. One of the aid groups' greatest fears is that requiring Palestinians to retrieve aid from a small number of sites—instead of making it available closer to where they live—would force families to move to get assistance. International humanitarian law forbids the forcible transfer of people. Aid officials also worry that Palestinians could end up permanently displaced, living in "de facto internment conditions," according to a document signed by 20 aid groups operating in Gaza. The hubs also raise safety fears. With so few of them, huge crowds of desperate Palestinians will need to gather in locations that are presumably close to Israeli troops. "I am very scared about that," said Claire Nicolet, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders. There have been several occasions during the war when Israeli forces opened fire after feeling threatened as hungry Palestinians crowded around aid trucks. Israel has said that during those incidents, in which dozens died, many were trampled to death. Given Gaza's population of more than 2 million people, global standards for humanitarian aid would typically suggest setting up about 100 distribution sites—or 20 times as many as Israel is currently proposing—aid groups said. Aside from the impractical nature of Israel's proposals for distributing food, aid groups say Israel has yet to address how its new system would account for other needs, including health care and the repair of basic infrastructure, including water delivery. "Humanitarian aid is more complex than food rations in a box that you pick up once a month," said Gavin Kelleher, who worked in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Aid boxes can weigh more than 100 pounds, and transportation within Gaza is limited, in part because of shortages of fuel.
Eyewitness News
02-05-2025
- General
- Eyewitness News
'Deadly blockade' leaves Gaza aid work on verge of collapse
GENEVA - Humanitarians on Friday described horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and fights over water in Gaza, two months into Israel's full blockade on aid, with dire warnings that aid operations are on the brink of total collapse. The Norwegian Refugee Council's humanitarian access manager in Gaza, Gavin Kelleher, said "thousands of people will die" if nothing is done, as other aid agencies called for urgent international action. "The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse," the International Committee of the Red Cross warned. "Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate." Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on 2 March, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war. Since the start of the blockade, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said last week that it had sent out its "last remaining food stocks" to kitchens, and the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel. 'DEADLY' BLOCKADE "Food stocks have now mainly run out," Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva Friday via video link from Gaza City. "Community kitchens have begun to shut down (and) more people are going hungry," she said, pointing to reports of children and other very vulnerable people who have died from malnutrition and ... from the lack of food". "The blockade is deadly." Water access was also "becoming impossible", Cherevko warned. "There's a water truck that has just arrived, and people are killing each other over water," she said, describing a scene below her window. One friend described that the situation had deteriorated so much that there was no water to save "people burning ... because of the explosions" while hospitals were running out of blood, even as mass casualties arrived. "Gaza lies in ruins, Rubble fills the streets... Many nights, blood-curdling screams of the injured pierce the skies following the deafening sound of another explosion," she added. The NRC's Kelleher meanwhile described an increase in "needs-based looting across Gaza" and condemned what he said was a "manufactured breakdown of civil order". "Israel is not only preventing food from entering Gaza but it has also engineered a situation in which Palestinians cannot grow their own food, they cannot fish for their own food and they continue to attack or deny access to the little left food stocks in Gaza," he added. 'ABOMINATION' Humanitarians also decried the mass displacement, with nearly the entire Gaza population being forced to shift multiple times before the brief ceasefire. Since the resumption of hostilities, Cherevko said more than 420,000 people have been forced to flee again, many "with only the clothes on their backs" and were shot at as they tried to reach overcrowded shelters. Pascal Hundt, the ICRC's deputy head of operations, said civilians were facing "an overwhelming daily struggle to survive" the hostilities, as well as repeated displacement and lack of humanitarian aid. The World Health Organization's emergencies director Mike Ryan called the situation an "abomination". "We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza," he told reporters on Thursday. Cherevko slammed decision-makers who "have watched in silence the endless scenes of bloodied children, of severed limbs, of grieving parents move swiftly across their screens, month after month after month". "How much more blood must be spilled before enough become enough?"
New Indian Express
02-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
'Deadly blockade' leaves Gaza aid work on verge of collapse
GENEVA: Humanitarians on Friday described horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and fights over water in Gaza, two months into Israel's full blockade on aid, with dire warnings that aid operations are on the brink of total collapse. The Norwegian Refugee Council's humanitarian access manager in Gaza, Gavin Kelleher, said "thousands of people will die" if nothing is done, as other aid agencies called for urgent international action. "The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse," the International Committee of the Red Cross warned. "Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate." Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war. Since the start of the blockade, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said last week that it had sent out its "last remaining food stocks" to kitchens, and the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel.
