Latest news with #GazaHumanitarianFoundation
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Devastating stampede at Gaza aid hub ‘sees 19 Palestinians trampled to death'
As many as 19 people were trampled on Wednesday with another fatally stabbed in violence at the site, according to the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation A devastating stampede at an aid hub in war-torn Gaza is said to have left 19 Palestinians trampled to death. The tragedy came after the UN earlier recorded almost 900 'desperate and hungry Gazans' have been killed in the stricken enclave seeking food in recent weeks. As many as 19 people were trampled on Wednesday with another fatally stabbed in violence at the site, according to the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). It comes as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 kids, according to hospital officials. GHF, whose operations have stoked controversy with over 170 charities and other NGOs calling for it to be shut, accused militant group Hamas of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation leading to the violence. It marks the first time the Israeli-backed US group has acknowledged deadly violence at its operations. GHF workers used tear gas against the crowd, inciting a panic, Gaza's Health Ministry and witnesses claimed. The incident occurred at a distribution hub in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The crowd panicked after receiving messages that no aid would be distributed or would only be given out later, some witnesses said. And others said people became trapped while trying to move through a turnstile system, which creates a bottleneck. A resident of the nearby city of Rafah said people were gasping for air, possibly from tear gas. The injuries were "not from gunfire, but from people clustering and pushing against each other," Omar Al-Najjar said as he carried, with three other men, an injured stranger to a hospital. He said the chaos at the sites is forcing Palestinians to "march towards death." "They used stun grenades and pepper spray against us," Abdullah Aleyat, who was at the GHF site on Wednesday morning, said. "When they saw people killing each other, they opened the gate and people stepped over each other and suffocated," Aleyat explained, standing in a hospital room with some of the injured. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City, including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it had struck over 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities. On Tuesday, the UN disclosed figures showing its recorded death toll for Palestinians seeking food since May. 'As of 13 July, we have recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 674 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites,' Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said. And the other 201 were killed seeking food 'on the routes of aid convoys or near aid convoys' run by the UN or its partners still operating in Gaza, the spokesperson explained. Claims emerged last month that Israeli troops deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid sites in Gaza. It was alleged troops were ordered to shoot at crowds despite posing no threat. But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister, Israel Katz, rejected respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz's report. On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced the opening of a fourth corridor – bisecting the city of Khan Younis – where troops have seized land in what they said is a pressure tactic against Hamas. Last week, US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu held two days of talks ending with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release. The war was sparked by Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel in 2023, which killed about 1,200 people – with 251 hostages taken. Israel's offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Wednesday death toll rises to 51
At least 51 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera is reporting citing medical sources. The toll includes 21 aid seekers, who Gaza's health ministry said were crushed in a stampede at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution centre in southern Gaza.
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Israeli attacks kill 94 people in Gaza in last 24 hours
Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed 94 people in the last 24 hours and injured 252 others, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza has reported. The health ministry also said earlier that 21 Palestinian aid seekers died from a stampede and suffocation due to tear gas being fired at crowds gathered outside a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) food distribution site in southern Gaza's Khan Younis. One medic said lots of people had been crammed into a small space and had been crushed. The GHF said that the stampede was precipitated by "elements within the crowd - armed and affiliated with Hamas", a claim which Hamas rejected as "false and misleading". Witnesses told Reuters that guards at the site sprayed pepper gas at them after they had locked the gates to the centre, trapping them between the gates and the outer wire-fence. On Tuesday, the UN rights office in Geneva said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks in the vicinity of aid sites and food convoys in Gaza - the majority of them close to GHF distribution points. Also on Wednesday, an Israeli strike on a camp sheltering displaced people in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza killed nine people. The latest casualties have pushed the overall toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza to 58,573 people, with another 139,607 wounded.
TimesLIVE
5 hours ago
- Health
- TimesLIVE
Crush at Gaza aid site kills at least 20, GHF blames armed agitators
At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), in what the US-backed group said was a crowd surge instigated by armed agitators. The GHF, which is supported by Israel, said 19 people were trampled and one fatally stabbed during the crush at one of its centres in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. 'We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd — armed and affiliated with Hamas — deliberately fomented the unrest,' GHF said. There has been no immediate comment from Hamas. Palestinian heath officials told Reuters 21 people had died of suffocation at the site. One medic said lots of people had been crammed into a small space and had been crushed. On Tuesday the UN rights office in Geneva said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks in the vicinity of aid sites and food convoys in Gaza — the majority of them close to GHF distribution points.
Euronews
5 hours ago
- Euronews
At least 20 killed in stampede at aid site in Gaza, US group says
At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in a crush at a food distribution site run by an Israeli-backed US organisation in Gaza, the group said, the first time it has acknowledged deadly violence at its operations. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation that led to the violence, though it provided no evidence to support the claim. It said 19 people were trampled in a stampede and one person was fatally stabbed at a hub in the southern city of Khan Younis. In turn, Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry and witnesses pushed back against GHF, claiming workers used tear gas against the crowd, after which chaos ensued. It was the first time that GHF has confirmed deaths at one of its distribution sites, although witnesses, hospitals and UN agencies say hundreds of people have been killed while heading to the hubs to get food. Stun grenades and pepper spray Some witnesses said the crowd panicked after receiving messages that no aid would be distributed or would be distributed later. Others said people became trapped while attempting to move through a turnstile system, which created a bottleneck. Omar Al-Najjar, a resident of the nearby city of Rafah, said people were gasping for air, possibly after inhaling tear gas. The injuries were "not from gunfire, but from people clustering and pushing against each other," Al-Najjar said as he carried an injured stranger to a hospital, together with three other men, AP reported. "They used stun grenades and pepper spray against us," said Abdullah Aleyat, who was at the GHF site on Wednesday morning. "When they saw people killing each other, they opened the gate and people stepped over each other and suffocated," Aleyat said. Videos released earlier this year by GHF from an aid distribution showed hundreds of Palestinians jostling for aid and sprinting towards the sites when they opened. In other videos obtained recently by the AP from a US contractor working with GHF, Palestinians seeking access to the sites are pictured crowded between metal fences, as contractors deploy tear gas and stun grenades. The sites are inside Israeli military zones protected by private US contractors. Israeli troops surround the sites, but the army says they are not in the immediate vicinity. The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that 875 Palestinians in the enclave have been killed while seeking food since May, with 674 of those in the vicinity of aid distribution sites run by GHF. While claims were made that some of the deaths have been caused by Israeli gunfire, the Israeli army said it fires warning shots and only uses live fire if crowds threaten its soldiers. GHF, a US organisation registered in Delaware, was established in February to distribute aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis. Israel opens new military corridor Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City, including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis, according to hospital officials. The Israeli military said it has struck more than 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure, such as tunnels and weapons storage facilities. Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military announced the opening of a new corridor, the fourth, that bisects Khan Younis, where Israeli troops have seized land in what they said is a pressure tactic against Hamas. In the past, these narrow strips of land have been a serious hurdle during ceasefire negotiations, as Israel has said it wants to maintain military presence in them. Negotiations in the Qatari capital between Israel and Hamas are at a standstill, after 21 months of war, which began with the Hamas-led cross-border attack on 7 October 2023. That day, militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people. Fifty hostages are still being held, fewer than half of them believed to be alive. A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The Israeli military says nearly 900 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war.
