Latest news with #GazaHumanitarianFund
LBCI
14 hours ago
- General
- LBCI
US-backed Gaza aid group says resumes food distribution
The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund said Thursday it resumed food distribution in the war-torn Palestinian territory after pausing operations for a day following deadly shootings. "GHF can confirm that we were open for distribution today," the group said in an email to AFP, adding it had delivered 1.4 million meals at two separate sites and 8.4 million meals since opening on May 27. AFP
Mada
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Mada
After deadly attack, Gaza truck association suspends crucial aid deliveries to UN centers
The truck association that delivers vital aid to distribution centers across Gaza suspended operations on Wednesday night after the latest in a recent spate of attacks turned deadly, the head of the association told Mada Masr. One driver was killed and three others were injured in the attack, which saw armed men open fire on a caravan of 50 trucks in Deir al-Balah, Nahed Shehaibar, the head of the Private Transport Association in Gaza, told Mada Masr. Several trucks were damaged, rendering them inoperable as there are no spare parts to repair them, he added. Video showing one of the trucks damaged in Wednesday night's attack. Courtesy: Nahed Shehaibar, the head of the Private Transport Association in Gaza. The truck association will halt aid delivery operations to protect its drivers until safety measures are ensured, Shehaibar said. The step is a significant blow to aid distribution in the strip, where most of the population has been forced into starvation by Israel's refusal to allow the delivery of aid since March. With the association out of action, people who need to access food aid in Gaza must instead make the long trek to one of the distribution centers run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, an upstart company linked to Israeli and American military and intelligence agencies. Since beginning operations last week, over 100 Palestinians have been killed and wounded by Israeli military forces positioned near the distribution sites. After the latest attack on Tuesday, which left at least 27 people dead, the GHF closed its centers and began conducting extensive renovations to the Rafah distribution center, constructed in what is known as the 'Red Zone,' an area that only the Israeli military has access to. Israeli authorities permitted only 50 trucks to enter Gaza on Wednesday through the Karam Abu Salem crossing after extensive coordination efforts, according to Shehaibar. The trucks, carrying flour and other supplies, made their way from the crossing via the Kissufim gate and through the Gaza envelope road before reaching Deir al-Balah, where they were intercepted and looted. Traveling along the Salah Eddin road near the town of Deir al-Balah, truck drivers came across a group of armed men, who repeatedly tried to obstruct the convoy's route by setting up ambushes. When those efforts proved ineffective, the armed men began shooting at the trucks and their drivers, Shehaibar said. An eyewitness told Mada Masr that dozens of armed individuals were already waiting for the trucks as they entered Deir al-Balah. As soon as the convoy arrived, heavy gunfire broke out in the direction of the convoy, forcing the vehicles to stop. Hundreds of civilians tried to seize some of the aid, but many came under fire, leading to injuries among the crowd. The attackers transferred the contents of some aid trucks into other vehicles, leaving nothing, the eyewitness said. Four trucks were hijacked, their drivers assaulted and their cargo emptied, according to Shehaibar. Operations will remain suspended, he added, until international organizations or official authorities can provide guarantees for the protection of the trucks and their drivers, or establish a secure corridor for the trucks to travel through until they reach the warehouses. The association has contacted international agencies to inform them of the decision and to hold them accountable for safeguarding drivers and protecting aid trucks. Armed attacks have become common in Gaza in recent weeks. Eyewitnesses speaking to Mada Masr have described assaults across the strip, targeting bakeries, the food stocks of a hotel, a commercial mall and warehouses used by local and international food relief projects, with some observing simultaneous attacks launched by Israeli forces to target Hamas police working to restore security at the sites. Israel's support for these armed attacks are engineered to cause the collapse of social order, according to Ahmed Tanany, the director of a research center based in Gaza who has been documenting the phenomenon. Israel can leverage the chaos to introduce alternative supply and distribution lines under its exclusive control, he added. Israel has increasingly adopted a strident tone toward UN relief agencies and has worked to undermine their efficacy. Over the course of more than 600 days of genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli Finance Bezalel Smotrich has called for starvation to be imposed on the strip's people. In an interview with The Economist on Wednesday, he said that the UN-led aid distribution 'kept Gazans reliant on Hamas and allowed the group to profit from it. Breaking that link is crucial to Israel's victory.' International aid agencies have hit back. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher called the Israeli aid distribution plan a 'cynical sideshow, a deliberate distraction, a fig leaf for further violence and displacement' of Palestinians in the enclave. In a mid-May press release signed by several leading humanitarian organizations, the signatories pointed to the fact that 'Israeli officials have acknowledged they hope to see some countries 'begin to take in Palestinians,' thereby reducing the 'gap' between the aid capacity and the population size.' Amid the floundering rollout of the GHF's operations, it appeared last week that Israel was willing to allow the UN to resume what is widely agreed to be the most effective delivery of flour: heads of households would coordinate with the WFP to receive the food staple directly to their homes. Two civil society representatives in the Gaza Strip told Mada Masr last week that the WFP was expected to begin distributing flour to families instead of bakeries at the start of this week. However, the roughly 100-truck caravan carrying flour to WFP sites was intercepted by armed groups. An eyewitness from southern Khan Younis, near the 'red zone' in Rafah, told Mada Masr that some aid trucks were already empty upon leaving the area, suggesting that the armed groups who looted the trucks were allowed to do so by Israeli forces. As control over the aid distribution network continues to be weaponized, people in Gaza continue to suffer. Cases of malnutrition surged during the total blockade, with the Gaza Government Media Office reporting that it played a part in the deaths of over 300 people since March. And while aid has entered Gaza in recent weeks, Israel's sabotaging of its distribution has meant it is not reaching those who need it most. Looters have turned to the private market to sell bread and flour at extortionate prices to the few who can afford it. The amount of aid currently being delivered to the strip 'makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,' United Nation Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated
Business Recorder
17 hours ago
- Health
- Business Recorder
US-backed Gaza aid group says resumes food distribution
GAZA CITY: The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund said Thursday it had resumed food distribution in the war-torn Palestinian territory, after pausing operations for a day following reports of deadly shootings. 'GHF can confirm that we were open for distribution today,' the group said in an email to AFP, adding it had delivered 1.4 million meals at two sites on Thursday and 8.4 million meals since opening a little over a week ago. The group shut down its distribution centres on Wednesday for what it called 'reorganisation' in an effort to improve its work, after its first week of operations was marred by global criticism. Reports from Gaza that dozens were killed over the course of three days as they attempted to reach the aid centres drew sharp condemnation from the United Nations. The UN and major aid organisations have refused to cooperate with the GHF, citing concerns that it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. US vetoes UN Security Council demand for Gaza ceasefire Israel's military has maintained it does not prevent Gazans from collecting aid. But army spokesperson Effie Defrin said on Tuesday that soldiers had fired towards suspects who 'were approaching in a way that endangered' the troops, adding the incident was being investigated. The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations last week after Israel completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months amid a breakdown in negotiations for a ceasefire with Palestinian group Hamas. For decades, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA had spearheaded aid distribution in Gaza, with dozens of other organisations participating in efforts to assist the population.
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
At least 20 reported killed near Gaza aid distribution point
Gaza's civil defence agency has said that Israeli troops have killed at least 20 people in the south of the Palestinian territory. The Israeli military said it fired shots at individuals about half a kilometre from the aid distribution site of US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund in Gaza in the Rafah area. It said the individuals were moving towards forces in a way that "posed a threat to them".
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Aid is being utterly weaponised, and the result is chaos
It's difficult to imagine things getting worse, but at every turn they do. Israel has inflicted a brutal and inhuman campaign against the people of Gaza, the charge of genocide laid bare. A population deliberately and cruelly starved by an occupying power hell bent on death and destruction. Since March 2, Israel enforced a near-total siege on the Gaza Strip, cutting off food, water, electricity, fuel, and medicine. The resulting humanitarian catastrophe shocked the world with the inevitability of famine becoming reality. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that 1.1 million people, around half of Gaza's population, are experiencing catastrophic hunger. 930,000 children - 93% of the children in Gaza - are at risk of famine. An estimated 95% of Gaza's water is unfit for human consumption, with people forced to drink polluted water, leading to soaring rates of disease and child mortality. And at least 60 children have died of starvation and dehydration in recent weeks. Although aid agencies believe the real number is far higher and growing. Generations of children, their lives destroyed beyond repair. But instead of scaling up humanitarian access in response, Israel has doubled down on control. It has repeated its attacks on the UN and sidelined aid mechanisms that are established, effective and desperately waiting to get in. Just kilometres away from the suffering, over 9,000 trucks are desperate to get in across the border. The only legal and humane solution to alleviate the suffering is total and unfettered aid access, north and south, a flooding of the Gaza strip with food, shelter, medicines and clean water. Rather than really address the issue of starvation, Israel, through the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund, will now control all aid distribution. Rather than focusing on what the starving population needs, it will decide where, when and to who aid is distributed to. They are using aid - one of the world's means of expressing care and humanity in crisis - to displace and control. Israel has made clear its intention to clear the north of Gaza. Already controlling almost 80% of the Gaza Strip, this aid distribution is another means to forcibly transfer the population illegally to certain areas and make humanitarian access conditional on screening or political and military criteria. In the last 10 days, 180,000 were displaced. Palestinians gather to receive a hot meal at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 21. Up to 1.1 million people, around half of Gaza's population, are experiencing catastrophic hunger. Photo: Eyad Baba / AFP via Getty Images Deliberately designed to facilitate forced displacement from the north of Gaza, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund will have distribution hubs in central and southern Gaza, forcing starving families - many of them desperately injured, elderly and too ill to undertake long, dangerous journeys through militarized zones - to collect aid for their families. The UN described this as 'engineered scarcity', secured by private US security contractors, where those Palestinians who can reach them will receive rations. Since last week, about 900 truckloads were submitted for Israeli approval, and 800 were approved. But just over 500 could be offloaded on the Israeli side of Kerem Shalom, and even fewer made it to the Palestinian side, where the UN and others could collect just over 200 of them, limited by insecurity and restricted access. This is organised chaos inflicted upon a starving people. The core principle that aid must reach people where they are is ignored, with deadly results. It compounds the despair, desperation and trauma for people who have already borne too much to imagine. In the clamber to rush and get food, Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces killed seven people and wounded 47, using gunfire to shoot at a group of starving and desperate families. There are huge concerns about Israel using biometric screening as part of their aid distribution. This is surveillance masquerading as humanitarian assistance. It's a calculated attempt to weaponise hunger and to reduce relief to a tool of control. Palestinians carry boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on May 27. Photo: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana This blurring of military and humanitarian roles endangers aid workers and civilians alike. We've already seen the cost. The humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality, and independence are not optional, but are binding under international law. Yet Israel is systematically eroding them. And while hunger and chaos grow, every day brings new atrocities. Just last week, Israeli forces killed nine of paediatrician Dr Alaa al-Najjar's 10 children in shelters designated as safe. Israel's war in Gaza has killed at least 54,000 people to date - mostly women and children - and displaced almost the entire population. What is happening is not just a war. It is the slow obliteration of an entire people. Ireland has a role to play and must act. Our long-standing tradition of supporting human rights and international law compels us to do more than offer words of concern. We must finally pass the Occupied Territories Bill, first proposed by Senator Frances Black in 2018. The decision by the Government this week to draft the heads of the Bill is welcome, but long overdue. An Israeli strike in Gaza City on Sunday. Israel has inflicted a brutal and inhuman campaign against the people of Gaza, the charge of genocide laid bare. Photo: AP/Jehad Alshrafi The outrageous atrocities we see over the last 20 months are the worst expression of a 70-year occupation of Palestinian territory. The level of violence is shocking, but it comes with this context of apartheid and occupation. This makes the exclusion of a ban on services from the Bill unacceptable. This is a vital and substantial element which would cover online platforms such as Airbnb which have a significant presence in some of the territories, offering tourist accommodation. Legal experts have verified this can be done. Meanwhile, many powerful countries, including the United States and EU members, continue to fund, arm, and diplomatically shield the Israeli government from accountability. At the same time, they issue platitudes about humanitarian concern. Karole Balfe: '[Israel is] using aid - one of the world's means of expressing care and humanity in crisis - to displace and control.' As well as passing the Occupied Territories Bill the Irish government must lead calls for sanctions, suspension of the EU-Trade Agreement and push for an EU arms embargo. If the Bill is passed at least Ireland can say it took action and gave example to the world at a crucial time when powerful nations were turning a blind eye. We can stand as a beacon of principled action, reminding the world that small nations can lead boldly when justice is on the line. Karol Balfe is CEO of ActionAid Ireland which supports humanitarian response in Gaza Read More Ireland lodges formal protest after Israeli gunfire near peacekeepers in Lebanon
