Latest news with #HumanityandInclusion
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Deaths In Gaza ‘Will Soon Accelerate,' Top Aid Groups Warn
U.S.-backed bombing in the Gaza Strip, along with aid restrictions by Israel, will accelerate the death toll of Palestinians there, according to new research from aid groups working in the territory. In a report published Wednesday and led by the nonprofit Humanity and Inclusion, dozens of humanitarian organizations cited the confluence of several factors contributing to the crisis. Israel is continuing to kill and injure people with airstrikes and ground operations, even as Gaza's dwindlingstock of operating hospitals lacks supplies like hygiene materials and medical gas. Israel's halt on most aid deliveries is preventing aid workers from giving people sanitation supplies, worsening the spread of disease. And severe shortages of food and water have created widespread dehydration and left the entire population of the Palestinian region in 'acute food insecurity,' per the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification famine tracker. Gaza's health ministry has counted at least 54,600 Palestinian deaths during the war so far, but some outside analysts believe the true toll is tens of thousands higher. Nineteen months since Israel invaded the strip with U.S. backing, 'Palestinians in Gaza face simultaneous and intersecting crises across every sector,' the report says. Since March 2, Israel has effectively imposed a full blockade on the region, justifying the policy by saying it is needed to pressure the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which sparked the current round of fighting with a brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed nearly 1,200 people. Issuing sweeping displacement orders and pummeling Gaza's cities, particularly in the north, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now confined Gaza's population to approximately 19% of its territory, the report noted. The analysis surveyed 40 humanitarian groups working in the region between March 26 and May 9. Ninety-three percent reported that their aid stocks were nearly or fully exhausted. Barring trucks full of supplies from entering the strip, Israel has allowed a limited trickle of supplies into Gaza since May 19. But the aid program it supports — staffed by American contractors without involvement from the humanitarian groups who have worked in the region for decades — has yet to help a significant number of Palestinians, and violence has repeatedly been reported near distribution points. The worsening of Gaza's 'already catastrophic man-made humanitarian crisis… will not be prevented by token and piecemeal deliveries of food parcels under any militarized supply distribution scheme,' Wednesday's report said. It cites Israeli policies that could be reversed immediately and save lives, like maintaining only one crossing point into Gaza and limiting the inspections process so that fewer than 100 trucks are currently approved to enter the region daily. Washington has played a major role in enabling Israeli limits on supplies for Gaza, including vital commercial goods. The Trump administration has endorsed Israel's controversial new aid program, run by a group calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and rooted in the idea that supplies were not reaching people in need because of theft by Hamas — an assertion Israeli officials have never demonstrated through major evidence and that most aid groups and some U.S. officials have rejected. President Donald Trump has also continued sending American bombs and other weapons to Israel, even as he and his aides have claimed they want to end the war, attempting to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and have expressed some frustration with Netanyahu. The pattern echoes how President Joe Biden and his administration behaved, even as U.S. officials, lawmakers and independent experts worried that Washington's approach to Gaza was violating U.S. law and international laws on human rights and warfare. On Monday, Biden's State Department spokesperson said that it is 'without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes' in the Palestinian territory. U.S.-enabled Israeli aid policies are a focus of the ongoing investigations of war crimes and genocide at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; the latter is also investigating abuses by Hamas. (The ICJ lacks jurisdiction over nonstate actors). Israel denies the charges. Wednesday's report includes chilling details about Gaza residents' living conditions. A Palestinian woman reported that she and others had to cut up their clothes to use as sanitary pads 'until we no longer had any clothes.' 'We replaced the diapers for our children with rags and nylon, which caused them to suffer from skin rashes and fungi that ate away at our children's bodies, resulting in many infections,' the woman continued. Israel is simultaneously exerting greater pressure on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu has approved new settlements in the territory — complicating any future possibility of establishing a Palestinian state there under an Israel-Palestinian peace deal — and appears to be taking steps to annex the region. His government seems increasingly determined to pursue far-right goals that the U.S. and other world powers have condemned, like claiming the two Palestinian territories are absorbed into Israel. Facing protests over Gaza at home, some global leaders appear willing to exert more pressure on Netanyahu. Later this month, France and Saudi Arabia are hosting a conference on the so-called two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians in New York, where French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce that he recognizes the existence of a Palestinian state. Popular Kids Entertainer Says She'll Risk Her Career To Stand Up For Children In Gaza At Least 31 Palestinians Killed After Israeli Forces Strike Gaza Aid Hub 'Freedom Flotilla' Tries Again To Break Israel's Blockade On Gaza
Al-Ahram Weekly
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Syria leftover explosives kill and injure over 180 children: NGO - Region
Landmines and unexploded ordnance in Syria have killed or injured at least 188 children since president Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in December, the Save the Children charity said Thursday. Of that figure, more than 60 children were killed, the UK-based group said, warning the toll could rise as more families return to the war-ravaged country. Since Assad was toppled on December 8, "landmines and explosive remnants of war have caused at least 628 casualties, more than two-thirds of the total number of casualties for all of 2023", Save the Children said. The United Nations last week said about 1.2 million people had returned home to Syria in the past three months, including over 885,000 who were internally displaced. "Much of Syria is pockmarked by mines and explosive remnants of war after 13 years of conflict," said Bujar Hoxha, the charity's Syria director. "At least 188 children have been killed or injured in about three months -- that's an average of two children a day," he added. The group called on the transitional authorities and international donors to speed up the process of clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in Syria. A report by non-governmental organisation Humanity and Inclusion last month had warned of the dangers posed by unexploded munitions left over from the devastating civil war that erupted in 2011. It said experts estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 of the roughly one million munitions used during the war had never detonated. Also last month, at least eight civilians including three children were killed when unexploded munitions ignited at a house in northwestern Syria, a war monitor and the civil defence said. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Arab News
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Syria leftover explosives kill and injure over 180 children: NGO
BEIRUT:Landmines and unexploded ordnance in Syria have killed or injured at least 188 children since president Bashar Assad's overthrow in December, the Save the Children charity said Thursday. Of that figure, more than 60 children were killed, the UK-based group said, warning the toll could rise as more families return to the war-ravaged country. Since Assad was toppled on December 8, 'landmines and explosive remnants of war have caused at least 628 casualties, more than two-thirds of the total number of casualties for all of 2023,' Save the Children said. The United Nations last week said about 1.2 million people had returned home to Syria in the past three months, including over 885,000 who were internally displaced. 'Much of Syria is pockmarked by mines and explosive remnants of war after 13 years of conflict,' said Bujar Hoxha, the charity's Syria director. 'At least 188 children have been killed or injured in about three months — that's an average of two children a day,' he added. The group called on the transitional authorities and international donors to speed up the process of clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in Syria. A report by non-governmental organization Humanity and Inclusion last month had warned of the dangers posed by unexploded munitions left over from the devastating civil war that erupted in 2011. It said experts estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 of the roughly one million munitions used during the war had never detonated. Also last month, at least eight civilians including three children were killed when unexploded munitions ignited at a house in northwestern Syria, a war monitor and the civil defense said.
Al Arabiya
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Syria leftover explosives kill and injure over 180 children: NGO
Landmines and unexploded ordnance in Syria have killed or injured at least 188 children since President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in December, the Save the Children charity said Thursday. Of that figure, more than 60 children were killed, the UK-based group said, warning the toll could rise as more families return to the war-ravaged country. Since al-Assad was toppled on December 8, 'landmines and explosive remnants of war have caused at least 628 casualties, more than two-thirds of the total number of casualties for all of 2023', Save the Children said. The United Nations last week said about 1.2 million people had returned home to Syria in the past three months, including over 885,000 who were internally displaced. 'Much of Syria is pockmarked by mines and explosive remnants of war after 13 years of conflict,' said Bujar Hoxha, the charity's Syria director. 'At least 188 children have been killed or injured in about three months - that's an average of two children a day,' he added. The group called on the transitional authorities and international donors to speed up the process of clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in Syria. A report by non-governmental organization Humanity and Inclusion last month had warned of the dangers posed by unexploded munitions left over from the devastating civil war that erupted in 2011. It said experts estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 of the roughly one million munitions used during the war had never detonated. Also last month, at least eight civilians including three children were killed when unexploded munitions ignited at a house in northwestern Syria, a war monitor and the civil defense said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Seven Civilians Killed in Syria UXO Blast, Says War Monitor
At least seven civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed on Thursday when unexploded munitions ignited at a house in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the deadly blast a day after another organization said two-thirds of Syrians risked being killed or wounded by unexploded ordnance. "Seven civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed when leftover munitions stored inside a house" in Idlib province exploded, the Observatory said. An AFP correspondent saw civil defense teams retrieving bodies from the rubble of the destroyed house in Al-Nayrab on the outskirts of the main northern city of Aleppo. Civil defense worker Mohammed Ibrahim said they had been called to the scene of an "explosion of unknown provenance". "When teams headed to the site, they found unexploded ordnance," he added. The Observatory said the owner of the house was a scrap dealer who collected unexploded ordnance for its metal content. Residents told AFP that the owner had stored the munitions adjacent to the house. Journalists were not allowed to approach the site for fear of further explosions. Non-governmental organization Humanity and Inclusion had warned on Wednesday of the dangers posed by unexploded munitions left over from the devastating civil war that erupted in 2011. It said experts estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 of the roughly one million munitions used during the war had never detonated. It's "an absolute disaster", the group's Syria program director Danila Zizi said, adding that "more than 15 million people (are) at risk" out of a resident population of some 23 million. As hundreds of thousands of Syrians return to their homes after opposition factions finally toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, "urgent action is needed to mitigate the risk of accident", the group said. According to UN figures, more than one million people have returned to their homes since Assad fled, 280,000 of them from abroad. Zizi said that the crude barrel bombs used in large numbers by Assad's air force during the war had a "higher rate of failing" than other munitions. She said that mines planted by ISIS group militants during their slow retreat in the late 2010s meant there were also "lots of booby traps that have never been really marked or mapped". In January alone, 125 unexploded ordnance accidents were recorded in which at least 85 people were killed and 152 injured, Humanity and Inclusion said. Most of the casualties have been farmers tending their fields or flocks, or children playing outdoors, it said.
