Latest news with #Israel Defense Forces
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel pauses fighting as outrage grows over crisis in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces paused fighting in parts of Gaza over the weekend to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Palestinian enclave, with aid groups warning that millions of people are on the brink of starvation. It comes as international outrage grows over the crisis unfolding in the region. NBC News' Raf Sanchez reports. Solve the daily Crossword
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Jordan and UAE aid drops underway in Gaza during Israel's 'tactical pause'
Jordan and the UAE have dropped aid into Gaza after Israel began a "tactical pause" in fighting to mitigate a worsening humanitarian military said its planes, working with the UAE, had delivered 25 tonnes of aid in three drops on Sunday. A lorry convoy also entered from Egypt and another is due from Jordan. Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and allow aid corridors, to "refute the false claim of intentional starvation".However, medics reported nine killed and 54 injured by Israeli fire near an aid convoy route in central Gaza. An airstrike also hit a residential block an hour after a pause came into effect on Saturday. Gaza air drops 'a grotesque distraction', aid agencies warn Local sources told the BBC that nine people were shot in the Netzarim Corridor along Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza, where many civilians had gathered in anticipation of incoming UN aid convoys. Victims were taken to al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, a medical official at the facility Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops "fired warning shots" at a "gathering of suspects" approaching them. It said it was not aware of any BBC Verify geolocated an airstrike to Midhat Al-Wahidy Street in Al-Rimal district of western Gaza City - which Israel had designated an hour before as an area where operations would verification was based on witness reports and two geolocated videos published earlier on Sunday. The IDF said it had checked the coordinates and were not aware of a aid trucks arriving in the strip on Sunday were swarmed as desperate Palestinians tried to grab bags of flour from an aid truck near a food distribution point in Zikim, northern has come under intense international pressure over recent weeks to allow aid into the territory it controls, amid reports of mass starvation. The UN's World Food Programme says a third of the two million population of Gaza does not eat for several days at a time, and a quarter were "enduring famine-like conditions".More than 100 people have been reported by the Hamas-run health ministry to have died from malnutrition in recent days. Hundreds have meanwhile been killed by gunfire as they attempted to get food from the limited number of distribution points run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The UK's foreign secretary, David Lammy, said Israel's concessions over the weekend alone would not alleviate the suffering in Gaza."Whilst air drops will help to alleviate the worst of the suffering, land routes serve as the only viable and sustainable means of providing aid into Gaza," he said in a statement."These measures must be fully implemented and further barriers on aid removed. The world is watching."Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, meanwhile called for more international pressure to end the war. Every day, he said, brought "more destruction, more killings, and the further dehumanisation of Palestinians".Donald Trump, the US president, said he would be sending more aid to Gaza but urged this was "an international problem - it's not a US problem". Residents of Gaza have cautiously welcomed reports of a temporary humanitarian pause allowing food and medicine to enter the besieged enclave. "Of course I feel a bit of hope again, but also worried that starvation would continue once the pause is over," Rasha Al-Sheikh Khalil, a mother of four in Gaza City, told the Saleh, a mother of six, said her family hadn't eaten "a single fresh fruit or vegetable in four months". "There's no chicken, no meat, no eggs. All we have are canned foods that are often expired and flour."Imad Kudaya, a local journalist in Gaza and from al-Mawasi, in the south of the Strip, said most of the air drop packages "have fallen in demilitarised places where if you go there you will put yourself in a very big risk"."Those place are evacuated and under Israeli control - so it is risky."Even as air drops and convoys headed into Gaza, Israel's prime minister promised his country would "continue to fight, we will continue to act until we achieve all of our war goals - until complete victory".During his visit to Ramon Air Force Base in the Negev Desert, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had always allowed aid into Gaza, and that the UN had unfairly blamed his government for the crisis."There are secure routes. There have always been, but today it's official. There will be no more excuses," he the new measures, Israel said it would suspend fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day and open secure routes for aid IDF said it would open humanitarian corridors for aid convoys in Gaza to allow the UN and other organisations to deliver food and medicine to Palestinians across the strip. The routes would be in place from 06:00 to 23:00 local time (04:00 BST to 21:00 BST).The pause in military activity would take place in three areas - Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City - from 10:00 to 20:00 local time (08:00 BST to 18:00 BST) each day until further notice, the IDF apparent concessions followed its acceptance of a Jordanian and UAE plan, backed by the UK, to air drop aid into Gaza. Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken than 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
CBS News
2 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Israel begins "tactical pause" in parts of Gaza to open aid corridors as concerns over hunger mount
The Israeli military began a limited pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day as part of a series of steps that it says would give the United Nations and other aid agencies secure land routes to tackle a deepening hunger crisis. The Israel Defense Forces said it would begin a "tactical pause" in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, three areas of the territory with large populations, to "increase the scale of humanitarian aid" entering the Gaza Strip. It said the pause would begin every day at 10 a.m. local time, effective Sunday, and continue until further notice. The military early Sunday carried out aid airdrops into Gaza, which included packages of aid with flour, sugar and canned food, "as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip," the IDF posted on Telegram. Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule, without providing evidence for that claim. Images emerging from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children have fanned global criticism of Israel, including from close allies, who have called for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has spawned. The United Nations' food agency welcomed the steps to ease aid restrictions, but said a broader ceasefire was needed to ensure goods reached everyone in need in Gaza. "Welcome announcement of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow our aid through," U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said on X. "In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window." The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that hospitals recorded six new deaths due to malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including two children. The organization said at least 133 people, including 87 children, have died from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip. Israel said the new measures were taking place while it continues its offensive against Hamas in other areas. Ahead of the pause, Palestinian health officials in Gaza said at least 27 Palestinians were killed in separate attacks. "This (humanitarian) truce will mean nothing if it doesn't turn into a real opportunity to save lives," said Dr. Muneer al-Boursh, director general of Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, who called for a flood of medical supplies and other goods to help treat child malnutrition. "Every delay is measured by another funeral." Trucks loaded with aid from Egypt and Jordan are headed for Gaza amid Israel's "tactical pause." The Egyptian Red Crescent dispatched more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 tons of food supplies, including 840 tons of flour and 450 tons of assorted food baskets, toward the Kerem Shalom crossing. Photographers in Gaza captured the first images of trucks carrying aid entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing in Rafah, Egypt. Jordan's security agency posted a video on social media purportedly showing a line of aid-loaded trucks moving toward Gaza. The UN's World Food Program said it welcomes Israel's move and that it has enough food to feed the entire population of 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza for nearly three months. In a statement, it said that a third of Gaza's population were not eating for days and nearly half a million were enduring famine-like conditions. It said it hopes that Israel's assurances for secure corridors will "allow for a surge in urgently needed food assistance to reach hungry people without further delays." However, the WFP reiterated that a ceasefire is "the only way for humanitarian assistance to reach the entire civilian population in Gaza with critical food supplies in a consistent, predictable, orderly and safe manner." Israel's decision to order a localized pause in fighting came days after ceasefire efforts between Israel and Hamas appeared to be in doubt. On Friday, Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams, blaming Hamas, and Israel said it was considering "alternative options" to ceasefire talks with the militant group. Israel says it is prepared to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something the group has refused to agree to. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi said that Israel's change of tack on the humanitarian crisis amounted to an acknowledgement that there were starving Palestinians in Gaza and that the move was meant to improve its international standing and not save lives. He said that Israel "will not escape punishment and will inevitably pay the price for these criminal practices." The Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said Israeli forces killed at least 11 people and wounded 101 as they were headed toward a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution site in central Gaza. GHF, which denies involvement in any of the violence near its sites, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The military said it was looking into the report. Elsewhere, a strike hit a tent sheltering a displaced family in the Asdaa area, northwest of the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least nine people, according to Nasser Hospital. The dead included a father and his two children, and another father and his son, the hospital said. In Gaza City, a strike hit an apartment late Saturday in the city's western side, killing four people, including two women, said the Health Ministry's ambulance and emergency service. In Deir-al-Balah early Sunday, a strike on a tent near a desalination plant killed a couple and another woman, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. However, it usually blames Hamas for civilian casualties, saying the Palestinian militant group operates in populated areas. The military announced Sunday that another two soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of soldiers killed since Oct. 7, 2023, to 898. The war began with Hamas' October 2023 attack on southern Israel, when militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. Hamas still holds 50 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. The Israeli military has intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship seeking to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, detaining 21 international activists and journalists and seizing all cargo, including baby formula, food and medicine, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said Sunday. The coalition that operates the vessel Handala said the Israeli military "violently intercepted" the ship in international waters about 40 nautical miles from Gaza, cutting the cameras and communication, just before midnight Saturday. "All cargo was non-military, civilian and intended for direct distribution to a population facing deliberate starvation and medical collapse under Israel's illegal blockade,'' the group said in a statement. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Israel's Foreign Ministry posted on X early Sunday that the Navy stopped the vessel and was bringing it to shore. It was the second ship operated by the coalition that Israel has prevented in recent months from delivering aid to Gaza, where food experts have for months warned of the risk of famine. Activist Greta Thunberg was among 12 activists on board the ship Madleen when the Israeli military seized it in June.
ABC News
19-07-2025
- ABC News
Israeli fire kills dozens seeking aid in Gaza, hospital says
At least 36 people have been killed by Israeli fire while they were on their way to an aid distribution site in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots at suspects who approached its troops after they did not heed calls to stop, about a kilometre away from an aid distribution site that was not active at the time. Gaza resident Mohammed al-Khalidi said he was in the group approaching the site and heard no warnings before the firing began at dawn on Saturday. "We thought they came out to organise us so we can get aid, suddenly [I] saw the Jeeps coming from one side, and the tanks from the other and started shooting at us," he said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed group that runs the aid site, said there were no incidents or fatalities there on Saturday and that it has repeatedly warned people not to travel to its distribution points in the dark. "The reported IDF [Israel Defense Forces] activity resulting in fatalities occurred hours before our sites opened and our understanding is most of the casualties occurred several kilometres away from the nearest GHF site," it said. The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident. GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation. The UN has called the GHF's model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, which GHF denies. On Tuesday, the UN rights office in Geneva said it had recorded at least 875 killings in the past six weeks in the vicinity of aid sites and food convoys in Gaza — the majority of them close to GHF distribution points. Most of those deaths were caused by gunfire that locals have blamed on the Israeli military. The military has acknowledged that civilians were harmed, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions with "lessons learned". At least 50 more people were killed in other Israeli attacks across Gaza on Saturday, health officials said, including one strike that killed the head of the Hamas-run police force in Nuseirat in central Gaza and 11 of his family members. The Israeli military said it had struck militants' weapon depots and sniping posts in a few locations in the enclave. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed about 58,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis, leaving much of the territory in ruins. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a US-proposed 60-day ceasefire and a hostage deal mediated by Egypt and Qatar, though there has been no sign of any imminent breakthrough. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are believed to still be alive. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was kidnapped from his kibbutz home and is held by Hamas, urged Israel's leaders to make a deal with the militant group. "An entire people wants to bring all 50 hostages home and end the war," Ms Zangauker said in a statement outside Israel's defence headquarters in Tel Aviv. "My Matan is alone in the tunnels," she said. "He has no more time." Reuters
The Guardian
19-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
More than 32 Palestinians killed in Gaza as IDF fires on crowds seeking food
At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Saturday morning when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from two aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza, according to witnesses and hospital officials. People on the scene described it as 'a massacre', and claimed Israel Defense Forces fired 'indiscriminately' at the groups of Palestinians – reported to be mostly young men – who were making their way towards the hubs run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Most of the deaths, which civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal attributed to 'Israeli gunfire', occurred in the Teina area, about two miles from a GHF aid distribution centre east of Khan Younis. Medical sources told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that many of the wounded are in a serious condition, while witnesses at the scene said many of the dead and injured were children and teenagers. The Nasser hospital in Khan Younis received 25 bodies, as well as dozens of wounded people, while nine others were killed near a centre north-west of Rafah, the civil defence agency said. Dr Atef al-Hout, director of Nasser hospital, described the situation as 'an unprecedented number of casualties in a very short time', warning that the actual death toll could be higher. 'We're unable to provide adequate medical treatment as we lack equipment, medicine and personnel,' he told Haaretz. In a statement, GHF, which was set up to replace the traditional UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, said there were no incidents at or near its sites. It said the reported Israeli shootings occurred far from its sites and hours before they opened. 'We have repeatedly warned aid seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,' the group said. The Israeli military said it had fired 'warning shots' near Rafah after a group of suspects approached troops and ignored calls to keep their distance. It said it was investigating reports of casualties, but noted the incident occurred overnight when the distribution centre was closed. Mahmoud Mokeimar told Associated Press reporters he was walking with masses of people – mostly young men – towards the food hub. Troops fired warning shots as the crowds advanced, before opening fire on the marching people. 'It was a massacre,' he said. 'The occupation opened fire at us indiscriminately.' He said he managed to escape but saw at least three motionless bodies lying on the ground, and many other wounded people fleeing. Akram Aker said that troops fired machine guns mounted on tanks and drones. He said the shooting happened between 5am and 6am. 'They encircled us and started firing directly at us,' he told AP. He said he saw many casualties lying on the ground. Sana'a al-Jaberi, a 55-year-old woman, said she saw many dead and wounded as she fled the area. 'We shouted: 'food, food', but they didn't talk to us. They just opened fire,' she said. Four other witnesses also accused Israeli troops of opening fire, according to news agency AFP. 'They started shooting at us and we lay down on the ground. Tanks and Jeeps came, soldiers got out of them and started shooting,' said Tamer Abu Akar, 24. More than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and the entire population is at risk of famine, according to food security experts, while distribution at the GHF sites has been described as 'lethal chaos'. Last Wednesday, 19 people were killed in a crush in a stampede near a GHF hub and one person was stabbed. GHF blamed the incident on Hamas, describing it as 'a calculated provocation, part of a pattern of targeted efforts by Hamas and its allies to dismantle our life-saving operations'. Dr Mohamed Saker, the head of Nasser's nursing department, told AP that most of the people who died on Saturday were shot in the head and chest, and that some were placed in the already overwhelmed intensive care unit. 'The situation is difficult and tragic,' he said, adding that the hospital desperately needs medical supplies to treat the daily flow of casualties. Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been discussing an interim truce in the Gaza war, which would see 10 surviving hostages and the bodies of 18 others returned to Israel in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinians. On Friday, President Donald Trump said at a dinner that 10 hostages would 'very shortly' be released from Gaza, but provided no further details. Speaking to lawmakers at the White House, Trump – who has been predicting for weeks that a US-led ceasefire and hostage-release deal was imminent – said: 'We got most of the hostages back. We're going to have another 10 coming very shortly, and we hope to have that finished quickly.'
