Latest news with #Israeli-backed
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
Situation in Gaza 'completely unbearable', says UNRWA
Senior Emergency Officer with UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian agency, Louise Wateridge, has said the situation on the ground in Gaza is "completely unbearable". Today, there are further reports of spiralling malnutrition rates among Gaza's population of more than two million people, and further deaths due to famine. Ms Wateridge described the situation at aid centres as "horror on horror," with accounts of people stepping over dead bodies to try to get some food and returning with nothing. She said the lack of access to Gaza for the aid waiting to enter and Israel's restrictions on it are the problem. "UNRWA alone has 6,000 trucks waiting to get in, half of that is essential food and medical supplies. "It's about an hour away from the border; it could be there this afternoon," she said. Dozens of people have starved to death in Gaza in the last few weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave, according to local health authorities. The World Health Organization said yesterday that 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year. Today, the Gaza health ministry said two more people had died of malnutrition. The head of Shifa Hospital in Gaza said the two were patients suffering from other illnesses who died after going without food for several days. Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, she described her colleagues' stories as "the most horrifying experience I have ever heard anyone relay". "Most of our healthcare workers are parents themselves with starving children. "So, they are leaving their own starving children in the shelters to go to work to be a doctor, to be a nurse, to try and save other people, and other children's lives." Ms Wateridge said the worst, and "most brutal" thing is that there is nothing they can do, because they do not have what they need, like supplies of nutrients, medicines, food and water, none of which is available. She said one in 10 cases of children that UNRWA is screening daily is now "severely malnourished". She said since the ceasefire ended in March this year, cases of malnutrition have risen by "over 150%". "Now, of course, 11 weeks of total siege followed by drips and drops of some food, a lot of it through what we are describing as death-traps," a reference to the US and Israeli-backed aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, "because people going to get this food are being killed," she said. Israel considering Hamas response to ceasefire Hamas has confirmed it has responded to an Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, while Israel said it is examining the Palestinian militant group's proposals. It comes after more than two weeks of indirect talks in Qatar that so far has failed to yield a truce. "Hamas has just submitted its response and that of the Palestinian factions to the ceasefire proposal to the mediators," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement on Telegram. Israel said it is examining Hamas's response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed. Hamas said yesterday it had submitted its response to mediators but did not disclose the content. Both sides' acknowledgement of ceasefire proposals come after a family of seven were among more than 100 people killed yesterday across 24 hours of Israeli strikes or gunfire, according to health officials. The response by Hamas included proposed amendments to clauses on the entry of aid, maps of areas from which the Israeli army should withdraw, and guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war, according to a Palestinian source familiar with ongoing talks in Doha. Negotiators from both sides have been holding indirect talks in Doha with mediators in an attempt to reach an agreement on a truce deal that would see the release of Israeli hostages. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. But the talks have dragged on for more than two weeks without a breakthrough, with each side blaming the other for refusing to budge on their key demands. For Israel, dismantling Hamas's military and governing capabilities is non-negotiable. While Hamas demands firm guarantees on a lasting truce, a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and the free flow of aid into Gaza. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer accused Hamas of obstructing talks. "Israel has agreed to the Qatari proposal and the updated (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff proposal, it is Hamas that is refusing," Mr Mencer told reporters. He added that Israel's negotiating team was still in Doha and talks were ongoing. The United States said Mr Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor. More than 100 aid organisations warned yesterday that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza. Israeli forces this morning hit the central Gaza towns of Nuseirat, Deir Al-Balah and Bureij. Health officials at Al-Awda Hospital said three people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Nuseirat, three more died from tank shelling in Deir Al-Balah, and separate airstrikes in Bureij killed a man and a woman and wounded several others. Nasser hospital said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern Gaza near the so-called Morag axis between Khan Younis and Rafah. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired a projectile overnight from Khan Younis toward an aid distribution site near Morag. It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were linked. US Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Europe this week for meetings on the Gaza war and a range of other issues. An Israeli official said Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer would meet Mr Witkoff tomorrow if the gaps between Israel and Hamas over the terms of a ceasefire had narrowed sufficiently. News agencies desperately concerned for journalists The meetings come as four news agencies issued a joint statement expressing major concern for their journalists who are currently operating in Gaza. AFP, Reuters, BBC News and AP said in a joint statement that they are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of the hardships endured by journalists in Gaza. "We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. "For many months, these independent journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering," the statement said. "We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there." Meanwhile, UNICEF's spokesperson in Gaza Rosalia Bollen said Gaza "is really one of the most frustrating places on Earth to be working as a humanitarian. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said this is due to the constant bombardment and displacement orders. "Right now there's less than 13% of the territory that is not under displacement order or that hasn't been designated as a military zone, that affects the population, but it also affects our ability to move around and to operate and it means that the population is constantly on the move. "So the communities that we're trying to help, that we're trying to follow, they keep moving and that means that our services have to move to". She said that UN agencies are in constant contact with the Israeli Defence Forces to ensure that agency staff can move around, "to ensure that our premises are deconflicted, as we call it, especially with this latest displacement order for Deir al-Balah, which is in the centre of the Gaza Strip." She said an attack on a UN warehouse earlier this week was "is absolutely frightening". "At the moment, a warehouse is out of order, that gravely undermines humanitarian operations and their ability to bring medicines in. "So this is this is very bad news for healthcare in in Gaza, which was already really on the brink. Right now what we need is more access, more supplies, which are ready outside of Gaza. "The solution is there." The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages from southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in the deadliest attack in Israel's history. Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times.
Mint
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Mint
‘Humanity shamed': Chidambaram condemns Israel over 1,000 Palestinian aid-seekers ‘killed' in Gaza since May
Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram on July 24 voiced serious concern over the recent violence in Gaza as more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May in the territory, according to the United Nations. 'Humanity is shamed in Gaza,' Chidambaram said in a post on X. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the UN human rights office said Tuesday, according to news agency AP. 'Every day, the number of killings in Gaza is in the double-digits. Many of them are women and children who had nothing to do with starting the conflict,' the Congress leader said. Israeli strikes killed 25 people across Gaza, according to local health officials, the news agency said Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries, according to AP. 'According to the UN, over 1000 Palestinians have been killed since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip. Look at the pictures of hungry children at refugee camps. It is obvious they are starving -- and dying,' Chidambaram said. 'The world sleeps; while it is awake, its conscience is buried.' Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the UN human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around UN convoys or aid sites. Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN rights office, says its figures come from 'multiple reliable sources on the ground,' including medics, humanitarian and human rights organisations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office's strict methodology. Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid and blames UN agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in, the news agency said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, rejected what it said were 'false and exaggerated statistics' from the United Nations. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 80 children have died from starvation since the beginning of the war, while 21 adults have died since Sunday. The ministry only recently began tracking deaths from malnutrition in adults. The deaths could not be independently verified, but UN officials and major international aid groups say the conditions for starvation exist in Gaza. During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body is not strong enough to fight. Israel eased a two-and-a-half-month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the longstanding UN-run system and the newly created GHF. Every day, the number of killings in Gaza is in the double-digits. The UN World Food Program says Gaza's hunger crisis has reached 'new and astonishing levels of desperation.' Ross Smith, the agency's director for emergencies, told reporters Monday that nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza's population is going without food for multiple days in a row.
Sydney Morning Herald
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Overkill in Gaza: Penny Wong was right to call out Israel
This week's joint statement signed by Penny Wong and more than two dozen other foreign affairs ministers calling for an end to the war in Gaza was notable for its directness. It reflects the growing frustration of the Australian and other governments with how Israel is prosecuting the war. The disconnect between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unreconcilable twin aims of destroying Hamas, while at the same rescuing the hostages, is becoming increasingly apparent with the death of every civilian and the lack of hostages being returned. Revenge for the 1200 people Hamas slaughtered in October 2023 should by now have been achieved, and Hamas' military capabilities have been dealt a grievous blow. There is no argument that Hamas had to pay a heavy price for its terrorist attack, and the brutal reality is that the civilians among whom they hide would suffer as a result. But there are limits to such suffering, and the principles of military necessity and proportionality are supposed to guide and constrain the use of military force. For some time now, there has been a growing international consensus that Israel is exacting far too heavy a toll on all Gazans for the sins of Hamas. And it is also increasingly apparent that the Israeli government lacks any coherent plan for post-conflict Gaza. Canberra knows that on its own it has little clout with Israel, so it has used a multinational approach to call for an end to the fighting. It was also notable that the letter co-signed by Wong focused first on Israel's aid delivery model, a privatised version designed to tie the location and provision of humanitarian aid to military goals and to sideline professional international humanitarian organisations. The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was controversial from the start – its original executive director, US military veteran Jake Wood, resigned before the first meal was delivered, citing his personal concerns that 'it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence'. Boston Consulting Group issued a public apology once it was revealed that two of its partners were involved in the scoping and planning for what was to become the GHF. The opaque funding sources for the foundation are concerning, as is the fact that the executive chairman is an evangelical preacher with close personal ties to US President Donald Trump. The security, provided by masked US private security contractors at the distribution points and the Israeli military in the area surrounding those sites, has been equally controversial. Reports of hundreds of aid-seekers being killed during the operation of the centres is alarming. Even if only partially true, nobody should die trying to feed their families.
The Age
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
Overkill in Gaza: Penny Wong was right to call out Israel
This week's joint statement signed by Penny Wong and more than two dozen other foreign affairs ministers calling for an end to the war in Gaza was notable for its directness. It reflects the growing frustration of the Australian and other governments with how Israel is prosecuting the war. The disconnect between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unreconcilable twin aims of destroying Hamas, while at the same rescuing the hostages, is becoming increasingly apparent with the death of every civilian and the lack of hostages being returned. Revenge for the 1200 people Hamas slaughtered in October 2023 should by now have been achieved, and Hamas' military capabilities have been dealt a grievous blow. There is no argument that Hamas had to pay a heavy price for its terrorist attack, and the brutal reality is that the civilians among whom they hide would suffer as a result. But there are limits to such suffering, and the principles of military necessity and proportionality are supposed to guide and constrain the use of military force. For some time now, there has been a growing international consensus that Israel is exacting far too heavy a toll on all Gazans for the sins of Hamas. And it is also increasingly apparent that the Israeli government lacks any coherent plan for post-conflict Gaza. Canberra knows that on its own it has little clout with Israel, so it has used a multinational approach to call for an end to the fighting. It was also notable that the letter co-signed by Wong focused first on Israel's aid delivery model, a privatised version designed to tie the location and provision of humanitarian aid to military goals and to sideline professional international humanitarian organisations. The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was controversial from the start – its original executive director, US military veteran Jake Wood, resigned before the first meal was delivered, citing his personal concerns that 'it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence'. Boston Consulting Group issued a public apology once it was revealed that two of its partners were involved in the scoping and planning for what was to become the GHF. The opaque funding sources for the foundation are concerning, as is the fact that the executive chairman is an evangelical preacher with close personal ties to US President Donald Trump. The security, provided by masked US private security contractors at the distribution points and the Israeli military in the area surrounding those sites, has been equally controversial. Reports of hundreds of aid-seekers being killed during the operation of the centres is alarming. Even if only partially true, nobody should die trying to feed their families.
Gulf Today
20 hours ago
- Health
- Gulf Today
Israeli forces kill over 1,000 aid-seekers in Gaza since May: UN
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 25 people across Gaza, according to local health officials. Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries. Men walk carrying sacks of flour in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. AFP Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid - without providing evidence of widespread diversion - and blames UN agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in. The military says it has only fired warning shots near aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, rejected what it said were "false and exaggerated statistics' from the United Nations. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation. The deaths could not be independently verified, but UN officials and major international aid groups say the conditions for starvation exist in Gaza. During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body is not strong enough to fight. Israel eased a 2½-month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the longstanding UN-run system and the newly created GHF. Aid groups say it's not nearly enough. Dozens of Palestinians lined up Tuesday outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City, hoping for a bowl of watery tomato soup. The lucky ones got small chunks of eggplant. As supplies ran out, people holding pots pushed and shoved to get to the front. Smoke rises after an explosion in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, on Tuesday. Reuters Nadia Mdoukh, a pregnant woman who was displaced from her home and lives in a tent with her husband and three children, said she worries about being shoved or trampled on, and about heat stroke as daytime temperatures hover above 90 F (32 C). "I do it for my children," she said. "This is famine - there is no bread or flour.' The UN World Food Program says Gaza's hunger crisis has reached "new and astonishing levels of desperation.' Ross Smith, the agency's director for emergencies, told reporters Monday that nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza's population is going without food for multiple days in a row. MedGlobal, a charity working in Gaza, said five children as young as 3 months had died from starvation in the past three days. "This is a deliberate and human-made disaster," said Joseph Belliveau, its executive director. "Those children died because there is not enough food in Gaza and not enough medicines, including IV fluids and therapeutic formula, to revive them.' Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians, including aid seekers, killed in Israeli attacks, according to medics, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on Tuesday. Reuters The charity said food is in such short supply that its own staff members suffer dizziness and headaches. Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the UN human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around UN convoys or aid sites. Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN rights office, says its figures come from "multiple reliable sources on the ground,' including medics, humanitarian and human rights organizations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office's strict methodology. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces regularly fire toward crowds of thousands of people heading to the GHF sites. The military says it has only fired warning shots, and GHF says its armed contractors have only fired into the air on a few occasions to try to prevent stampedes. A joint statement from 28 Western-aligned countries on Monday condemned the "the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians.' Demonstrators hold signs, during a protest demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the release of all hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday. Reuters "The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' read the statement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, France and other countries friendly to Israel. "The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.' Israel and the United States rejected the statement, blaming Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting Israeli terms for a ceasefire and the release of hostages abducted in the fighter-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the fighting. Hamas has said it will release the remaining hostages only in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will keep fighting until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed. Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people Tuesday across Gaza, according to local health officials. One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up seaside Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said that it wasn't aware of such a strike by its forces. Israeli activists gather at HaBima Square for a protest march towards the Israeli defence ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday denouncing the ongoing food shortage and forced displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. AFP The dead included three women and three children, the hospital director, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said. An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. "A bag of flour covered in blood and death," said Mohammed Issam, who was in the crowd and said some people were run over by trucks in the chaos. "How long will this humiliation continue?' The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas, because the fighters operate in densely populated areas. Israel renewed its offensive in March with a surprise bombardment after ending an earlier ceasefire. Talks on another truce have dragged on for weeks despite pressure from US President Donald Trump. Hamas-led fighters abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack, and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive. Associated Press
