Latest news with #IsraeliForces
LBCI
11 hours ago
- General
- LBCI
Amid security risks, south Lebanon's farmers face uncertainty as agriculture ministry pushes to revive farming
Report by Lara El Hachem, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian Lebanese farmers in the Mazraat Sardah and Marjayoun plain areas live at the mercy of Israeli forces stationed on El Hamames Hill in Lebanon. Half of the Marjayoun plain—about 17 million square meters—is off-limits due to the ongoing threat of Israeli military patrols, the latest of which residents documented on Friday. This marks the third consecutive season that southern farmers have faced uncertainty and fear. In response, the Ministry of Agriculture launched an initiative to revive the sector by securing safety guarantees for farmers who wish to return to their land. Under the plan, interested farmers must file a request with their local municipality, including their name, phone number, land registration area, and type of agricultural activity. These requests will be forwarded to the ministry, which will coordinate with the Lebanese army and UNIFIL to obtain safety assurances for the farmers. The ministry aims to secure ongoing access, requiring farmers to specify the number of planned visits based on the crop type and growing season. Agricultural losses in front-line villages—from Kfarchouba to Naqoura—have exceeded 80% due to wildfires and bulldozing operations. The Agriculture Ministry attempted to offset some of these losses by planting olive trees with support from international organizations. Beyond crop damage, livestock losses have been devastating—even in second-line villages. Many farms have been destroyed, and numerous herders were forced to sell their animals at a loss to survive. While this initiative is a first step toward recovery, results are far from guaranteed as long as Israel continues to dictate the fate of Lebanon's southern border communities through force, intimidation, and violence.
ABC News
11 hours ago
- Health
- ABC News
Israel accused of targeting aid sites
Hospitals in Gaza have been flooded with dead and injured Palestinians after Hamas accused Israeli forces of opening fire at aid distribution sites in the territory. Palestinian health authorities say at least 31 people were killed and dozens more were injured.
Wall Street Journal
13 hours ago
- General
- Wall Street Journal
More Than 20 Gazans Killed Waiting for Aid, Palestinian Authorities Say
More than 20 Gazans were killed as they made their way to a U.S.-Israeli aid distribution center, Palestinian health authorities said, the latest violence in a chaotic rollout of a new assistance program. Crowds of hungry Gazans making their way to an aid distribution center in southern Gaza on Sunday morning were fired on by what appeared to be Israeli forces, said witnesses who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it evacuated 23 dead and 23 injured people from the area.
BreakingNews.ie
16 hours ago
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
At least 31 Palestinians killed while heading to Gaza aid hub, officials say
At least 31 people have been killed and more than 170 wounded while on their way to receive food in the Gaza Strip, according to health officials and multiple witnesses. The witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds around 1,000 yards from a new aid site run by an Israeli-backed foundation. Advertisement Israel's military said in a statement that its forces did not fire at civilians near or within the site, citing an initial inquiry. The foundation – promoted by Israel and the United States – said in a statement it delivered aid 'without incident'. A Palestinian man carries a bag of food after receiving aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) It has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones where independent media has no access. 'Aid distribution has become a death trap,' the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement. Advertisement The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid distribution has been marred by chaos in its first week of operations, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near its sites. Before Sunday, 17 people were killed while trying to reach the sites, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Health Ministry's records department. The foundation says private security contractors guarding its sites have not fired on the crowds. Israel's military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions. The foundation said in a statement it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early Sunday 'without incident', and dismissed what it described as 'false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos'. Advertisement Thousands of people headed towards the distribution site in southern Gaza hours before dawn. As they approached, Israeli forces ordered them to disperse and come back later, witnesses said. Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, around 1km away, at around 3 am, Israeli forces opened fire, the witnesses said. 'There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,' said Amr Abu Teiba, who was in the crowd. He said he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several other wounded people, including women. People used carts to ferry the dead and wounded to a field hospital. Advertisement 'The scene was horrible,' he said. Most people were shot 'in the upper part of their bodies, including the head, neck and chest,' said Dr Marwan al-Hams, a health ministry official at Nasser Hospital, where many wounded were transferred from the Red Cross-run field hospital. He said 24 people were being treated in Nasser Hospital's intensive care unit. A colleague, surgeon Khaled al-Ser, later said 150 wounded people had arrived, along with 28 bodies. Ibrahim Abu Saoud, another witness, said the military fired from about 300 metres away. He said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who died at the scene. Advertisement 'We weren't able to help him,' he said. Thick smoke and flames erupt from an Israeli air strike in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and a woman as they headed towards the distribution site. He said his cousin was shot in his chest, and his brother-in-law was among the wounded. 'They opened heavy fire directly toward us,' he said. An AP reporter arrived at the field hospital at around 6am and saw dozens of wounded, including women and children. The reporter also saw crowds of people returning from the distribution point. Some carried boxes of aid but most appeared to be empty-handed. Officials at the field hospital said at least 21 people were killed and another 175 were wounded, without saying who opened fire. The Health Ministry provided the same toll and later updated it. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the coastal territory. 'It's essentially engineered scarcity,' Jonathan Whittall, interim head in Gaza of the UN humanitarian office, said last week. The UN system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its nearly three-month blockade of the territory last month. The groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza's roughly two million Palestinians. Experts have warned that the territory is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas, displaced around 90% of the population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid. The latest efforts at ceasefire talks appeared to stumble on Saturday when Hamas said it had sought amendments to a US ceasefire proposal that Israel had approved, and the US envoy called that 'unacceptable'.
Sky News
16 hours ago
- Health
- Sky News
IDF issues denial after reports of at least 31 people killed in Israeli attack near aid distribution site
At least 31 people have been killed near an aid distribution centre in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry. Earlier, a nearby hospital run by the Red Cross reported that at least 21 people had been killed. The hospital, which has been receiving bodies and the wounded, also said another 175 people had been injured. Witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire at a roundabout near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub, a new aid organisation backed by Israel and the US. However, Palestinian and Hamas-linked media have attributed the deaths it has reported on to an Israeli airstrike. It is not yet clear if eyewitnesses and Hamas-affiliated media are giving different accounts of the same incident. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said "false reports have been spread" in recent hours. The statement said: "[these include] serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip. "Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false." Witnesses tell of shooting The area where the reported shooting took place is controlled by Israeli forces. Ibrahim Abu Saoud, an eyewitness, said Israeli forces opened fire at people moving toward the aid distribution centre. "There were many martyrs, including women," the 40-year-old man said. "We were about 300 metres away from the military." Abu Saoud said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. "We weren't able to help him," he said. Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub. He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said. "They opened heavy fire directly toward us," he said as he was waiting outside the Red Cross field hospital for word on his wounded relative. Minister doesn't confirm reported attack In an interview on Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Israel's deputy minister of foreign affairs Sharren Haskel suggested reports of the attack could be "Hamas propaganda". Asked about the alleged attack near the aid hub, she said: "The IDF said it's actually reviewing this issue right now... They didn't have any information to give me before [this interview]. "But I have to say that during the last week, we have heard so much propaganda coming from Hamas about the humanitarian distribution point that I wouldn't be surprised if that's another case like that." She added: "We've just heard about this case from your media, that was literally two minutes before I came online to your show." Controversial new aid system The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) operates as part of a controversial aid system which Israel and the US says is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion, and the UN denies it has occurred. The foundation's distribution of aid has been marred by chaos, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the delivery sites. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the territory. Before Sunday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded, according to local health officials. Aid distribution is a 'death trap' Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, said the Rafah incident shows aid distribution in Gaza "has become a death trap". In a post on X on Sunday, Mr Lazzarini pointed to "mass casualties, including scores of injured and killed among starving civilians due to gunshots this morning", quoting international medics on the ground. Under the Israeli-American plan, an aid distribution point had been placed "far south in Rafah", forcing "thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that's all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli Army". It was "humiliating", he said, as he called for the delivery and distribution of aid to be "at scale and safe", something that in Gaza "can be done only through the United Nations, including UNRWA". The agency was banned by Israel from operating in Occupied East Jerusalem and Israel in January over alleged links to Hamas in Gaza, which the organisation denies. Israel must "lift the siege and allow the UN safe + unhindered access" to deliver and distribute aid, he said, adding it was "the only way to avert mass starvation, including among one million children," Mr Lazzarini said. 0:53 GHF says aid distributed 'without incident' The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites did not fire on the crowds, while the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions. Following Sunday's allegations, the foundation said: "All aid was distributed today without incident. No injuries or fatalities as noted in our daily update sent out earlier. "We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated." In an earlier statement, the organisation said it distributed 16 truckloads of aid on Sunday. It dismissed what it referred to as "false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos". Meanwhile, the UN's aid system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its total blockade of the territory last month. Those groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza's roughly two million Palestinians. Experts have warned that the Palestinian territory is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in. 3:29 The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory, displaced around 90% of Gaza's population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.
