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Kuwait Times
25-05-2025
- Health
- Kuwait Times
Zionists kill 107 in Gaza as 29 starve to death
GAZA: Plumes of smoke rose Thursday over the northern Gaza Strip where the Zionist military ordered civilians to evacuate, as rescuers said Zionist strikes across the territory killed at least 107 people. The latest evacuation warning for parts of Gaza City and neighboring areas came hours after the United Nations said it had begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza — the first such delivery since the Zionist entity imposed a total blockade on March 2. The Palestinian health minister said on Thursday that 29 children and elderly people had died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk. 'In the last couple of days we lost 29 children,' Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters, describing them as 'starvation-related deaths'. He later clarified that the total included elderly people as well as children. Asked to react to earlier comments by the UN aid chief to the BBC that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: 'The number 14,000 is very realistic may be even underestimating (the scale).' Earlier this month, a global hunger monitor said that half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation. Abu Ramadan said that only seven or eight hospitals out of Gaza's 36 were partially functioning, and that more than 90 percent of medical stocks were now at zero due to the blockade. 'My information is that very few shipments went inside Gaza - 90-100 truckloads and in the south and mid zones.' Asked if there are any medical supplies among them, he said: 'As far as I know ...it's only flour for bakeries.' Under global pressure to lift the blockade and halt a newly expanded offensive, Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a 'temporary ceasefire', but reaffirmed the military aimed to bring all of Gaza under its control. In an Arabic-language statement on Thursday, the military said it was acting 'with intense force' in 14 areas of the northern Gaza Strip, including parts of Gaza City and the Jabalia refugee camp. A map posted alongside the warning showed a swath of territory marked in red, with the army ordering civilians to move south. The army issued a similar evacuation call for northern Gaza late Wednesday in what it said was a response to rocket fire. The vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million have been displaced at least once during the war. After the Zionist entity announced it would allow in limited aid, the United Nations 'collected around 90 truckloads of goods from the Kerem Shalom crossing and dispatched them into Gaza', said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres. In Gaza, the Hamas government media office reported the arrival of 87 aid trucks, which it said were allocated to international and local organizations to meet 'urgent humanitarian needs'. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had got one truck of medical supplies through to replenish its field hospital in Rafah, but more was needed. 'A trickle of trucks is woefully inadequate. Only the rapid, unimpeded, and sustained flow of aid can begin to address the full scope of needs on the ground,' the organization added in a statement. Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies, with the Zionist blockade leading to critical food and medicine shortages. UN agencies have said that the amount of aid entering Gaza falls far short of what is required to ease the crisis. Umm Talal Al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as 'unbearable'. Hossam Abu Aida, 38, said: 'I am tormented for my children'. 'For them, I fear hunger and disease more than I do (Zionist) bombardment,' he told AFP. AFP footage showed bags of recently delivered flour at a bakery in the central city of Deir el-Balah, where workers and a host of machines began kneading, shaping, baking and packaging stack after stack of pita bread. 'Some aid is finally reaching Gazans in desperate need, but it's moving far too slowly,' said Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program. The amount is still a 'tiny drop in the bucket' compared the scale of the crisis, she said. Bread distribution would start later on Thursday, Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, told Reuters. He said just 90 trucks had got through. 'During the ceasefire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing,' he said. Bakeries backed by the WFP would produce the bread and the agency's staff would hand it out - a more controlled system than previously when bakers sold it directly to the public at a low cost, he added. AFP footage of northern Gaza showed numerous plumes of smoke rising from the area over the course of the afternoon. In Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside Al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the health ministry said. Rescue workers had been trying to extinguish the fires for hours, it added. Tanks are stationed outside the hospital, medics say, effectively blocking access to the facility. The intensified Zionist offensive has drawn criticism, with EU foreign ministers agreeing on Tuesday to review the bloc's cooperation accord with the Zionist entity. Sweden said it would press the 27-nation European Union to impose sanctions on Zionist ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with the Zionist entity. – Agencies
Gulf Today
23-05-2025
- Health
- Gulf Today
14,000 Gaza babies could die without aid, says Palestine health ministry
The Palestinian health minister said on Thursday that 29 children had died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk. "In the last couple of days we lost 29 children," Palestinian health minister, Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters, describing them as "starvation-related deaths." Asked to react to earlier comments by the UN aid chief to the BBC that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: "The number 14,000 is very realistic may be even underestimating (the scale)." On the other hand, the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighbourhoods of northern Gaza, as it pressed a renewed offensive that has drawn international condemnation. The warning came hours after the United Nations said it had collected and begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza, the first such delivery since Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory on March 2. Under global pressure for an end to the blockade and the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a "temporary ceasefire" in Gaza, but reaffirmed the military aimed to bring the entire territory under its control. In an Arabic-language statement on Thursday, the military said it was "operating with intense force" in 14 areas in the northern Gaza Strip, accusing "terrorist organisations" of operating there. The army issued a similar warning for northern Gaza on Wednesday evening in what the army said was a response to rocket fire. It later announced three more launches from northern Gaza, but said the projectiles had fallen inside the Palestinian territory. After Israel announced it would allow in limited aid, the United Nations "collected around 90 truckloads of goods from the Kerem Shalom crossing and dispatched them into Gaza", said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres. Agencies
Indian Express
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
UN confirms 90 aid trucks entered Gaza after three-day delay
The United Nations confirmed on Thursday that over 90 lorry loads of humanitarian aid—including flour, baby food, and medical equipment—had entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The deliveries, collected Wednesday night, marked the first major convoy to move after a three-day delay attributed to security concerns. The aid distribution began promptly, with several bakeries restarting operations using newly delivered flour. The delay followed an 11-week-long blockade, partially lifted by Israel earlier in the week. Despite the breakthrough, UN officials warned that the supplies delivered fall far short of Gaza's urgent needs. 'This is nowhere near enough to meet the vast needs in Gaza,' said a UN spokesperson. Prior to the conflict, Gaza received an average of 500 aid trucks per day. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimates that half a million Gazans are at risk of starvation. The Palestinian Authority's Health Minister, Majed Abu Ramadan, told Reuters that at least 29 children and elderly people have recently died from 'starvation-related' causes. The World Food Programme (WFP) said over 140,000 tonnes of food—equivalent to 6,000 truckloads—are currently ready to be delivered. This could feed the entire population for two months, a WFP official told the BBC. However, delivery remains constrained by security risks and limited access. Antoine Renard, a WFP official, explained that the only approved route into Gaza places aid workers at risk of attack. 'Each truck full of flour is worth about $400,000 at current market prices inside Gaza,' he said. The WFP avoids using armed escorts and is urging for a longer aid window and ceasefire to ensure safe passage. Israel has defended its aid restrictions, accusing Hamas of diverting supplies. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated these claims and announced that Israel, with US support, plans to bypass the UN by using American firms to deliver aid directly. Netanyahu said construction of the first distribution sites is underway. Humanitarian organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), have rejected the plan, warning it risks politicizing aid and breaching humanitarian principles. 'A trickle of trucks is woefully inadequate,' the ICRC said. Israeli airstrikes and ground operations continued across Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry reported 107 deaths in the past 24 hours. More than 81% of Gaza is now designated an evacuation or militarized zone, the UN estimates. Nearly 600,000 people have been displaced since March, with 161,000 of them fleeing in just the past week. The current conflict began after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel's retaliatory campaign has since killed at least 53,762 people in Gaza, including more than 16,500 children, according to Gaza's health ministry. (With inputs from BBC)
Free Malaysia Today
23-05-2025
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
Palestinian minister reports 29 starvation-related deaths
Food aid is expected to start reaching Gazans on Thursday. (AP pic) GENEVA : The Palestinian health minister said on Thursday that 29 children and elderly people had died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk. Food aid is expected to start reaching Gazans on Thursday after Israel let the first trucks through following an 11-week blockade, but Palestinian and aid officials say it is just a fraction of what is needed. 'In the last couple of days we lost 29 children,' Palestinian health minister Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters, describing them as 'starvation-related deaths'. He later clarified that the total included elderly people as well as children. Asked to react to earlier comments by the UN aid chief to the BBC that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: 'The number 14,000 is very realistic, may be even underestimating (the scale).' Israel imposed the blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters – a charge the group denies. Earlier this month, a global hunger monitor said that half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation. Abu Ramadan said that only seven or eight hospitals out of Gaza's 36 were partially functioning, and that more than 90% of medical stocks were now at zero due to the blockade. 'My information is that very few shipments went inside Gaza – 90-100 truck loads and in the south and mid zones.' Asked if there are any medical supplies among them, he said: 'As far as I know …it's only flour for bakeries.'
Qatar Tribune
22-05-2025
- Health
- Qatar Tribune
29 ‘starvation-related' deaths reported in Gaza
Agencies Gaza At least 29 children and elderly people have died from 'starvation-related' deaths in the Gaza Strip in recent days, the Palestinian health minister said, warning that thousands more are at risk as limited aid begins trickling into the bombarded enclave. Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters on Thursday that earlier comments by the United Nations aid chief to the BBC that 14,000 babies could die without desperately needed food aid were 'very realistic', but could be an underestimation. Israel has allowed limited deliveries of humanitarian aid into Gaza amid a wave of international condemnation of its 11-week total blockade on the territory, which spurred warnings of mass famine. But UN officials have said the humanitarian aid entering Gaza is 'nowhere near enough' to meet the needs of the population in the war-torn enclave. About 90 aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday, but Abu Ramadan said 'very few shipments went inside Gaza'. The aid that was allowed in was limited to 'flour for bakeries', he added. The president of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Younis al-Khatib, also said Palestinians have yet to receive any supplies so far. 'No civilian has received anything yet,' al-Khatib told reporters. He said most of the aid trucks are still at the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, in southern Gaza. As limited deliveries enter the Strip, the Israeli military has continued to launch attacks across the enclave, with medical sources telling Al Jazeera that at least 51 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Thursday. At least 53,655 Palestinians have been killed and more than 121,000 others injured since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum said that while Palestinians have welcomed the influx of aid, it is a 'drop in the ocean' compared with the population's needs. 'Five hundred aid trucks are needed on a daily basis in order to avert the current food crisis in the territory,' Abu Azzoum explained. Still, Gaza resident Ahmed Abed al-Daym said the aid trucks were a 'positive sign' amid dire conditions. 'Our homes are empty – there is no bread, and our children are going hungry,' he told Al Jazeera. 'In many households, bread has completely disappeared. What people urgently need is a steady and sufficient flow of flour and other essentials. Unfortunately, the limited aid that has entered so far falls far short of meeting our needs.' Another resident, Reem Zidiah, said that due to the mass starvation that Gaza is enduring, no one is safe in the besieged enclave. 'All of us here in Gaza, we don't think about tomorrow because we don't know what will happen tomorrow – whether we're going to live or die,' Zidiah told Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee announced new forced evacuation orders for Palestinians in Jabalia and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. He said in a post on X that the army will 'significantly expand its military activity' in the area.
