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Gulf Today
a day ago
- Health
- Gulf Today
Israeli fire kills 78 more Palestinians in Gaza as aid delivery remains chaotic
Israeli strikes or gunfire killed at least 78 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, including a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered after her death but also died, local health officials said. Dozens were killed while seeking food, even as Israel moved to ease restrictions on the entry of aid. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Under mounting pressure over the spiraling hunger crisis in Gaza, Israel said over the weekend that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day and designate secure routes for aid delivery. International airdrops of aid have also resumed. Aid agencies say the new measures are not enough to counter worsening starvation in the territory. A mourner carries the body of a Palestinian killed in an overnight Israeli strike in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Monday. Reuters Martin Penner, a spokesperson for the UN food agency, told the media that all 55 of its aid trucks that entered on Sunday were unloaded by crowds before reaching their destination. Another UN official said nothing on the ground has changed and no alternative routes were allowed. Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. A baby girl died hours after being delivered in a complex emergency cesarean. She had been placed in an incubator and was breathing with assistance from a ventilator, AP footage showed. Her mother, Soad al-Shaer, who had been seven months pregnant with her, was among 12 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house and neighboring tents in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another strike hit a two-story house in Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the hospital. At least five others were killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza, according to other hospitals. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on most of the strikes. It said it was not aware of one strike in Gaza City during the pause that health officials said killed one person. Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an overnight Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. Reuters Israel says it only targets fighters and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the fighters operate in densely populated areas. The daily airstrikes across the territory frequently kill women and children. Images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza "terrible.' Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free hostages. Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new US-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers have encountered a breakdown in law and order surrounding their deliveries. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid shipments, said UN agencies collected 120 trucks for distribution on Sunday and that another 180 trucks had been allowed into Gaza. Palestinians inspect the site struck by an Israeli bombardment in Muwasi, Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Monday. AP The United Nations and aid groups say the territory needs 500-600 trucks a day to meet its needs. Israel's blockade and military operations have destroyed nearly all food production in the territory of roughly 2 million Palestinians. Also on Monday, two air force planes from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped 17 tons of humanitarian aid in Gaza - an amount that would fill less than a single aid truck. Aid groups say airdrops are often ineffective and dangerous, with falling parcels landing on people or in combat zones or other dangerous areas. "At the moment, 2 million people are trapped in a tiny piece of land, which makes up just 12% of the whole strip - if anything lands in this area, people will inevitably be injured,' said Jean Guy Vataux, emergency coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders. "If the airdrops land in areas where Israel has issued displacement orders, people will be forced to enter militarized zones - once again risking their lives for food,' he added. The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned that airdrops are "expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians,' and would not address the crisis. At least 25 people were killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid from a truck convoy passing through the southern Gaza Strip, according to health officials and witnesses. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on Monday. Reuters Four children were among those killed, according to records at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. The shooting occurred in a military corridor Israel has carved out between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah. It was not immediately clear who had supplied the convoy. Survivors at the hospital said Israeli forces had fired toward the crowds. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid since May, according to the UN human rights office, witnesses and local health officials. The Israeli military has said it only fires warning shots at people who approach its forces. The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians who it said were killed by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor. The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fares Awad, head of the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service, said at least five Palestinians were killed and about 30 others were wounded by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid trucks from the Zikim Crossing near Gaza City. Hamas started the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, in which Palestinian fighters killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50, and Israel believes that more than half the remaining hostages are dead. Most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Associated Press
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Israel's leader claims no one in Gaza is starving. Data and witnesses disagree
The World Health Organisation said on Sunday there had been 63 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza this month, including 24 children under the age of five – up from 11 deaths total the previous six months of the year. Gaza's Health Ministry puts the number even higher, reporting 82 deaths this month of malnutrition-related causes: 24 children and 58 adults. On Monday, it said that 14 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, is headed by medical professionals and is seen by the UN as the most reliable source of data on casualties. UN agencies also often confirm numbers through other partners on the ground. The Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency centre for malnourished children in northern Gaza, says this month it saw, for the first time, malnutrition deaths in children who had no pre-existing conditions. Some adults who died suffered from such illnesses as diabetes or had heart or kidney ailments made worse by starvation, Gaza medical officials said. The WHO also says that acute malnutrition in northern Gaza tripled this month, reaching nearly one in five children under the age of five, and has doubled in central and southern Gaza. The UN says Gaza's only four specialised treatment centres for malnutrition are 'overwhelmed'. The leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, has warned of famine for months in Gaza but has not formally declared one, citing the lack of data as Israel restricts access to the territory. Aid trucks are overrun The measures announced by Israel late on Saturday include 10-hour daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in three heavily populated areas so that UN trucks can more easily distribute food. Still, UN World Food Program spokesperson Martin Penner said the agency's 55 trucks of aid that entered Gaza on Monday via the Zikim and Kerem Shalom crossings were looted by starving people before they reached WFP warehouses. Experts say that airdrops, another measure Israel announced, are insufficient for the immense need in Gaza and dangerous to people on the ground. Israel's military says 48 food packages were dropped on Sunday and Monday. Palestinians say they want a full return to the UN-led aid distribution system that was in place throughout the war, rather than the Israeli-backed mechanism that began in May. Witnesses and health workers say Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people by opening fire on Palestinians trying to reach those food distribution hubs or while they crowded around arriving aid trucks. Israel's military says it has fired warning shots to disperse threats. The UN and partners say the best way to bring food into Gaza is by truck, and they have called repeatedly for Israel to loosen restrictions on their entry. A truck carries about 19 tons of supplies. Israel's military says that as of July 21, some 95,435 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the war began. That's an average of 146 a day, and far below the 500 to 600 the UN says are needed. The rate has sometimes been as low as half of that for several months at a time. Nothing went in for 2½ months starting in March because Israel imposed a complete blockade on food, fuel and other supplies entering Gaza. Distribution is difficult and slow The UN says that delivering aid that is permitted into Gaza has become increasingly difficult. When aid enters, it is left just inside the border in Gaza, and the UN must get Israeli military permission to send trucks to pick it up. But the UN says the military has denied or impeded just over half of the movement requests for its trucks in the past three months. If the UN succeeds in picking up the aid, hungry crowds and armed gangs swarm the convoys and strip them of supplies. The Hamas-run civilian police once provided security along some routes, but that stopped after Israel targeted them with airstrikes.
The Age
a day ago
- Health
- The Age
Gaza starvation: Netanyahu denies famine as aid deliveries fail and malnutrition deaths rise
The World Health Organisation said on Sunday there had been 63 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza this month, including 24 children under the age of five – up from 11 deaths total the previous six months of the year. Gaza's Health Ministry puts the number even higher, reporting 82 deaths this month of malnutrition-related causes: 24 children and 58 adults. On Monday, it said that 14 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, is headed by medical professionals and is seen by the UN as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Malnourished Yazan Abu Ful, 2, sits at his family home in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Credit: AP UN agencies also often confirm numbers through other partners on the ground. The Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency centre for malnourished children in northern Gaza, says this month it saw, for the first time, malnutrition deaths in children who had no pre-existing conditions. Some adults who died suffered from such illnesses as diabetes or had heart or kidney ailments made worse by starvation, Gaza medical officials said. The WHO also says that acute malnutrition in northern Gaza tripled this month, reaching nearly one in five children under the age of five, and has doubled in central and southern Gaza. The UN says Gaza's only four specialised treatment centres for malnutrition are 'overwhelmed'. The leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, has warned of famine for months in Gaza but has not formally declared one, citing the lack of data as Israel restricts access to the territory. Aid trucks are overrun The measures announced by Israel late on Saturday include 10-hour daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in three heavily populated areas so that UN trucks can more easily distribute food. Still, UN World Food Program spokesperson Martin Penner said the agency's 55 trucks of aid that entered Gaza on Monday via the Zikim and Kerem Shalom crossings were looted by starving people before they reached WFP warehouses. Palestinians inspect a site struck by an Israeli bombardment in Muwasi. Credit: AP Experts say that airdrops, another measure Israel announced, are insufficient for the immense need in Gaza and dangerous to people on the ground. Israel's military says 48 food packages were dropped on Sunday and Monday. Palestinians say they want a full return to the UN-led aid distribution system that was in place throughout the war, rather than the Israeli-backed mechanism that began in May. Witnesses and health workers say Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people by opening fire on Palestinians trying to reach those food distribution hubs or while they crowded around arriving aid trucks. Israel's military says it has fired warning shots to disperse threats. The UN and partners say the best way to bring food into Gaza is by truck, and they have called repeatedly for Israel to loosen restrictions on their entry. A truck carries about 19 tons of supplies. Israel's military says that as of July 21, some 95,435 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the war began. That's an average of 146 a day, and far below the 500 to 600 the UN says are needed. The rate has sometimes been as low as half of that for several months at a time. Nothing went in for 2½ months starting in March because Israel imposed a complete blockade on food, fuel and other supplies entering Gaza. Distribution is difficult and slow The UN says that delivering aid that is permitted into Gaza has become increasingly difficult. When aid enters, it is left just inside the border in Gaza, and the UN must get Israeli military permission to send trucks to pick it up. But the UN says the military has denied or impeded just over half of the movement requests for its trucks in the past three months. If the UN succeeds in picking up the aid, hungry crowds and armed gangs swarm the convoys and strip them of supplies. The Hamas-run civilian police once provided security along some routes, but that stopped after Israel targeted them with airstrikes.
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Business Standard
a day ago
- Health
- Business Standard
Israeli fire kills dozens in Gaza, aid delivery remains chaotic: Officials
Israeli strikes or gunfire killed at least 78 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, including a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered after her death but also died, local health officials said. Dozens were killed while seeking food, even as Israel moved to ease restrictions on the entry of aid. Under mounting pressure over the spiralling hunger crisis in Gaza, Israel said over the weekend that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day and designate secure routes for aid delivery. International airdrops of aid have also resumed. Aid agencies say the new measures are not enough to counter worsening starvation in the territory. Martin Penner, a spokesperson for the UN food agency, told The Associated Press that all 55 of its aid trucks that entered on Sunday were unloaded by crowds before reaching their destination. Another UN official said nothing on the ground has changed and no alternative routes were allowed. Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. Newborn dies after complex surgery A baby girl died hours after being delivered in a complex emergency cesarean. She had been placed in an incubator and was breathing with assistance from a ventilator, AP footage showed. Her mother, Soad al-Shaer, who had been seven months pregnant with her, was among 12 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house and neighboring tents in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another strike hit a two-story house in Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the hospital. At least five others were killed in strikes elsewhere in Gaza, according to other hospitals. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on most of the strikes. It said it was not aware of one strike in Gaza City during the pause that health officials said killed one person. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. The daily airstrikes across the territory frequently kill women and children. Israel allows more aid to enter Images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies. US President Donald Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza terrible. Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free hostages. Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new US-backed aid delivery system that has been wreaked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers have encountered a breakdown in law and order surrounding their deliveries. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid shipments, said UN agencies collected 120 trucks for distribution on Sunday and that another 180 trucks had been allowed into Gaza. The United Nations and aid groups say the territory needs 500-600 trucks a day to meet its needs. Israel's blockade and military operations have destroyed nearly all food production in the territory of roughly 2 million Palestinians. Aid groups say airdrops are ineffective Also on Monday, two air force planes from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped 17 tons of humanitarian aid in Gaza an amount that would fill less than a single aid truck. Aid groups say airdrops are often ineffective and dangerous, with falling parcels landing on people or in combat zones or other dangerous areas. At the moment, 2 million people are trapped in a tiny piece of land, which makes up just 12% of the whole strip if anything lands in this area, people will inevitably be injured, said Jean Guy Vataux, emergency coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders. If the airdrops land in areas where Israel has issued displacement orders, people will be forced to enter militarized zones once again risking their lives for food, he added. Dozens killed seeking aid, officials say. At least 25 people were killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid from a truck convoy passing through the southern Gaza Strip, according to health officials and witnesses. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Four children were among those killed, according to records at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. The shooting occurred in a military corridor Israel has carved out between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah. It was not immediately clear who had supplied the convoy. Survivors at the hospital said Israeli forces had fired toward the crowds. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid since May, according to the UN human rights office, witnesses and local health officials. The Israeli military has said it only fires warning shots at people who approach its forces. The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians who it said were killed by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor. Fares Awad, head of the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service, said at least five Palestinians were killed and about 30 others were wounded by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid trucks from the Zikim Crossing near Gaza City. Hamas started the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50, and Israel believes that more than half the remaining hostages are dead. Most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Time of India
a day ago
- Health
- Time of India
Gaza Israel Conflict: Israeli fire kills dozens in Gaza, officials say, as aid delivery remains chaotic after new measures
. At least 78 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes or gunfire in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered after her death but also perished, according to the local officials in a report by the Associated Press. Even when Israel took steps to loosen limits on humanitarian entrance, several were killed while attempting to obtain food. Israel announced over the weekend that the military would halt operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Muwasi for ten hours each day and establish safe channels for the delivery of assistance in response to growing concern over the deteriorating famine situation in Gaza. International assistance airdrops have also started up again. According to aid organizations, the new policies are insufficient to stop the region's growing famine. UN food agency spokesperson Martin Penner told The Associated Press that all 55 of the organization's relief trucks that arrived on Sunday were unloaded by people before they could get to their final destination. Nothing has changed on the ground, and no additional routes were permitted, according to another U.N. official. Israel declared that, in addition to the additional humanitarian measures, it would continue its military operations. Newborn dies after extensive surgery After a complicated emergency cesarean delivery, a baby girl passed away a few hours later. According to AP film, she was breathing with the help of a ventilator after being placed in an incubator. According to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, an Israeli attack on a house and nearby tents in the Muwasi neighborhood of Khan Younis killed 12 Palestinians, including a mother, Soad al-Shaer, who had been seven months pregnant. The hospital reports that at least 11 people were killed in another attack that struck a two-story house in Khan Younis, with women and children accounting for more than half of the fatalities. Other hospitals in Gaza reported that attacks killed at least five more people.
