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NBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- NBC News
Countries turn to aid drops over Gaza, criticized as dangerous, as starvation mounts under Israel offensive
ABOVE NORTHERN GAZA — From the sky, a besieged Gaza briefly came into view early Saturday as the military plane opened its back door and a mass of tents could be seen near the Mediterranean coast from a side window. Then, boxes of baby formula, food and other supplies were pushed out the back and parachuted to the ground — a tiny fraction of what is required for the enclave's population, which is facing a spiraling hunger crisis — delivered by a method that experts say is inefficient, dangerous and in some cases deadly. But with mounting international outrage about deaths from starvation in Gaza under Israel's offensive and crippling aid restrictions, several countries have started dropping food, medicine and other supplies into Gaza from the sky. 'Those aid drops are actually causing havoc,' Dr. Umar Burney, a Texas-based orthopedic surgeon volunteering in Gaza, told NBC News in a telephone interview Saturday from the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in northern Gaza. Multiple explosions could be heard ringing out nearby as he spoke. Burney, who has been treating patients in Gaza for the past week as part of a team with MedGlobal, a Chicago-based nonprofit that arranges volunteer medical missions to the enclave, added that he had taken care of 'multiple patients who've been crushed by these sort of unplanned, unannounced aid drops on top of their heads, literally on top of their heads.' Saturday's flight from an air base just outside the Jordanian capital Amman took place a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government faced a wave of condemnation from European leaders, Arab nations and a group representing the families of hostages after it announced plans to take control of Gaza City in the north of the enclave. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the plan on Friday as a 'dangerous escalation' that risks 'deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians.' His colleague Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, also said in a statement that 'the Israeli Government should put all its efforts into saving the lives of Gaza's civilians by allowing the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid.' Deaths from starvation in Gaza have been on the rise after Israel launched a crippling blockade barring the entry of food and other vital supplies into the enclave in early March before ending its ceasefire with Hamas. It lifted the blockade in May, allowing a basic amount of aid into Gaza, largely distributed under a controversial new distribution system led by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Since then, nearly 1,400 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured while seeking food, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in an update Tuesday. 'At least 859 people have been killed around GHF sites since the beginning of GHF's operations,' it added. Asked to address the rising death toll by NBC News on Wednesday, GHF said aid convoys belonging to the United Nations and other organizations in the past often passed near these locations and were regularly looted by large crowds. The Israeli military said in a statement Saturday that it allows GHF to 'distribute aid to Gaza residents independently.' It said that after 'incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted' and that 'systematic learning processes' to improve the operational response are underway. Faced with mounting global outrage, Israel began tactical pauses in some parts of Gaza to allow more aid into the enclave late last month. It also began to allow countries to airdrop supplies into the territory, although aid groups have criticized this method of delivery. 'These air drops are falling in extremely populated areas. They're dangerous,' Caroline Willemen, a project coordinator at a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) clinic in Gaza City, told British broadcaster Sky News on Saturday. 'They have fallen on tents, people have been injured," she added. Aid groups have also pointed out that the drops can only provide a fraction of what is required for Gaza's population of around 2 million people as the hunger crisis continues to spiral and much of the enclave plunge into famine conditions. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, told journalists Thursday that at least 99 people, including 29 children under age 5, have died from malnutrition this year. These numbers were likely underestimates, he said, and the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza cites higher figures. On Friday, the ministry said hospitals had recorded four deaths 'due to starvation and malnutrition' within a 24-hour time frame, including two children. This brought the total number of starvation deaths to 201, including 98 children. Israel has maintained there is no starvation in Gaza and that the situation on the ground is being exaggerated, almost 22 months after it launched its offensive following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. Since then, more than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the enclave, while much of the territory has been destroyed. Foreign journalists have been banned from entering Gaza independently since Israel launched its offensive. Traveling on aid flights has become one of the few ways of witnessing the destruction in the territory firsthand.
The Intercept
31-07-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Trump's Gaza 'Food Centers' Miss the Real Problem: Israel's Aid Blockade
President Donald Trump's vague plan to respond to the famine in Gaza with Israeli-approved 'food centers' is being panned by humanitarian groups who say it will do little or nothing to reverse widespread starvation caused by Israel's decision to block aid. Trump has given only broad-brush details about the scheme after announcing it Monday, when he acknowledged that children in Gaza are starving. As with many of Trump's proposals, however, it is unclear how seriously the president intends to pursue it. Aid organizations fear the rollout of another new system of food aid, considering the hundreds of killings near food distribution sites operated by the American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. They also emphasize that at this point, women and children in Gaza are in need of not just food but also specialized medical care to reverse severe malnutrition. 'The proposal is ludicrous,' said Dr. John Kahler, a pediatrician who co-founded a nonprofit group MedGlobal that supports re-feeding centers for children in Gaza. 'Nothing new needs to get done. It's a simple but not easy solution: Stop the bombing, open up the gates, and let the people who know how to do it, do it.' Trump has sketched out only the vaguest details about how the 'food centers' might work after introducing the idea during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump told reporters Tuesday on Air Force One that Israel would 'preside' over the food centers 'to make sure the distribution is proper.' Israeli officials have repeatedly offered the unsupported claim that Hamas is diverting food aid, which has been widely rejected by humanitarian groups, as their justification for clamping down on the flow of aid Gaza and pushing to the sidelines established aid organizations in the region. The food centers would roll out 'very soon,' Trump said. The White House has given no information on key questions, however, such as who would run the food centers, who would fund them, where they would be sited, and whether they would be militarized in a similar manner as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's distribution operations, which have been the sites of numerous deadly strikes on aid-seekers. In the months leading up to the past week's outcry from European countries and the United Nations over mass starvation, the Trump administration largely relied on the GHF to distribute food aid, and some observers thought it sounded like Trump might be talking about an expansion of the nonprofit's operations. A State Department spokesperson told reporters Tuesday that she was unsure whether the food centers would involve the GHF, however. 'We don't know the framework of how something would proceed regarding the details. I am waiting for the president to return and don't want to get ahead of him regarding announcements and what the framework would be,' Tammy Bruce said. The White House and Israel's embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to requests for comment. The White House seems to have communicated few if any details about the food centers to several members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioned about the proposal Tuesday. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he had received no information from the White House. 'The notion that the U.S. is going to set up food distribution centers — why not let the pros do it? The World Food Programme. Mercy Corps. World Vision. I mean, all these NGOs that this is what they do for a living, why not let them do it?' Kaine said. 'The U.S.'s efforts thus far have been the pier, which was a joke, and this GHF thing, which has been a disaster. So we don't have any credibility on this.' Read our complete coverage Another member of the committee, foreign aid skeptic Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., questioned how the food centers would be funded. 'What, is Israel going to pay for them?' Paul said when asked about the idea. 'I think as with most humanitarian crises, the people most directly involved are the people that should be involved with funding them.' Congress last year banned the U.S. from funding the longtime hub of aid distribution in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Israel halted aid deliveries altogether between March and May, creating the conditions for dozens of malnutrition deaths this month. The main conduit for U.S. aid to starving Gazans since the aid pause was lifted has been the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a nonprofit supported by the U.S. and Israeli governments that was incorporated in Delaware in February. The State Department approved $30 million in funding for the GHF in June. The GHF's food distribution centers are clustered largely in southern Gaza, forcing thousands of people to make dangerous treks and weather a barrage of gunfire in desperate attempts to secure food for their families. GHF has drawn scathing criticism from nongovernmental organizations over its decision to ring distribution sites with heavily armed private soldiers. GHF's chair Johnnie Moore has dismissed the reports of chaos at its distribution sites as 'misinformation.' Aid groups would have the same concerns about GHF if Trump's latest plan consists simply of expanding its operations, said James Hoobler, a humanitarian policy adviser at Oxfam America. Oxfam says its own attempts to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza have been severely constrained by 'systematic obstruction by the government of Israel.' Amid international outrage, Israel said over the weekend that it would ease access into Gaza for humanitarian groups, which say they have faced many obstacles to distributing aid. Hoobler said it was critical for Trump to follow through on his promise of providing more aid, since Israel has repeatedly promised greater access that fails to materialize. 'We really are looking over just a cliff edge. There is a real risk that the deaths we have seen so far are going to accelerate because of the combination of malnutrition and dehydration and water-borne disease, and lack of shelter and hygiene issues we are seeing,' he said. 'It has to be across all sectors. It can't just be food parcels that aren't reaching the most vulnerable, and aren't even consumable for people who don't have clean water and don't have fuel.'
Days of Palestine
02-07-2025
- Health
- Days of Palestine
NGOs demand Israel release detained Palestinian health workers
DaysofPal – A coalition of 25 international organizations has issued a strong call for the immediate and unconditional release of Palestinian healthcare workers unlawfully detained by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. The joint statement, titled 'Release the Doctors,' was released on June 30 by leading human rights and humanitarian groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA, Médecins Sans Frontières, MedGlobal, and Physicians for Human Rights, among others. According to the statement, at least 185 medical and humanitarian personnel, including doctors, nurses, ambulance crews, and workers from NGOs such as MedGlobal and Children Not Numbers, have been detained by Israeli authorities as of February 2025. Many of those held remain in unknown conditions. Some who have been released have reported suffering abuse during detention, while others have tragically died in custody. These detentions take place amid a broader pattern of what the NGOs describe as a systematic assault on Gaza's healthcare system during Israel's ongoing war, now entering its twenty-first month. Since October 2023, nearly 700 attacks have been documented against hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and shelters, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 health workers and 460 aid workers. The statement notes that the detention and targeting of health personnel and infrastructure constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law, including protections enshrined in the Geneva Conventions and reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 2286, which prohibits attacks on medical personnel and facilities in conflict zones. The coalition warns that these actions, if left unchecked, will set a dangerous global precedent. 'If health workers can be detained and attacked in one of the world's most closely watched conflicts with impunity,' the statement reads, 'it sets a dangerous precedent for the treatment of health workers around the world.' The organizations stress that these detentions not only violate legal norms but also jeopardize life-saving care for Palestinians, many of whom are already cut off from medical treatment due to the destruction of Gaza's health infrastructure. With health services collapsing under siege and displacement, the signatories call on Israel to immediately release all unlawfully held health workers and to end its attacks on the medical system. They also urge the international community to take urgent steps to uphold the protection of healthcare in conflict and hold violators accountable. The joint demand reflects mounting global concern over the safety of medical professionals in Gaza, where hospitals and field clinics are often among the first targets, and where doctors and nurses have become prisoners instead of protectors. Shortlink for this post:
NBC News
30-06-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Fears grow for Gaza hospital chief who walked toward Israeli tanks before arrest
Surrounded by bomb-struck buildings, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya walked down the middle of a road strewn with debris, his white medical coat standing out against the rubble as he made his way toward Israeli tanks. The footage, taken in late December and verified by NBC News, is the last time the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza was seen before he was taken into custody by Israeli soldiers laying siege to the complex. Before his detention, Abu Safiya, 51, who became the head of Kamal Adwan in 2024, was the lead physician in Gaza for MedGlobal, a Chicago-based nonprofit that has partnered with local health care workers since 2018 and arranges volunteer medical missions to the enclave. The organization's co-founder, Dr. John Kahler, told NBC News in a phone interview on Thursday that he was 'very afraid' that Abu Safiya won't 'make it out alive' from detention. He added that the physician was 'a friend of mine, a hero, mentor,' who, among other things, had helped to establish nutrition stabilization centers in the Gaza Strip. On visits to Gaza, Kahler said, he had never seen any indication that Abu Safiya was linked with the Hamas militant group that has run the enclave since 2007, or any suggestion that it was operating inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital. Five other members of MedGlobal's team have also been detained, and on Monday, the organization called for the release of scores of health workers detained by Israel, including Abu Safiya. 'Israeli authorities have repeatedly and blatantly violated international humanitarian law in repeated detentions of and attacks on health care workers,' it said in a joint letter published on Monday alongside several other organizations, including Human Rights Watch. Their call for the 'immediate, unconditional release' of detained health workers came as concern is growing for the health of Abu Safiya, who has been detained for more than six months without charge, according to his colleagues, family and legal team. Abu Safiya's son Elias Abu Safiya said in a WhatsApp message that he was concerned for his father's physical and mental health, which he said legal advocates had told him were in a 'difficult' state, although he added they had not been able to visit him for some time. After initially denying he was in custody, the Israeli military said in a January statement that Abu Safiya had been involved 'in terrorist activities' and held 'a rank' in Hamas that it said had made the Kamal Adwan Hospital a stronghold during the war. But according to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for the people of Gaza and has been providing legal support to Abu Safiya, no formal charges had been made against the hospital director as of Thursday. Asked for an update on Abu Safiya's case on Friday, the Israeli military did not immediately respond. But a spokesperson for the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said Thursday that he was still being detained in Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank, where he faced dire conditions, inadequate food and overcrowded cells. In a statement to NBC News on Friday, the Israeli Defense Forces said it acts in accordance with both the country's 'and international law, and protects the rights of individuals held in detention facilities under its responsibility.' It added that 'any abuse of detainees, whether during their detention or during interrogation, violates the law and the directives of the IDF and as such is strictly prohibited.' Abu Safiya's family and colleagues have staunchly denied the allegations against him, while United Nations officials and rights groups have also questioned the accusations and called on Israel authorities to release him. Calling the accusations 'ridiculous,' Kahler said his colleague was a 'heroic physician' whose 'moral compass is directly pointing due North.' While he remains behind bars, Israeli forces have continued their assault on Gaza's health care system, which has led to the destruction of or damage to hospitals in the enclave, according to World Health Organization data. Israel launched its offensive following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. Since then, more than 56,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with thousands more seriously injured, according to Palestinian health officials in the enclave. Thousands of Palestinians are held by Israel under a controversial practice known as 'administrative detention,' which Israeli authorities use to hold people without trial or other usual legal proceedings, often based on alleged secret evidence they do not share with detainees, their families or legal representatives. The practice has been roundly criticized by human rights groups that say it is used to hold Palestinians indefinitely without charge and due process, while Israel has defended the practice as a necessary security measure. In their letter on Monday, MedGlobal and the other organizations said that as of February 2025, at least 185 health care workers from Gaza and the West Bank remained in Israeli custody. Their conditions were 'unknown,' it added. 'Many of those released have reported severe abuse, while some have died in custody,' it said.
Al Arabiya
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
UN expert and trauma surgeon shed light on Gaza's deepening crisis
In this episode of Global News Today, presented by Tom Burges Watson, we examine the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We speak with UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese about the legal and human rights concerns in the occupied Palestinian territories. Albanese shares urgent insights on civilian suffering, Gaza's dire conditions, and the issue of global accountability. We also hear from a trauma surgeon who's worked inside Gaza's overstretched hospitals. The doctor shares harrowing first-hand experiences – from operating amid bombardment to the emotional weight of treating wounded children. And we cover Israeli forces intercepting a Gaza-bound aid boat carrying activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who was prevented from reaching the besieged enclave. Guests: Feroze Sidhwa – Trauma surgeon who addressed the UN Security Council meeting last week on what he has seen in Gaza working as a MedGlobal volunteer in Khan Younis.
