Latest news with #MohammedAbuSalmiya
Al-Ahram Weekly
2 hours ago
- Health
- Al-Ahram Weekly
UNRWA says some Gaza staff starving as malnutrition soars - War on Gaza
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Monday that it was "receiving desperate messages of starvation" from its Gaza staff, as the Palestinian territory experiences surging levels of hunger. Gaza's population of more than two million people are facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with doctors, the civil defence agency and medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reporting a spike in malnutrition cases in recent days. In a post on X, UNRWA said that shortages in the Palestinian territory had caused food prices to increase by 40 times, while the aid stockpiled in its warehouses outside Gaza could feed "the entire population for over three months." "The suffering in Gaza is manmade and must be stopped," it wrote. "Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale." After talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on March 2, allowing nothing in until trucks were again permitted at a trickle in late May. The civil defence agency on Sunday reported at least three infant deaths from "severe hunger and malnutrition" in the past week. Eighteen reportedly died of starvation within 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday, the ministry said. "Infants under one year of age suffer from a lack of milk, which leads to a significant decrease in their weight and a decrease in their immunity that makes them vulnerable to diseases," said Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital. Israel on Monday said there was "no ban or restriction on the entry of baby formula or baby food into Gaza." COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that "over 2,000 tons of baby food and infant formula were delivered into Gaza", without specifying the time frame. "We urge international organisations to continue coordinating with us to ensure the entry of baby food and formula without delay. Our commitment remains firm: to support humanitarian aid for civilians -- not for Hamas," COGAT wrote on X. Israel's genocidal war in Gaza has killed 59,029 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 140,000. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Egypt Independent
2 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
At least 73 people seeking aid in Gaza killed by Israeli gunfire on Sunday, health ministry says
CNN — At least 73 people were killed and around 150 people injured by Israeli gunfire in Gaza while seeking aid on Sunday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Some 67 people were killed in northern Gaza, the ministry said, while six others were killed in Khan Younis in the south of the Strip. It is unclear whether the 67 people reported killed in northern Gaza were all killed in the same place or in multiple incidents. It marks one of the highest reported death tolls among recent, repeated cases in which aid seekers have been killed. The Israel Defense Forces said that troops had 'fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them' after 'a gathering of thousands of Gazans was identified in the northern Gaza Strip.' 'The IDF is aware of the claim regarding casualties in the area, and the details of the incident are still being examined,' the Israeli military said, without disclosing any casualty figures. The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said a 25-truck convoy carrying vital food assistance crossed the Zikim border on Sunday morning aiming to reach communities in northern Gaza. 'Shortly after passing the final checkpoint beyond the Zikim crossing point into Gaza, the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies,' the WFP wrote on X. 'As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.' Shooting near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions 'must stop immediately,' the WFP added, and said the latest incident 'underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.' The Israeli military on Sunday also issued a warning to residents in a number of areas in northern Gaza, including the cities of Beit Lahia, Jabalya and Beit Hanoun. 'These areas are active combat zones and extremely dangerous,' the IDF's Arabic language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said Sunday. 'The Israel Defense Forces are operating in these areas with very intense force. For your safety, movement to these areas is strictly prohibited. Those who heard have been warned.' According to Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, people were shot at by the Israeli army on Sunday morning while attempting to get aid northwest of Gaza City, which is in the north of the enclave. 'Al-Shifa Medical Complex is in a catastrophic state due to the overwhelming number of martyrs, injuries and starving civilians,' Abu Salmiya told CNN in a statement. 'There have been a large number of deaths and injuries among those seeking aid, and ambulances and civilian vehicles have not stopped arriving, transporting the wounded and the dead from the northwestern areas of Gaza,' he continued. 'A significant number of civilians, and even medical staff, are arriving in a state of fainting or collapse due to severe malnutrition,' he said. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that its Al-Saraya Field Hospital in Gaza City received 120 injured people, some of them in critical condition, on Sunday. It said it also received two dead bodies. Palestinians gather as they carry aid supplies in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on July 20, 2025. Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters 'Israeli forces targeted civilians waiting for aid arriving from the Zikim area, north of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Due to the large number of casualties received by the hospital, new beds were urgently opened to ensure adequate treatment for the injured, as the hospital's capacity is estimated at only 68 beds,' the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Meanwhile, residents in the central Gaza city of Deir Al Balah said they were forced to evacuate on Sunday after the IDF dropped flyers warning them to leave the area. 'The planes came and dropped many leaflets on us; the entire sky was covered with leaflets on the houses, the streets and everywhere, stating that we had to evacuate from certain areas,' one resident, Thurayya Abu Qunneis, told CNN. 'We are living on edge. We can't sleep, eat or drink. There is no flour, no anything, and we are hungry,' she said. 'We are dying, and our children are dying of hunger.' Another resident, Mohammad Al Najiri, told CNN: 'We were sitting here in the morning when suddenly they sent us messages and warnings telling us to leave. Where should we go? There is no place to evacuate to… we don't know where to go.' Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said in a statement Sunday that Israel's evacuation orders 'endanger vital humanitarian and primary healthcare sites… and are accelerating the systematic dismantling of Gaza's already-decimated healthcare system,' adding that several humanitarian organizations' offices were 'ordered to evacuate immediately,' and nine clinics, five shelters and a community kitchen were forced to shut down amid the orders. In another incident on Saturday, at least 32 people were killed while seeking aid near a distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the Palestinian health ministry and witnesses. The Israeli military said troops had 'identified suspects who approached them during operational activity in the Rafah area' about one kilometer from the aid site 'at night-time when it's not active.' The IDF said troops had called on the suspects 'to distance themselves, and after they did not comply, the troops fired warning shots.' It said it was aware of reports regarding casualties and the incident was under review. According to Gaza's Hamas-run Government Media Office, some 995 people have been killed while attempting to obtain food near aid distribution sites between May 27 and Sunday. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said earlier this month that nearly 800 Gazans had been killed trying to access aid between late May and July 7. CNN's Eugenia Yosef and Abeer Salman contributed to this report.
Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Health
- Business Recorder
UNRWA says some Gaza staff starving as malnutrition soars
GAZA CITY: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Monday that it was 'receiving desperate messages of starvation' from its Gaza staff, as the Palestinian territory experiences surging levels of hunger. Gaza's population of more than two million people are facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with doctors, the civil defence agency and medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reporting a spike in malnutrition cases in recent days. In a post on X, UNRWA said that shortages in the Palestinian territory had caused food prices to increase by 40 times, while the aid stockpiled in its warehouses outside Gaza could feed 'the entire population for over three months.' 'The suffering in Gaza is manmade and must be stopped,' it wrote. 'Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale.' After talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on March 2, allowing nothing in until trucks were again permitted at a trickle in late May. The civil defence agency on Sunday reported at least three infant deaths from 'severe hunger and malnutrition' in the past week. Gaza civil defence says Israeli fire kills 57 aid seekers Eighteen reportedly died of starvation within 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday, the ministry said. 'Infants under one year of age suffer from a lack of milk, which leads to a significant decrease in their weight and a decrease in their immunity that makes them vulnerable to diseases,' said Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital. Israel on Monday said there was 'no ban or restriction on the entry of baby formula or baby food into Gaza.' COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that 'over 2,000 tons of baby food and infant formula were delivered into Gaza', without specifying the time frame. 'We urge international organisations to continue coordinating with us to ensure the entry of baby food and formula without delay. Our commitment remains firm: to support humanitarian aid for civilians – not for Hamas,' COGAT wrote on X. The war was sparked by Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,029 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
At least 73 people seeking aid in Gaza killed by Israeli gunfire on Sunday, health ministry says
At least 73 people were killed and around 150 people injured by Israeli gunfire in Gaza while seeking aid on Sunday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Some 67 people were killed in northern Gaza, the ministry said, while six others were killed in Khan Younis in the south of the Strip. It is unclear whether the 67 people reported killed in northern Gaza were all killed in the same place or in multiple incidents. It marks one of the highest reported death tolls among recent, repeated cases in which aid seekers have been killed. The Israel Defense Forces said that troops had 'fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them' after 'a gathering of thousands of Gazans was identified in the northern Gaza Strip.' 'The IDF is aware of the claim regarding casualties in the area, and the details of the incident are still being examined,' the Israeli military said, without disclosing any casualty figures. The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said a 25-truck convoy carrying vital food assistance crossed the Zikim border on Sunday morning aiming to reach communities in northern Gaza. 'Shortly after passing the final checkpoint beyond the Zikim crossing point into Gaza, the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies,' the WFP wrote on X. 'As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.' Shooting near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions 'must stop immediately,' the WFP added, and said the latest incident 'underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.' The Israeli military on Sunday also issued a warning to residents in a number of areas in northern Gaza, including the cities of Beit Lahia, Jabalya and Beit Hanoun. 'These areas are active combat zones and extremely dangerous,' the IDF's Arabic language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said Sunday. 'The Israel Defense Forces are operating in these areas with very intense force. For your safety, movement to these areas is strictly prohibited. Those who heard have been warned.' According to Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, people were shot at by the Israeli army on Sunday morning while attempting to get aid northwest of Gaza City, which is in the north of the enclave. 'Al-Shifa Medical Complex is in a catastrophic state due to the overwhelming number of martyrs, injuries and starving civilians,' Abu Salmiya told CNN in a statement. 'There have been a large number of deaths and injuries among those seeking aid, and ambulances and civilian vehicles have not stopped arriving, transporting the wounded and the dead from the northwestern areas of Gaza,' he continued. 'A significant number of civilians, and even medical staff, are arriving in a state of fainting or collapse due to severe malnutrition,' he said. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that its Al-Saraya Field Hospital in Gaza City received 120 injured people, some of them in critical condition, on Sunday. It said it also received two dead bodies. 'Israeli forces targeted civilians waiting for aid arriving from the Zikim area, north of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Due to the large number of casualties received by the hospital, new beds were urgently opened to ensure adequate treatment for the injured, as the hospital's capacity is estimated at only 68 beds,' the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Meanwhile, residents in the central Gaza city of Deir Al Balah said they were forced to evacuate on Sunday after the IDF dropped flyers warning them to leave the area. 'The planes came and dropped many leaflets on us; the entire sky was covered with leaflets on the houses, the streets and everywhere, stating that we had to evacuate from certain areas,' one resident, Thurayya Abu Qunneis, told CNN. 'We are living on edge. We can't sleep, eat or drink. There is no flour, no anything, and we are hungry,' she said. 'We are dying, and our children are dying of hunger.' Another resident, Mohammad Al Najiri, told CNN: 'We were sitting here in the morning when suddenly they sent us messages and warnings telling us to leave. Where should we go? There is no place to evacuate to… we don't know where to go.' Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said in a statement Sunday that Israel's evacuation orders 'endanger vital humanitarian and primary healthcare sites… and are accelerating the systematic dismantling of Gaza's already-decimated healthcare system,' adding that several humanitarian organizations' offices were 'ordered to evacuate immediately,' and nine clinics, five shelters and a community kitchen were forced to shut down amid the orders. In another incident on Saturday, at least 32 people were killed while seeking aid near a distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the Palestinian health ministry and witnesses. The Israeli military said troops had 'identified suspects who approached them during operational activity in the Rafah area' about one kilometer from the aid site 'at night-time when it's not active.' The IDF said troops had called on the suspects 'to distance themselves, and after they did not comply, the troops fired warning shots.' It said it was aware of reports regarding casualties and the incident was under review. According to Gaza's Hamas-run Government Media Office, some 995 people have been killed while attempting to obtain food near aid distribution sites between May 27 and Sunday. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said earlier this month that nearly 800 Gazans had been killed trying to access aid between late May and July 7. CNN's Eugenia Yosef and Abeer Salman contributed to this report. This story has been updated with additional information.
Egypt Independent
14-07-2025
- Health
- Egypt Independent
Children killed collecting water in Gaza, medical officials say, as ceasefire talks hit sticking points
CNN — Several children were killed in an Israeli airstrike at a water distribution point in central Gaza Sunday, health officials said, one of several deadly incidents in the territory that come as ceasefire talks in Doha falter. Hopes had been high for the latest negotiations but after days of negotiations the two sides accused each other of blocking an agreement while on the ground there has been no let-up in Israel's military campaign, which resumed when the last ceasefire collapsed in March. The Palestinian health ministry reported Sunday that 139 bodies had been brought to Gaza hospitals in the past 24 hours, with a number of victims still under the rubble. The number is the highest reported since July 2 and brings the total number of people killed since October 7, 2023 to 58,026, according to the ministry. That was before the Israeli airstrike Sunday killed six children and four others at a water distribution point in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital. Video from the chaotic scene showed multiple casualties including children amid buckets and water carriers. The Israeli military acknowledged that an airstrike targeting an 'Islamic Jihad terrorist' had gone wrong and the 'munition fell dozens of meters from the target,' saying the incident was under review. Also in central Gaza on Sunday, at least 12 people were killed and more than 40 injured when an Israeli airstrike targeted a crowded junction, according to Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, Director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex central Gaza City. The dead included a prominent doctor, Ahmad Qandeel, described by the health ministry as 'one of Gaza's most respected medical professionals.' 'Conditions on the ground are worse than they've ever been,' the acting director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Sam Rose, told CNN on Monday. 'There's a certain tragic and horrific and numbing inevitability about this that the longer it goes on, the worse it will get.' He said Palestinians in Gaza are forced to make 'impossible choices' between starvation or risking death to secure aid. A boy leans over the body of his cousin after he was killed in an Israeli strike that hit Nuseirat in central Gaza on July 13. Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images Sunday's heavy toll followed several deadly incidents Saturday. The ministry said 27 were killed and many more injured when Israeli troops opened fire on people trying to obtain aid from a distribution site near southern Rafah run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). GHF denied the claim, saying 'there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites' on Saturday. The Israeli military also denied that anyone was injured by gunfire from its troops in the vicinity of the site but said it continued to review the reports. It told CNN Sunday it had no further comment. However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its field hospital near the site had received 132 patients suffering from weapon-related injuries. Twenty-five were declared dead on arrival and six more died after being admitted – the largest number of fatalities since the hospital began operations in May 2024, according to the ICRC. 'This situation is unacceptable. The alarming frequency and scale of these mass casualty incidents underscore the horrific conditions civilians in Gaza are enduring,' the ICRC added. Nearly 800 Palestinians were killed while trying to access aid in Gaza between late May and July 7, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), when the GHF began operating. Elsewhere in Gaza, 13 people were killed Saturday in airstrikes in Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City, in the north of the territory, according to Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Salmiya told CNN that 40 injured people had been admitted. Geolocated video showed at least one child among the victims. The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it had destroyed weapons and tunnels used by Hamas in northern Gaza and the air force had carried out attacks on more than 150 targets across the Gaza Strip, including 'booby-trapped buildings, weapons depots, anti-tank missile and sniper positions.' Talks 'stall,' Hamas says The spike in casualties in Gaza comes as talks on agreeing a new ceasefire deal and hostage continue in Doha, with optimism having faded that an agreement can be quickly reached. US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said he's meeting with Qatari officials Sunday on the sidelines of the Club World Cup football match in New Jersey as he remains 'hopeful' for the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire. Despite days of proximity talks in Doha between Israel and Hamas, significant gaps remain between the warring parties. An Israeli source familiar with the matter said last week that the outstanding issue was where the Israeli military would redeploy in Gaza once the ceasefire takes effect. The latest proposal called for the military to withdraw from parts of northern Gaza on the first day of a ceasefire and from parts of southern Gaza on the seventh day. The detailed maps were left to negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and that appears to be the main sticking point. Smoke rises into the sky following an Israeli attack in northern Gaza, as seen from southern Israel, on July 10. Leo Correa/AP The talks had 'stalled,' a senior Hamas official told CNN on Saturday, claiming Israel had added new conditions, 'the latest being new deployment maps for the Israeli army's presence in the Gaza Strip.' In a video message released Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel accepted the latest ceasefire plan presented by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff – but that Hamas had rejected it. 'We accepted the deal, the Witkoff Deal, and even later the version that the mediators proposed to us — we accepted that too. Hamas rejected it,' Netanyahu said. Netanyahu said Hamas wants to stay in Gaza 'so it can rearm and attack us again and again.' He said he was determined to bring the hostages back and to defeat Hamas. 'What we need to do is the right thing: insist on the release of the hostages and insist on the second objective of the war in Gaza — the elimination of Hamas and ensuring that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.' 'I won't compromise on these missions,' Netanyahu added. Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement Sunday, accusing Netanyahu of creating a 'false impression' that a comprehensive deal is unattainable, contrary to public will. 'Anyone who sabotages such an agreement is willfully acting against the Israeli people for political survival,' they warned, adding, 'That is how history will remember him.' Recent opinion surveys in Israel suggest overwhelming approval for a deal that would end the war and return all the hostages, living and dead. A poll for Israel's Channel 12 Friday said that 74% of the public believes that Israel should end the war in Gaza in exchange for the return of all the abductees in one step, with only 8% supporting the phased deal that the government is trying to promote.
