Latest news with #Nidalal-Mughrabi
Japan Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Israel announces daily pauses in Gaza fighting as aid airdrops begin
A Palestinian carries a bag with aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, July 27, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Charlotte Greenfield Israel on Sunday announced a halt in military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and new aid corridors as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies into the enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world. Israel has been facing growing international criticism, which the government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight. U.S. President Donald Trump, on a visit to Scotland, said Israel would have to make a decision on its next steps in Gaza, and said he did not know what would happen after the collapse of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with Hamas. Military activity will stop daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and in Gaza City, to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. starting from Sunday. The United Nations food aid agency needs quick approvals by Israel for its trucks to move into Gaza if it is to take advantage of Israel's planned humanitarian pauses in fighting, a senior World Food Programme official said on Sunday. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said on Sunday that some movement restrictions appeared to have been eased by Israel in Gaza on Sunday after Israel decided to 'support a one-week scale-up of aid.' Initial reports indicate that more than 100 truckloads of aid were collected from crossings to be transported into Gaza, Fletcher said in a statement. 'This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis,' he said. In their first airdrop in months, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tons of aid into Gaza on Sunday, a Jordanian official said, but added that it was not a substitute for delivery by land. Palestinian health officials in Gaza City said at least 10 people were injured by falling aid boxes. Work on a UAE project to run a new pipeline that will supply water from a desalination facility in neighbouring Egypt to around 600,000 Gazans along the coast would also begin in a few days, the Israeli military said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The ministry reported six new deaths over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total deaths from malnutrition and hunger since the war began in 2023 to 133, including 87 children. On Saturday, a 5-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of malnutrition at Nasser Hospital, health workers said. "Three months inside the hospital and this is what I get in return, that she is dead," said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, as the baby's father held their daughter's body wrapped in a white shroud. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 metric tons of food to southern Gaza on Sunday. Some had been looted in the area of Khan Younis after entering Gaza, residents said. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people, and international alarm over the humanitarian situation has increased. A group of 25 states including Britain, France and Canada last week said Israel's denial of aid was unacceptable. The military's spokesperson said Israel was committed to international law and monitors the humanitarian situation daily. Brigadier General Effie Defrin said there was no starvation in Gaza, but appeared to acknowledge conditions were critical. "When we start approaching a problematic line (threshold) then the IDF works to let in humanitarian aid," he said. "That's what happened over the weekend." Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May. Israel says it has been allowing in aid but must prevent it from being diverted by militants and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. HOPE, UNCERTAINTY Many Gazans expressed some relief at Sunday's announcement, but said fighting must end. "People are happy that large amounts of food aid will come into Gaza," said Tamer Al-Burai, a business owner. "We hope today marks a first step in ending this war that burned everything up." Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in central Gaza said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people waiting for aid trucks. Israel's military said it fired warning shots at suspects endangering troops and was unaware of any casualties. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue to allow the entry of humanitarian supplies whether it is fighting or negotiating a ceasefire and vowed to press on with the campaign until "complete victory". Hamas said Israel was continuing its military offensive. "What is happening isn't a humanitarian truce," said Hamas official Ali Baraka. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population. © (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Israeli strike kills hungry Gaza family in their sleep
Israeli strike kills hungry Gaza family in their sleep By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -The Al-Shaer family went to bed hungry at their home in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike killed them in their sleep. The family - freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, her husband and their five children - were among more than 100 people killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes or gunfire, according to health officials. Their corpses lay in white shrouds outside their bombed home on Wednesday with their names scribbled in pen. Blood seeped through the shrouds as they lay there, staining them red. "This is my cousin. He was 10. We dug them out of the rubble," Amr al-Shaer, holding one of the bodies after retrieving it. Iman al-Shaer, another relative who lives nearby, said the family hadn't eaten anything before the bombs came down. "The children slept without food," he said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike at the family's home, but said its air force had struck 120 targets throughout Gaza in the past day, including "terrorist cells, military structures, tunnels, booby-trapped structures, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites". Relatives said some neighbours were spared only because they had been out searching for food at the time of the strike. Ten more Palestinians died overnight from starvation, the Gaza health ministry said, bringing the total number of people who have starved to death to 111, most of them in recent weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year. It said it had been unable to deliver any food for nearly 80 days between March and May and that a resumption of food deliveries was still far below what is needed. In a statement on Wednesday, 111 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, said mass starvation was spreading even as tons of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza, where aid groups are blocked from accessing them. Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people. Israel has also accused the United Nations of failing to act in a timely fashion, saying 700 truckloads of aid are idling inside Gaza. "It is time for them to pick it up and stop blaming Israel for the bottlenecks which are occurring," Israeli government spokesman David Mercer said on Wednesday. The United Nations and aid groups trying to deliver food to Gaza say Israel, which controls everything that comes in and out, is choking delivery, and Israeli troops have shot hundreds of Palestinians dead close to aid collection points since May. "We have a minimum set of requirements to be able to operate inside Gaza," Ross Smith, the director of emergencies at the U.N. World Food Programme, told Reuters. "One of the most important things I want to emphasize is that we need to have no armed actors near our distribution points, near our convoys." Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told the Security Council on Wednesday that Israel will now grant only one-month visas to international staff from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. FALTERING PEACE TALKS The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest attack in Israel's history. Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times. U.S. Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to hold new ceasefire talks, travelling to Europe this week for meetings on the Gaza war and a range of other issues, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. Talks on a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which would include the release of more of the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt with Washington's backing. Successive rounds of negotiations have achieved no breakthrough since the collapse of a ceasefire in March. Israel's President Isaac Herzog told soldiers during a visit to Gaza on Wednesday that "intensive negotiations" about returning the hostages held there were underway and he hoped that they would soon "hear good news", according to a statement. A senior Palestinian official told Reuters Hamas might give mediators a response to the latest proposals in Doha later on Wednesday, on the condition that amendments be made to two major sticking points: details on an Israeli military withdrawal, and on how to distribute aid during a truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet includes far-right parties that oppose any agreement that ends without the total destruction of Hamas. "The second I spot weakness in the prime minister and if I come to think, heaven forbid, that this is about to end with us surrendering instead of with Hamas's absolute surrender, I won't remain (in the government) for even a single day," Finance Minister Belalel Smotrich told Army Radio. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Baby boy starves to death in Gaza as hunger spreads, medics say
By Nidal al-Mughrabi CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) -Six-week-old Yousef's lifeless body lay limp on a hospital table in Gaza City, his skin stretched over protruding ribs and a bandage where a drip had been inserted into his tiny arm. Doctors said the cause of death was starvation. He was among 15 people to starve to death in the last 24 hours in Gaza, according to doctors who say a wave of hunger that has loomed over the enclave for months is now finally crashing down. Yousef's family couldn't find baby formula to feed him, said his uncle, Adham al-Safadi. "You can't get milk anywhere, and if you do find any it's $100 for a tub," he said, looking at his dead nephew. Three of the other Palestinians who died of hunger over the last day were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in airstrikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on Gaza in response to attacks on Israel by the Hamas group that killed 1,200 people and captured 251 hostages in October 2023. For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now also dying of hunger. Gaza has seen its food stocks run out since Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May with new measures it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups. At least 101 people are known to have died of hunger during the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, including 80 children, most of them in just the last few weeks. Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, denies it is responsible for shortages of food. Israel's military said it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza as a matter of utmost importance", and works to facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community. It has blamed the United Nations for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other militants. The fighters deny stealing it. Asked for comment, a White House official sided with Israel's position that Hamas is to blame. The official said the United States supports the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid organisation. "It's horrific that Hamas continues to target this crucial aid and hinder GHF's ability to deliver life-saving assistance by placing bounties on aid workers, targeting contractors, and spreading disinformation," the official said. More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near GHF distribution centres. The United Nations has rejected this system as inherently unsafe, and a violation of humanitarian neutrality principles needed to ensure that distribution succeeds. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the situation for the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave a "horror show". "We are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles," Guterres told the U.N. Security Council. "That system is being denied the conditions to function." The Norwegian Refugee Council, which supported hundreds of thousands of Gazans in the first year of the war, said its aid stocks were now depleted and some of its own staff were starving. "Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left," its director Jan Egeland told Reuters. "Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyse our work," he said. The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday that its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, were fainting on duty in Gaza due to hunger and exhaustion. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that images of civilians killed during the distribution of aid were "unbearable" and urged Israel to deliver on pledges to improve the situation. FOOD AND MEDICINE SHORTAGES On Tuesday, men and boys lugged sacks of flour past destroyed buildings and tarpaulins in Gaza City, grabbing what food they could from aid warehouses. "We haven't eaten for five days," said Mohammed Jundia. Israeli military statistics showed on Tuesday that an average of 146 trucks of aid per day had entered Gaza over the course of the war. The United States has said a minimum of 600 trucks per day are needed to feed Gaza's population. "Hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of casualties from gunfire. They can't provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms because of food and medicine shortages," said Khalil al-Deqran, a spokesperson for the health ministry. Deqran said some 600,000 people were suffering from malnutrition, including at least 60,000 pregnant women. Symptoms among those going hungry include dehydration and anaemia, he said. Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents. The health ministry said at least 72 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes in the past 24 hours, including 16 people living in tents in Gaza City. The Israeli military said it wasn't aware of any incident or artillery in the area at that time.
Daily Maverick
21-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Israeli fire kills 67 people seeking aid in Gaza, medics say, as hunger worsens
Medics say dozens killed and wounded waiting for aid trucks Israeli military says it will expand operations in Gaza Hostage families fear their relatives will be put at risk Pope Leo calls for end to 'barbarity of war' after church strike By Nidal al-Mughrabi The ministry said dozens of people were also wounded in the incident in northern Gaza. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed, including 36 on Saturday. Another six people were killed near another aid site in the south, it said. Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza on Sunday to remove what it said was 'an immediate threat'. It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it 'certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks'. It did not immediately comment on the incident in the south. The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said that shortly after entering Gaza, a WFP convoy of 25 trucks carrying food aid encountered 'massive crowds of hungry civilians' who then came under gunfire. 'WFP reiterates that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable,' it said in a statement. A Hamas official told Reuters that the militant group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the enclave, and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks underway in Qatar. In total, health authorities said 90 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across the enclave on Sunday. DISPLACED GAZANS EVACUATE After Israel's military dropped leaflets urging people to evacuate from neighbourhoods in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area. Dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have been sheltering in the Deir al-Balah area. Israel's military said it had not entered the districts subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing 'to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area'. Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is because they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be alive. Hostage families demanded an explanation from the army. 'Can anyone (promise) to us that this decision will not come at the cost of losing our loved ones?' the families said in a statement. ACCELERATING STARVATION Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation. Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food and a collapse in aid deliveries. 'We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger,' said the health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas. The United Nations also said on Sunday that civilians were starving and needed an urgent influx of aid. Pope Leo called for an end to the 'barbarity of war' as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza that killed three people on Thursday. Gaza residents said it was becoming impossible to find essential food such as flour. The health ministry said at least 71 children had died of malnutrition during the war, and 60,000 others were suffering from symptoms of malnutrition. Later on Sunday, it said 18 people have died of hunger in the past 24 hours. Food prices have increased well beyond what most of the population of more than two million can afford. Several people who spoke to Reuters via chat apps said they either had one meal or no meal in the past 24 hours. 'As a father, I wake up in the early morning to look for food, for even a loaf of bread for my five children, but all in vain,' said Ziad, a nurse. 'People who didn't die of bombs will die of hunger. We want an end to this war now, a truce, even for two months,' he told Reuters. Others said they felt dizzy walking in the streets and that many fainted as they walked. Fathers leave tents to avoid questions by their children about what to eat. UNRWA, the U.N. refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, demanded Israel allow more aid trucks into Gaza, saying it had enough food for the entire population for over three months which was not allowed in. Israel's military said that it 'views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community'. TRUCE TALKS Some Palestinians suggested the move on Deir al-Balah might be an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to make more concessions in long-running ceasefire negotiations. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli strike kills children near Gaza clinic with no immediate truce in sight
By Crispian Balmer, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike hit Palestinians near a medical centre in Gaza on Thursday, killing 10 children and six adults, local health authorities said, as ceasefire talks dragged on with no immediate deal expected. Verified video footage from the strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip showed the bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood amid dust and screaming. One clip showed several motionless children lying on a donkey cart. "She didn't do anything, she was innocent, I swear. Her dream was for the war to end and that they announce it today, to go back to school," said Samah al-Nouri, sitting by the body of her daughter who was killed in the blast. "She was only getting treatment in a medical facility. Why did they kill them?" she said, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital. Israel's military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review. The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators hold talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce. A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another one or two weeks, however U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal. "I think we're closer, and I think perhaps we're closer than we've been in quite a while," Rubio told reporters at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia. Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have failed to produce a breakthrough since the Israeli military resumed its campaign in March following a previous ceasefire. Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Gazans, many of them civilians, and injured thousands, according to local health authorities, putting an enormous strain on the enclave's few remaining hospitals. Dwindling fuel supplies risk further disruption in the semi-functioning hospitals, including to incubators at the neonatal unit of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors there said. "We are forced to place four, five or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator," said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director, adding that premature babies were now in a critical condition. TALKS U.S. President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to discuss the situation in Gaza amid reports that Israel and Hamas were nearing agreement on a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal after 21 months of war. The Israeli official who was in Washington with Netanyahu said that if the two sides agree to the ceasefire plan, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent truce requiring Hamas to disarm. If Hamas refuses, "we'll proceed" with military operations in Gaza, the official said on condition of anonymity. A Palestinian official said the talks in Qatar were in crisis and that issues under dispute, including whether Israel would continue to occupy parts of Gaza after a ceasefire, had yet to be resolved. The two sides previously agreed a ceasefire in January but it did not lead to a deal on a permanent truce and Israel resumed its military assault two months later, stopping all aid supplies into Gaza and telling civilians to leave the north of the tiny territory. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has now killed more than 57,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has destroyed swathes of the territory and driven most Gazans from their homes. The Hamas attack on Israeli border communities that triggered the war killed around 1,200 people and the militant group seized around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. There has also been repeated violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An Israeli man was killed at a shopping centre in the territory on Thursday by two Palestinian militants, who were then shot dead, police said. In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was shot dead after he stabbed and injured a soldier, the army said.
