Latest news with #Ravina Shamdasani
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Nearly 800 killed at Gaza food hubs and aid convoy routes since end of May, UN says
At least 798 people have been killed while seeking food at distribution points operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other humanitarian convoys since the end of May, the UN human rights office said on Friday. The GHF, proposed by Israel as an alternative to the UN aid system in Gaza, has been almost universally condemned by rights groups for its violation of principles of humanitarian impartiality and what they have said could be complicity in war crimes. 'Up until 7 July, we've recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,' the UN spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. Israel backed the GHF after claiming that Hamas diverted aid from the UN-led aid system, a claim for which the UN said there was no evidence. The private company employs American mercenaries to oversee four food distribution zones, as opposed to the previous 400 non-militarised zones run under the UN system. The GHF said the UN figures were 'false and misleading' and denied that deadly incidents occurred at its sites. 'The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys,' a GHF spokesperson said. GHF also denied that any injuries were inflicted at any of its sites, blaming Israeli troops firing on Palestinians trying to reach the four hubs it has established in southern and central Gaza. In Gaza, the GHF has become infamous for the near-daily shootings of people seeking food who have queued to receive meals since the group started operating in early May. Palestinians seeking food have to navigate a complicated set of instructions and stick to specific routes, as well as walk long distances to access the food sites. Even then there is no guarantee they will be safe. On Friday the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said its teams in Gaza were witnessing 'a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition'. The number of cases at its Gaza City clinic has nearly quadrupled over the past two months. At least 10 people were killed and more than 60 injured on Friday when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd in Rafah, southern Gaza, according to Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which received the dead and wounded. At least 15 Palestinians were killed overnight and on Friday by Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza, including a strike on a school serving as a refugee shelter. 'The situation in the hospital was like it always is during massacres: extreme overcrowding, shortage of medical supplies and medicines, and a very high number of injured compared with the number of doctors,' said Farra. Treatment units were set up outside the hospital to cope with the influx of patients as hallways inside filled with the wounded. The situation in the hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, was made more difficult after the Israeli military operated in the surrounding areas overnight. Doctors reported shells landing nearby and heavy gunfire on the outskirts of the hospital, with a number of patients arriving with gunshot wounds. The areas around the hospital were filled with encampments for displaced people and witnesses said Israeli forces had stationed tanks and fired teargas at tents. Two local people reported Israeli soldiers in a nearby cemetery, while one said they saw the soldiers exhuming bodies there. Israeli forces withdrew from the surrounding areas in the morning, but Farra warned the hospital only had enough fuel for the next 48 hours unless new supplies arrived. Air conditioning had to be shut off in the hospital to preserve power amid the sweltering summer heat. Nahla abu Qursheen, a 35-year-old mother of four who fled the tanks on Thursday, said those who did return to the encampment found their tents destroyed. Pictures showed ruined tents amid deep furrows in the ground on Friday. 'I still don't know what happened to our tent. We are still here on the street. Last night was very difficult – missiles and shelling. My children slept on top of each other, just to fit under a single piece of cloth,' Abu Qursheen said, exhausted from sleeping in the street. Israel has intensified its airstrikes on Gaza over the last week, as negotiators report a ceasefire deal is in sight, but not yet achieved. The US president, Donald Trump, said on Wednesday he was optimistic a deal was possible this week or next, during the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington. Hamas reportedly agreed to release 10 hostages of the 50 that remain, during the two-month ceasefire period. Qatari mediators have warned a ceasefire will take time, as key stumbling blocks remain. Hamas wants assurances that Israel will not restart fighting as it did in mid-March after the first Gaza ceasefire, while Israel is seeking the complete expulsion of Hamas from the Gaza Strip. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, has floated the proposal of relocating the population to a 'humanitarian city' in southern Gaza, which legal experts have described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity. Juliette Touma, the communications director for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said such a plan would worsen the humanitarian crisis and forcibly displace people in Gaza. The war in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages on 7 October 2023. More than 57,000 people have been killed during Israel's 21 months of military operations there. As negotiations drag on, people in Gaza say they are losing hope. 'They say there is a truce, they say! Every day they say it will end today or tomorrow, but it's all lies. Wake up and stop this war. Enough of the death, the hunger and the constant displacement,' Abu Qursheen said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Forces Kill 18
Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed 18 people on Friday, including 10 who were waiting for aid in the south of the war-ravaged territory. The fresh deaths came as the United Nations said nearly 800 people had been killed trying to access food in Gaza since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month total blockade on supplies. UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said most of the deaths occurred near facilities operated by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, AFP reported. "We've recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the GHF sites," from the time the group's operations began in late May until July 7, Shamdasani said Friday. An officially private effort, GHF operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and frequent reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations. The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives and violates basic humanitarian principles. Responding to the UN's figures, Israel's military said it had worked to minimize "possible friction between the population and the army forces as much as possible". "Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted... and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned," it added. Gaza civil defense official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said that 10 people were shot by Israeli forces on Friday while waiting for supplies in the Al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah, where there are regular reports of deadly fire on aid seekers. - 'Extremely difficult' - The civil defense reported six more people killed in four separate Israeli airstrikes in the area of Khan Yunis, in the south of the territory. Two drone strikes around Gaza City in the north killed two more people, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. There was no immediate comment on the latest strikes from the Israeli military, which has recently expanded its operations across Gaza. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties. A Palestinian speaking to AFP from southern Gaza on condition of anonymity reported ongoing attacks and widespread devastation, with Israeli tanks seen near Khan Yunis. "The situation remains extremely difficult in the area -- intense gunfire, intermittent airstrikes, artillery shelling, and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land to the south, west and north of Al-Maslakh," an area to Khan Yunis's south, said the witness. Israel's military said in a statement that its soldiers were operating in the area, dismantling "terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground", and seizing "weapons and military equipment". The civil defense also reported on Friday five people killed in an Israeli strike the previous night on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Jabalia al-Nazla, in northern Gaza. Nearly all of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once during the more than 21-month war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living there. Many have sought shelter in school buildings, but these have repeatedly come under Israeli attack, with the military often saying they were targeting Hamas militants hiding among civilians.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Nearly 800 killed at Gaza food hubs and aid convoy routes since end of May, UN says
At least 798 people have been killed while seeking food at distribution points operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other humanitarian convoys since the end of May, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday. The GHF, proposed by Israel as an alternative to the UN aid system in Gaza, has been almost universally condemned by rights groups for its violation of principles of humanitarian impartiality and what they have said could be complicity in war crimes. 'Up until the seventh of July, we've recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,' the OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. Israel backed the GHF after claiming that Hamas diverted aid from the UN-led aid system, a claim for which the UN said there was no evidence. The private company employs American mercenaries to oversee four food distribution zones, as opposed to the previous 400 non-militarised zones run under the UN system. The GHF said the UN figures were 'false and misleading' and denied that deadly incidents occurred at its sites. 'The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys,' a GHF spokesperson said. In Gaza, the GHF has become infamous for the near-daily shootings of people seeking food who have queued to receive meals since the group started operating in early May. Palestinians seeking food have to navigate a complicated set of instructions and stick to specific routes, as well as walk long distances to access the food sites. Even then there is no guarantee they will be safe. On Friday, at least 10 people were killed and more than 60 injured when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd in Rafah, southern Gaza, according to Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which received the dead and wounded. At least 15 Palestinians were killed overnight and on Friday by Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza, including a strike on a school serving as a refugee shelter. 'The situation in the hospital was like it always is during massacres: extreme overcrowding, shortage of medical supplies and medicines, and a very high number of injured compared to the number of doctors,' saidFarra. Treatment units were set up outside the hospital to cope with the influx of patients as hallways inside filled with the wounded. The situation in the hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, was made more difficult after the Israeli military operated in the surrounding areas overnight. Doctors reported shells landing nearby and heavy gunfire on the outskirts of the hospital, with a number of patients arriving with gunshot wounds. The areas around the hospital were filled with encampments for displaced people and witnesses said Israeli forces had stationed tanks and fired teargas at tents. Two residents reported Israeli soldiers in a nearby cemetery, while one said they saw the soldiers exhuming bodies there. Israeli forces withdrew from the surrounding areas in the morning, but Farra warned the hospital only had enough fuel for the next 48 hours unless new supplies arrived. Already, air-conditioning had to be shut off in the hospital to preserve power, amid the sweltering summer heat. Nahla Abu Qursheen, a 35-year-old mother of four who fled the tanks on Thursday, said those who did return to the encampment found their tents destroyed. Pictures sent to the Guardian showed ruined tents amid deep furrows in the ground on Friday. 'I still don't know what happened to our tent. We are still here on the street. Last night was very difficult – missiles and shelling. My children slept on top of each other, just to fit under a single piece of cloth,' Qursheen said, exhausted from sleeping in the street. Israel has intensified its airstrikes on Gaza over the last week, as negotiators report a ceasefire deal is in sight, but not yet achieved. The US president, Donald Trump, said on Wednesday he was optimistic a deal was possible this week or next, during the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington. Hamas reportedly agreed to release 10 hostages of the 50 that remain, during the two-month ceasefire period. Qatari mediators have warned a ceasefire will take time, as key stumbling blocks remain. Hamas wants assurances that Israel will not restart fighting as it did in mid-March after the first Gaza ceasefire, while Israel is seeking the complete expulsion of Hamas from the Gaza Strip. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, has floated the proposal of relocating the population to a 'humanitarian city' in southern Gaza, which legal experts have described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity. Juliette Touma, the communications director for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said such a plan would worsen the humanitarian crisis and forcibly displace people in Gaza. The war in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages on 7 October 2023. More than 57,000 people have been killed during Israel's 21 months of military operations there. As negotiations drag on, people in Gaza say they are losing hope. 'They say there is a truce, they say! Every day they say it will end today or tomorrow, but it's all lies. Wake up and stop this war. Enough of the death, the hunger and the constant displacement,' Qursheen said.
CTV News
11-07-2025
- CTV News
Nearly 800 people killed while receiving aid in Gaza, says UN human rights office
Palestinians heading to receive food and humanitarian aid packages from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) The UN human rights office said on Friday that it had recorded at least 798 killings both at aid points run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief groups, including the UN The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel says had let militants divert aid. The United Nations has called the plan 'inherently unsafe' and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. 'Up until the seventh of July, we've recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys,' OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May and has repeatedly denied that incidents had occurred at its sites. (Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Miranda Murray)
