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Boston Globe
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Israel is pushing Gaza into starvation, aid groups say
Israel's war in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. Advertisement Here is the latest: European diplomats say EU deal with Israel over Gaza aid is falling short Israel is far behind on its commitments under the new deal with the European Union, frustrating many within the 27-nation bloc, three European diplomats said Wednesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Only 132 aid trucks and 80-120,000 liters of fuel have gotten into Gaza in the week since the deal was reached, two of the diplomats said. Member states are urging the EU to pressure Israel to allow more aid. An internal EU report seen by The Associated Press highlighted concerns that 'there is still no tangible increase, with important stocks of relief items stuck and piling up at the borders.' Details of agreement remain murky, even to EU nations. Palestinian Authority says a teen is killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank The Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry says a 14-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces near Jenin in the northern West Bank. Advertisement Ibrahim Hamran is the second teen to have been killed by Israeli forces in as many days. The ministry said Ibrahim Nasser, 16, was killed near Jenin on Tuesday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Violence has surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during the war in Gaza. White House says Mideast envoy is headed to Europe White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Witkoff would meet with key leaders from the Middle East to discuss the ceasefire proposal and release of hostages. 'We want this ceasefire to happen as soon as possible and we want these hostages to be released,' Leavitt said. UN says the agency helping Palestinian refugees known UNRWA will soon run out of money Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari told the U.N. Security Council that current forecasts show insufficient funds to sustain operations beyond 2025. UNRWA was established in 1949 to aid Palestinians displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The agency provides health and education services to around 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, and helps 3 million more in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric urges donors to contribute, emphasizing the agency's critical role. UN defends humanitarian agency's 'professionalism and impartial work' in Gaza U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric says Israel's actions against the Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will only hinder efforts to held Palestinians facing hunger and displacement. Earlier, Israel's U.N. ambassador accused OCHA of bias and claimed some staff are linked to Hamas. He also demanded a retraction of the agency head's statement allegedly accusing Israel of genocide. Dujarric clarified that U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher never made such a statement, and said the U.N. would investigate any evidence Israel provides regarding alleged Hamas affiliations among U.N. staff. Advertisement Israeli strike in central Gaza kills at least 8 and wounds 57 Awda Hospital, which received the casualties, said the strike hit a densely populated part of the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp. Greta Thunberg accuses Israel of genocide and starving Palestinians in Gaza The climate campaigner spoke Wednesday at a small rally in the main square of Albania's capital, Tirana. 'If watching children at being systematically starved, over two million people being systematically starved by Israel, is not enough to motivate you to get out of the couch, then what is it going to take?' Thunberg said. She said the international community is complicit due to its silence regarding Israel's wartime conduct, and called for continuing worldwide protests 'for a free Palestine.' The Israeli military detained Thunberg and 11 other activists last month on board Gaza-bound aid ship that aimed to break Israel's blockade. Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press Muslim authority removes post accusing Israel of genocide Gaza Egypt's Al-Azhar, a leading authority in Sunni Islam, has deleted a lengthy online post in which it accused Israel of starving Gaza and committing a 'full-scale genocide.' It said that it had 'courageously' removed the post to avoid jeopardizing ongoing ceasefire negotiations. Political and religious authorities across the Arab and Muslim world have condemned Israel's wartime conduct. Egypt, a close U.S. ally that made peace with Israel decades ago, has served as a mediator in long-running ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. A case has been brought before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide, and rights groups have lodged similar allegations. Israel vehemently rejects the accusation, calling it a 'blood libel.' UN says war in Gaza is 'catastrophic' for new mothers and babies The United Nations agency for reproductive health says new data shows a major decline in births and a rise in maternal deaths in the Gaza Strip. UNFPA says 17,000 births were recorded in the first half of this year, down 41 percent from the corresponding period in 2022. It also showed 220 stillbirths, more than 20 times the number recorded three years ago, before the Israel-Hamas war. Advertisement It says 33 percent of babies – around 5,560 – were born prematurely, underweight or required intensive care. 'The scale of suffering for new mothers and their babies in Gaza is beyond comprehension,' said Laila Baker, Regional Director for the Arab States at UNFPA. The war has gutted Gaza's health system, with several hospitals having shut down or reduced their operations because of Israeli raids and lack of medical supplies. Israel's parliament backs symbolic motion to annex the West Bank Knesset lawmakers voted 71-13 in favor of the measure, which calls for 'applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley,' the biblical terms for the area. The motion, advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, is declarative and has no direct legal implications, although it could place the issue of annexation on the agenda of future debates in the parliament. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want all three for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians and over 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank. Annexation of the West Bank could make it impossible to create a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, which is seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the conflict. Last year, the Israeli parliament approved a similar symbolic motion declaring opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Smoke billows from an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press Israel's ambassador accuses UN humanitarian agency of 'bias' Israel has accused the United Nations' humanitarian agency of 'bias' and 'defamation' in Gaza and announced new actions Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that hundreds of employees of the Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, are now undergoing security vetting. Advertisement He claimed Israel has uncovered 'clear evidence of Hamas affiliations within OCHA's ranks' and said 'key employees' will not have their permits renewed, and international staff will have their visas cut to just one month. Danon accused UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher of abandoning 'his sacred responsibility to act without bias' and demanded that he retract his statement 'that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.' He said Jonathan Whittall, who heads OCHA in the Palestinian territories, must leave Israel by July 29 because of alleged bias against Israel. OCHA spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said: 'Any reduction of our own staff will stifle our already curtailed efforts to reach civilians across Gaza in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian aid.' WHO warns Gaza nears starvation as malnutrition spikes The head of the World Health Organization warned that over 2 million people in Gaza face starvation, citing a 'deadly surge' in malnutrition and related diseases. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said acute malnutrition centers in Gaza are full of patients, but lack adequate supplies. He said that rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10 percent and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20 percent are malnourished, often severely. 'The hunger crisis is being accelerated by the collapse of aid pipelines,' Tedros said, adding that 95 percent of households in Gaza face severe water shortages. Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Occupied Palestinian Territories, said there were more than 30,000 children under 5 with acute malnutrition in Gaza so far this year, and that there had been 21 deaths. He noted that many of the U.N. health agency's supplies were destroyed after its main warehouse was destroyed during attacks in Deir al-Balah on Sunday. Advertisement Israel says Gaza starvation warnings are 'propaganda' Israel's Foreign Ministry accused the groups of 'echoing Hamas' propaganda.' It said it has allowed around 4,500 aid trucks to enter Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May, and that more than 700 are waiting to be picked up and distributed by the United Nations. That's an average of around 70 trucks a day, the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500-600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed, and which entered during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year. The U.N. says it has struggled to deliver aid inside Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions, ongoing fighting, and a breakdown of law and order. In the letter issued Wednesday, 115 human rights and charity groups said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away.' A woman throws flour, as she protests outside the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, during a demonstration against the Israeli war and what they say starvation of civilians in the Gaza Strip. Hussein Malla/Associated Press Israeli official to meet US envoy in Rome An official familiar with ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas said a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ron Dermer, was traveling to Rome to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday to discuss the state of the talks. The official spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations. US officials said Witkoff planned to head to Europe this week. The US State Department spokesperson said he was headed to the Middle East in a sign that momentum may be building toward a deal. Israeli military says Gaza church was struck accidentally The Holy Family Church in Gaza City was struck last week by an Israeli shell, an attack that killed three, wounded 10 and damaged the church's compound. The military said an internal inquiry found the church was hit after an 'unintentional deviation of munitions.' The strike drew condemnation from Pope Leo XIV and US President Trump, and prompted statements of regret from Israel. Holy Family is the only Catholic church in Gaza. Top church leaders from the Holy Land visited the site a day after the incident and said they encountered a Gaza 'almost totally destroyed.' Houthi attacks on Red Sea vessels are war crimes, rights group says The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked two ships, the Magic Seas and the Eternity C, on July 6 and 9, killing some of their crew and detaining others, Human Rights Watch said in a statement. The rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. HRW, however, said the Houthis' attacks on the two vessels 'violates the laws of war applicable to the armed conflict between the Houthis and Israel.' 'The Houthis have sought to justify unlawful attacks by pointing to Israeli violations against Palestinians,' said Niku Jafarnia, HRW's Yemen and Bahrain researcher. Jafarnia called for the rebels to end all attacks on ships that don't take part in the Israeli-Hamas war and immediately release detained crew members. Detention of a senior Gaza health official is extended Dr. Marwan al-Hams, acting director of Gaza's field hospitals and the Health Ministry's spokesman, was detained by Israeli soldiers earlier this week in the Palestinian territory. Alaa al-Sakafi, head of Addameer, a Palestinian rights group, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that lawyers have not been allowed to see al-Hams. His detention in a southern Israel prison was extended until the end of the month, al-Sakafi said. He said al-Hams suffered from a gunshot wound in his leg, which he sustained during his detention in Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Monday. Israel has not commented on al-Hams' detention. Israeli forces 'deepening' activity in Gaza City The Israeli military said in a statement Wednesday that forces were operating in Gaza City, as well as in northern Gaza. It said without elaborating that in Jabaliya, an area hard-hit in multiple rounds of fighting, an air strike killed 'a number of' Hamas militants. Troops struck roughly 120 targets throughout Gaza over the past day, including militant cells, tunnels and booby-trapped structures, among others, the military said. Overnight strikes kill at least 21 More than half of those killed were women and children, health authorities said. One Israeli strike hit a house Tuesday in the northwestern side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to the Health Ministry's casualty list. Another strike hit an apartment in the Tal al-Hawa area in northern Gaza, killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said. A third strike hit a tent in the Naser neighborhood in Gaza City late Tuesday and killed three children, Shifa Hospital said. The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant in the strike that killed 12, saying the incident was under review because of reports of civilian casualties. It had no immediate comment about the other strikes. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants operate from populated areas. This is a locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Uncredited/Associated Press Human rights groups and charities demand more Gaza aid In the letter issued Wednesday, 115 human rights and charity groups warned of a dire situation pushing more people toward starvation. They said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away.' The letter slammed Israel for what it said were restrictions on aid into the war-ravaged territory. It lamented 'massacres' at food distribution points, which have seen chaos and violence in recent weeks as desperation has risen. 'The government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,' the letter said. The letter called for aid to be scaled up as well as for a ceasefire. ` Israel says that it has allowed the entry of thousands of trucks since May and blames aid groups for not consistently delivering goods.
Gulf Today
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir Al Balah, families of hostages concerned
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes hostages may be held. The area is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west or south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of the Hamas. Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said. "UN staff remain in Deir al-Balah, and two UN guesthouses have been struck, despite parties having been informed of the locations of UN premises, which are inviolable. These locations - as with all civilian sites - must be protected, regardless of evacuation orders," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. To the south in Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a husband and wife and their two children in a tent, medics said. In its daily update, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 130 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents. Israeli sources have said the reason the army had stayed out of the Deir al-Balah districts was because they suspected Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Families of the hostages have expressed concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz, and the army chief on how they will protect them. "The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages - both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn't know what was at stake," the Hostage Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement. Gaza health officials have warned of potential "mass deaths" in coming days from hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry said. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," Dujarric said. "He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," said Dujarric. "Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations." Health officials say hospitals have been running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations. Health Ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion. Reuters
The National
22-07-2025
- Health
- The National
Children starve to death in Gaza as doctors faint from hunger amid Israeli aid blockade
At least 21 children died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza over the past three days, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday, as the UN warned of doctors fainting on duty due to hunger and exhaustion amid the Israeli aid blockade. The head of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency said its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, were collapsing while working due to feeling hungry and being exhausted. UNRWA said it had received dozens of emergency messages from its staff describing dire conditions in the enclave. Starvation is on the rise in the Gaza Strip amid Israel's constant bombardment and blockade on aid supplies. Western countries have condemned Israel's 'drip feeding of aid' and have called the Israeli aid delivery model dangerous. More than 1,000 aid seekers have been killed. Speaking during a press conference late on Monday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric renewed his urgent call for the safe and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He highlighted the increasing number of malnourished people arriving at medical centres in critical condition. 'Amid the bombing, displacement and destruction in Gaza, we continue to receive alarming reports of individuals suffering from severe malnutrition arriving at medical facilities and hospitals in extremely poor health conditions,' Mr Dujarric said. Inside Gaza's largest hospital, Al Shifa, workers are reaching their breaking point. Ziad Abo Hmidan, 47, head of the hospital's maintenance department, said his colleagues were fainting at work. 'There are around 50 employees working around the clock to keep the hospital running,' Mr Abo Hmidan told The National. 'We move constantly between departments to keep the equipment operating, but we have no food to give us the energy to do this work. The quality of our services is starting to suffer.' He said medical staff were finding it increasingly difficult to report to work because they feel too weak or are out searching for food for their families. 'This is putting patients' lives at risk,' he warned. In the Emergency Department, Dr Ahmad Abed Al Wahed, 30, said recent days have been the most difficult since the start of the war. 'We have gone up to 30 hours without a single meal. Doctors need energy to treat the injured, but we are exhausted,' he lamented. 'Now we're not just treating war injuries, but also rising numbers of malnutrition cases. 'I worry constantly about my own family,' he added, 'how they will find food, while I'm here trying to save others.' UN agencies operating on the ground have warned that the territory has become nearly uninhabitable. More than two million people are now facing the threat of famine due to prolonged conflict and the near-total blockade of aid. 'No one is spared: caretakers in Gaza are also in need of care. Doctors, nurses, journalists and humanitarians are hungry,' UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X. 'Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties: reporting atrocities or alleviating some of the suffering.' On Monday a staff association at news agency AFP sounded the alarm, urging "immediate intervention" to help reporters working with the agency in Gaza. Ahmad Harb, 44, a journalist with Al Kofia Channel, said Gaza's residents are suffering from two types of war – the one with weapons and the slow death from starvation. 'Despite our fatigue, we continue to report so the world hears the voices of the people,' Mr Harb said. 'But over the past three days, food shortages have worsened. I spend hours just trying to find something to feed my children.' He described an unbearable internal conflict, balancing his duty to report with the desperate need to care for his family. 'Some of our colleagues have collapsed while working,' he said. 'Still, we are committed to telling the world what is happening here.' As conditions rapidly deteriorate, the voices of Gaza's professionals – from doctors and engineers to journalists – echo a unified plea: for the war to end, for humanitarian aid to be allowed in, and for essentials, especially food, to be delivered immediately. The health system and the civilian population are facing an unprecedented crisis after more than 21 months of war. 'I am overwhelmed with worry about my own family, how they will find food, while I'm here trying to save others from dying, we urgently need the war to stop, and we need humanitarian aid to reach the people. We also need food ourselves so we can continue to do our jobs and care for those in critical need,' Dr Al Wahed said.
TimesLIVE
22-07-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir al-Balah, hostage families concerned
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes hostages may be held. The area is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west and south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of the militant group Hamas. Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said. "UN staff remain in Deir al-Balah and two UN guesthouses have been struck, despite parties having been informed of the locations of UN premises, which are inviolable. The locations, as with all civilian sites, must be protected, regardless of evacuation orders," said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said its staff residence and main warehouse in Deir al-Balah was attacked on Monday. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained by the Israeli military, said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding three were later released while one staff member remained in detention. Israel's mission to the UN in New York declined to comment. To the south in Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a husband and wife and their two children in a tent, medics said.
Gulf Today
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
‘Last lifelines' are collapsing in Gaza: UN chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned the "accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions" in Gaza after more than 21 months of Israel's war with Hamas. "The last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. The United Nations chief "deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition." More than two dozen Western countries Monday also called for an immediate end to the war, saying that suffering had "reached new depths" as Israel's military expanded its operations to Gaza's central city of Deir el-Balah. "The Secretary-General notes that the intensification of hostilities in recent days comes as the humanitarian system is being impeded, undermined and endangered," Dujarric said. "A new evacuation order in parts of Deir el-Balah -- home to tens of thousands -- pushes people into more desperate conditions and further displacement and restricts the United Nations' ability to deliver life-saving aid." Agence France-Presse
