Latest news with #UN World Food Programme
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
John Swinney demands ‘urgent international action' after aid convoy attack
John Swinney has demanded 'urgent international action' in response to Palestinians being killed while waiting for aid lorries in Gaza. The Israeli Defence Forces are said to have fired what it described as 'warning shots' at crowds who gathered around aid trucks bringing emergency supplies. The Scottish First Minister insisted: 'Reports that those seeking what little aid is permitted to enter Gaza face violence and death at the hands of the Israeli government demands urgent international action.' This statement @WFP is unbearable to read. The international community must require the Israeli Government to stop these attacks and there must be a ceasefire now to allow humanitarian aid to flow. — John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) July 21, 2025 His comments came as the UN World Food Programme told how its 25-truck convoy 'carrying vital food assisted' for 'starving communities in northern Gaza' had come 'under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire'. In a statement after the incident on Sunday July 20, it said: 'We are deeply concerned and saddened by this tragic incident resulting in the loss of countless lives.' Mr Swinney said that that was 'unbearable to read'. He insisted: 'The international community must require the Israeli Government to stop these attacks and there must be a ceasefire now to allow humanitarian aid to flow.' The First Minister made the demands as he wrote in a letter how a recent attack on the only Catholic church in Gaza had brought the 'horror of the situation painfully close to home'. Mr Swinney and his wife Elizabeth met the priest from the Holy Family Church in Gaza, Father Gabriel Romanelli, in Glasgow last year. I am deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in #Gaza. I assure the parish community of my spiritual closeness. I commend the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God, and pray for… — Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) July 17, 2025 Father Romanelli was injured when an explosion hit the front of the church, killing three people and leaving others seriously injured. Pope Leo XIV has already said he was 'deeply saddened' by the 'military attack' on the church. And in a letter to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and leading Catholic authority in the area, Mr Swinney told how people across Scotland are 'moved with both distress and anger at the unimaginable suffering facing the people of Gaza'. The First Minister told Cardinal Pizzabella: 'The heart-breaking reality of the situation in Gaza is that this tragedy, that has taken the lives of three of your parishioners, is but one of an untold number of tragedies that has come to pass in the region since October 7 2023.' Mr Swinney continued: 'That the people of Gaza can not even find peace and sanctuary within the confines of their place of worship beings me real pain.' He told the Cardinal that he would 'pray for the families of the dead, for the injured and for lasting peace in Gaza'. But Mr Swinney also pledged: 'The government I will lead will continue to do everything it can to help achieve a ceasefire in the region.' The First Minister's comments came as he noted that 'over 55,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began', adding that 'many more are being starved of food, water and humanitarian aid'.
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Gaza officials say Israel killed at least 93 civilians desperately seeking food aid
GAZA CITY, July 21 — Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory on Sunday, killing 93 people and wounding dozens more. Eighty were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Yunis, also in the south, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid 'encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire' near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints. Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat posed to them' as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. A horse-driven cart carrying injured people arrives at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 20, 2025. — AFP pic Like 'hunting animals' In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and 'deadly overcrowding and pushing'. 'The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest,' he added. 'Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone.' The WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as 'completely unacceptable'. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. The army says it works to avoid harm to civilians, and that this month it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground 'following lessons learned' from a spate of similar incidents. Israel on Sunday withdrew the residency permit of head of the OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall, who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza. A young altar server holds his hands in prayer during Sunday morning mass at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City on July 20, 2025. — AFP pic Papal call The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed his regret to Pope Leo XIV after what he described as a 'stray' munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. At the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pope slammed the 'barbarity' of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church. The strike was part of the 'ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza', he added. The Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after travelling to the devastated territory in a rare visit on Friday. 'Expanding' operations Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave. On Sunday morning, the Israeli military told residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately due to imminent operations in the area. Whole families were seen carrying what few belongings they have on packed donkey carts heading south. 'They threw leaflets at us and we don't know where we are going and we don't have shelter or anything,' one man told AFP. The displacement order was 'another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip', the UN OCHA said on Sunday. According to the aid agency, 87.8 per cent of Gaza is now under displacement orders or within Israeli militarized zones, leaving '2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 per cent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed.' The army's latest announcement prompted concern from families of hostages held since October 7, 2023 that the Israeli offensive could harm their loved ones. Delegations from Israel and militant group Hamas have spent the last two weeks in indirect talks on a proposed 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. — AFP
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pope condemns Gaza war's ‘barbarity' as 73 reported killed while waiting for food
Pope Leo XIV has condemned the 'barbarity' of the war in Gaza and the 'indiscriminate use of force' as Gaza's health ministry said at least 73 Palestinians had been killed queueing for food. The ministry said on Sunday that the victims had been killed in different locations, mostly in northern Gaza. It said 67 of the dead had been killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. The UN World Food Programme 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. The director of al-Shifa hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told Associated Press that since Sunday morning the hospital had received 48 people who were killed and 150 wounded while seeking aid from lorries expected to enter Gaza at the Zikim crossing. He could not say whether the dead had been killed by the Israeli army, armed gangs or both. Israel's military said soldiers had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who it claimed posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found. It did not immediately comment on the incident in the south. There was new alarm as Israel's military issued evacuation orders for areas of central Gaza, one of the few areas where it has rarely operated with ground troops and where many international organisations attempting to distribute aid are located. In central Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area and dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings, Reuters reported. Before these reports emerged, the pope called for 'an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict' at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence near Rome. The pope also spoke of his anguish over the Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church last week, which killed three people and injured 10. Among the injured was the parish priest, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis. Israel has expressed 'deep sorrow' and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs. 'This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,' the pope said on Sunday. 'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.' On Sunday the UN's agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, said Israeli authorities were 'starving civilians in Gaza', including 1 million children. 'Unrwa has enough food for the entire population of Gaza for over three months stockpiled in warehouses,' it said in an earlier social media post that included photos of a warehouse in Arish, Egypt. 'Open the gates, lift the siege, allow Unrwa to do its work and help people in need among them 1 million children,' the agency said. Unrwa said last week that babies were dying from 'severe acute malnutrition'. Israel banned all cooperation with Unrwa in Gaza and the West Bank, accusing the agency of having been infiltrated by Hamas, although an independent review found Tel Aviv had failed to provide evidence of its claims that Unrwa employees were members of terrorist organisations. The agency had been the main distributor of aid in Gaza and provider of basic services, including health and education, to Palestinians across the region. Since May aid has been largely distributed by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in place of the traditional UN-led system. Food has become scarce, and very expensive, since Israel imposed a blockade on 2 March. The UN has said that as of 13 July, 875 people had been killed in recent weeks trying to get food, including 674 in the vicinity of GHF sites. The remaining 201 victims were killed on the routes or close to aid convoys run by the UN or its partners. Children have been killed fetching water for their families. Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Sunday in areas of central Gaza packed with displaced Palestinians, a sign of an imminent attack on neighbourhoods in Deir al-Balah, which has alarmed the families of Israeli hostages, who fear their relatives are being held there. '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. The Israeli military dropped leaflets from the sky ordering people in several districts in south-west Deir al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza have been sheltering, to leave their homes and head south. 'The [Israel] Defense Forces continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area,' the military said. Israel's forces have not yet entered these districts during the current conflict because they suspect that Hamas may be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed still to be alive. The war was triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage. At least 58,895 Palestinians have been killed and 140,980 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Gaza civil defence says Israeli fire kills 67 aid seekers
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the territory's north on Sunday, killing 67 people and wounding dozens more. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire", soon after it crossed the border from Israel and cleared checkpoints. Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. In the southern Gaza Strip, the civil defence agency said six others were killed on Sunday near an aid distribution centre northwest of Rafah, where dozens of people lost their lives a day earlier. - 'Sniper' fire - In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and "deadly overcrowding and pushing". "The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest," he added. "Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone." Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the death toll was 67 and expected to rise while the WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable". Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. The army has maintained that it works to avoid harm to civilians, saying this month that it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground "following lessons learned" from a spate of similar incidents. - Papal call - The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed his regret to Pope Leo XIV after what he described as a "stray" munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. At the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pope slammed the "barbarity" of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church. The strike was part of the "ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza", he added. "I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations." The Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after travelling to the devastated territory in a rare visit on Friday. - 'Expanding' operations - Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave. On Sunday morning, the Israeli military told residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately. Israel was "expanding its activities" against Hamas around Deir el-Balah, "where it has not operated before", the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X. The announcement prompted concern from families of hostages held since October 7, 2023 that the Israeli offensive could harm their loved ones. Delegations from Israel and militant group Hamas have spent the last two weeks in indirect talks on a proposed 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
